Hey guys!

I'm seriously considering purchased a 2005-2007 GT 5-speed. My budget is about $12k (less is better!). I'm not too familiar with Mustangs and what to look for, so can you guys give me a few pointers?

I'm considering the Mustang because I want something RWD, V8 powered, with a lot of aftermarket support.

Thanks!

 

The 2005 & 2006 models came with the 3.55 rear gear stock. Starting in 2007, the stock rear gear was lower numerically (3.31; to nudge fuel economy, I am guessing) and the 3.55 gear was an option.

I have a 2006, bought new. I have read that, defying the usual logic, the '06 cars were a bit less reliable than the '05s. I can only say I have enjoyed mine completely.

 

Thanks for the reply.

A bit less reliable how so? What are some of the "common" problems for Mustangs?

 

The fist one off the top of my head, the hood corrosion issue.

 

I've heard of that...anything else I should know?

 

I'm pretty sure 05/06 auto's came with 3.31 gears and manuals with 3.55. I went from 3.55 to 4.10 on my manual 06 and couldn't be happier. The most common issue seems to be broken spark plugs, I swapped mine out at 35k and my car has been trouble free so far.

 

Get a green one they are the best! I have had great luck with mine ever since about day 3 of ownership. I would say try to find one that is all stock. That way you know no one tried to make a race car out of it.

 

JCCNY, you are quite right. I had forgotten about the difference between the auto/manual rear gearing. Beginning in 2007, the 3.31 gear was standard for both auto and manual.

 

Nick Like Glenn said, Get a green one if you can. When your buying one look for lower miles. Don't worry about the gears you can always mod them later if you choose. Do the corrosion inspection when shopping. If possible buy a one owner car with a great history. Smoke free if that's your thing. The best platforms are the ones that have never been modified to some people. Stock is best then you can do what you want to it. If you find one with low miles and all the goodies on it that you like that's even better. Seriously though I picked mine up a year and a half ago. Looked it over and saw everything I wanted. No corrosion, a few mods with rims, and lower miles, Under 45000. If you go for a 2007, look at the GT/CS models. You might get lucky. Auto trader and look at the car fax. Best of luck.

 

these are WONDERFUL cars... by far the best car Ive ever owned. Aside from the break off spark plugs(havent changed my 06 plugs yet, and the 09 has new style heads, wifes 07 is a V6), and hood underside corrosion(all three of ours had it), they have been pretty solid.

only other 'common' issues I can think of- the early shifters kinda sucked- I actually bent my 06 shifter one day I put a 15 buck 09 takeout shifter in, couldnt be happier. the trannys do NOT like redline shifting... I thought I ruined mine at the track, put up with it nearly a year getting locked out of 2nd...a guy in here talked me into trying royal purple synchromax before going into a rebuild- son of a gun if it wasnt better than new in minutes- cannot say enough good things about that oil...
tierod boots were total junk rubber, lower control arm rear bushings dont age well, and many (but none of ours) had issues with upper strut bearing 'popping' noises... unless its had fairly recent work, expect some frontend parts will likely be needed.
IUP interiors(have aluminum faced dash panels/padded doors) often had peeling upholstery on the door panel inserts- expect to have to reglue those if they havent been fixed already.
seatback release levers on the top/back of seats were junk- if kids have or will use the rear seats, expect to replace them- 19 bucks for chromed/metal replacements.
rear bumper covers often flutter at highway speeds, can rub thru the paint on plastic bumper and bottom edge of trunklid- keep a eye on that, maybe a strip of clear bra to protect...
05-06 floor heat dont work- improper blend door controls, the few times I was able to drive mine in the cold(rare in ohio for there to be no salt on roads, but have had it out a handful of times when cold as heck) your feet will freeze... set controls to mixed and close the dash vents, it will push warm air out the floor vents...floor setting just runs the defroster. think this was corrected in mid-06.
these cars eat batteries if sitting much- either keep a tender on it, or unhook the battery- 2 weeks and its deep cycled- cars with 'shaker' audio have been said to kill batteries in a day or three due to cd changer cycling when engine off- turn off radio before shutting off...
batteries are kinda small, and in back of engine compartment- heat is tough on them...oem had insulation blanket around batteries, but 8-9 yrs later, bet most are gone or degraded from battery gasses.

thats about all I can think of... love these cars- except for the **** poor hood paint/prep I'd rate them a 10, the little quirks are pretty minor for the most part, not that unusual (except for the stoooopid hood issues) I hope to drive one the rest of my life, and hope thats a lot of miles from now

if you get a coupe, seriously look at the Silverhorse Racing louvers- the quarter windows were the only part of these cars I didnt completely like- tint helps, but IMHO those louvers were how Ford should have built them all...adds to the fastback look, etc... no real visibility loss...
I was soooo glad I didnt weld mine over and put the 69 emblems on- I was *that* close to doing so- then saw the cool louvers Marcello Canitano designed... a 'must have' in my opinion, biased as it might be

good luck in your search!
tim

 

[QUOTE=ford4v429;6913661
05-06 floor heat dont work- improper blend door controls, the few times I was able to drive mine in the cold(rare in ohio for there to be no salt on roads, but have had it out a handful of times when cold as heck) your feet will freeze... set controls to mixed and close the dash vents, it will push warm air out the floor vents...floor setting just runs the defroster. think this was corrected in mid-06. [/QUOTE]



I had complained to Ford dealer and manufacturer about the 'heat to floor' issue with no resolve on my 05 GT so I bought a used heater control off a wrecked 08 GT 500 and installed it. I now have heat to the floor with just a small amount of whistle Ford claims, and only if I close all dash vents. I simply crack one open slightly till noise disappears. Even if Ford would claim it's not 100% it's still better than driving home in -35F temps with no heat to the floor and a scalding face from the defroster duct. In mid 06 Ford changed defroster duct under dash and other mods to heater core pipes under dash at feet. Parts Books will show changes made.


Ford Special Service Message 18284:


18284 2005 MUSTANG - HIGH AIRFLOW FROM DEFROSTER VENTS WHEN IN FLOOR OR FLOOR/DEFROST MODES
SOME 2005 MUSTANGS MAY INTERMITTENTLY EXHIBIT HIGH AIRFLOW FROM THE DEFROSTER VENTS WHEN OPERATING THE CLIMATE CONTROL IN THE FLOOR OR FLOOR/DEFROST MODES. ENGINEERING IS CURRENTLY INVESTIGATING THIS CONDITION. TO TEMPORARILY RESOLVE THE CONDITION, TURN THE CLIMATE CONTROL PANEL CONTROL TO THE 'OFF' POSITION, THEN TURN IT BACK TO THE DESIRED MODE. DO NOT ATTEMPT REPAIR UNTIL A NEW SERVICE PROCEDURE AND/OR PARTS ARE RELEASED. MONITOR OASIS FOR UPDATES.
EFFECTIVE DATE: 11/09/2004


and then S197 Oasis Report


19528 2005-2007 MUSTANG - AIR FLOW FROM THE DEFROST WHEN IN THE FLOOR MODE IS CONSIDERED NORMAL CHARACTERISTIC
ON 2005-2007 MUSTANG VEHICLES, AIR FLOW FROM THE DEFROST WHEN IN THE FLOOR MODE IS CONSIDERED NORMAL CHARACTERISTIC. ENGINEERING HAS DESIGNED THE CLIMATE CONTROL HEAD TO ALLOW SOME AIR FLOW WHILE IN THE FLOOR MODE TO COME OUT DEFROST TO PREVENT WINDSHIELD FOGGING. THIS IS OCCURRING ON 2005 AND NEWER MODELS YEARS. ALSO, ALLOWING SOME FLOW OUT THE DEFROST IN FLOOR MODE WILL TAKE AWAY A HOWL TYPE NOISE THAT COULD BE PRESENT. COMPARE TO LIKE UNITS AT HIGH FAN SPEED AND IF THE CONCERN IS COMPARABLE, CONSIDER NORMAL OPERATION. REFER TO SECTION 412-00 IN THE WORKSHOP MANUAL FOR SYSTEM OPERATION.
EFFECTIVE DATE: 12/15/2006

Thanks for your concern for the customer Ford.

 

good info- yeah, funny how a defective design just gets renamed a 'normal characteristic'. thanks for posting this, I'll keep a eye out for a wreck to pull parts from, and check the books to see whats required... these are getting old enough they will be appearing in the pick-a-part yards on occasion- from videos on assembly line ive seen, it *looks* like whole dash was installed as a unit- might be removeable as such too... although think Id rather tear apart the engine ,trans, AND rearend than have to pull a dash-

some cars are a nightmare...my mark VII had a 12 hour time in the book for a heater core swap- when mine went out, I pulled the pressure gasket from the radiator cap and ran at zero pressure for ten years till I parted it out- and then actually tried cutting a hole in the dash/cowl, just to see if a easier way - nope- one bolt required removing everything to access, as it woulda required cutting the dash/cowl reinforcement out. planned obsolescence is real in my opinion- why else would they design stuff so stupid?

 

Do you have any specific ones in mind that we can kibitz for you?

 

Not to hi-jack thread, but what P/O'd me the most was Ford and dealer wouldn't try another HVAC control module just to verify the module wasn't defective. They just read the '19528' to me and that was the end of it. One day at a dealer, sitting in an 08 with keys in it, I turned on the heater and tried floor to defrost and it worked perfect. I then found a used 08 module from a wrecker and floor heat problem was solved.


I also had a 92 Mark VII that I changed the heater core out. It took me around 14 hours. I learned a lot owning that Lincoln with a lot of info from Lincoln's Online.

 

Got my 2007 GT three years ago and it's been amazing. Not one issue. Great cars. Just have a good shop do a pre-purchase inspection on whatever you are looking at. But take your time. You will find a lot that have been overly modded or abused.

 

Did you buy one yet Mr Geek?

 

when folks suggest removing seat to make more room to remove steering column to remove ................ to remove heater core...
yep, that Mark VII dash was a fine piece of engineering

 

Try for 07. Most of the 05-06 problems were ironed out (gas tank, hood, etc.). I've been very happy with my 07 GT/CS and I have very heavily modified it. I also race it in the SM class at my local SCCA Autocross.