As you can see by my name I used to own a 5.0L Mustang. Back when I was young I had an 89LX 5.0 Fox body. I had that car for many years and enjoyed it, but as I got older I gravitated towards Audi and BMW.

Now with the handling improvements they made with the 2010 Mustang I got quite interested in being a Mustang owner again. With the 2011 Mustang I'm even more interested in getting a Mustang.

The V6 is fast enough for me, but I might get the V8 because just as buying a BMW means you should get an inline 6, I view the V8 as part of the essential character of a Mustang. That aside, it appears the front suspension on the V6 isn't as good as the V8 from the review I read on Autoblog.

I noticed there isn't a forum for handling upgrades. Being unfamiliar with Mustangs these days, how easy/difficult is it to improve the handling? I like to participate in the local HPDE events so I'd really like to know what handling upgrades are available before I commit to buying a Mustang.

 

The way this forum is organized, all modification tech, be it motor, aesthetics, interior, or suspension is in each mustangs respective categories.

Theres alot you can do to make your mustang handle, be it new or old. The the 05-09s were already a significant improvement over the past and with the 10+ theyve refined it further.

beleive it or not people have been making their mustangs handle for quite a while :P Places like Steeda, Maximum Motorsports and, if you've got the payroll for it, Griggs will help you build a hell of a corner carver.

as for whats available, pretty much everything. Beefier springs and shocks, bigger sway bars, tubular suspension pieces, poly bushings, coilover conversions, watts links, better panhard bars, the works. The limit to how well you want your mustang to handle is pretty much how much money you're willing to spend.

dont let the solid axle scare you away. The S197 chassis and rear suspension is phenomenal. I've driven a '10 GT and an 09 V6 and those things are definitely set up properly. Could be better sure, but what stock car doesnt have that problem?

My parents both have BMWs (a 323i and an X3) and my friend has a Z3 M coupe (glorious car!) so I sort of know where you're coming from. those care sure do spoil you when it comes to the handling department lol. My dads 323i outhandles my bullitt (but.. it has no power to speak of lol) and the M coupe is on a totally different level

But a well set up mustang can be made to compete with a comparable 3 series from the same era, and have mountains of torque to boot. hell these days, the interior is on par with bavaria as well. the '10 GT was much nicer than either of my parents cars, its a very nice place to be these days.

I would say go for that 2011. The chassis is great, the new 5.0 is going to rock. Hell if you wanted soemthing that you could immediately drown in mods, I wouldn't shy away from some older mustangs as well.

If I were building a track car right now, I'd probably build a fox mustang. The nice part about the foxes is that chassis was around for 30 years. You can literally take the best of the latest SN95s and just bolt them in. I've seen a supercharged 4.6L DOHC, T56 6 speed, IRS and more swapped from a 2004 Cobra back into a 1979 'stang. when you factor in the cost of a halfway decent fox these days and how much you could throw at it with the savings, you've got one hell of a fast car for not much money. the thought of full coilover tubular suspension and a panhard bar/torque arm and a 4.6L terminator motor swapped in just makes me giddy. but alas, ive digressed. lol,

But in short, yes you can make your mustang handle (and handle well at that!) and yes absolutely you should buy one BMWs and Audis are sweet, no doubt, but rip roaring through the twisty mountain backroads, firmly planted and with a V8 growl penetrating your eardrums is something that just can't really be duplicated by german engineering

also, welcome to TheMustangSource