My first post here. I'm thinking about trading in my 2000 Honda Civic SI on a V6 base model Mustang (no options, manual trans) in Grabber Blue. The car really appeals to me and the dealer has an ad in today's paper for the car at $19,997. It's been on the dealer's lot for about six months. I took it for a test drive during the summer.

I'm kind of afraid to buy the car because I'm worried about rattles. I can't stand rattles - they totally destroy my enjoyment of a car. Every used Mustang I've driven had rattles and the roads where I live are pretty rough. Plus my experience is that getting a dealer to fix rattles is hit-or-miss.

So basically I'm back to the thread title. Can a person who drives rough roads realisticallly expect to have a rattle free Mustang?

 

No



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Welcome Aboard!

I've only had my '11 GT since July, and there are no rattles anywhere in or under the car. If you could get someone with a '10 model to chime in, you could probably get a realistic idea of what to expect down the road. My '06 GT was quiet except for one rattle/squeak from the dashboard. It was intermittent, caused me to frown whenever it reared it squeaky head.

Again, Welcome to the forums!

 

Get the rattle fixed?
08 33k miles I drive in NJ and NY horrible roads no rattles anywhere.
If I heard a rattle I would be at the dealer the next day, simple.

 

Just my take on this...
I think you should move.
Or maybe play sound system louder.
Seriously though, the only rattles in either of my S197s were from sway bar links, which just need tightening.

 

Nope, Didn't want the dealer to take my dash apart. Sold the '06 before leaving New Hampshire, and retiring to Aridzona. As I said, no noises in the '11 GT.

 

In a brand new car you should not have any rattles!
A few months down the road, don't be surprised if you have one.
Even really expensive hand built cars like the Lamborghini murcielago Which i drove is a rattle bucket.
LJS

 

Traded my Si in for my current 2010 GT... Haven't looked back since. =]

If you can wait a a month or so, I'm sure the prices of the V6 Mustangs will drop to $17,000

 

The dealer can take apart the dash on my car all day lol I get the most out of my warranties.

 

The S197 chassis a well-designed unibody platform and assembled by a highly automated body line with many welds. That is a key foundation for managing flex that can lead to squeaks and rattles. The dash fitment in '10+ models is improved from the '05-'09s, with additional engineering attention put against NVH.

Empirically speaking from comments posted on this forum, I believe you would see more people answering 'yes' to your question rather than 'no'. It doesn't mean that temperature variations might not induce some interior rattles.

I had some rattling noise in my 2007 GT which was reported by many '05-'07 owners that was corrected at the dealership with extra foam rubber strips in key locations.

The Ford test track in Dearborn has the capability to induce an amazing amount of harshness with various surfaces, many that look like something would result in a road repair.

I would not be as concerned about this car loosening up to the extent that you would be unable to address any unwanted noises, if they even appeared.

Perhaps Detroit area Mustang owners can chime in on this, as the roads in a good number of places within the I675 loop have quite pockmarked roads.

 

We have the crappiest roads of all North America here, and i can tell you that my '11 has been rattle free since the day i got it. I'm very impressed by the fit and finish of these cars. Believe me when i say that, i've owned a '69 Mach1, and two pushrod 5.0's, and these were the worst rattle buckets i've ever driven.

 

I just want to say this: Without *constant* re-engineering and repair, no car will ever escape the dreaded rattle syndrome. Not. One. Ever.

This is why they make entertainment systems in the cars.

The only way to have a rattle free car is... not to drive it.

So with that, get the Mustang.

 

6 fox bodies latter...ill see your rattles and raise you a zillion lol

rattles are my little friends driving along with me ;-)

 

If not having rattles is the most important thing to you, then keep your Si.

That said, my GT convertible, which is supposedly not even half as stiff as a coupe, is still rattle-free after over 6 months and 5,000 miles. And I commute over highly crowned and rough back-country roads. My commute also involves going on/off a ferry boat, where there's usually an angled entrance to a ramp which tries to twist the car.

I don't expect it to remain rattle-free forever, but it's a huge improvement over a mid-'80's Camaro I once had which had me chasing rattle after squeak after rattle. I am a Honda veteran too (5 Civics, 2 Accords, a CR-V, and an Acura or two), and Hondas are well-built cars, but no Honda can match the combo of sound, acceleration, and fun of my Mustang GT.

 

Take it from this guy, his 'Stang is still rattle free even after hitting a deer.

 

My 2011 is a HUGE improvement over my 05 GT in terms of rattles. There haven't been any in 900 mi of driving so far. My 05GT was just ok; a cheap, poorly fitted plastic panel on the door (behind the grab handle) rattled all the time, and something in the steering wheel rattled as well.

The quality improvement in the interior between 05-09 to 2010+ is impressive!

 

Mine doesn't have many rattles. Only on extremely rough roads I can hear something faint. With music on, I don't hear anything.

Some people are lucky enough to get rattle-free cars, and some will be stuck with a car that rattles over every bump. This is what always happens, even with the same manufacturer and model. The variation in craftsmanship is too complex to make a simple generalization about whether a car model would rattle or not.

 

Mine rattles from the back seat.

 

True, I forgot about that dumb deer. Fortunately that one didn't challenge the structure.

Also forgot to mention: some folks (including me) have been able to hear the windows squeak against the rubber weatherstrip seal, but judicious application of a little bit of silicone grease (same as Honda's recommended Shin-Etsu) to the weatherstrip killed the squeak nicely.

 

I've got my little idea on why your backseat ratlles ! You just got into a new relationship, did you !!!