Learn me: recent convertible Mustangs

First off, this car is to be a street car, a cruiser, a "take the kids out for ice cream" car on nice evenings. I have the E30 for track hoonage and autocross, once I get it moving, anyhow....

Thanks to Adrian Thompson, my wife has developed a desire for a convertible Mustang. Since I'm still in charge of auto purchases, I insist on it having a V8. I've BTDT with Foxes, and I'd like something a bit more modern, so I'm sticking with the newer style, basically SN95s. I have about $7k to spend, but would prefer to spend less, as that means more money for the E30. Ideally I'd like to stay around $5k or under. I've found some New Edge (99-04) cars for around $7k, plenty of 96-98 non-PI 4.6 cars for $6k or so, and some 94-95 5.0 cars for around $5k. The latter is what I've been concentrating on.

What I've found is that many (most) of them have automatics. Normally, I wouldn't even consider them, but as this is meant to be more of a cruiser, I've elected to reduce my normal aversion toward the clutchless. But is the AODE any good? Are the later 4.6 cars better with an auto than the 5.0 cars? Is it worth it to spend the extra to get the 99-04 4.6 cars with the PI motor? Certainly they are more modern, though the basic chassis is the same. Are there any "gotchas" associated with any particular year? I have heard something about a fuel line issue with the 94-95 cars, and I know the PN96 F-150s had an issue with ejecting spark plugs, are the Mustang 4.6 motors similarly afflicted?

Thanks in advance, as always.

I would definitely go for a 99-04 car. PI 4.6L performs pretty good, on par with a 5.0L (old one of course). The automatic versions are pretty good, better than the older AOD stuff IMHO. Check the intake to see if the front water crossover is aluminum, the early plastic ones had problems, the 01-04s will have the aluminum crossover. I haven't heard of any issues with spark plugs, my 03 only had one coil go bad, plugs were easy to change.

This thread is relevant to my interests.

ALL the 4.6 SOHC's spit plugs out! Every single 2V Ford ever made has the same design/manufacturing flaw. Some cars never spit them, others spit all 8. Roll your own dice...

I'd stick with the 94-95 5.0, personally. The AODE is a nice trans, it's just fine for a cruiser. If you can swing a Cobra 'Vert, that would be something (though no Auto's IIRC), especially the 96-98 DOHC's.

I would so rather have an old 5.0. I have no love for the 4.6.

A coworker has a '96 convertible 4.6 auto. My god the interior is crap and the car rattles like crazy. And he only drives the car on nice days, so its in fairly good condition. Another coworker had an '02 hardtop and I was surprised by the lack of interior quality and the rattles as well. "So that's what everyone means by crap American car interiors..."

IMHO, I'd save up a few more pennies for a late model 'vert. Those were designed from the start with a convertible option in mind and are much better cars. We seriously considered a V6 one back in '07 before buying our MINI vert.

SN 95 and 99s are fox derived, so I'm not certain how much more modern they are.

I looked at them, and decided to go the extra money and get the '05-up version. This has been my nearly daily driver for the last year, and massive fun on sunny days with the top down:

the 4.6 3 valve is a great engine, but sucky spark plugs (2 pc design) But the chassis is considerably better than the SN95 versions, as it's no longer Fox based.

neon4891 wrote: SN 95 and 99s are fox derived, so I'm not certain how much more modern they are.

Same suspension designs, but a much better covering that actually fixes most of the woes with the Fox platform, IE- flexibility.

At $7k, you can probably get into a V6 '05+. It will be a far better car than the earlier one.

Well, I just agreed to buy a super-clean 95 for $4500. It's an auto, and to be honest, not particularly fast by today's standards. My truck would destroy it in a drag race. But it looks great, makes nice noises, and is torquey, so it works for me. And leaves me an extra $2500 to spend on the E30 compared with a $7k car. I'm picking it up Monday night, hopefully should have pics then.

Thanks, everyone!

DILYSI Dave wrote: At $7k, you can probably get into a V6 '05+. It will be a far better car than the earlier one.

I sure didn't find any around here for that price. And believe me, I looked.