my brother is thinking about getting a used mustang svt cobra and i was wondering if you guys could give me input on how reliable they are?

it would become his daily driver.

 

reliability? its a ford man

 

03-04 tell him to do it.

 

he will probably buy one with less than 10k mileage.

any more input?

 

Get real, man, you drive a Mitsubishi, not a Honda.


Quite a few people have them around here in Jacksonville, FL, and a good friend of mine just recently sold his after owning it for about 3-4 years. His had around 60k miles on it, and I don't know how the previous owner treated it, but dear god how we beat the ever loving **** out of that car. And it lapped it up! Awesome vehicle. The 03-04 Cobras definetly have the power, and simple bolt ons will put you well past the 500hp mark.

The only thing my friend ended up replacing in his 3-4 years of ownership was an alternator and a clutch. Fit and finish of the car is typical Ford, but if your brother dosn't really have a problem with the fit and finish of your Evo, he shouldnt have a problem with the Cobra. Some people dig the suede inserts on the seats, some don't, I personally thought the interior was very decent for a Mustang.

All in all, like any car, if he takes care of it and does his routine maintinence, he will get thousands of miles of reliable service, all while pumping the doors off damn near everything on the streets. 03-04 Cobra has IRS too, so no solid rear axle jokes, hahaha.

 

03-04 Cobras are kinda hit or miss. My buddy had one that had a bad lifter tick in it. After he got that fixed he pumped up the boost and ripped 3 sparkplug inserts out of the heads and it shot the plugs into the hood. He ended up having to replace both heads and repaint the hood. The last straw for him wasn't the cars fault but his. He was racing it and blew the IRS up. Its only good for around 650 WHP and then it explodes and apparently he had more than that. I have another friend who has an all stock one and its had the same lifter issue but thats it. I like them all right but they don't really impress me. My Chevelle has eaten plenty of them and it has at least 100 hp less than most of them. But its up to your brother, he just has to find one that wasn't made on friday at 4:59 PM.

 

good input! thanks a lot guys!

 

The motors are usually pretty good. The interior isn't luxurious by any means and there will be rattles while the miles rack up. But I think it is worth it if you smile when you hit the go pedal.

 

he good luck at finding one let alone affording one now these days with less then 10k on it. i gaurantee they want 30-40k for it.

id say a more realistic figure would probably be 30-40k miles and get it maybe for 25k or higher (mod pending) just my .02 i really do like them iespecially for the cheap mods and lots of power that comes with it

 

I agree I am a member on svtperformance.com, dont post much, but if you go to the marketplace and compare what they want to bluebook, its kinda pricey. But they take good care of them and you really dont see many. I think they look nice and cant beat the sound. Keep off the pedal and you will get average not great gas mileage.

 

I daily drove and raced my Mustang for 3 years and NEVER had a problem with it. I never thought I would of bought an American "Muscle" car, let alone a Mustang, it was a spur of the moment thing and I have NEVER regret owning this car. Trust me, the Cobras are fantastic to drive, just a little heavy for my taste.

Here's the new setup.


On the old setup, I was running a high 11 low 12 depending on weather and track conditions. Bone stock GT with bolt ons and a turbo and a Megasquirt.

 

Don't waste your money. My '05 gt mustang with chip, exhaust and intake is faster than an 03 cobra.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^You are smoking way way too much crack if you believe that !!!

 

On a scale of 1-10 how serious are you?

 

I would agree. No way your maybe 300RWHP car beats a Termi.