Has anyone here driven a Mustang? What's thrilling about them because I fail to get excited about the car.
I used to own a Mustang. Loved it more than life. Had it from 17 to 24-ish years old. Actually, I also had two 80's 5.0 Fox Bodies (the best cars to build for drag racing, and many even tune them for road coarsing.... 2800 lbs or less, Hatchback, and a super reliable, simple and cheap to modify big 5.0L Pushrod V8).
I haven't driven the new 5.0's, but they've surpassed the old "Mustang league". They combine the muscle-fun of old Mustangs, but gun for (and apparently even outgun) M3's and true focused Sports Cars.
What's amazing about them (at least, the generations that I got accustomed to), is the raw, muscle/pony car soul. They're a bit rough around the edges, but that's the beauty. Best part is the SOUND. NOTHING beats a Mustang uncorked V8, just beauty. The Torque, the raw and pornographic way it accelerates, the fact that they (used to) be the ultimate drag racing tool. Mustang fanatics used to tell me that "Once a Mustang gets into your soul, there's no turning back, you'll always miss it", and it's true. It feels like a rolling amusement park. Also, the creativity and modability is second to none. It's got many flaws, but that's part of the charm. To Mustang enthusiasts, the car represents something more than mechanics, a soul that purely American in that pure and forgotten sense. I drank the Kool-Aid through my Teenage years and early 20's and loved every minute of it. Plus, Mustangs are timeless. One of the rare cars where new bodies don't date the old ones, IMO.
This was my old one. I'll tell you one thing, going from a Gold '87 Audi 5000 (first car) which I was too embarrassed to be seen in, so I'd park miles away from my rich/spoiled kid school, then to this '96 Mustang GT (in 1999) as a Junior in High School, it was absolute "JOY". I had the most popular and hot car in a school with BMW's and Lexuses, expensive SUV's/Trucks, Euro's, Japanese hot cars, etc.. That adolescent nature of the Mustang was like a drawing force. This car turned heads and drew tons of attention all the way until 2004, which was the year that I stopped taking care of it.
Eventually, the most pampered and loved car in the world, became a daily driven, unkept car. Soon enough, I got another car, and left it outside. It started deteriorating, until it got towed one day.... I never even got it out of the impound. I probably invested $10+K in mods as a broke kid throughout my time with it. It even had a custom 15" Subwoofer and full Sound System that some lucky SOB scored when they bought it from the impound Auction.
