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Ford Mustang Cobra and SVT Cobra
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Comments
My problem is that these guys refused to even take a cursory look at the steering system yesterday because it didn't make the noise at that moment. I assured them that the noise is constant and quite loud but they wouldn't take me at my word. Today, with the steering creaking away, it took the tech less than 30 seconds to locate the problem. I'm sure he could have located the problem yesterday and saved me the trip today - especially given the fact that they knew where to focus based on the symptom being exactly the same as the last time they "fixed" the problem.
The really disturbing part of it all is when the service writer starts apologizing for not being able to help me yesterday. I told him that he should have treated my concern as legitimate the day before. This guy puts his face right in front of me and starts with "I apologized to you twice already - what else do you want me to do!?" What a sudden change of attitude. I wasn't sure how to respond so I just stared back at him and said "First of all, stop apologizing to me - and secondly, don't assume the customer is wrong until proven right." That ended our little episode but I could tell that he was upset with me. I'm a little nervous about leaving my car with this nut tomorrow. Maybe I'll just take the part with me and have a different dealership install it.
If it were me, I'd give them one more chance. If the next time (and with a Mustang, it's only a matter of time...) you get the same service, then it's time to walk, and let them know you'll be sending a letter to Ford. That's nuclear to them and really hits them where it hurts.
My dealership and I have a good relationship, and by being firm but polite, I've gotten my service guy to listen to me and do what I ask (i.e. no longer try to sell me unecessary "routine" maintenance).
Though their quotes on installing mods are still ridiculous...$250 and 3 days for a catback install (Meineke had me out the door in 1/2 hour and $60 later) : (
As for mods ... Pontiac has until my warranty expires to get a 6.0L in the GTO. After that, it looks like $2k into the Cobra and another 3 years with a 500hp Viper (?) hunter ... life doesn't suck :-)
Have you folks had any issues with the dealer freaking out over modifications?
I'm a lemon law investigator and I know that modifications aren't allowed, by legal rule - in other words, if push came to shove and you had an after cat exhaust system, your warranty could be shut down, period. The manufacturers (all of them) are off the hook if you modify your car, and there's no stipulation at to what "modify" means - I guess new wheels are a modification...
Most dealers don't freak out over things like that (exhaust) - I'm more concerned about chips and pulleys.
Pullies and chips are tough though, since their operation does affect the engine as a whole.
Of course, if I don't do what that Subaru WRX owner did after his engine failure, I'll be ok...
If you didn't hear about it, let me know - hilarious story.
I'd say if you're serious about hitting 450 rwhp (and you seem to be), then do the pulleys and chip, whatever the warranty consequences. After all, with a car like that, outrageous power is it's stock-in-trade...might as well do it right. : )
But maybe discretely talk with your dealership (or if possible, the mechanic who'll work on your car) and mention you're thinking of modding it, and what's their view on it? I've heard of dealerships all over the map on the issue, so it really depends.
He was on a chat site - a Subaru forum, bragging about how one lonely night on the freeway he encountered a hopped up Civic and they started playing, well over 120-130 mph, off onto the feeder roads, banging gears, redline..
And then his engine blew.
He had a buddy come get him and they tied a strap to the car and towed it to his house, where they thrashed all night to return the car to stock.
The next morning, he called Subaru Roadside explaining that something was wrong with his engine. The service manager was really cool and ordered the new motor and the car was getting worked on.
He posted this the night before he was supposed to pick up the car, with his new/reman engine installed under Subaru warranty. He laughed at what morons the service guys were, and that he couldn't wait to reinstall all of his mods.
That was before he found out that the moderator for the California Subaru Enthusiast board was the regional warranty rep for Subaru - he contacted the repairing dealership, and had them change the "warranty" to "customer pay".
His bragging cost him $6k - and rightfully so, as he shouldn't have been covered anyway.
Moral? If you're going to blow up your car and return it to stock for a warranty repair, don't brag about it on the internet - especially when the manufacturer's regional warranty rep is online with you.
Well, turns out that his victim was also a member of the boards, and his posting (even which dealership it was) pretty much incriminated him. She printed the whole thing out and showed it to the dealer; the tech lost his job, was banned from the boards and the dealership ended fixing everything as quickly as they could, free of charge.
Never underestimate people's stupidity... : )
We discussed just how ugly that could've gotten.
Biggest bugaboo with Mustangs is build quality...it'll be the little, annoying things that'll drive you nuts. My rear axle squeaks over bumps occasionally, my seat belts don't like to retract, the transmission clunks into 2nd when cold, my driver's window shrieks when it goes down (rubbing issues)... If you can live with these little flaws, then you're set.
I personally love the Bullitts (all Mustangs for that matter), and think what they offer far outweighs the small problems. Since you're used to imports, you may find the car loud, uncouth, rough and antiquated. But that's the fun... ; )
You're talking about me! Stop that!
But that's actually one of the things I'm a little worried about with the 2005...that it will lose that rough-around-the-edges feel that the current one has.
Also, the Cobra has IRS and a 6-speed - the 6-speed has a 2.66 first gear - way higher than the 3.35 first gear in the old T-5s and the newer 5-speeds, so rear gears are nearly unlimited.
I'm from the school of realism, so why leave 3.55s in a car with a 2.66 first and a .68 sixth gear? 4.11s are a given for me, and maybe a 4.27 or 4.56. With a 4.11 rear gear, 160 mph is still obtainable, plus the joy of all that increased acceleration through the gear range is awesome.
With the 5-speed, 3.55s are as high as you can go, and you might as well forget first gear - why make a change like that only to effectively make your 5-speed a 4-speed? 3.73s and 4.11s on a 5-speed car becomes a drag slicks only proposition.
I'm keeping my GT's stocker 3.27s...for me and my abilities, it's plenty (at least for now...have considered 3.73s at points though).
Re the 5spd to 4spd, LOL. It already seems like the GT is a 4spd with a really tall overdrive...
I mean to tell you, though, swapping to a 3.55 or 3.73 (even a 3.55 from your 3.27) is like getting an extra 50 hp - I was in shock the first time I drove my '86 after swapping from an open diff with 3.08s to 3.55s and a Ford limited slip - best $600 (including labor) that I've ever spent.
The reason why stock 03/04's generally only run high 12's to low 13's in the 1/4 is due to high 60' times 2.0-2.3. If you look at the stock trap speeds, 109-113mph, there is PLENTY of power there, going to that lower rear gear is only going to make getting a jump off the line that much more difficult.
If your not worried about digging it out of a hole and want great acceleration from a roll, the 3:55's are just fine there also. These things "get it" when the big pedal is hammered, even with the 3:55's.
I was just doing the mental math -
My thing is, why not use gears to make a 6 transmission gears more usable? In a perfect situation, with no drag and stock gears, the car would top out at 250 mph - we all know that's impossible, and there's nowhere that could happen, but what if?
Why not change the range of usuable power where the thing tops out at only 150 - think of how explosive it would be in the first 5 gears...
By the way, I'm NOT even remotely interested in drag racing - in fact, I pretty much hate it - it bores me. I race autocross (3 different classes) and will be looking at the American Iron Club Racing series and other Mustang club events - think of the additional punch in the midrange and top end with deeper gears...with no consideration for dragstrip-style launches.
I just wouldnt be so quick to ditch those stock gears. Test it out. You may like them.
If you did swap them out I would think going to 4:10's would be decent. 3:73's arent enough of a jump to notice much difference.
Also, these DOHC 4.6's arent anything like the 96-99, 01 Cobra's. Those engines LOVED to rev, this engine makes MUCH more power earlier and werent designed to rev like those of the past. My car made 300+ft-lbs at 2000rpm, stock.
No matter what you decide, these are fun cars. Basically 400+hp and close to 400ft-lbs torque stock for right around $30k. WOW!
I'll be doing the Apten Engineering supercharger modification, a chip, a 2.76" pulley, Hooker full length headers and x-pipe with higher flow cats, and a Flowmaster catback (2 chamber mufflers) and a K&N intake. It's amazing that less than $2500 gets you over 100 hp on these cars. There's not many cars on the market that can do an extra 100 for $4-5k, much less $2000-2500...
I'm going to buy a used '03 or '04 Cobra in late July from a buddy (also an Edmunds poster), then trade our other rig at the beginning of next year (like right on Jan 1st or 2nd) for the new Ford truck.
Can't wait to cruise main street in that Cobra...
If you do the pulley, get the kit that uses a bolt-on system for the pulley and a new idler. It'll allow you to change pulleys w/o having to use a puller each time. You can go to a 3.0" pulley w/o having to change the belt,
Good luck.
Realistic selling price would be around $27k even.
They could have easily taken it in trade - people buy and trade cars on a whim all the time - don't think that just because you and I do some research there aren't 100 other guys who buy something because their girlfriend thinks it's cool, then they end up unhappy a month later - happens all the time. CARFAX will give you the real answer on that question, though.
Other than color choices (Screaming Yellow instead of Zinc Yellow, and the deletion of Mineral Grey), there aren't any real changes between '03s and '04s.
I can only assume that Ford did some kind of reclassification with EPA that changed the gas guzzler tax status.
He told me that he could have the car Ford Certified for whatever warranty period I would be interested in. I have to do a bit of research on this, I'm not familiar with how this works cost wise etc. Are you familiar with this at all? And it's still under it's new car warranty, and I'd be able to find out when it went into service to see how much time was left on this.
Just a few observations from spending a little seat time in the car:
Shifter position is a bit awkward for me, I have to reach for it a little bit, clutch effort is on the heavy side, but I would expect that in a car with this much power and torque, it sure needs a heavy duty clutch.
The sound system really didn't impress me, but I didn't try to dial it in to my tastes to see if I could get it any better. What do you think of the sound?
Of course no one buys this car for the stereo. The 390hp V8 makes its on music!
As far as price, he said he has room to work. His asking price is right on the money according to KBB, Edmunds, and Black book. You think it can be had for about 27k? Thanks for the info and sorry to all for the long winded post!
Clutch, shifter, etc? yes, they should be stiff, considering the job is has to do.
Ford's Mach 460 sound system is one of the best on the OEM market, save for the Levinson Sound System in Lexus products and some of Acura's and Cadillac's offerings. Heckuva lot cheaper than a Levinson system, too...
I love music, and may even add another sub and some more power, but the sound of that car through 2-chamber Flowmasters, in my opinion, outranks anything any stereo can put out.
$26-27 is a realistic price - some "high-end" dealers change more for the pleasure of doing business with them, but they don't pay any more at auction for their cars than say, a regular Ford dealer - don't buy into the "we're a high line place" bunk.
Contact me off-line, if you need, I have several lines on used Cobras - other places you can look if they don't want to budge on price.
What is different on the 03 10th anniversary edition vs the regular model? There are still a few of those new floating around. Thanks.
No performance differences, don't fall for any stories about how much more they're worth - cool and all, but only worth $500-750 more.
Nevermind, I think the medication is kicking in now.....
I'll be looking for a 10th Anniversary Edition when I buy mine - I love the interior.
Considering the ratios in your '01's transmission. 3.73s work GREAT! On the older T-5s, with the 3.35 first gear, 3.55s are as high as you'd want for the street (instead of 3.73s or 4.11s), otherwise, first gear is useless and 5th is now 4th...
3.73s or 4.10s work GREAT with an automatic and I think you'll be like a kid in a candy store once you step on the "go" pedal after the modifications.
In regards to shifting, Ford ended up changing out and replacing my transmission after me bringing the car into the dealer approximately 6 times. The car drove great, shifted and clutched better than the day I bought it, and worked great for about 6K Now, I'm having problems again with the shifting. Has anyone had this problem?
I have also had cooling system problems. My car has overheated more than 8 times now. I have had 3 thermostats and have been towed to the dealer 8 times. Now the latest dealer is telling me that maybe I have a defective radiator. Has anyone had this problem too?
Looking forward to hearing from you. Other than the above problems, the car has been flawless and has been fun to drive!
Timber*
Clunking in lower gears as I let the clutch out. Pretty normal driving---not on the gas much.
(1st time I brought back to dealer they replaced a "clutch in the differential"---probably not as frequent now, but still happens.)