Best Mustang under 30 grand?

kpmilia

New Member
Established Member
Joined
May 18, 2015
Messages
27
Location
Clawson, MI
I’ll be looking for a weekend toy eventually and was curious as to what everyone’s thoughts were on the current Mustang market with a budget of 30 grand.
 

Weather Man

Persistance Is A Bitch
Established Member
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
25,759
Location
MN
07-08 GT500's Some 09-12 GT500's
Plenty of Edge body Cobra's to pick from.
Rousch and Saleen Edge body's
Plenty of supercharged 3V's to pick from.
Coyotes out the butt
 

StrayBullitt

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Messages
1,213
Location
Seattle (GO HAWKS!)
30 was my budget too and I had my heart set on a GT500... but that said, doing it over, it would be damn hard to pass on some of the badass built 11-14 Coyotes I've been seeing now going in the mid 20's...
 

me32

BEASTLY SHELBY GT500 TVS
Moderator
Premium Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Messages
18,457
Location
CA,NorCal
Skip the terminator. 07-09 gt500s are your best bang for your buck.

13-17 5.0 are another good option. I prefer the A6 over the M6. Ived owned both.

About 35k will get your a low mileage 11-12 gt500.
 

Blk04L

. . .
Established Member
Premium Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
Messages
11,312
Location
South Florida
What's your goal?

Want one with Forced induction already for cheap HP gains? 03-04 Terminator/07-09 GT500

Prefer an tough automatic for consistent drag times?11+GTs

Unique car that can handle well stock? Boss 302
 

kpmilia

New Member
Established Member
Joined
May 18, 2015
Messages
27
Location
Clawson, MI
End goal would be to have a 6-700 horsepower weekend car. The Boss 302 is one of my favorites at this time. I don’t think I would go for an automatic, I would prefer to row the gears. Has anyone driven both a 12-13 Boss and an 11-12 Gt500?
 

Silverstrike

It's to big to move FAST!
Established Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2002
Messages
8,591
Location
Here/there/some other silly place
End goal would be to have a 6-700 horsepower weekend car. The Boss 302 is one of my favorites at this time. I don’t think I would go for an automatic, I would prefer to row the gears. Has anyone driven both a 12-13 Boss and an 11-12 Gt500?


The 12 Boss has skip shift 1-4 when you try to shift in low RPM's to 2nd, while the 13's eliminated it. 12 has regular bulb front and rear lights while the 13's have LED and HID's. I owned a 12 in Blaze Yellow one of 252 made in that year and the least made color of the regular 302's during that year.
IMG_0837.JPG
 

Zedeater

Good from far
Established Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2016
Messages
352
Location
Oh Canada!
If $30k is a hard cap & mid 600 hp is the goal its going to be a 07-10 GT500 with a blower swap. Plenty of good used VMP or OEM '13-'14 GT500 units on the market. You can find the car & do the swap yourself or even better, find a nice clean one that someone's already done like this one in the market section here...if you buy one that's already done just be sure to do your due diligence on it first to make sure its been sorted out right.

https://svtperformance.com/threads/2007-vista-blue-tvs-gt500-700whp.1170719/

.
 

RedVenom48

Let's go Brandon!
Established Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2014
Messages
7,973
Location
Arizona
Pssshhhh, shows how much you jokers know about mustangs. OP, $30k will get you a MINT 84-86 SVO. Upgrade the turbo and you're looking at cool 267 WHEEL hp.

In about 79 years time, it will finally be worth $30k. #longerterminvestmentopportunities
 

gimmie11s

I Race Pontiacs
Established Member
Premium Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2004
Messages
18,488
Location
la la land
Boss 302 mentioned above is another great idea. Consider adding Magnum XL swap and blower though, which would push you closer to $35-40k all in.

Would make for a bad ass street car. That motor will take 8-900hp all day long.
 

PaxtonShelby

iamdrab
Established Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2010
Messages
5,434
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Boss 302 for the stout bottom end with a clutch upgrade, some form of FI, and upgrade to coil overs and you’ll be set for street and road course duty. If you want to drag it you will want to upgrade to the Magnum as mentioned. The skip shift can be tuned out, correct?

‘11-12 GT500 with coil overs and the usual upgrades willl be a blast too.

I love older Mustangs, but IMO a SN95 or Fox-based car simply isn’t going to handle with the newer cars (with nice ride quality) without a significant amount of upgrades.
 
Last edited:

Serpent

Bike or Cobra?
Established Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Messages
9,347
Location
Mountain View, CA
I would not pay anywhere close to 30k for a sn95 car (Excluding 00 cobra R). Only way I'd pay that money is if was under 5k miles.

Best mustang is subjective. If you want to row gears my vote is gt500. If you want to row gears and have a car that can handle then any s550 5.0 would do. I'd love a boss 302 over the two I just mentioned because lighter and they are rarer.
 

Users who are viewing this thread



Top