Daily Driver Recipe

[meistah]

Hi all, planning on getting a 14 mustang (auto) once my current lease is up. Spent some time browsing this forum for mod ideas and have a few questions.

What is the practical limit of modding on a daily driver? Obviously the sky is the limit, but at what point will I not see any tangible difference for daily driving? I won't ever track the car (maybe drag strip once or twice), would like to drive it as often as possible so will likely run all season tires for a good chunk of the year (weather here is often grey and rainy). Looking for improved exhaust note, but not overly loud (no drone). Lastly, improved drivability without sacrificing comfort.

The "recipe" I am seeing for this is something around a tune/intake/exhaust with the frpp handling package. boss/cj manifold seems pointless as I wouldn't often be revving the engine out to take advantage of the upper rpm hp increase.

Or, is this the wrong car for me, and I should wait for the 2015 to come down in price?

 

[Zandura99]

See my sig for mods.

Love the exhaust note through the stock mufflers, with the cat delete and x pipe. With the Airraid and tune the car sounds great. 410+/- to the rear wheels and handles like a dream compared to stock. Suspension added a big stance and handling advantage. A little firm with the sportlines... but I think it's worth it. Most accompanying mods (oil separator. LCA and relo brackets, MGW shifter, hood struts...) are for turning fast or doing things right although you won't necessarily feel them... it is worth it to have proper pinion angle, no oil in the intake, etc. One more thing is the rear diff reservoir by JLT and brake cooling ducts which are going on this spring. More for fast turning/stoping, but the rear diff is known to overflow the breather so that fixes that mess. I also will divorce the brake reservoir and clutch reservoir, but think you said auto so guess you don't need that!!

The 15 is a better car... IRS, better interior, better motor, everything is better. But I got my Mustang new premium package at 30,500 and then threw maybe 3-4 grand at it to make it a boss-like handling car for quite a bit less then the 15 off the floor. The deals we can get on 11-14 Mustangs makes them an amazing bang for the buck when you can turn the wrenches yourself.

 

[soSincerious]

above post has a lot of valid points. one that stands out to me is the price factor ... one of the biggest reasons I got this car was the price. dealers were clearing out 14's and I jumped on it. sticker was 27,500. its a lot of car for the money, even for just the base model

practical limit ... honestly would be just keeping it stock

 

[LowNSlowNeon]

My car is my daily.. its a 14 with 44k miles on it.

600 + hp

 

[vortecd]

Put a blower on it

 

[DSG2003SVT]

Get a tune, GT500 mufflers, BMR springs, and an adjustable pan hard bar.

Cold air intakes do next to nothing without more extensive modification, so don't waste the money.

The GT500 mufflers are cheap and will give you a noticeably deeper, louder tone without drone.

Get a custom tune. I highly recommend AED for email tuning, but there are many good tuners here. Shaun@AED is the one I mention because I've personally loved my tunes. They are safe and have smooth drivability.

BMR springs ride just about as comfortably as stock, but they'll give you a nice look. They'll also take almost all the floatiness out of the ride, so it will feel much more stable. The adjustable pan hard bar is just to recenter the axle after lowering it.

For what it sounds like your goals are, I think you'll be happy with those few things. Get a car with the Brembo package and 3.31 gears if that's an option. That seems to be the perfect gear for the auto. Enjoy!

 

[meistah]

Great input from everyone thanks. I was waiting for someone with a supercharger to chime in, haha.

Yes, the price is a large factor that is swaying me towards the 14 instead of the 15, the 13-14s are almost half the price in some cases.

 

[stang99x]

I set out to buy an 11 or 12, ending up with a 13. As for the 15 having IRS, well if you want a more luxury ride that's great but in my experience there's nothing better than a live axle for when you decide randomly that you really want to just shit and get it for fun. To me, the IRS removed a bit of that true old muscle car feel, but others liked it better. Guess it's more a personal choice. I hear a lot of folks go with the GT500 mufflers, they just didn't have enough deep throatyness for me. I got the Flowmaster American Thunder kit and I love it. It does have a little drone at certain RPM's but you can avoid it by changing the amount of throttle. (granted that will be more difficult with an auto car) I bought the X4 tuner from American Muscle with the Bama tunes for life program. They'll make and send you a new tune everytime you make a change that needs a retune. I just got the FRPP P spring shocks/struts from another member here. I wanted a little lower with improved handling but I didn't want the car slammed to the ground. And like the other poster mentioned, a CAI is only as good as the mods supporting it. Without some other changes, a CAI is just there for looks. (but I have one even though my mods are basically what you are looking for)