Terminator as a Daily

[Greg06]

I would really like to hear from people who daily their Terminators. I'm a recent college grad with $0 student loan debt, and a full time management contract. I say this because I am constantly browsing the buy/sell Terminator forums. I drove a 2014 V6 in college that my brother and I shared, it was very reliable. I would really love to start saving for an 03/04 Cobra once my current lease is up. I would really like to know how reliable these cars are if they've been taken care of. Could I daily one of these?

 

[killer428]

I drive my terminator every day to work, about 6 miles. Also around town and to car shows with zero problems.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Greg06]

Were you the first owner of the car? And how many miles do you currently have on her?

 

[P49Y-CY]

Can you work on cars?

 

[P49Y-CY]

The reason I ask that is they do require a lot of maintenance, so unless you can diagnose and repair the car yourself, it can get very expensive with a lot of downtime in the shop.

I have been dd'ing mine since I bought it new, vert has 119k, coupe has 45k.

edit: I don't want to sound like I am discouraging you because they are a blast to dd and I would highly recommend it, as long as you're prepared for the upkeep :thumbsup:

 

[G04cobra]

I daily drove mine for about 4 years through the dreaded 405 fwy here in the LA area... Is it doable? yes in hindsight would I do it? Probably not. I guess it depends on traffic, stop and go traffic is not fun. Now if your daily driver route is wide open its probably a different story. Daily driving a cobra is like having a Clydesdale do the work of a donkey.

 

[2004cobra615]

i drove an 01 cobra as a DD loved it.. my 04 is so modified i couldn't DD it.
i work on my 04 almost once a month if it be a new performance upgrade or something being worn out.
my 01 cobra i never did a thing but oil changes....

if u decided to go the 03-04 route make sure its pretty much bone stock. I wouldn't recommend a highly modified cobra as a DD it wouldn't be reliable.

 

[01cobravortech]

I've dd mine for a long time but there have been some drawbacks. Police following too frequently. Too much attention from bad drivers dropping the hammer next to me and tailgating. Always have to park far away and find an almost perfect parking spot at work. Things seem to break now more than ever. As fun and exhilarating as this car is, there are a great deal of things to strongly consider if you choose this as a dd.

 

[Schlangenbisse]

I've had my vert for 6 years now. I've only now been daily driving it for the past 4 months. If you compare it to basically any other basic car, it's pretty shitty to daily. However, I would not sell the car to have a better daily. I will lease something much more "comfortable" down the road and have the cobra for the weekends like it use to be. For now, I'm enjoying my 18 mile round trip commute to work on a ported eaton. The parking issue is real though. Always having to go to the back of the lot or even further to find an end spot is annoying everyday.

I would say do it but expect the maintenance issues like others have said.

 

[BlksvtCobra01]

Is it doable? Yes. Would I? No I wouldn't. Have you driven one yet OP? If so I'd drive one first you have a 14 V-6? I personally like the seats in the Terminator some do not but coming from a 14 to a 03-04 I'm not talking power I'm talking cabin and interior its a huge difference. Honestly if your looking for a DD I'd probably look for a 11-14 5.0 JMHO

 

[Lobo_Loco]

i stopped dd'in my cobra about 3-4 months ago (getting more mods), but it was going strong since mid 2014. I enjoyed driving it to and from work and all around down here in Miami (I bet you can imagine traffic) but even with that i enjoyed it, I never had any issue of breaking down or having to replace stuff here or there just the normal oil change every 3k miles and tires...the only issue i did have was trying to find a e85 gas station where to fill her up as i was running e85 full time.....

So id say do it and see how you feel about it than go from there everyone will give you diff responses on their experience

good luck

 

[wckdvnm]

Good to see you on here as well lol, since I can comment here with more characters than YouTube I'll put my .02 in. My car came with 106 on it and I DD it for a year and put 12k miles on it and I beat the living f*** out of it. Only problem I had was the orginal alternator died at 108-110k I forget but that's honestly the only problem I've had.

 

[ShaneCobra74]

I've never DD'd mine, but I'm not sure I'd ever want to. At 42, after a full day at car shows and the ride back and forth in the Terminator, I'm ready to climb into the F150, spread the arms out, let the trans do the shifting, and free myself from worry.

 

[hotcobra03]

Its more on how you drive the car..

ours as you see has kinda been used.@385k

90% of car is original. .

so far the head issue has been the worst issue as cost..that repair is 2 grand done yourself..

my plugs have almost 200k..oil changes alot and keep air filter and maf clean.

outside will get beat to hell..all cobra only parts will lose paint .

im so due for paint..the main part of car paint is ok

 

[hotcobra03]

Its more on how you drive the car..

ours as you see has kinda been used.@385k

90% of car is original. .

so far the head issue has been the worst issue as cost..that repair is 2 grand done yourself..

my plugs have almost 200k..oil changes alot and keep air filter and maf clean.

outside will get beat to hell..all cobra only parts will lose paint .

im so due for paint..the main part of car paint is ok

 

[CobraBob]

i drove an 01 cobra as a DD loved it.. my 04 is so modified i couldn't DD it.
i work on my 04 almost once a month if it be a new performance upgrade or something being worn out.
my 01 cobra i never did a thing but oil changes....

if u decided to go the 03-04 route make sure its pretty much bone stock. I wouldn't recommend a highly modified cobra as a DD it wouldn't be reliable.

This is good advice if you really want to daily drive it. The more the motor is modded, the more routine maintenance you should be prepared for. IMO you would be best off with a lower mileage Terminator that is near stock. Maybe a tune and 2.90 upper pulley for a modest hp/tq gain in the 445rwhp/470rwtq area. I daily drove mine with the 2.90 and tune and never had a single issue. That was over a two year period. Also remember that you're talking about a 12-14 year old car. Even on a stock/near stock Terminator parts are going to need replacement/maintenance. IMO there are better daily drivers that can be as much fun to drive or almost as much fun to drive. But it CAN be done if you find the right Terminator and you accept that you're likely going to have do some occasional maintenance and repairs. Be sure the one you're considering has had regular routine maintenance (especially oil changes) over its lifetime.

 

[03_uni-B]

My dad has daily driven his since he bought it new in 2003. Only thing he doesn't do is drive it in snow.

 

[lilsilverponey]

I DD'd mine for 5 years (bought senior year of college). 500rwhp, no problems but I'm in South Florida. As long as the mods aren't too extensive and you a responsible it's not a problem.

 

[Mbiro594]

I daily my cobra and absolutely love it! I bought a 92 accord as a beater car for winter/bad weather but have not had to use it yet. I have a long commute every day, 40 miles both ways and have had zero issues (knock on wood). My car has mild bolt ons (2.81 pulley, idler pulley, intake, plenum/throttle body and exhaust) so I think as long as you don't mod it too heavily you will be fine.

I debated keeping it as low mileage as possible because it truly is a beautiful cobra (bought it with 13,700 miles), but I enjoy it way too much to have it sitting 3-4 days a week. Get a low mileage stock-mild bolt on cobra and be mindful of how you drive it (I rarely do WOT if ever), change the fluid regularly and instead of spending every available cent on mods, set some money aside for any repairs.

ENJOY!

 

[Zemedici]

Daily drive my cobra (of course the commute is 2.2 miles to my shop )

However daily drove my 04 as well, and my commute was 25 miles one day. Not bad, they arent the most fun cars to drive in traffic, but they're mustangs (ie easy to fix)

Go for it. Nothing to worry about.