Affordable Mustang Shootout: Is It Worth Buying The V8!? 

If you don't follow Donut media, go check out their most recent video. They just did a list of ten affordable, fun cars with good aftermarket support that can be had for under $10k.

That was a good video. I love donut media.

Exactly./

Drive a Boss 302. Will change your mind

And many of us have no need for a pickup truck.

When the s197 is classic, I’m gonna feel so damn old. That generation is the car I knew as a mustang as long as I can remember. It just looks like what a mustang should look like to me.

I know right?! I still own a 2000 SN95 I bought in 2007, and there's a video on YT where a guy takes one around a track for "vintage racing."

@@PeterGriffin-kb2hf the s197 is a classic also by the body style the car is 15 years old but looks like a car from the 60s

Agreed I own 2 of these cars , I honestly only drive one on weekends one sits . I’ve thought about selling the one that sits but as it’s actually a classic should I hold it a while bc value going up??? 🤷‍♂️ I think so 🤦‍♂️.

@@paulw9732 hold it unless you want it in the junkyard it’s a MUSTANG American classic ALWAYS✅

Never did like the 4.6 platform. I remember watching my buddy throwing every paycheck at his 95 gt 5 speed....spent at least 10k..... aftermarket heads, cam, intake, headers, high compression pistons, lightened flywheel, aftermarket clutch....he made it to around 280 at the tires.....and still got smoked by nearly stock Camaros. constantly. He ended up selling it to go buy a turbo civic hatch.

@@ryurc3033 You need to get the 4 valve Mustang Cobra to get the power. But I did like the GT 1998 stock was fun to drive.

95 GT model came with 5.0, not 4.6L as an FYI.

@@ryurc3033 Lmao 😂,I always said the 4.6 sounds better but the coyote is a better engine every other way

And you can drop in a coyote 5.0 easy peasy

Ever race a 5 speed Taurus SHO?

@@Eztops a lot of people don’t know about this, my dad had a 94 stang when it came out and he raced a sho thinking “eh, sedan” absolutely destroyed

@@Eztops they were both slow

@@RRR-jd2oyThat's fair for today. back in the day they were sweet.. these days i have to spray a big shot of nitrous to keep up lol

@@Eztopsnobody wants that damn Taurus go somewhere.

That's lame. Why get stuck in the past like some angry, conservative boomer?

Hey people should buy whatever car they want.

Thats the argument of those cheesy coffee can exhaust Civic guys

@@TheRealCatof Why pay more to make a electric battery? The element's aa well as oil just like your car uses to make those batteries. There isn't even enough of those element's to make enough batteries for everyone in the world. How do you expect electric cars to survive if there isn't enough material to make them as well as oil to to make them. In reality it's cheaper to own a gas car if you run out of gas just get some gas if your car battery dies get a jump now your electric car dies in the middle of no where yea your looking at an expensive tow truck trip back home or closet charging station if any are close that is.

@@TheRealCatof Exactly! Be modern like the snowflakes of today who don’t know which gender they are!

Lol I don't know if you're joking, but the v8 is the one with the head gasket problems

Had a 95 v6 that had overheating problems. Turned out Ford had an issue with radiator fans burning up so they installed a heavy relay at the fan that would shake loose and damage the fans terminals, preventing it from going on "high". A new fan and some zip ties on the relay and it was good as a new

No it isn' t .....the 3.8 had head gasket issues .

Non pi Gt was slow . But you can add pi heads to it get a bump in power and compression . You add some nice comp xe 274 cams, compression , cnc pi heads , exhaust , longtubes . The pi heads bump it up to 10.2 compression . Your knocking on the door of around 400 hp at crank . Not to mention a 75 mm throttle body , plenum . Throw in some 3.73 gears too .i have myself a new edge 2002 . It has an exhuast , rebulit , 3.55 rearend , cold air intake also . It is getting cnc stage 2 heads , stage 1 cams . You take my car or the build I just described ....good bye 4.0 jeep !!! If it sounds like I know something about modular 2v engine ....I do

I had one...there was a recall I got done...this was over 20 years ago now lol but I think it was the Head Gaskets. -Im in Canada-

You are joking right? These cars are garbage. My 4,000 six cylinder Jeep wrangler set up for rock crawling blows the doors of my friends 4.6 2v, with full bolt ons.

@@bdd1469 my 4.0 6 cylinder Jeep Wrangler broke a tie rod and fried the ECU in the same day so

@@ec6933 Too funny..lol i agree with your comment tho..

The fox was even better. Still had a distributor

@@bdd1469 what world are you living in where a 190hp square chassis can outrun a 215hp coupe that has more torque?

I have a new edge V6 and the only thing i really want to do to it is give it some dual exhaust, its a great daily driver and in the new edge the V6 makes almost as much hp as this stock GT

😂

How many miles before that?

Ford= fixed or repaired daily.

Now that you're older, get a Crown Vic or other Panther platform car n mod that, same 4.6L 2v n trans to mod up.. Check out mine, 09 P71..

I just picked up a 2000 GT five speed a few weeks ago, I’m planning to do the exact same mods you did

Unpopular opinion but those 3.73s are where people screw up. The exhaust, intake, tune, etc don't change the day to day driving all that much. But when you put those slow gears in it, it may feel a lot faster, but now you're getting 14mpg driving it to work, and the only gains they get you are in first gear. Not saying they don't work because there are years of racing results to prove they do, but I don't think they make as big of a difference as people say. Sure you're car may pull as hard in 3rd now as it used to in 2nd, but that just means 3rd is now a similar ratio to what 2nd used to be. You didn't gain anything except in first gear from 0-wherever you shift

@@limprooster3253 All depends on the setup.. 3.73s are a nice change which in the street are good to have.. 4.10s seem a bit too much for the street as the rpms stay higher n exhaust more noisy.. Boost n highway gears are a good setup too, Some cams require lower gears tho so that needs to be taken into account..

​@@limprooster32531/4 mile times should tell different

Interesting on the supercharger for the 3.8, I"ll have to look that up!

@@Kingsoupturbo It was a pretty popular swap when I was younger. I know it's not super simple but it's not exactly impossible either and in fact in the 96-98, it was a lot easier to tune since they switched to OB2 tuning

@@alpha2gproject783 Interesting! well the junkyards aren't exactly full of those early superchargers anymore like they used to be, but still a pretty good bump from the 3.8's stock power.

@@Kingsoupturbo Honestly there's still a ton of the supercharged 3.8's mainly because the Thunderbirds and Cougars they were in were absolutely garbage and when the ABS pump would fail people often would park the car instead of getting it fixed. In my area alone I've seen at least 10-15 where people are parting them out or already yanked the engine and trans then junked the car.

@@alpha2gproject783 Thats interesting! To be fair I haven't looked for these things on my recent boneyard trips, with Covid even crappy condition v6 mustangs soared in price, along with pretty much everything else, its a pretty intriguing idea for RWD sports on the cheap!

1984 they had like 175 hp by that point in the v8 and alot more torque than the later 3.8 had. 140 is significantly lower than 175.

@@midnight347 that was also the "HO" v8'. Regular ford 302 and Chevy 305 was only 140-150 HP. But only? Well when the 2.3l and 200 six only made about 85-90hp.... Should know, I lived it. So yeah over 200hp " net" was big power, enough to take on the 300 HP "gross" motors of the 60s

Eh I'd say 140HP from a 3.8L V6 in a relatively heavy performance car was mediocre at best considering many regular 4 cylinder 90's cars had around that much power or more. A regular Civic (not the Si) made nearly 130HP from a 1.6L 4 cylinder, 90's 4 cylinder Camrys, Altimas, and Accords had similar or more power, etc and those aren't even supposed to be performance cars.

@@averyalexander2303 considering all the owners of those civics had fart can mufflers and spoilers on them they thought they were the fast and the furious

@@stephenkowalski2448 Agreed, there's no shortage of idiot Civic drivers. But that doesn't change the fact that a Civic from that era made within 12HP of the V6 with an engine less than half as big in a car 500+ pounds lighter and could easily beat the V6 Mustang and the Civic wasn't even advertised as a performance car. Many other common family cars could easily beat the V6 Mustang too. Heck I know someone who beat one with a stock PT Cruiser. 140HP from a 3.8L V6 in what is supposed to be a performance car was pretty unimpressive even in the 90's compared to the competition IMO.

Ya, they are also one of the slowest cars ever build. My 4,000 lb six cylinder Jeep wrangler set up for rock crawling outran my friends 94 full bolt on 4.6 2v so bad he had to buy an 03 terminator just to ease the pain.

Just wait till you start blowing spark plugs out the hood, can't tell you how many I've had to fix.

@@idontwant2makeaname I have had a 98 GT since 2002 I have heard of the problem glad I never had this problem. At about 215k now

@@idontwant2makeaname My Cobra has the improved 7 thread head so no problem here :)

And they sound wonderful easily one of Ford's best engines and best sounding engines besides the 351 Windsor.

The base V8 had 260 hp starting in 1999, up from 225 in 98, and 215 from 94 to 97.

@working_country ___ It isn't. No Mustang has ever shared an engine with a Ranger. The SN95 V6s have always been the 3.8 Essex. The main difference for 99-04 was a split-port upper intake manifold & larger throttle body (65mm on the 99-04s, up from 56mm on the 94-98s), which provided better airflow. The Essex V6 was iron block, aluminum head. The Ranger was offered in a 3.0 & 4.0 V6 from 1993-2011, but the closest one to the Mustang engine - the 3.0 - was an iron block, iron head 145 hp engine. It's what's in my '94 Splash, and believe me - they are gutless. Having owned/modified two SN95 3.8s, I can tell you the Mustang 3.8 would demolish a Ranger V6. Incidentally, the 3.8 Essex really gets a bad wrap; they have tremendous potential but were severely de-tuned from the factory to meet emissions requirements. A bone stock 3.8 can be bored/stroked to a 4.3, and with a different cam, reworked heads, intake, full exhaust, and a retuned ECU, they have dynoed over 320 hp at the crank on pump gas (60 hp MORE than a stock 99-04 GT!). Turbocharged 3.8s have made as much as 474 hp at the wheels.

That's cool. The only thing is you'll never get the amazing sound of those two valves produce with the six cylinder. You throw x pipe and an SLP loudmouth exhaust on those two valves, and they sound extremely bada**. Maybe back when they released the six cylinders were cheaper, but nowadays you can get the V8 just as cheap if not cheaper than the 6 cylinders. I bought that beautiful 2002 mustang GT 5-speed manual that you see in my profile picture for only $3,500. It needed some cleanup underneath the car and it needed the idle adjusted because it was throwing a code and the driver seat is a little ripped, other than that the car is basically like brand new because the paint is absolutely amazing on it, the wheels are an amazing condition and the interior besides that seat that I mentioned is in amazing condition. It already has a cold air intake and MSD ignition as well. So there's no excuse to not buy the V8 nowadays, not even gas mileage since the V8 can get just the same with the cold air intake a tune-up and a good tune added to it.

@@sixstanger00 didn’t the 2005-2010 V6 Mustang have the 4.0 OHC engine from the Ford Ranger?

@@stang-rv4pb No, the S197s had a SOHC 4.0 V6 and the Ranger's 4.0 was a OHV pushrod. That is until 2001, when Ranger swapped to a SOHC, in which case they probably are the same engine from that point on.

I have a 97 gt wit leather an I need to find cloth asap. Can’t stand leather seats

If the Mystic paint is in good condition, that is a fantastic price with that low mileage! Run and buy it!

@@jamescraig4479 the bumpers and side skirts need to be repainted the clear coat is faded and paint is chipped on bumpers. The rest could be paint corrected for buffed and shine

@@jakewiththemark8 Tell then you got $7k, might end up in the middle, then get the paint done, could maybe sell it for more..

Yeah if you can get a mystic for that price get it ASAP. If paint is original and good. Thats a 25 grand car right now. Mystic is very rare. I had a new 96 Lazer Red Cobra. Loved it wish I never let it go.

I had 3, 3.8s all blew head gaskets so yea 😂👍🏽

Agreed. Do your PM and don't abuse it and the 4.6 should last at least 300K miles with no problems.

The last 4.6 I had blew a head gasket and was impossible to change without jacking the truck's body off of the frame to get to the rear head bolts. It was too expensive to get someone to do it because it had 245K miles on it, would have drained my bank account, for something that could possibly not have been done right and it happen again. Had it been a pushrod engine it would have been doable by me and I'd probably still be driving it. But that ruined the whole thing. Ford fixed the head gasket issue on the 3.8 in 99 up Mustangs and I now have an 02 V6 specifically because it's a pushrod over the OHC V8 and if something does go wrong, I can actually do the job, and do it MUCH, MUCH cheaper. Having done my research I found out how durable and reliable the 3.8 Essex actually is aside from the old head gasket issues. The only reason the 4.6 is more famous for being so reliable and durable is because it got the chance to prove it in hundreds of thousands of fleet vehicles. The 3.8 was in more understated vehicles like the Taurus, base trucks, minivans, etc - vehicles that didn't get near the attention or glory.

I agree, it's worth it! Plus let's be honest: Is it really a Mustang without a V8...?

Counterpoint, I have a built 5.0 SN95 and a mildly warmed up 3.8 SN95 ... I enjoy driving both of them equally. As delivered the 3.8 single port is pretty bad but three pretty simple adjustments completely changed the V6 . Gears, dual exhaust and shortened/widened intake runners.

@@shoveI I did gears, dual exhaust and cold air intake on mine, and it was a bit more entertaining. I still have a video of it in my videos. But for my next Mustang, V8 no question.

What you drive now?

@@DafuckyallLookingAt I have a ‘14 mustang GT premium 6 speed manual, not my daily. I enjoy it every time I take it out. My daily is an ‘18 Toyota Sequoia

@@mr.c493 sweet

2004 is the 3.9 version of the Essex 3.8

@@kskip4242 Nope, it was still the 3.8 under the hood in 04.

@@jmt8706official no it was not.05 was the new retro Mustang with the 4.0 v6. The 3.9 was a larger version of the 3.8 Essex v6. It was only advertised as the 3.8 but it was actually the 3.9 look it up the information is all over the internet.

@@jmt8706official Ford Had not produced enough 3.8 for the 2004 model because they were getting ready to switch over to the newer Mustangs with the 4.0 so they use some of the 3.9 versions of the essex V6 to fill the Gap that they used in the minivans to make the rest of the model year go smoothly but I assure you look it up it's advertising 3.8 but they really are 3.9 L essex versions of v6s in the 2004. Any Die Hard Ford person knows this.

I’ve known people that were diehard fox body people, but had changed their minds after getting an SN95. I have a 94 Cobra myself with a 408W that I’m looking to sell.

True! The fact that a modern Ecoboost model would smoke an old GT is meaningless to be honest! *V8 in a Mustang or nothing!*

A 95 cobra should Def be as quick as a 99 gt stock for stock if not slightly faster. Their 240 hp was underrated they put down about 220 wheel which is about what a new edge puts down. The cobras actual torque was higher too (not rated torque) and they're probably about the same weight wize. So it Def should be at least equal to a 99 gt if not slightly ahead equal drivers imo.

Never get rid of it

I have an 03 GT, I just ordered the kenne belle 2.1…I’ll be installing it on my channel next summer…

My 2016 mustang v6 has 305hp that's 45 more than the 2002 GT. They have really increased the HP over the years!

I mean if you want to be slower than a minivan, then a v6 is perfect. Lol.

@@angelgjr1999 😂 A Mustang without a V8 isn't really a Mustang...

Understandable! It's a shame having a Mustang without a V8, but maintaining one isn't for everyone unfortunately...

Exactly! Is it really a Mustang without a V8...?!

v8 mustangs any day

@@TopG800 👌🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

@@ThatLoud3v what do you think of Shelby’s? Gt350 or gt500? I do not know what to prefer or look in too, I dream of owning a muscle car like that one day, I probably might be able to afford a Gt one day

@@TopG800 there awesome cars for sure

Stock they were 6.1 seconds to 60 this kid is stupid

A little factoid about the Yamaha V6 powered Ford Taurus SHO and V8 powered Mustang GT was the Taurus SHO was faster. The intake manifold on the SHO's motor was awesome and looked like it came from a Ferrari. Another car that had a Yamaha powerplant was the older Volvo XC90. It was known to be a fairly reliable motor that was rated at, I think, 300hp.

@@mlc7boosted the V10 in the Lexus LFA was also co-developed with Yamaha. Really anything Yamaha touched was great

I thought the Mach 360 with the in dash 6 disc changer was the coolest thing ever back in the day.

Why do all that when a supercharger in a 4.6 makes 400 whp? Look at the terminator cobra.

@@angelgjr1999 You're not making 400 whp with a 4.6 2V with just a blower. A 4V, sure.

@@blakenichols4957 Uhh, yes you are.

@@angelgjr1999because the supercharger for the mod motor costs as much as the car with the 5.0

@@BeagleBob-zw7wg agreed

Same when I tried to buy a new 08' GT back when I was 19. The insurance was going to be literally double the car note and I still remember how upset I was lol.

Yeah I was 23 in 02, got a used 2002 SS Camaro, insurance alone was $250/mo. That was with a clean driving record and a student discount. That's 2002 dollars, when my apartment was $900/mo lol

@@davidryan7981 Exactly! My quote for the first one was $250 as well. The payment was going to be maybe $230. I was in Pensacola. Even when I came back to Pensacola in 2006, my apartment was $650. lol.

@@watchandjewelryloft4713 yeah you only live once though. 23, no wife, no kids, no responsibilities. Had a 97 V6 Firebird since I was 18, always wanted the V8. Sold it in 2001, bought a new 2002 Tundra, but missed the Firebird, so I traded in the Tundra 6 months later on the 2002 Camaro SS auto, had that for 6 months and traded that on a 2000 Formula Firebird w/ the 6-speed manual. Had that for 3 years, got married, knocked my wife up, and I figured I'd need something for a baby seat so I sold it and bought a new 2005 tundra. Came full circle lol. Never did put a child seat in that Tundra. Baby girl is now 16, and I'm still missing my Firebird. Miss the Camaro too, that car was a beast.

@@davidryan7981 Sounds about how my life went lol. Went from the 94 V6 to a Cadillac Seville STS. Mostly because it was MINT and not too bad on price at the time. I actually had more fun with that than the V6 Camaro. Upset a lot of import owners and even some Mustang and 350Z owners back then. 😂 I wish I had kept it honestly. But, sold it in 2006 when I found a mint 1998 Z28 6 speed with only 45k miles. It had been kept under a car port with a car cover. It was stupid clean. Again, another car I should've kept, but 3 years later I was married with a baby on the way. So, it went bye bye. 😭

Facts and a 4 cylinder honda could put that v8 one in the hurt locker🤣

Keep in mind they are also a mile above sea level, so their 0-60 times will be at least one second slower than what would be typical at lower elevation.

because that is what everyone wants in a mustang, quiet and smooth and... slow.

@@potatochobit Nice and smooth operation, efficient and consistent mpg, and plenty fast when city traffic is bumper to bumper. In my opinion better then the stereotypical, obnoxiously loud, bolt on boys who have something to prove for some reason

I had an 06 GT in tungsten grey. Fun car.

2" goes a long way..lol Too funny..