Every single issue you just mentioned you WILL eventually get with any car, so what's the difference? Also yes, i AM only focusing on performance because the rest i can take care of just as easily as another guy can buy a new car. When the average guy who bought the '07 Mustang runs out of warranty and his car breaks down, does he have the tools and knowhow to fix that cutting edge technology? Won't he be faced with the same issues that i am right now, only he'll likely be forced to go to a dealership to get his fixed...while i can do mine myself for a FRACTION of the cost.
C'mon man you can't tell me that my car is going to run any less reliably than a new car if i build a new engine for it. All of the low points are inevitable....with any car. So in the long run, which is truely what should matter....NOT a warranty that's going to expire eventually and you're going to be stuck doing all the things on your own that i'm doing with my car now....the only thing that matters should be what you are going to be happy with.
Warranties are useless IMO unless you run across a factory defect. If you buy a new Mustang, it's going to be stock or mostly stock until you pay it off in 5 years unless you want to void the warranty, and chances are in 5 years your warranty is going to be expired anyways right?
So here's the question.....why are people buying new Mustangs? Not your average person, why are CAR GUYS buying new Mustangs? For the warranty? Probably not since most of them go right out and slap a blower on them and void the warranty (at least most guys around here do).
Basically, "better" is an opinion...period. All the technology in the world doesn't necessarily make a car better. Tell that to the guys who are restoring real vintage cars.....tell the owner of a '69 429 Boss Mustang that the new Mustang is better....he'll probably laugh, even though so many things might be more user friendly, like gas mileage or ride quality....who cares? Those are things that cater to taste and taste alone. In the end both cars are going to need maintenance, but something else nobody is taking into consideration is the PRICE of that maintenance...like i said earlier how many people who own new Mustangs can fix ANYTHING that goes wrong with them? Very very few...most will rely on dealerships or tuning shops to fix their cars, while i'm out in the garage doing it myself saving myself a fortune in cash and getting enjoyment out of knowing that i'm self sufficient with MY car.
So....what's better? Who cares? It comes down to the owner and what you want out of the deal.
Damn i hope this gets read...lol
Again, this boils down to the question. Aside from the personal attachment Fox owners (in this case) have invested in their car, does it make more sense to you to own the car during the course of the first half of its life, or the last half? Yes, problems will arise with any car as it ages, but problems will arise a lot more frequent on a car with age and mileage, than a car without. That’s just Father Time having his way with you?
And I’m not so sure why you consider the new Mustangs so “exotic” by nature. Your average Joe can do all of the maintenance and general repair work by himself, without the aid of a dealership….even after the warranty runs out! I mean, you’ve set the stereotype that the kind of people that buy these new Mustangs, aren’t the type that can perform their own maintenance, right? Aside from that being a totally unfounded generalization, what makes you think if a person is unable to change the oil in their S197, they’d fare any better doing it in a Fox? I mean….incompetent, is incompetent, right? So by that reasoning, what difference does it make which car they choose to drive? If they can’t do it, they can’t do it.
But if you’re somewhat automotively inclined, performing general maintenance on an S197 is no different then doing so on an old Fox. Things like oil changes, radiator flushes, brakes jobs, bearings, seals, etc can all be done with hand tools, in your driveway, just like they can with the earlier generation cars. Only when larger problems like transmission or engine issues arise does the need for any special tools or skill arise. In which case, you’ve still got 3-years and 60,000km you don’t need to worry about it. After that, I’m sure in the rare case that something catastrophic does happen, the S197 owner will do just as the Fox owner did at the time his car was just out of warrant and hit the local wrecking yard for used components. I mean….why would you think things would be any different?
As far as you building a new engine for it, I’m sure it would run and perform just fine. And I’m also sure you could build it up to make all kinds of ungodly power. But unless you’re going to skimp out on the basics and only change the necessities, it’s not going to be any inexpensive feat either. You’d be surprised what the cost of the supporting components along with all those high dollar performance parts are going to cost you when building a motor from scratch….even an OHV. But you’ve still got the wear and tear on the other items on the car to deal with. What do you do when right after you’ve installed your newly built $5,000-$10,000 engine (assuming you chose to build a real performer using all new parts, since we know that old parts have a tendency to fail), your transmission takes a dump, or your rear end starts to howl, or your front end starts to clunk. No problem….just fix them too, right. After all, what’s another $500 here and $1,000 there, right? But before you know it…..you’ve already surpassed the value of the car in repairs and you’re still nowhere near a fully rebuilt Mustang. Oh, and on top of that, that high performance, high dollar engine you just built, doesn’t have any sort of warranty on it either. So factor that into your decision as well.
Contrary to popular belief (and I’m sure 25thmustang already mentioned this) performance bolt-ons will
not void your warranty on a new S197. Even Superchargers will allow your guarantee to remain in tact as long as a certified Ford Dealership performs the install. Sure, you’re going to end up paying for the labor, which can add up, but that’s a small price to pay in the event something does go wrong and it’s all covered by the dealership. That’s more than I can say for the average do-it-yourselfer who chooses to install his high end components in his back yard.
Look, if the general argument are going to be based on nostalgia, personal taste, the need to own a rough, edgy, unrefined car or plain and simply because you just can’t bare the thought of parting with your Fox, I can totally understand that and also understand that no line of practical reasoning would make sense to you. But from all other perspectives, the newer car is
always the better option. It doesn’t have to be brand new mind you, but as new as you’re able to afford none the less. Some will argue that the car payment is too much, but if you can afford to own, drive and maintain a Fox (or any sports car for that matter) on a daily basis, then you can afford the payment on a newer car. It’s that simple.
I wonder why people spend 100's of thousands in cars from the 40's, 50's and 60's or even 30 grand for a classic Mustang then... It's just a chunk of metal with parts attached to it
No big deal... I admit it is better to daily drive a NEW car, maybe not a Mustang if you can't afford it but whatever... I'm currently driving my hatchback and selling the Accent so I can buy performance parts... This fall I'll get a POS beater.
Those are collectors cars....which ranks right up their with "nostalgic value". Totally different ball of wax. And no Fox (save for some special models) is ever going to be considered a collectors car, simply because they aren't that rare. Look at the production numbers on a 60's Mustang, which were not only the originals, but that all in all only shared the same body style for anywhere from 3 to 5-years and compare them to the hundreds of thousands of Fox cars that rolled off the assembly line during the 80's (a low point for the automotive industry in general) with the same chassis for 25+ years and you'll understand why.
Yeah it's like the Shelby Super Snake....Carrol Shelby's own twin supercharged Shelby Cobra...just sold for $5.5 million. Now, i don't think it was worth THAT but it goes with my example of how worth is what's important to the owner. To the guy who bought that car, it's better than anything new he could've bought, and it sure as hell didn't come with a warranty
I'll tell you right now, the owner didn't pay for the car in that instance, he paid for the name. Carrol Shelby could own a Ford escort and have it go for $100,000.
But you can certainly see the difference in ownership and nostalgia value between a one off, special producton, ultra rare car (to begin with) previously owned by Carrol Shelby and a run of the mill Fox Body car in your comparison, right. 
. Any idiot knows that when you design a PERFORMANCE car (not fords intenrion with the S197) weight is the biggest enemy which is why I don't believe the s197 has any sort of a "head start" against the Fox. Some might argue that the engine of the s197 is more powerful. My rebuttal is that:
Or a Skyline imported from Japan 
