4.6 Cobra or 5.0 Cobra?

Hey guys! Its been a while since I've been on here. Well I sold my 97' GT a little over a year ago after I got a new 07' Focus for graduation. My GT had been having problem after problem and my dad was having to pay for it, and was tired of it. So he bought me a new car that he felt would be reliable. Anyways...I've been working, saving, and wishing for another Mustang for almost a year now, and narrowed the list down to a few options. First I only had 96' to 98' Cobras on my mind, I guess I just love that body style, and the only newer ones in my price rang have too many miles. Oh and most 96' to 98' Cobras out there in my range seem to have 70,000 miles or more on them. But recently I found a 94' 5.0 Cobra in my range and it only has 16,000 miles on it!! I test drove it earlier today and it seemed just as fast if not faster than my fairly heavily modded 97' GT. I know they only have 240hp and 285tq but I was wondering if those 5.0's have quite a bit of easily tapped potential. My first vehicle was a 95' 5.0 F-150 with 140,000 miles on it and 185,000 when I sold it. It had plenty of tranny problems but never any engine problems, so I know that engine is tough. I was mainly just curious as to what y'all would go for, a really low milage but equally priced 5.0 Cobra or a 70,000+ mile 4.6 Cobra? Obvisouly the 4.6 DOHC would have more power to start with, but would the 5.0 be able to be just as powerful with minimal mods, and then even more powerful with more mods? I'm not worried about dumping money into either of the two cars, thats one of the things I like to do, so thats not really much of a factor. Ok, thanks for any and all input.
 
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IMO, If I had to choose between those two, I would go with a 4.6 cobra. Most 5.0 cobra is going to be very over priced. However if I had my choice, I would buy a 03/04 cobra or find a t-top notch. :drool:
 
the 5.0 cobras had GT40 heads, which are pretty good. porting and polishing the heads and intake with a tfs 1 cam and all the small crap usually gets you in the low 300 rwhp. Then theres always AFRs or TFS twisted wedges. to much much beyond 320 rwhp on a 5.0 though, youll need boost, and that can get you whatever you want. The difference is, the 4.6s (especially the early ones with Teksid blocks) are much stronger stock than the 5.0 blocks and can handle more boost / power.

So basically, if you want ~300-350 rwhp, either motor will get you there, and the 5.0 will be alot stronger down low.

if its ~500+ supercharged / turbo'd hp you want, the 4v is the better starting point.

Seeing as youve never had a 5.0 before i think youd really like it. but then, just about anythign is better than a non-PI 2v. Why ford replaced one semi-crappy 2v engine with an even crappier and smaller 2v engine is beyond me. i really wish the GTs had 5.0s and the cobras had 4v 4.6s, but thats off topic.

test drive a 4v and compare!
 
hold out for the 4.6 cobra. the 32v motor is better than the 5.0 in almost every way possible.
on the other the 95 sounds pretty clean. if you have your heart set on it and it's in your price range go for it. it all really depends on what you want to do with the car.
 
I have a 4.6L Cobra. I wouldn't trade it for the world. The 5.0L Cobras are cool too, but you get 305HP in a 96-98 vs. 240HP from a 94-95. 94-95 Cobra aren't that noticeable either.

You have a "MUSTANG" rear cover.
You have the stock V-6 and GT hood.

Although, you do have the 3rd brake light in the spoiler instead of the lid, which they should have continued through 98 on Cobra models.
 
If I could pick either one with the same milage and condition I'd probably go for the 4.6. And really I hadnt even be thinking about 5.0's until I saw this real low mileage one. It does sound like the 4.6 is the better choice, but those 5.0 cobras seem to have a better nostalgia to them, and I would almost certainly replace the rear bumper with a Cobra one. If it helps any, I would want to mod out either car pretty heaivly, mabey not quite to the point of a supercharger, but pretty much everything in between.

The difference is, the 4.6s (especially the early ones with Teksid blocks) are much stronger stock than the 5.0 blocks and can handle more boost / power.

But are you saying that if eventually I did want to supercharge it, the 5.0 wouldnt be able to handle it very well?
 
4.6

I'd try for the 4.6 Cobra (price depending)

I sold my 99 Cobra to cut down on bills when my wife had our son.

It was a great car, my only real complaint about them is they have ZERO low end torque. They need gears BADLY. 4.10s or 4.30s would be perfect as many of the guys on svtperformance will tell you. They pull hard all the way to 7,000 RPMS which is a rush. :nice:

Wheel hop is the only other real downer on those and you can fix most of it with some stiff rear shocks (Bilsteins FTW about $160 for the pair) and a IRS crossmember brace like the 03/04 Cobras have (about $75).

I do miss that car, but it wasn't paid for and this one is, so down the road it went.
 
If you don't include the '03-04 Cobras, i would have to say on a coolness factor the '93 Cobra is King, but on a performance factor the later Cobras win easy stock vs. stock. I personally would rather have the '93 Cobra than the laster Cobras, unless you include the Terminators, which IMO are still the baddest stock late model *Ford* Mustang available. The GT500s are cool but for the price i'd rather mod out an '04.