Differentiate Between an 04 and an 03

I have an 04 too, but a GT. We have the 40th Anniversary badge between the front wheel and the door.

One thing I've noticed is the 04s have a silver antenna. The 03s have a black one.

I also noticed the 99-00 has a different spoiler. It's more like a letter "C" shape. Ours is like a Pi. I actually like the 99-00 style better.

Look here... http://bradbarnett.net/mustangs/timeline

Like said above, 04's have the circle around the running pony symbol that says 40th anniversary(much like the 99's only with 35th Anniversary) and it has a black backround. That is probably the msot noticible way. Also, the pony package, only avaiblibe on the 04's i beleive, consists of the GT hood scoop and fading horse graphic on the bottom of the doors.

propellerhead said:

One thing I've noticed is the 04s have a silver antenna. The 03s have a black one.

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I just bought a brand new leftover 03 v6 and it has a silver antenna. I'm thinking of painting it black though, I don't have much silver on my car but there's a lot of black.

cruisinV6 said:

Also, the pony package, only avaiblibe on the 04's i beleive, consists of the GT hood scoop and fading horse graphic on the bottom of the doors.

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My new 03 has the pony package. Complete with the GT hood scoop and the horse graphics (which I didn't like and removed). It also came with leather seats and steering wheel, racing pedals, power seats, mach 6 cd disk changer, etc. for over $4k under invoice!



I think the only outside difference is the 40th anniversary logo on the side of the car.

the pony package was offered from 2001 or 2002. i dont remember which. it also adds chrome plated rims. the 99-00 has the moulding stripe along the side of the vehicle, the 01 doesnt, the 02-04 does. strange. the 99-00 has the different spoiler. the 99-01 can have the 15" rims. the 02+ has the rims where you can see the lugnuts. or the one with the pony centercap. um....some idiots (i've actually seen this once) write the year of their car across the top of the windshield. (it said 99 Mustang.....duh....) the 99's have a slightly thinner circle around the mustang, if it's the spec. ed. then you can tell by the color....the darker yellow "chrome yellow" was only produced on the newer body styles 99-halfway thru 00. the zinc yellow (mine) was produced halfway thru 00-halfway thru 03, then the new more saturated yellow is halfway thru 03-05 at least. there are a few other color modifications.

the longer you own a mustang, the more you pay attention to the details of the model years, the easier it will be to determine what model year that car is. thats pretty much what i did....looked at each new model year seeing the differences.


oh and engine wise, yours has the 3.9L engine vs our 3.8's, the 99-00 has a metal MAF, and interior wise, personally i think the 99-00 has a nicer center console. i've replaced mine with a 2000's.

Sixpak_one said:

I bought the (5) speed Coupe new in 04. I didn't buy the GT that I wanted, because I have (4) teenagers at home (insurance). Although this thing honks pretty good - alot better than I thought it would.

Question: How can someone tell me how to tell the difference in model years? What are some of the body changes on the later models?

Thanks.

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I believe you should have six more cu.in., 232 to 238. It should be a 3.9l, instead of 3.8. But don't worry, that's just displacement numbers, you still get the same HP.