Mach 1 Mach or '05+

I loike the looks of the Mach better personally. No mistaking it for anyting other than a Mach.

Dude, your in a Mach 1 forum, most will people will pick the Mach. Now, with that said, I wouldn't touch the 05+. Ford did a good job with under the hood, but the exterior is

Mach 1 FTW!!!

It depends on what you want out of it. I feel that the new ones are a better built car and so more suitable for DD and that type of deal. Machs aren't bad at all (I drove mine to many far, far places), but they serve better as a toy. They are more rare, too. So...tell us more.

I test drove an '05 GT and liked the power, but that was it. Both the interior and exterior of it I found fugly. No way would I trade my Mach in for an '05-'06. I don't care how much it supposedly is better than the Mach. I've seen some '05 GT's that look good. But they had to blow a ton of dough on the exterior to make it look that way. The Mach bone stock needs nothing to make it better.

Man, I feel sorry for anyone having to sit in the back seat of a newer generation Mustang. If it's possible, I thought it looked like the back seat of the '05 GT's had less backseat room than the '99-'04's. But their probably equally the same. No room. If they sit sideways I suppose their's no problem.

Osiris said:

So I guess, long story short, I just want to know, from Mach 1 owners, how happy they've been and if they could have an '05, would they?

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I have never second guessed my choice of getting a 2003 Mach 1, and would not trade it today for even a brand new 2005 or 2006 GT.

Osiris said:

Well, truth is I almost bought a nice yellow one a year or so ago but passed on it. Now the chance has once again arisen and I'm still considering it.

I do happen to like the looks of the '05. I think it's a better "clean slate" type of car and I'm more of a classic Mustang fan anyhow.

That said, I'm in love with the Mach 1's. I think it's the best iteration of the '99+ cars aside from the Terminator Cobras, and even they don't look as good to me as the Mach does.

But let's talk handling and performance for a second. Now I posed a similar question in the '05+ forum and as you can tell by my sig, I currently drive a turbocharged Miata. Not as fast as a Mach but faster than a base GT ( pre '05, as I haven't tried to race an '05 yet ), and it handles a LOT better than both.

And I mean a LOT better. That's my problem, just don't know if I'll be happy with the Mustang's handling. That's what talked me out of it last time in fact, aside from price ( I paid 7 grand under MSRP for the MSM with really low interest...).

Now I need more than two seats ( 10 year old coming to live w/me ) and I want to be able to enjoy our cruises together with the three of us ( wife and son ). So getting a Mustang makes sense now.

This Miata is my DD, so I don't think a Mach will be hard to live with given what I deal with now, but a DD it will be, and I'm sure I'll want to mod the thing like I modded the Miata, but I don't want to get crazy, simple gears, exhaust/intake work with suspension bits perhaps?

What's the best way to blow a grand on a Mach?

Not sure if it'll happen just yet or not, it's going to come down to price, whether or not they'll give me a deal on this car or not, we'll just have to see.

So I guess, long story short, I just want to know, from Mach 1 owners, how happy they've been and if they could have an '05, would they?

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I'm happy with it, very much so But at the same time, I am okay with its handling and I don't need to haul 10 year olds in the back seat (which is a good thing, for both). Still, an 05 would be pretty much the same.

Of course you'd expect me to say the Mach1 since I have one, so . . . get the Mach1!

Now, some of my reasons:

First the only thing the Mach really needs to handle equal (or better) than the S197's is a Panhard bar and a set of handling shocks and struts. That alone will do it.

The Mach1 can be made to handle much better with what is available on the aftermarket scene. The shorter wheelbase the Mach has will make it as good or better than the S197's, given you choose the right aftermarket parts. Granted, the aftermarket has flooded us with goodies for the new Stangs but the shorter wheelbase of the Mach1, matched to the correct suspension set-up, will always get through the corners faster.

The Mach1 has the 4-valve heads and I see that as a positive for the potential of developing more HP/TRQ than the 3-valve if so desired. As for stock for stock from what I have seen the Mach1 has a slight edge there too.

The Mach1 does still have the 28 spline rear and the S197's has the 31 spline, but unless you plan on launching from high RPM's on drag radials or slicks the 28 spline will hold up just fine.

I have driven several of the new Mustangs since they came out and everytime I get in one I say it feels like a Caddy compared to mine. It has taller, skinnier tires, and over mine it has softer springs and struts and shocks so it should.

The S197 is easier to get through corners than mine (because a longer wheel base is easier to handle/drive) but with the simple suspension mods I have done to mine makes it way faster in any comparable corner I have driven both models in.

The backseat in the new Mustang is supposed to have more room ?? but my head hits the roof when I set back there and does not in my Mach so to me that is debatable.

From the side the new Mustang has a great look but from the front it has a sad look and the flat hood looks too bland to me. The tail is a bit bland too for my taste but there are aftermarket fronts, rears and hoods that I do like for the S197's to fix that.

As said, the Mach has an identity all it's own and can not be mistaken for a GT or Cobra and I think it has the best look of the 3. When I bought my Mach I could have gotten the Cobra or the GT, but even with the power that Cobra had over the Mach, the Mach just had that Muscle Car look that I couldn't ignore. Also when driving the Mach lookng out over that hood across the shaker does something to me . . . Of course there are shaker's available for the new Mustangs too so that could be done to it for a cost.

I like the way the Mach with an aftermarket shifter (that is a must to get IMO) shifts over the newer ones too, and even the new ones I've driven with aftermarket shifters doesn't have as positive a feel as mine does. I have to blame that on the new shifter not being mounted directly to the transmission case as the the Mach1 is and also a contribution to that is the S197's shifter is bolted to the body of the car as well as a long bracket up to the trans. This means when you are putting torque on the engine it twists to the right but the shifter will bind since it is mounted to the twisting transmission and the stationary chassis.

I still like the new Mustangs though and would like to have one. I probably will too, when it comes time to replace my current daily driver, an F150 truck but I would not get rid of my Mach1 for a new platform Mustang.

I like the new body style but we purchased a second Mach over a car like the GT that's now everywhere I go. I may see 1 Mach a month. I've driven couple GT's to 100mph+ on spirted test drives they just didn't do it for me in the power department. My Mach on a good day will squeak 4th the GT squeaks 2nd. I'm sure with the 87 octane tune is the real problem and with a tune with 91/93 octane it would feel stronger but the Mach was built 2 years with only 17k ever being produced. I can't go though a drivethru without someone telling me how nice it looks. I wish I was a little younger it sure gets rave reviews from the weaker sex.

mach 1, i sat in an 06 gt and it didnt feel right, the interior is cheap looking, at least to me.

go with the Mach 1 You see GT's everywhere how often do you see a Mach? The power of the 4v beats the 3v hands down. The shaker is awesome to look at when you drive and most people at least non mustang melvins don't have a clue that the Mach will smoke a GT

I actually had to make this choice, between an '05 GT and an '04 Mach 1. I choose the Mach 1. It was rarer, prettier, and cheaper. If anyone had the choice between the two I don't know why anyone would choose the '05, unless they really liked those color change gauges

I'm in the same boat truely. Everyday I see what eBay has to offer me in Mach 1's, and if something just right doesn't come up soon I may just put in an order for a '07 GT/CS.

I want Azure Blue
I want most to all stock parts on
I want < 5,000 miles
I want garaged baby
I want it to be within 5-6 hours of me (new mexico)
I want to buy at a fair price! I read that some people were getting Mach's for 22k or so after incentives towards the close of '04 year, I won't pay more than someone bought a new Mach for!

Big wishlist, probably '07 here I come.

I've seen afew GT/CS already. Not much that's special about them. Decals, Intake cover, and 2 or 3 other things. Not worth the $3,000 extra for them. And then the dealers are adding a $3,000 bend over charge on top of that at a dealership I saw just yesterday. It was $35,000.

Well I highly doubt I could find any GT/CS (let alone the one I want) on a lot in new mexico - definitely not at the local ford dealer that serves roughly 15k people in the area. That means I would have to put in an order for one, which would hopefully negate most or all of the dealer markups ~ should come out around $27k.

'07 has one more thing going for it - 40th anniversary of the '67 coupe in my garage! So that's kinda cool. I guess we will see what appears on eBay or in the thrifty nickel, but a used car would definitely fit the wallet better and the Mach 1 is a very very cool model.

Ordering one would'nt necessarily negate dealer mark-ups. They can already have made up their minds on what models they want to have dealer mark-ups if they perceive the car will be a hot item. If you order one, they'll tell you straight out right their if thier is a dealer mark-up or not. When I originally ordered my '03 DSG Mach (Later, canceled order) I was getting it for sticker at $29,200. The only other Mach they had ordered was being marked up $5,000 over sticker. When I ordered my '03, these idiot salesman had no clue the Mach was even being built at all. They went to the Ford website and looked up info. on it. They were morons. After I put my order in and they figured out the Mach would be a hot seller, that's when they jacked up the price on the second Mach they ordered.