My S197 Rental Car Impressions

[mavmavv]

So me and my GF visited Hawaii last week, it was a great trip.

We had the option of upgrading our rental car from an econobox to a S197 V6 Drop Top. I figured what the hell and spent the extra 60 bucks.

Like everyone says, they are a way more "refined" car, decent to cruise in and ride nice enough for your grandma to drive. The cheap plastic interior made me cringe a little.

Needless to say, the car was a total dog, although it did get pretty dang good milage for a 4.0L V6.

Once I got back in my Fox this morning I felt like I was driving a go-kart. I felt at home again.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Did you feel claustrophobic in it? I didn't like how it felt like the interior was swallowing me.

 

[mavmavv]

The interior actually felt pretty big. The seats were comfy, but of course the rear seats were useless.

It was just the sheer size and weight of this thing that put a bad taste in my mouth. It just felt huge. The V6 was somewhat peppy if I manually shifted the thing, but driving in OD or D was pretty sad.

But for what I used it for (cruising the island with the top down) it did great.

 

[25thmustang]

They feel big while feeling small, but ride nice, handle decent, and actually run strong. The interior is very very cheap feeling which I too don't like, but thats an american car thing.

 

[Mustang5L5]

No go test drive a GT. Totally different animal


Somedays when i get bored, i go to a Ford dealer and take one for a test drive. I just find a young salesman and they are all too willing to throw me the keys.

 

[25thmustang]

The sheer size of the car feels big, the interior feels small... If you ever drove one you would understand that.

 

[dro]

Car feels big to a Sn-95, but feels small to lets say a '73 mach 1...

 

[FrankenStang]

So me and my GF visited Hawaii last week, it was a great trip.

We had the option of upgrading our rental car from an econobox to a S197 V6 Drop Top. I figured what the hell and spent the extra 60 bucks.

Like everyone says, they are a way more "refined" car, decent to cruise in and ride nice enough for your grandma to drive. The cheap plastic interior made me cringe a little.

Needless to say, the car was a total dog, although it did get pretty dang good milage for a 4.0L V6.

Once I got back in my Fox this morning I felt like I was driving a go-kart. I felt at home again.

Did it have the Pony Package?

 

[Darkwriter77]

I wouldn't mind having a manual V6 for a DD (Pony Package or not), but I don't think I'd bother with any other S197 ... even a GT. If I want balls-to-the-wall performance and so on, I can do it cheaper and have a better-feeling car with a Fox than an S197. I don't like a Mustang to handle/ride like a Crown Vic, and I really don't like the interior feel of an S197 - too cramped, too bulky, so even having 300 horses on tap wouldn't make it feel right to me - I'd sooner have a Lincoln Mark VIII, if I was gonna go that route.

It goes like this:

Fox notch > Fox hatch > SN95 > manual V6 S197 > OTHER

 

[FrankenStang]

I don't see the problem with the interior other than it's hard to reach the seatbelts, the console is so friggin' high and you can barely fit it the back unless your under 5'4".

Ok, I guess I do see the problem.

 

[LiquidGT]

I dont the SN95 interior because my head hits the ceiling and wrap around dashes make me feel clausterphobic. The S197 interior is angled off like the foxes and it doesnt have that "pod" feel. I havent been in a S197 since the '05 car show so I cant remember how small it felt; but if the interior was a big as the car then we would be saying, 'its too big and it doesnt feel like a sports car interior.'

 

[NIKwoaC]

The S197 interior wasn't necessarily cramped, just you sit so much deeper into it. In a Fox, you can open the window and sling your arm out, I didn't feel like you could do it the same in the S197. The S197 also has limited rear visibility, but a lot of new cars have that issue now, too, because of the higher deck.

 

[FrankenStang]

I dont the SN95 interior because my head hits the ceiling and wrap around dashes make me feel clausterphobic. The S197 interior is angled off like the foxes and it doesnt have that "pod" feel. I havent been in a S197 since the '05 car show so I cant remember how small it felt; but if the interior was a big as the car then we would be saying, 'its too big and it doesnt feel like a sports car interior.'

Funny, my '04s interior feels more open then the '06 I'm driving now.

 

[mavmavv]

I dont know if the car had the pony package, I would assume not since its a rental.

The seatbelts were my only real gripe with the interior as far as "using the car", but it felt ultra cheap.

Id assume a GT with some more oomph and a stick would be kinda fun to play with.

 

[FrankenStang]

Honestly, my parent's '06 V6 5 speed with the Pony Package is no slouch. It's pretty quick for a V6.

I bet if the one you had was a 5 speed, you'd have been more impressed with it.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I would buy one...despite the cons.


My feelings towards cars is this... NEW Car > Old Car.


I've been spoiled by buying a brand new car (my '03) to the point now where I want a new car now simply because my 5-year old Mustang is "too old for me"

 

[LiquidGT]

Funny, my '04s interior feels more open then the '06 I'm driving now.

Maybe it is; but for some mental reason I dont like door panels that "connect" to the dash, like on the Sn95.

Maybe I'll test drive a S197 next week to see for myself, matter of fact I know a now ex-coworker that just went to a Ford dealership. hehe



If I had the money I'd probably but a S197; the only things I truly dont like about the S197 is that the aftermarket parts are expensive, I'm not expecting fox prices of course, but some of the stuff is in Corvette price territory. And I dont like the sounds of that drive by wire system.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Yeah, the idea that the throttle is controlled by a servo instead of a cable kinda gives me the heebie-jeebies. Getting the throttle hung up on something on a 5.0 is one thing, but having a 3v 4.6 with 300 horses that could suddenly decide to go WOT or something because of a bad TPS at odd times doesn't seem too safe to me.

+1 on the SN95's feeling way more open inside than the S197's. Part of it could also be the difference in interior colors between your '04 and the '06, though, because black interiors always SEEM smaller for some reason on any car (the '04 is tan, and lighter colors always make interiors and rooms APPEAR larger than they are). I always got the definite feeling that the side windows on an S197 make the car feel like a chop-top hotrod or something, and the top edge of the door is way too high to sling your arm up there when the window's down - something much more easily done in a Fox. (The SN95's door panel feels a bit higher, but not as bad as the S197's.)

I'm kinda wishy-washy on the LOOKS of the interior of an S197. I mean, it's not so much the appearance as it is the actual FEEL and layout of stuff that doesn't work for me. I hate that the e-brake handle is on the left side of the console instead of the right or center - it's just awkward, reminds me of a third-gen Firebird or Camaro - and the steering wheel is freakin' hideous, not to mention bulky and weird-feeling, along with the funky new multifunction levers. (The wipers are on a separate stalk on the right like it's a damned Honda or something.) I do like the mostly flat old-school styling of the dash surface and all, and while the hard plastic door panels textured to look like leather LOOK kinda cool, that texture will surely just trap dirt and people-cheese (y'know, that gunk that builds up wherever you rest your arm) and so cleaning it would involve a lot of work with a toothbrush. And, of course, the rear seat is a freakin' joke - how is it possible that a Fox is a smaller car and yet it's got enough rear-seat room (even in a notch) for a couple to get their freak on?

 

[Mustang5L5]

I tried to get it on in my fox's back seat....couldn't do it

 

[Darkwriter77]

Use the hood and/or fender next time, then. Works for me.

That's something the S197 fails at, too. The hood and fenders are too tall and not shaped right for comfortable secks.

A Fox, especially with aftermarket springs, is juuuuuust riiiiiiiiight...