Thinking of selling my lexus for a mustang...

Hey everyone,

I have a 97' Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.2L 4x4 right now, and to keep it short; I will be inheriting a 1995 Lexus SC400 with about 166k miles...(or I could keep the jeep and my sister gets the Lexus, both have around 160-170K miles on them)

Anyways, my plan is to inherit the Lexus and sell it (because they are selling pretty well right now), get that money and the money that I have saved up and buy a MANUAL 99-04 Mustang GT with around 70-80K miles.

The Lexus has a few minor problems that can be fixed and is a decent car, but it or the jeep do not have a manual transmission in it!! And I'd vowed to myself that my next car will be manual, just because I love the overall control/feel of a standard.

So, I have spent months and months searching what kind of car would fit my standards (Manual, RELIABLE, RWD, looks, under $10k, and a good background of after market parts). And out of all of my searching, the mustang is the only one that meets all of my standards. (from what I have read, the 4.6L is a very reliable engine, if it has not been beat on)

Anyways, I don't want to make this too long....so based on the reader's digest version of the situation. Do y'all think that a 99-04 Mustang Gt 5-speed is the best for me....other cars that I'm kind of looking at are like BMW 540i 6-speed(reliability is so-so and fixes are $$$), E46 3-series 5-speed( but then again, I dunno about the reliability) and a few other cars; but none seem to measure up to the mustang in what I want in a car....I.E. FWD, auto, etc.


Sorry for making this so long and probably confusing(I'm in a real hurry)

Any info. or opinions on what y'all think I should do would be greatly appreciated

Thanks guys,:SNSign:

Trust me, I have defiantly looked into it, but it would just cost to much for a 2JZ + Manual swap. Plus I would have to pay someone else install it...I know a lot about cars and can do the simple mods/fixes, but I do not have the experience to do a total engine/trans swap by myself.

It feels like y'all don't really think going from the Lex to a mustang is a good idea....?

I just want a RELIABLE, manual, vehicle that I can mod and not have to worry about it breaking down on me; you know? I mean, I was even looking at 2002+ Dodge Rams with the 4.7/6.0 desial manuals a few days ago. But I know that these gas prices aren't going to stay this low.....greedy oil tycoons:stirpot:........I'm just lost and too picky

Thanks for all of the help in my decision guys, I really appreciate it. And I'M SOLD, my next car WILL be a 99-04(preferably 01'+) 5-SPEED MUSTANG GT


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Alright, This is a REALLY stupid question...I've been in a few 99-04 stangs, drove a v6 auto(pretty quick/agile; well compared to the heep). And drove 1 mustang GT 5-speed all alone( to a party and back)....

Anyways, I was soooo f***king exited, that its hard to remember the tiny details.

My question is, can you have your elbow on the armrest and your hand on the shifter at the same time? Like keeping my elbow on armrest while shifting? I'm 6'1" and have pretty long arms, but I just can't remember for the life of me if I could do this when I drove that GT; lol I was just trying not to stall in front of my friends(it had a really touchy/heavy clutch)

Anyways, again I apologize for such a stupid noob question. If you can't, is there anyway I could buy a extended armrest? Or maybe make one myself?

Thanks again guys

So is there anything that can be done to help? Maybe, a extended armrest? or like a UPR Blu-Thunder shifter (adjustable) to extend it? Maybe a combo of both?

I dunno, I have searched A LOT for this and I came up with nothing...I would think that more people would prefer resting on the armrest and shifter? Like the 05+ you can just chill on the armrest and have a full range of the shifter at their convenience.

I mean its not a issue at all, I just figured that someone would have came up with something to shorten the distance from the shifter and armrest

I was just wondering, thanks mransr for the info. Maybe when I get my stang, I'll try to fab something; not like its a big deal...I just like resting on the armrest, with my hand on the shifter

Thanks guys,