When I wanted to replace my Camaro I looked at what was available and the choices were quite slim in 2-door coupes. I don’t have anything against GM – I would have bought another of their cars but I’m disappointed that they abandoned the mid range coupe market segment in the mid 2000s.  I wasn’t really a fan of the Mustangs of the 1990s but when I saw the new retro style of the 5th generation model in 2005 I loved it.   Its a popular car – I wish GM could have built one like this. They did not bring back the Camaro until 2009 and it was far less attractive than the Mustang and the previous Camaro.

What I really like about the Mustang is the retro style. It is a very well executed design based on the style of the famous 1966-68 Mustangs. The power in this base model is a 4.0 litre V6.  Its actually slightly bigger than the Camaro’s 3.8 and delivers more horsepower & torque so no complaints there! Then there’s the wheels – the Pony package includes these silver painted 17 inch alloy wheels that I thought were the best looking stock wheels on any car at the time.  While the Camaro had a sporty exhaust sound from the factory-option dual outlet exhaust, the Mustang had just a stock single exhaust with a great “sport car” sound.

Another car I considered at the time was the Honda Accord coupe.  The design of the 2007 model was nice but they redesigned it for 2008 and I didn’t like the new style.  I was not able to find any leftover 2007 models with the equipment I wanted.  The overall experience of this Ford Mustang pretty much sealed the deal for me – the looks, the sound, the ride, and the features on it.

This car looked stunning in “Redfire Metallic” – a deep sparkling red.  I got the car with just 30 miles on it and drove it until it had 104,000.  For about the first half of its life I only had minor complaints. The build quality was almost perfect except for a wider gap between the headliner and window molding on the left side than the right and a couple of squeaks.

By the time it reached the mid 90,000 range there were more squeaks from the front suspension and I had replaced only two major parts.  The thermostat housing had a crack and leaked coolant, but this was a well documented issue on other vehicles that used the 4.0L engine.  They were made of a plastic or composite material.  The other item was the passenger side wiring junction box which had some corrosion due to a water leak into the footwell on that side of the car, another well documented problem with the 2005-09 Mustangs.  Click the pony link on the left to read more about the history of the Ford Mustang.  Below is the original window sticker for my Ford Mustang.

Here are some pictures I took of this Mustang shortly after I bought it. (click for a larger view)