Buying help - facelift or not

Buying help - facelift or not

Author
Discussion

lawyered07

Original Poster:

73 posts

80 months

Thursday 2nd January 2020
quotequote all
in the early stages of looking really but have been casually looking for a while as a minor obsession. will likely pull the trigger in the spring.

i had been waiting for facelift values to drop as i really wanted the quad active exhaust, recaros and digital dash in particular.

but do i go for prefacelift?? i see they can now be had pretty easily around 25-28k. then retrofit exhaust, maybe the seats and dash but seems unlikely to be feasible.

what sort of costs are people looking at for a nice exhaust system?

is there anything else particular that i might miss if i dont go for a facelift? im not fussed about magneride and like both front ends.

prefacelift would have to have decent options (shaker pro, sensors etc) which i dont think really changed that much but may well be wrong. so i seem to be leaning towards a prefacelift, fit an exhaust (maybe 1.5k at a guess?) and save around 8-10k.

Heartworm

1,923 posts

161 months

Thursday 2nd January 2020
quotequote all
I think there were only 4 options when I ordered the prefacelift,

Shaker pro
Nav
Sensors
Can’t remember the 4th which means it was probably a waste.
The later pre facelift come with sync3 which has CarPlay/android auto which the earliest cars don’t have.

lawyered07

Original Poster:

73 posts

80 months

Thursday 2nd January 2020
quotequote all
Thanks. Is there much difference other than auto android? Same interface?

As long as I can bluetooth music across I'll be happy.

swooshiain

377 posts

97 months

Thursday 2nd January 2020
quotequote all
From what I've read and heard, Sync3 is a marked improvement over Sync2. I think my car was one of the earliest ones to have Sync3 - it arrived in August 2016. I'm not saying it's a dealbreaker in any way, but if you have several to choose from, I'd make sure you have Sync3.

lawyered07

Original Poster:

73 posts

80 months

Thursday 2nd January 2020
quotequote all
That's good to know.

Will need to do some exhaust research. There is a facelift one about 100m down the road from me...I hear him every time he leaves or comes home. Sounds like a bomb going off on a cold start.

If I can get the sound I want from prefacelift I think that's the answer and I'll do without recaros and digital dash

Heartworm

1,923 posts

161 months

Thursday 2nd January 2020
quotequote all
lawyered07 said:
Thanks. Is there much difference other than auto android? Same interface?

As long as I can bluetooth music across I'll be happy.
I think you can still Bluetooth across without it, but it’s nice to have and it means sat nav isn’t important as it will use your phone maps, i specd the sat nav but I’ve never used it.

It’s easy to tell if it has sync 3 due to the small bubble at the back of the roof.

ducnick

1,783 posts

243 months

Friday 3rd January 2020
quotequote all
2017 gt owner here.
Old vs new is a tricky one here.
£45 k vs 25k
Warranty vs no warranty.
Digi dash is retro fitable and just requires coding to the car.

All right hand drive gt’s can suffer from oil cooler failure. The ford warranty will get your engine replaced. Second hand used warranty or an aftermarket cooler solution will set you back a grand.
Post 18 cars suffer from the dreaded engine knock at idle that can result from early engine failure.
Used exhaust is £500 quid and will give you the noise. Be careful not to go too loud!
Older cars can have headers and still pass mot. New ones can’t.
Older cars have arguably a better set of gear ratios on the manual.
New cars can be had on 0% pcp so the monthly payments may not be too uncompetitive if that’s how you find your cars.
A supercharger can be fitted for £7k and no warranty to worry about on the used car. The older engines handle boost better than the newer ones.


Is it a toy or a daily?

If daily go for a new auto, if you go for lightly used older car.

Edited by ducnick on Friday 3rd January 20:13

lawyered07

Original Poster:

73 posts

80 months

Friday 3rd January 2020
quotequote all
I had read about the oil cooler issue but didnt realise it was so much!

It would be my daily, cash purchase if I go prefacelift. Would have to pcp a newer one.

Not interested in auto to be honest. My commute doesn't have too much traffic so it's not much of a concern. And I always miss changing gears when driving autos.

StreetDragster

1,518 posts

218 months

Friday 3rd January 2020
quotequote all
No help on the mustang stuff but my mondeo came with sync 2. It was total rubbish, properly detracted from the driving experience despite having all the right headlines, bluetooth/mp3/USB etc

I've retrofitted sync 3 and it's years better than sync 2, I'd add some weight towards getting a sync 3 car if your budget covers it.

Good luck
Matt

ducnick

1,783 posts

243 months

Friday 3rd January 2020
quotequote all
lawyered07 said:
I had read about the oil cooler issue but didnt realise it was so much!

It would be my daily, cash purchase if I go prefacelift. Would have to pcp a newer one.

Not interested in auto to be honest. My commute doesn't have too much traffic so it's not much of a concern. And I always miss changing gears when driving autos.
The rhd oil cooler is a bit of a ticking time bomb. Ford are playing the numbers game and hedging that most will fail long after warranty expires. That’s fine if it just leaks a bit of oil on your drive way etc but the nature of this fault is it will instantly mix oil and coolant which will destroy the engine. Very little chance of you spotting it in time to do much about it.
The solution therefore is to cover
Yourself with insurance, or to completely replace the oil/water cooler with an oil/air solution. Fully fitted with service etc this will run to £600-£1000 depending on which specific one you go with. The issue is to totally remove the oil water manifold, not install an additional inline oil rad like the mishimoto. Regards of year, the ford part number for the rhd cooler has not changed! Even on cars produced today.
Anecdotal evidence seems to be that most will fail early in normal use if they decide to go. Some have failed shortly after high power runs on dynos too.
Most mustangs in the U.K. are second cars so finding a babied dry use only car is easy.

Good options to look for are aftermarket gt350 parts installed such as alcantara steering wheel and the like. Gives it a more premium feel.

Sync 2 vs 3- makes very little difference, both are touch screen and therefore horrible to use while driving. Both play music/do satnav etc. You won’t use the radio much with a gt and proper exhaust. Sync 3 has a buggy Waze implementation which is vaguely useful maybe.

Think carefully before boosting. Power corrupts and 700 bhp is too much for a manual daily driver in this country.


Edited by ducnick on Friday 3rd January 22:48

Barrie c 66

195 posts

82 months

Friday 3rd January 2020
quotequote all
I would love a supercharger, but thought it was nearer £10,000. If I could get it supplied and fitted to £7,000. I would have to consider it. I'm out of warranty on my 2016 Gt and worried about the oil cooler problem. Do you know if anybody has a proper solution yet ?

lawyered07

Original Poster:

73 posts

80 months

Saturday 4th January 2020
quotequote all
Thanks for the info. I will do some more reading on the oil cooler stuff.

Charging wont be on the list (at least for a while) but I have read bits about it. 7k looks doable if you're hands on and do some bits yourself but others will know far more than I do. I'd probably want a bit in reserve tho for sorting niggles etc

mfp4073

1,946 posts

174 months

Friday 10th January 2020
quotequote all
Why can't you fit headers and still pass an mot on a facelift Mustang?
Ive never heard of the coolant problem either... I'd better read up on that as my brother has a 2016 GT, thanks for the info.

John

CaptainSensib1e

1,434 posts

221 months

Friday 10th January 2020
quotequote all
A pre facelift registered after April 2017 is only £145 a year road tax. Worth bearing in mind.

David Beer

3,982 posts

267 months

Sunday 12th January 2020
quotequote all
I have had a 16 gt convertable for a year. Tried to get a face lift 2nd hand, same full spec, black with black wheels and two tone leather, no go. Unless i place an order which will take a year !
Had a face lift for 4 weeks this June in the US, the new auto box is nice until you select sport, then it’s aggressive.
So for me , keeping my 18 k mile and fitting an adjustable rouch exhaust.
Also took out the ford extended warranty before the original ran out, so its exactly the same warranty, pay 25 a month, i think, plus its transferable !
Edited by David Beer on Sunday 12th January 18:57


Edited by David Beer on Sunday 12th January 19:01

downthepub

1,373 posts

206 months

Sunday 12th January 2020
quotequote all
I thought the oil cooler issue was fixed on post early 2016 builds? It's certainly not a common problem on anything mid-2016 onwards.

lawyered07

Original Poster:

73 posts

80 months

Sunday 12th January 2020
quotequote all
David Beer said:
I have had a 16 gt convertable for a year. Tried to get a face lift 2nd hand, same full spec, black with black wheels and two tone leather, no go. Unless i place an order which will take a year !
Had a face lift for 4 weeks this June in the US, the new auto box is nice until you select sport, then it’s aggressive.
So for me , keeping my 18 k mile and fitting an adjustable rouch exhaust.
Also took out the ford extended warranty before the original ran out, so its exactly the same warranty, pay 25 a month, i think, plus its transferable !
Edited by David Beer on Sunday 12th January 18:57


Edited by David Beer on Sunday 12th January 19:01
25 quid a month is much better than I thought. Good to know.

Would be interested if the oil cooler issue was resolved at some point

J4CKO

41,551 posts

200 months

Thursday 16th January 2020
quotequote all
I have found myself looking at Mustangs again for later this year (big birthday), thought they were pretty robust, plus you get a much newer car compared to a lot of stuff.

But the oil cooler thing is a worry, Ford quoted me £425 for an extended warranty, which can be extended up to three years, after the initial 3 months on their used cars.

I dont think would buy one after reading it without one now, they quotes £665 for year 2 and £925 for year 3, is that typical ?


TREMAiNE

3,918 posts

149 months

Thursday 16th January 2020
quotequote all
So what is the oil cooler situation?

Resolved or not?

Any links to show if it is or isn't? You hear conflicting information everywhere...

Can I buy an extended Warranty at any point before the existing warranty expires?

David Beer

3,982 posts

267 months

Thursday 16th January 2020
quotequote all
TREMAiNE said:
So what is the oil cooler situation?

Resolved or not?

Any links to show if it is or isn't? You hear conflicting information everywhere...

Can I buy an extended Warranty at any point before the existing warranty expires?
Did you see my post above, about the £25 a month?