Why is the life span of a Mustang so short.

[Briebee72]

So let me explain. IN my area of the country anyway you just dont see older mustangs. Pretty much anything before 2005 is not seen much. If they are seen they are fairly well worn and have all manor of things done to them and parts missing. Fox bodies are almost never seen. I think i know of two, 1 pristine trooper car replica and a black one held together with twine. I see an occasional 98ish era ones here and there at meets but thats about it. Most every one I see is only a few years old then the ones older then 6 or so years seem to be no where around. And the ones form like 2000 to 2007 are no where to be seen.

It seems a natural life progression of a mustang is first two to three years is owned by more well to do people who have a stable life. Then sell them and they drop in value to be in reach of 20 somethings or gifts to spouses and kids. They get tore up for 3 more years and then sold and then start hitting the trailer parks in primer grey and by 7th year most are heading to junk yards.

Is it because of the nature of the cars? I mean most owners, I know not all, are hard on these cars. I mean its what they are built for. Modding, drag racing, tracking, stop light warriors... and so on. Is it because they have a hard life?

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[Zrussian13]

Not sure about your neck of the woods but out here I don't see many pre 2000 cars of any kind. Even Hondas and Toyotas are getting scarce. I will say out of domestic cars, old mustangs are more common than most around here.

 

[Briebee72]

Not sure about your neck of the woods but out here I don't see many pre 2000 cars of any kind. Even Hondas and Toyotas are getting scarce. I will say out of domestic cars, old mustangs are more common than most around here.

I figure area of the country has something to do with it. Yeah any pre 2000 car I agree. But it seems Mustangs( I guess because I have one I look more) you just dont see many older then 5 to at most 7 years. On the other hand we have tons of 2005 ish focuses running around I have one and I see them everywhere.

 

[Interceptor]

The life of a auto in the USA is 10 years if I remember correctly. After 10 years vehicle that have been driven as daily drivers are 250,000 or much more in mileage.

The low mileage Mustangs are people that buy them and don't run up the miles. After 3 years thay want the latest car.

So it is sold at auction after trade in to a local used lot. Person buys and sells at 100,000 miles. Then car goes on sell at a mom and pops car lot. This is when it becomes affordable to younger people. Of course they've heard they are so fast, and put a lot of hard miles on them, wreck them, blow them up, park in yard under a tree cause that would rather buy a new used vehicle.

So yes by 10 years they are either wore out with over 230,000 miles, totaled, or low mileage garage queens. So are Corvette etc..... No one wants to ride around in a wore out 10 year old Mustang. Look at used Mustang listings, all the older listing that are in good condition are AT 6 cylinders.

 

[JCFoster]

I imagine a lot of these cars get traded and are auctioned off and bought up in areas where there’s a market for them. Where I’m at it’s a relatively middle to lower income area and there’s a lot of older cars. Like the other poster said, probably a good bit of them were wrecked or trashed/recycled over the years.

I bought an 07 Xterra with 140k miles for my son that came from Colorado to Texas before going back to auction in Texas.

 

[Spork3245]

I see fox bodies, SN95s, new edges, and S197s multiple times per week in NJ...

 

[Reap]

So let me explain. IN my area of the country anyway you just dont see older mustangs. Pretty much anything before 2005 is not seen much. If they are seen they are fairly well worn and have all manor of things done to them and parts missing. Fox bodies are almost never seen. I think i know of two, 1 pristine trooper car replica and a black one held together with twine. I see an occasional 98ish era ones here and there at meets but thats about it. Most every one I see is only a few years old then the ones older then 6 or so years seem to be no where around. And the ones form like 2000 to 2007 are no where to be seen.

It seems a natural life progression of a mustang is first two to three years is owned by more well to do people who have a stable life. Then sell them and they drop in value to be in reach of 20 somethings or gifts to spouses and kids. They get tore up for 3 more years and then sold and then start hitting the trailer parks in primer grey and by 7th year most are heading to junk yards.

Is it because of the nature of the cars? I mean most owners, I know not all, are hard on these cars. I mean its what they are built for. Modding, drag racing, tracking, stop light warriors... and so on. Is it because they have a hard life?

My Mustang is a DD and its a 1999 but I take care of all my vehicles.

 

[Balr14]

Mustangs depreciate fast. They are very common and don't retain value. That's pretty much a recipe for a "throw away" car.

 

[Alan2955]

The life of a auto in the USA is 10 years if I remember correctly. After 10 years vehicle that have been driven as daily drivers are 250,000 or much more in mileage.

The low mileage Mustangs are people that buy them and don't run up the miles. After 3 years thay want the latest car.

So it is sold at auction after trade in to a local used lot. Person buys and sells at 100,000 miles. Then car goes on sell at a mom and pops car lot. This is when it becomes affordable to younger people. Of course they've heard they are so fast, and put a lot of hard miles on them, wreck them, blow them up, park in yard under a tree cause that would rather buy a new used vehicle.

So yes by 10 years they are either wore out with over 230,000 miles, totaled, or low mileage garage queens. So are Corvette etc..... No one wants to ride around in a wore out 10 year old Mustang. Look at used Mustang listings, all the older listing that are in good condition are AT 6 cylinders.

You are way off. The AVERAGE AGE of vehicles on American roads is 12, an all time high. And I live in Indiana and I still lots of later fox body Mustangs on the road. And most of them surprisingly have little to no rust.

 

[David Schmidt]

Mustangs depreciate fast. They are very common and don't retain value. That's pretty much a recipe for a "throw away" car.

When I was researching buying my first Mustang, that was abundantly clear to me: I'm throwing this money away. Not like the Hondas and Toyotas we bought before, where we had some expectation of resale value - I fully expect to drive this thing into the ground, turn around, and buy another (used) one. Lather, Rinse, Repeat, until Ford stops making V8s. To be sure, I'll baby it. I change my own oil, because QuickyLube people are idiots. So are Ford stealerships. I'm going to turn my own wrenches on mods for the same reasons. And I'll wring every dollar out of my "investment" (sorry, cars aren't investments) until it's time to replace it by enjoying all those smiles per mile with another one. If you want resale value, Briebee72, buy a Honda.

 

[GMONSTAH]

Wow, down here in the South, I still see actually see '94's to '98's on a daily basis. Not too many fox body, but plenty, absolutely no shortage of 10+ year old Mustangs... I even turn to my wife at times and say, "That Mustang can be no younger than 23 years old..." I specifically remember how '94-'97's had the horizontal slit tail lights. Of course, it helped my two prior Mustangs were a 1995 V6 and 1994 Cobra...

Coincidentally, I actually watched a Scotty Kilmer video on pretty much this very topic today...

 

[shogun32]

around NOVA we have old Mercedes all over the place. I've seen lots and lots of 2008-2014 Mustangs last couple years but it seems to have tapered off a bit and I reckon a good portion were changed over to S550 which are seen quite often but Dodge Chargers beat both observations by a MILE.

 

[Strokerswild]

I dunno, I've owned mine for five years and a few months, and it just cracked 9,000 miles. Should last a LONG time.....

 

[shogun32]

I dunno, I've owned mine for five years and a few months, and it just cracked 9,000 miles. Should last a LONG time.....

lordy, I logged 5000 miles in 1yr but if I wasn't splitting my time across 4 cars that would be 20,000 miles/yr.

 

[cib24]

It's a cheap sports car built to a price and designed to be replaceable and recyclable. It's made of steel so will rust. It's cheap and cheerful so isn't designed to stick around except for owners that choose to put effort in doing so. Furthermore, there is little reason to hang onto one for 20 years when Ford will gladly sell you the latest and greatest on 0% or low interest finance.

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