A 2001 V6 Mustang is what ultimately led to my Bullitt purchase. My father is a manager at a Ford dealer, and he was driving a 5 sp V6 as a demo when I went to visit him recently.
It's been an eventful 1.5 yrs or so, resulting in the loss of (among other things) my beloved '95 4.6l Thunderbird LX. I've been driving an '89 Accord since late Jan, and had begun to succumb to the dark side. (FWD, small, 4 cyl, foreign) Frankly, the Accord impresses the hell out of me for what it is and having 150k miles. But I digress...
I'd been dreaming of a WRX, and figured I'd test drive one soon, and hopefully be ready to pick up a car payment again by late 2002.
So, I'm visiting my dad, and he's telling me how great the new V6 'stangs are compared to the old ones. Mentally I'm nearly rolling my eyes, but honestly I've rarely found a flaw with anything he's said about cars, and I still learn things from him all the time. I take his out for a drive. WOW.
Are they slow compared to our cars? Of course. But does it have some balls? (No offense with word choice, I hope.) Yes, and more than you would expect. It may not be a Bullitt, or a GT, but it's no slouch. MORE than enough power for passing, merging, etc, and definitely enough to have some fun with. It gets rubber in second with ease.
This experience made me forget the WRX in a heartbeat. No matter what it drove like, it wouldn't have that RWD feel, and it's not a Mustang. Not that I'd buy a V6 probably. But, that experience led to my father saying he could probably get me into a GT right now. Which led to a discussion of the Bullitt. Which led to my purchase of the Bullitt. For a GT, I'd still have waited until next year. For the Bullitt I was willing to stretch things a bit. :smile:
Sorry so long, but I still feel like I got away with something somehow, and LOVE thinking about how lucky I got to get this car.
Short answer: I've got some fairly warm and fuzzy feelings about the V6, and I'd say it's a great car as long as the purchaser understands that they are not buying a GT.
Joe