It's Crunch Time...

[RS_to_SC]

Okay, here's the score: I work at a large Ford dealership in Vancouver, Canada and we just traded in a nice 1994 Thunderbird SC. It's black with all the bells and whistles, appears fairly stock, and it only has 110,000 kms on it. I'm not entirely sure how much I can buy it for yet, but I'm hoping for less than $3500 Canadian. Right now I'm driving a 1991 Camaro RS, so for me power, performance, and fun are big parts of owning a car. Some of the aspects of the SC really appeal to me while others set off warning alarms in my head:

First: It's an auto and I usually live and die with stick. Of course that doesn't really have anything to do with the car itself...

Second: I am 100% unfamiliar with this engine and it's technology after getting to know my 5.0L TBI V8 fairly thoroughly. Is it hard to learn and work on without an engineering degree?

Third: I keep seeing people on this board alluding to "maintenance costs" as a negative aspect of owning these cars. Are we talking about premium gas or do these things break down a lot? An what needs attention around the 100,000 to 120,000km mark? I don't mind hard work, but I do mind paying out big cash for problems I can't fix.

Fourth: I don't know whether or not to trust the tranny. Mid 90's Ford auto trannies have a sketchy track record at best. I heard these have a Mazda transmission. Is it strong/reliable/durable?

Sorry about posting so many questions, it's just that for me buying a car is a HUGE choice. I like to work on them, add to them, personalize them... I love my Camaro to death. Bought it when I was 17, I've had it for seven years and it still seems like yesterday when I picked it up. But I woke up one morning and realized that it now has almost 200,000 kms on it. Made me question whether it was worth it to put so much effort into it when it may be approaching "old, worn out car" status.

The SC has the potential to recapture that feeling, but I don't want to buy into trouble after simple, straightforward performance. Any and all comments, suggestions, and facts from everyone would be appreciated. Like I said, it's a HUGE decision for me so I'd love some feedback!!

Jason

[turbospeed]

theyre great cars, specially the 94-95 ones , fun to drive, about the maintance cost , theyre reliable , but when they break it tends to be expensive mainly for labor , bt if you can do you own work , it helps a lot.

there are 2 expensive things in a SC balancer and headgaskets. if you take care of those 2 before they fail the car is gonna give you lots and lots of miles of happy ownership.

if you get it do the exhaust first gives you more power and the hg's last longer. then save 400 bucks and do the balancer and youre done.
and for the ultimate reliability do the head gaskets before they fail and the motor mounts while youre down there

it get expensive when you start with the big dogs performance parts.

[LightY3arZ]

First:
Personal preference is personal preference...the auto will give you consistency, but you may be one of those people who just enjoy shifting.
If you can live with the auto cool if you cant and you are savy you can swap a stick in.

Second:
I am teaching myself everything I can about automobile maintenence, and performance on an sc, and my wifes Acura...sure its a bit more complex than the four banger, but not really. If you dont mind jumping on here and searching the forums for the answers to your questions you should be fine. Also investing in a haynes/ford manual is not a bad idea.

Third:
10 year old car = maintenence....how much depends on how well the previous owners took care of it, and how well you will. That having been said, our cars are somewhat rare, so parts are going to be a lil more expensive, and harder to find. Outside of head gaskets and harmonic balancer cost shouldnt be too bad assuming you have the time and capability to do the work yourself.

Fourth:
The manual tranny for our car is the is a Mazda, the automatic's are beefed up AOD's. (mustang) Considering the amount of torque our cars produce I think they hold up prety well..and you can always do preventitive things like adding a tranny cooler if you are worried about it.

My closing arguments:
If you read this board enough you know there are going to be some headaches associated with owning one of these vehicles, but in my humble opinion the rewards far outweigh the negative aspects. If you buy one, you will become addicted, and if you get frustrated and decide to sell it due to all the problems chances are good you will end up looking to get back in one later down the line like alot of these guys! :p

Good luck!

[mcate]

I echo everything said here. The 89-90 SC's & Cougar XR-7's have a different ABS brake system, & finding parts for it can be a bear. But the 93-95's have a more conventional system. I own 2 95's, one of which has over 133,000 miles on it, & it still runs great. I've only had to do the usual stuff to it that a 100,000 + mile car would need: water pump, battery, 02 sensors, plugs & wires. Doesn't burn or leak a drop of oil. They're very well built cars.