10 gen. Thunderbird

I've been thinking of getting a new daily driver to replace my station wagon, and I want to try something new I've been looking at some Mercedes coupes, but I really think I would rather have a 10 gen. T-bird instead.. They have really been growing on me lately
My experience with 80's and 90's American cars, is that a lot of them just seem really crappy.. At least that's the impression I have of most of those FWD GM-cars we have over here..
So, I'm wondering if they are any good? Are they reliable cars?

 

What's a 10 gen. T-bird? I am not familiar with that term.

 

10th gen, 1989-1997 according to wikipedia

 

OK. The popular term here is MN12 which is how Ford referred to that platform. Anyway, I owned a '96 Cougar (same platform as T-bird) for 10 years and 100, 000 + miles of trouble free driving. I have owned 38 cars, all Ford & Mercurys, and that Cougar was the best all around vehicle I have ever owned. It was a 4.6 V8 and got better gas mileage than my 3.0L Taurus. It was a very comfortable, quiet car to drive.

The early ('89-'94) models featured a motorized shoulder belt set-up that I found annoying, but they were relatively trouble free.

 

I had a 92 T Bird Sport with a 5.0 in it. Absolutely loved that car! Never had any problems with it, and it would run like a scalded dog! The IRS rode like a dream, the faster you got, it seemed like it hugged the road better. I hated to get rid of it, but our boys outgrew the rear seat, so we traded it on a 93 Explorer . We had thought about trying to find another one, but found the Vette instead.....

 

Good solid cars. Only downside, at this age, the suspension boots on the ball joint components tend to rupture allowing moisture to damage the joints. Front joints are only available as arm assemblies and the sway bar end links and rear toe links also have that type of joint. In the US the parts are still readily available and any competent mechanic can fix just about anything that goes wrong with them. I'd say go for it, but stay away from the base 3.8l. (head gasket issues)

 

I had a 95 with a 4.6L. It ran awesome, and the suspension was a dream.

Steering was decent, it had enough TQ and Power. All I did was remove the Intake silencer and add turbo muffler.

I had plans to swap in an aluminum rear subframe with steeper gears/Locker.

But I never got around to it. I sold it early this year when the valve seals went.

Now I wish I hadn't, because A week later I found a Mark VIII DOHC 4.6L for $200 with the complete harness/ECU

 

I don't mind changing out normal wear and tear parts, probably way cheaper parts for one of these than my wagon anyways
But I was actually thinking about the 3.8 V6.. There are no V8 cars for sale, and I've actually never seen any either.. All I've seen are the 3.8 N/A's plus a couple of supercoupes.. They seem to be pretty rare cars over here..

 

Supercoupes for some reason, didn't have the same head gasket issues as the N/A 3.8l. The options and suspension make the Supercoupes more desireable anyway so if I had the choice, I would opt for a Supercoupe. All of the 3.8l's leak oil so be prepared...

 

Do they leak from the oil pan, or just everywhere?
I actually had my eye on a supercoupe with a 5speed and a blown headgasket, but it was really cheap so it sold fast

 

Everywhere. lower intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets, oil pan gasket, etc. We did alot of them back in the 90's under warranty and if it had oil behind it, it was leaking.

 

Okey
Are the gaskets just poorly made or are the surfaces on everything just uneven?
Didn't Ford use the same engine in basically all their smaller cars? Did they improve it any over the years or is it just not worth having at all?

 

AAAMEN!!!!:Handshake

 

SC or No coupe!

They have nice fascias also.

 

Alright All of the 3.8 car ads I've seen say they need or have had head gasket work