For 45 years, many Americans have longed for the style and performance of a Mustang. Today, its stout performance and eye-checking style is available for well under $15,000.

Every recent Mustang offers plenty of power. A $9,000 2005 V6 Mustang makes as much horsepower—210—as a 1984 Corvette. For about $13,000, a 300-horsepower 2005 GT is yours.

Beginning in 2005, the fifth-generation Mustang was based largely on the Lincoln LS and Jaguar S-Type. The Mustangs continued with McPherson strut front suspension and a solid axle rear, rather than the setups on the Lincoln and Jag. Despite its heritage, the ’05 Mustangs rattled and creaked almost as much as the fourth-generation, which was based on the Ford Fairmont from the late 1970s. With the same MacPherson struts and live axle, the new car doesn’t handle much different than the old versions.

2005 V6 convertibles are available for about $10,000. The tire-smoking GT can be had for around $13,000. Moving up to ’07 models raise prices by about $2,000. More...

For a lot of people these days, buying a new car to replace that old one in the driveway isn’t an option. Also, it’s often cheaper in terms of monthly outlay to keep that old faithful ride running than to take on several years of payments and a higher insurance premium. Here are some pointers to a long and happy relationship with your older car.

Find out all you can about your particular year and model. Talk to your buddies, consult a professional mechanic, and surf the net for forums dedicated to your car––but remember, people with gripes post more than people who are satisfied with their cars, so don’t panic if a handful of posts are negative.

Go to the library and look at back issues of Consumer Reports, which publishes an annual car buyers guide with data on reported problems going back a number of years. Knowing what goes wrong with other people’s cars can help you avoid trouble with yours. Your library might also have shop manuals you can check out.

Now’s not the time to skip scheduled maintenance. Regular changes of oil, coolant, and other fluids are vital to the health of any car, new or old. Keep an eye on belts and hoses to prevent small problems from turning into big, expensive ones. Pay particular attention to the recommended interval for changing the timing belt, which if it breaks usually takes some valves out with it. [more[

Small things like chipped glass, broken trim, and rips in the seats or carpets don’t seem like very big deals when they happen, but if you let them accumulate they can overwhelm you, and before you know it you’ve lost the will to fix them all. Keep on top of repairs, and use each one as an opportunity to check out nearby parts of the car for potential problems. Don’t ignore those funny noises you hear sometimes. Check them out before they get louder––and costlier.

Keep your car clean. Wash and wax it regularly to preserve the paint and prevent rust. Keep an eye on the chrome, too. Spots of dirt that stick to it can corrode the thin layer of chrome and expose the metal underneath to the elements. Keep the interior clean, especially the carpets, which can be worn down by dirt ground into them by your feet.

Finally, even though your old car might not be the quickest or flashiest thing on the road any more, treat it the way you’d treat a favorite old pet, with respect and affection. You can stand on the loud pedal now and then, but don’t forget it’s an older car. Instead, think about the monthly payments you don’t have to make, and the lower insurance rates you’re paying—and when the economy picks up and you can finally afford a new car, you’ll get that much more for your old one.

No matter how much you yearned for a car, and saved for it, and cared for it after you got it, there comes a time when you have to say goodbye. Unless you’re selling it because you won the lottery, you’re going to want to get as much money for your old car as you can. The trick to maximizing the return on a used car is to treat it as if you’d just bought it, and make it look as good as possible for its new owner.

First, give your car curb appeal. Wash and wax it, clean the windows inside and out, and treat the exterior rubber––windshield seal, window trim, and tires––with a protectant. Buff out any scratches in the paint. Clean the brake dust off the wheels. Replace any cracked lenses and burned-out bulbs you find. Lube the hinges on the doors, hood, and trunk, and put a dab of grease on the latches so everything works smoothly and quietly.

Peel off all the bumper stickers and parking passes you’ve accumulated over the years. Your added-on vinyl graphics might appeal to some buyers, but turn off others. Offer to remove them before the sale in case your buyer is a church organist who isn’t wild about showing up for work on Sunday morning driving a car with screaming skulls plastered all over it.

Next clean the interior. Vacuum the carpets front and rear, and be sure to clean under the seats. If the pedal pads are worn, replace them––it’s a cheap fix that leaves a good impression. Clean the seats, the steering wheel, and the dashboard, and take all your junk out of the glove box. And the hula dancer in the rear window? Aloha, baby. More...

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Allow me to start with a “selling a basket case” story. I was selling my wife’s ex-rental-car Pinto. I was asking $500. The best you could say about the car was that it started every time, ran, kinda turned when you moved the steering wheel and kinda stopped when you pushed the brakes. It was cockroach-tough and just as loveable. One potential buyer walked around the car and pointed out some of the vehicle’s many faults. After quite a long time of being nice, I said to her, “Listen lady, you’re buying a ’76 Pinto, not a year-old Mercedes. Do you want it or not?”

All its problems could be fixed with a Phillips-head screwdriver: Just remove the license plates and leave it by the road.

Now, here’s a “buying a basket case” story. While living in Connecticut, I bought a seafoam-green and rust-colored Subaru wagon for $500. The best you could say was that it started pretty much every time, turned when you moved the steering wheel, and stopped when you pushed the brakes. Also, all its problems could be fixed with a Phillips-head screwdriver: Just remove the license plates and leave it by the road. One cylinder had no compression, so we disabled its rocker arms so it didn’t pump raw gas directly into the air, or oil into the intake manifold. I drove it for about eight months and sold it for $500. Best automotive return on investment I’ve experienced. (It was also a great New York City car. When taxi drivers tried to intimidate me, I looked ‘em in the eye and turned toward them. Apparently afraid of tetanus, they swerved abruptly away. I felt like Saint Dale “The Intimidator” Earnhardt.) More...