I’m keeping my 2025 Mustang GT Stock -

[Heritagedave]

My decision may not be a popular choice with most, but I have decided to keep my new 2025 Mustang GT Manual stock.
Believe me, on my other Mustang’s that I have owned, I have spent plenty of money on them and took them to my local racetrack.
Did the upgrades work, yes and no, never to what I thought it would or should have, and the truth is I drove 99% of the time on the streets.
Have I thought about putting a charger on it, sure I have, but the truth for me is, I can't even use the 486HP it has now, the way it runs stock gives me a huge smile on my face every time I drive it, which is after all is all I could ask for from my Mustang.

Here are my reasons why.

• The 2025 Mustang GT is designed to be a thrilling car right off the showroom floor.
• My Mustang will most likely never run on a racetrack; I run my Mustang on the back roads of Tennessee and Alabama.
• Ford has spent Millions of Dollars on the engineering of the car to make it run correctly.
• It has 486hp engine with Predictable/reliable performance, the engine runs great!
• My manual 6 speed shift with no issues,
• The stock adjustable valve exhaust system already sounds perfect to me.
• I will maintain my factory warranty.
• The Mustang will hold its value better than a modified car.
• I really like the stock wheels and tires that came with the Mustang. [Nite Package]
• I like the stock height and ground clearance of the Mustang.
• The stock suspension is perfect for the type of driving I do.

Have I changed anything on the Mustang?
Yes - LOL, I installed a Ford Racing shifter knob, but I don’t see doing anything else to it.

The Ford Motor Company has built many things, but the Mustang must be the biggest commercial achievement they have ever done.

Ford Co - Thanks for the great little car!
Heritage-Dave

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[Frogdog1]

You paid for the car, I assume, so you don't have to justify anything to anybody. I would recommend tinted windows though. I know where you live. Good back roads around there. I used to run my sport bikes around there......very fastly.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

Agreed. Performance-wise, it's all there for me. By contrast, my 06 GT was sluggish and needed waking up with a CAI and a tune...that made a huge difference, but that was "only" 300 hp.

I get those who want to push the performance as mush as it can go, but I'm good with what Ford made here.

The only things I wanted to do to this car were cosmetic, except the strut tower brace, but even then, I think I got it because it looked cool....lol.

I did add a better subwoofer and center speaker and that made a difference in the B&O stereo.

Billetworkz shifter looks much better and helped me from dumb-thumbing my shifter into Manual mode on my A10.

The GT floormats Ford sells and much more plush and have the cool GT logo stitched on them.

Trunk cargo mat keeps stuff from sliding around. The cargo net is handy too. Amazon has the net for 1/2 the price of Ford.

Other than that it was rear and side louvers, black spoiler, black out panel, and front splitter and I think I'm done.

 

[BimmerDriver]

As I wrote in this thread I am very happy with the performance of my stock car. I was telling the wife recently that I had spent tens of thousands of dollars preparing a car for the track, and all of the issues that I had with the car after that point were directly related to those "improvements". Sure, the car was a performance monster, but it became unusable on the street and I had to buy both a trailer and a truck to get it to the track.

We often overestimate the improvement that aftermarket stuff can make and don't give enough credit to the engineers at Ford (or GM or wherever). Sure, there are compromises for safety, longevity, emissions, etc. but you really can't argue with the millions of dollars spent in R&D that got the Mustang to where it is today.

 

[CRC123]

Agreed. Performance-wise, it's all there for me. By contrast, my 06 GT was sluggish and needed waking up with a CAI and a tune...that made a huge difference, but that was "only" 300 hp.

I get those who want to push the performance as mush as it can go, but I'm good with what Ford made here.

The only things I wanted to do to this car were cosmetic, except the strut tower brace, but even then, I think I got it because it looked cool....lol.

I did add a better subwoofer and center speaker and that made a difference in the B&O stereo.

Billetworkz shifter looks much better and helped me from dumb-thumbing my shifter into Manual mode on my A10.

The GT floormats Ford sells and much more plush and have the cool GT logo stitched on them.

Trunk cargo mat keeps stuff from sliding around. The cargo net is handy too. Amazon has the net for 1/2 the price of Ford.

Other than that it was rear and side louvers, black spoiler, black out panel, and front splitter and I think I'm done.

g


what is the cargo net you bought from Amazon? I was looking and there seems to be a bunch of them.

 

[Vapor]

Rock on, Smiles per gallon

 

[Eli GT]

I agree with leaving our GTs stock. I grew up in the 60s with the great muscle cars. Most of them had 350-425 hp or less. Of course being a teenager back then and a poor college kid all I could afford was a '64 Fairlane with a 289 and 3 speed Hurst. Loved that car! My '25 GT Convertible with 486 HP, 6 speed manual is more than enough performance for me. It's an individual thing and I love my GT as is.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

g


what is the cargo net you bought from Amazon? I was looking and there seems to be a bunch of them.

This was the exact one. Perfect fit, good quality and only 15 bucks.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B091NWHXH3/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3MSSE7ALF84XD&psc=1

 

[Edson8r]

Understandable. I did an OEM plus look/modifications on my Mustang. Added an OEM non HP DH spoiler so perfect and easy fit. I didn’t have active exhaust so went with AWE touring catback and it’s perfect for me. Added ford performance strut tower brace and ford performance street lowering springs, steedas bushing support kit and IRS alignment kit. SVE SP2 wheels staggered with summer tires. Also added an Amazon lip that goes under the original lip. Other than that I am done with the car, don’t have plans to add any headers or tuning unless ford releases something for the 5.0 just to get a little bit more out of it. May add Steeda non adjustable struts/shocks but I did want my car to handle better than it did stock. After that I may do sway bars but that depends on how the car feels after. I want it to handle better but still be comfortable on the street. I’ve already done full suspension before on a 2002 Trans Am I had and man it drove and handled like it was on rails but every little imperfection on the road was felt and the streets in Dallas aren’t always the greatest.

 

[Upacurb]

Your all starting to sound like Corvette guys.....

 

[schuvwj]

Dave i think your plan to leave your mustang stock is a very good decision!
Just drive, enjoy and smile!!!

 

[Bob M.]

My decision may not be a popular choice with most, but I have decided to keep my new 2025 Mustang GT Manual stock.
Believe me, on my other Mustang’s that I have owned, I have spent plenty of money on them and took them to my local racetrack.
Did the upgrades work, yes and no, never to what I thought it would or should have, and the truth is I drove 99% of the time on the streets.
Have I thought about putting a charger on it, sure I have, but the truth for me is, I can't even use the 486HP it has now, the way it runs stock gives me a huge smile on my face every time I drive it, which is after all is all I could ask for from my Mustang.

Here are my reasons why.

• The 2025 Mustang GT is designed to be a thrilling car right off the showroom floor.
• My Mustang will most likely never run on a racetrack; I run my Mustang on the back roads of Tennessee and Alabama.
• Ford has spent Millions of Dollars on the engineering of the car to make it run correctly.
• It has 486hp engine with Predictable/reliable performance, the engine runs great!
• My manual 6 speed shift with no issues,
• The stock adjustable valve exhaust system already sounds perfect to me.
• I will maintain my factory warranty.
• The Mustang will hold its value better than a modified car.
• I really like the stock wheels and tires that came with the Mustang. [Nite Package]
• I like the stock height and ground clearance of the Mustang.
• The stock suspension is perfect for the type of driving I do.

Have I changed anything on the Mustang?
Yes - LOL, I installed a Ford Racing shifter knob, but I don’t see doing anything else to it.

The Ford Motor Company has built many things, but the Mustang must be the biggest commercial achievement they have ever done.

Ford Co - Thanks for the great little car!
Heritage-Dave

 

[Bob M.]

Totally agree with your thinking. Just leave it and enjoy it. No headaches etc. I took mine one step further than the shift knob. Black lug nuts. Looks awesome. Enjoy your ride.

 

[Q6543]

I’m happy you’re happy.

the simple fact is these cars are incredibly stout from the factory and aftermarket equipment is light years ahead of what it was in the past.

my modified S650 is infinitely more reliable than my previous modified mustangs… so if you do ever get the itch… you’ll be impressed.

 

[MustangNoob]

I see you removed the air filter covers. That is no stock

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