I loved my 91 so id say 91-92.

 

1989 was the first year of MAF, and stangs kept the forged pistons until '92, when they introduced the 'hyperpathetic' crap.

Stock to stock, SD cars are quicker than MAF, but they don't adapt to modifications as well. Personally, when I was looking to buy mine, I was only looking for '89-92 mustangs, for the reasons listed above.

Oh yeah, and '89 was the last year of tilt steering. Sure glad I own one (even though I had to swap in a steering column to have tilt)!

 

A good friend of ours had a 1992 and he always spoke very highly of his car.

What's the difference between forged and hypereutectic pistons?

 

I've never driven another notch except mine, but now that it's over 15 years old my insurance is $228 for the year, full coverage...

 

I think 89 is the best. But it's prolly cause I Own one.

 

Forged pistons are not as brittle and less prone to cracking under extreme load, such as occurs if your engine detonates (which it tends to do every so often, especially with forced induction/nitrous applications).

The casting process used to make hypereutectic pistons creates a much lighter, somewhat stronger piston, but without the safety margin that forged pistons have in terms of durability. Any major modifications to the engine will mean that tunes cannot be nearly as aggressive with this type of piston, as opposed to forged.

 

I like the 89s I guess... No big bulky steering wheel, still has the MAF if you want to cam....

But, I think all the 86-93 EFI cars are nice, and give good results anyways. and stuff about the 86s being slower, IMO is not all together accurate, my buddies 86 [hes on here as stock865.0] runs low 13s on the stock motor with over 260000 KMs... and still has the "e6" fast burn heads. Stock ported headers, stock cats, etc.. we did put a newer 91 stock upper and TB on though.

Any of the EFI cars are good reliable preformers and still give good mileage etc..

 

Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense now

 

My fav is the 86, last year of the mean front end and cool interior, first year of EFI. But with the years you specified I'd say 89 is the best...forged pistons and MAF. I like speed density and all, but when you really wanna get fast you have to have MAF.