Hmm. I like my '98 firetard. It's really fast and even though it's almost completely stock and is 7 years old, on the track it handles/performs better than any stock mustang ever built. Reliable, great price when new, and an awesome value for buyers right now as even the premium trans-am is going for only about $8k used right now.
Where else can you get a true 159mph car for $8k?
I dunno what everyone else does to their f-bodies to make them die early deaths, but I towed a 1500 lb trailer (full car inside too) up over the pass at Lake Tahoe at 80+ mph, I've raced the car for 3 full autox seasons, and with well over 100k miles it still doesn't burn a drop of oil and is in great mechanical condition. In the last 7 years I think I've spent less than $3,000 in maintenance and repairs, including the paint work needed after I scraped against a hidden fencepost and had to get the door repainted.
It's not a classic yet, but I can't replace it with anything that has nearly the same performance and usability for under $40,000. Maybe a GTO will carry 4 people and haul a trailer, but the stangs just don't have the performance and GTO production has halted. A BMW M3 will of course beat it but why should I buy a $50k car to replace something that still works just fine and still outperforms anything but a mustang cobra, GTO, M3, or vette?
This last one is me lapping around texas motor speedway at about 120mph with all my race gear, including 60 lbs of tools and 4 tires, in the back of the car. That's why the rear springs look a bit low in this last pic, plus I think at that point I still had it floored just prior to catching back up to the pace car which was holding us to 80mph 
