Honestly it all breaks down to how the car was managed and maintained. I've seen and read about modulars in the high 100k' miles still running strong. Now on to the mod part of it. The 96-98 are the npi gt's so there lacking already, and it's a 2v so they respond all that great to the bolt ons. Get a 96-98 cobra with the 4v goodness. If you do get a gt, make sure you do the PI head/intake swap, it makes a big difference.