looking for a cobra post 96 pre 00 round 5k anyone??

you need to bump that to about 7k

You will not be anywhere near a decent car for 5k. Best guess for 5k would be a salvage rat of a car with a ton of miles. You should expect to pay 8-10k for a decent 96-98 and 9-12k for a 99. There were no 2000 or 2002 cobras.

how bout a 99 to 02 GT

That you could find for 5k, but will likely still have some miles on it. If you can find one with under 100k miles that's really been taken care of and not beat on, you'll be all set.

i was thinking about getting a 96-98 or 99-01 cobra. but i read more into the 03 cobra and liked the sharp lines it has. I couldnt resist getting the 03 it was even a question. there are a lot os mustangs in san diego, but rarely do i ever see an 03 cobra driving around. Amazing cars