So School me on an "07 Grand Marquis

[RF Overlord]

+1 for these being exciting, good, safe, dependable cars.

and +1 for joining over at CVN. I've been a member there since 2002.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: SSGSTbirdtoyman
I recommended my dad buy a new 04 Grand Marquis LS Ultimate, since he liked my 95 Impala SS so much. However, by 74K it was on its third transmission and My dad gave me the car at about 84K and I was so glad it came with a extended warranty because just about everything went wrong and would have cost us over $11k if we had to pay for all the repairs. I gave the car to my sister at 95K and she and her husband had it for about 3 months when it came down with a loud knocking engine and would only run to about 25 mph. They donated the car to a local Tech College auto repair school.
My wife had Our LS Ultimate quit on her so many times she called the car "Christine" (the Movie) and thought the car had to be haunted or cursed.

Last month my sons 2000 mustang GT went into the tranny shop for a rebuild and it only had 87K on it. So I am not endorsing these cars any longer. I could go on as I also still own a 95 TBird and it too is having some problems.


Interesting. I've had the exact opposite experience. I bought my 04 Grand Marquis with about 30K miles on it, and it has been very reliable. I'm at about 140K miles and still have the original transmission (still shifts great), no knocking noises from the engine, and it's never left me stranded anywhere - always runs great. I've gotten as high as 29 MPG on the freeway, normal is about 26-27 (fully loaded).

Have to wonder sometimes if the difference is the way different people drive the car and/or the amount of normal maintenance done to the vehicle.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Originally Posted By: JustinH
Here is my take. I had a 2008 Grand Marquis GS, black with similar trim levels.

I bought it in PA for $9500 with 29k miles.

I sold it in Texas a year later with 40k miles for $10000.

This was about 3 years ago.

Pros, nice smooth ride. Feels like driving a couch. Super reliable car. Take 5w20 motor oil and motorcraft filters. Real simple maintenance on this thing, and cheap. Dirt cheap insurance, super safe car if you were involved in an accident.


Huge size. I moved from NY to Texas in this thing, and put all of my possessions in the trunk of the thing and the back seat and drove down. It holds a lot.

The cons are going to be a deal killer in the Northeast, or anywhere with any snow. I bought mine with new Kuhmo all season tires on it. Mine had open diff, not limited slip.

Due to the size of this car, it would get stuck in anything resembling snow, in my driveway. At speed on the highway, I hit a patch of snow, and nearly spun the vehicle into a guard rail. I lost control but never spun out thankfully.

I consider myself to be a pretty good driver of RWD cars in Buffalo winters. I drove mustangs and Tbirds in the winter. I think because this is a bigger car and a longer wheel base, it is worse in the snow than the Tbird or Mustang.

I started putting 300 pounds of sandbags in the trunk over the rear axle, that helped out a little bit, but it still was bad in the snow.

When I got out to Texas, we had an ice storm, and I just left the car parked and walked to work.

Even in wet greasy roads, it was not easy to drive. This may be tire related.

Long trips are good however not great. I thought this would be the car you would want to take cross country, however my seats had lumbar support, but they were more like a bench seat so my back and rear end always hurt after long drives.

Going around corners with a bench seat means you were constantly fighting your body from sliding, it just is not as comfortable as it looks.

Also I could feel a big spring in the bottom of the seat. Mine had super low mileage and this annoyed me.

Another con is gas mileage. I know gas is cheap now, but I used to be $3.50 per gallon. The vehicle would get 14-16mpg no matter what I did to it. New plugs, filters, proper tire inflation.

Mine was flex fuel, I used to put e85 in there sometimes. It would drop to 12mpg.

For comparison, I had a '98 Jack Roush 4.6L F150 2wd with 3.73 gears and that thing would get 16mpg-18mpg.

I could not figure out why the marquis was such a pig on gas.
Bet you would have done better with better tires-if the Michelin Symmetry ones on mine didn't have so much tread left, I was going to buy the GY Assurance Tripletreds for it from the recent DTD sale. Combined with traction control, they would help a LOT. I've had several sets of Kumhos, both LT & passenger car tires, they were useless in snow, not very good in heavy rain either.


I have Winterforces on my Vic, and the car is superb in snow.

 

[andrewg]

Originally Posted By: CKN
Another dinosaur love fest.....


Didn't your mommy ever tell you what to do if you haven't anything nice to say???

 

[andrewg]

I had a Grand Marquis of the same year. Great car. Drove it on a long trip to Arizona and back to Seattle. Got 28mpg on that trip...believe it or not. One of the very best vehicles for comfort. Yes, it's old style in many ways...but surprisingly they handle very well and incorporate the pinnacle of development for a big rear-wheel drive, V-8, sedan that harkens back to the 60's and 70's.

Recall items are available online to research...as well as provided in this thread. One I didn't see brought up was a recent recall for the headlight module. At least I think that's what it's called. The vehicles entire lights can suddenly go black if this item is faulty. Just look it up online.

As for the winter driving? I did just fine in the snow with no snow tires. So do all the police that drive them in such weather. I don't know why some folks think they are bad in slippery conditions. I never had any problems slipping.

 

[69GTX]

I can vouch for the cargo space. They car good for taking leaves and junk to the dump. I handle 8 full sized leaf bags with no problem. No real need for a mini-truck when I have one of these. I've even brought back 1000 lbs of landscaping rock from the quarry in them.

The only time I've had a transmission go is when I either got it with a clunk already in it, or the fluid wasn't changed every 25K-35K miles. Very comfortable driving for several hours at a time, and I have back problems. My longest trip was 7 hours straight to Montreal, no problem. I'm not a fan of the air bag suspensions though. Resale value is just fine as long as the car is clean and taken care of, regardless of miles. Many of these get shipped overseas after 150K-300K miles to be used in taxi service.

I had a mint '98 Grand Marquis with 28K miles that I bought in 2004 from an elderly couple for $8500 (they just bought a new Altima). Unfortunately, 1-2 yrs later it was involved in an accident that totaled it. It had 44K miles and the insurance company gave me $9,000 on it.

 

[ShotGun429]

The panthers will be sorely missed in the future, great cars, easy to fix,dependable etc.... I have 2. a 06 and a 08.

 

[Garak]

JustinH, I don't know if it's tire related or not, either. While most of my experience was with earlier Crown Vics, I didn't find them as good in the snow as the Caprices, when they were being produced at the same time. Different tires did help, but I obviously didn't have the time and resources to sort out an "ideal" combination.

To contrast that, my 1983 mid-sized LTD was phenomenal in the snow. Assuming I wasn't actually hung up, it was virtually impossible to get that thing stuck.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: SSGSTbirdtoyman
Last month my sons 2000 mustang GT went into the tranny shop for a rebuild and it only had 87K on it.


My gf's 07 Mustang's tranny went out right as it hit 100k. Started happening 2 hrs away from home. Completely went dead right as we pulled into the driveway and coasted on in.

 

[SSGSTbirdtoyman]

Yes I agree proper maintenance is very important , however in my case with these cars all received excellent maintenance if not over-maintained. For instance My T-Bird and the GM had a tendency for electrolysis and they received an extra ground and also had the green coolant changed each year to prevent any acidity. It helped but water pumps failed on each. My dad bought the 04 GM new and drove it gently and always maintained but it still had many visits to the shop. The tranny fluid was first changed at 33K but the original tranny went out at about 40K. My moms 95 T-bird (now mine) was also bought new and the tranny went out at about 70K.

When the GM started going into the shop about ever month he gave the car to me, as he did not care to get stranded again he was about 75 when I got the car. Then it stopped on me two times and three times on my wife. The ECM, BCM, fuel pump, lots of sensors, coils, the rear axle went out once. I did not keep the repair records so cannot remember all that was replaced or repaired. We took it on a trip to Montana once and it broke down twice that trip, cruise control, bad window motor, headlights went out and it refused to start when ever it wanted to.

The local police officers who drive Crown Vics told me that some are good, and some are in the shop much and out of service. And they told me that would not ever own one. My wife will not even ride in one of these cars any longer and my T-bird is going to my Sister.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: SSGSTbirdtoyman
Yes I agree proper maintenance is very important , however in my case with these cars all received excellent maintenance if not over-maintained. For instance My T-Bird and the GM had a tendency for electrolysis and they received an extra ground and also had the green coolant changed each year to prevent any acidity. It helped but water pumps failed on each. My dad bought the 04 GM new and drove it gently and always maintained but it still had many visits to the shop. The tranny fluid was first changed at 33K but the original tranny went out at about 40K. My moms 95 T-bird (now mine) was also bought new and the tranny went out at about 70K.

When the GM started going into the shop about ever month he gave the car to me, as he did not care to get stranded again he was about 75 when I got the car. Then it stopped on me two times and three times on my wife. The ECM, BCM, fuel pump, lots of sensors, coils, the rear axle went out once. I did not keep the repair records so cannot remember all that was replaced or repaired. We took it on a trip to Montana once and it broke down twice that trip, cruise control, bad window motor, headlights went out and it refused to start when ever it wanted to.

The local police officers who drive Crown Vics told me that some are good, and some are in the shop much and out of service. And they told me that would not ever own one. My wife will not even ride in one of these cars any longer and my T-bird is going to my Sister.



Funny thing is at CrownVic web site that I've been a member of for years, I don't remember EVER seeing anyone state they had so much trouble with a new or used one, especially an 04! As a matter of fact when the question comes up of which year is the best with the least amount of problems, many people say 2004.

Still have to wonder about the quality of the maintenance people doing the work. For example, did they fill the transmission to the proper level, did they use the proper fluids? It's all speculation now I realize, just wondering out loud.

Other funny thing - there are still many Crown Vic used in local police departments in my area. I see many of them on the road. Since they last made the Vic in 2011 that puts many of them at 4- 5 years old or more. I see a LOT of taxi cabs still driving even older ones, not so much as the airports anymore but around the city.

 

[supton]

Doesn't look like much rear legroom. I know they got taxicab usage, but that pic must have the rear seats all way back.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: SSGSTbirdtoyman
Yes I agree proper maintenance is very important , however in my case with these cars all received excellent maintenance if not over-maintained. For instance My T-Bird and the GM had a tendency for electrolysis and they received an extra ground and also had the green coolant changed each year to prevent any acidity. It helped but water pumps failed on each. My dad bought the 04 GM new and drove it gently and always maintained but it still had many visits to the shop. The tranny fluid was first changed at 33K but the original tranny went out at about 40K. My moms 95 T-bird (now mine) was also bought new and the tranny went out at about 70K.

When the GM started going into the shop about ever month he gave the car to me, as he did not care to get stranded again he was about 75 when I got the car. Then it stopped on me two times and three times on my wife. The ECM, BCM, fuel pump, lots of sensors, coils, the rear axle went out once. I did not keep the repair records so cannot remember all that was replaced or repaired. We took it on a trip to Montana once and it broke down twice that trip, cruise control, bad window motor, headlights went out and it refused to start when ever it wanted to.

The local police officers who drive Crown Vics told me that some are good, and some are in the shop much and out of service. And they told me that would not ever own one. My wife will not even ride in one of these cars any longer and my T-bird is going to my Sister.



While I have no reason to doubt you, saying anything negative about a Crown Vic on this board is like trying to say nobody has dry rot problems with Michelin Tires or very few people get the millage out of their Defender tires. No one will believe you.

 

[javacontour]

We have a '99 and for the size of the car, there isn't much legroom front or rear.

I think all the room is under the hood and in the huge trunk.

My 17 yo daughter drives the '99MGM formerly operated by my grandmother.

No real problems in 76k miles and 16+ years of service.

Originally Posted By: supton
Doesn't look like much rear legroom. I know they got taxicab usage, but that pic must have the rear seats all way back.

 

[oldmaninsc]

Originally Posted By: CKN
While I have no reason to doubt you, saying anything negative about a Crown Vic on this board is like trying to say nobody has dry rot problems with Michelin Tires or very few people get the millage out of their Defender tires. No one will believe you.


To the contrary, I would 100 percent agree that I've had problems with Michelin Tires having premature dry rot (on a vehicle that only gets driven a couple of thousand miles a year) and the set of Defenders on the Camry will be doing well to make 50,000 on a 90,000 mile rated tire. It is what it is.

You've got to be careful of the stereotypes! Not everyone is the same. I understand people will have different experiences with any given vehicle. I don't doubt that some people will absolutely in this case hate the Crown Vic. My point was their experience is most likely the exception not the rule.

Besides, since some people will hate these cars and/or would not be caught dead driving one - leaves more of a dwindling supply for those of us who like them!

 

[Falcon_LS]

Originally Posted By: Kuato
SThe GM doesn't handle as well as a Crown Vic...


The suspension on a GS series Grand Marquis is really no different than a standard Crown Victoria - same goes for an LS vs. LX unless they're both equipped with HPP.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Originally Posted By: JustinH
Here is my take. I had a 2008 Grand Marquis GS, black with similar trim levels.

I bought it in PA for $9500 with 29k miles.

I sold it in Texas a year later with 40k miles for $10000.

This was about 3 years ago.

Pros, nice smooth ride. Feels like driving a couch. Super reliable car. Take 5w20 motor oil and motorcraft filters. Real simple maintenance on this thing, and cheap. Dirt cheap insurance, super safe car if you were involved in an accident.


Huge size. I moved from NY to Texas in this thing, and put all of my possessions in the trunk of the thing and the back seat and drove down. It holds a lot.

The cons are going to be a deal killer in the Northeast, or anywhere with any snow. I bought mine with new Kuhmo all season tires on it. Mine had open diff, not limited slip.

Due to the size of this car, it would get stuck in anything resembling snow, in my driveway. At speed on the highway, I hit a patch of snow, and nearly spun the vehicle into a guard rail. I lost control but never spun out thankfully.

I consider myself to be a pretty good driver of RWD cars in Buffalo winters. I drove mustangs and Tbirds in the winter. I think because this is a bigger car and a longer wheel base, it is worse in the snow than the Tbird or Mustang.

I started putting 300 pounds of sandbags in the trunk over the rear axle, that helped out a little bit, but it still was bad in the snow.

When I got out to Texas, we had an ice storm, and I just left the car parked and walked to work.

Even in wet greasy roads, it was not easy to drive. This may be tire related.

Long trips are good however not great. I thought this would be the car you would want to take cross country, however my seats had lumbar support, but they were more like a bench seat so my back and rear end always hurt after long drives.

Going around corners with a bench seat means you were constantly fighting your body from sliding, it just is not as comfortable as it looks.

Also I could feel a big spring in the bottom of the seat. Mine had super low mileage and this annoyed me.

Another con is gas mileage. I know gas is cheap now, but I used to be $3.50 per gallon. The vehicle would get 14-16mpg no matter what I did to it. New plugs, filters, proper tire inflation.

Mine was flex fuel, I used to put e85 in there sometimes. It would drop to 12mpg.

For comparison, I had a '98 Jack Roush 4.6L F150 2wd with 3.73 gears and that thing would get 16mpg-18mpg.

I could not figure out why the marquis was such a pig on gas.
Bet you would have done better with better tires-if the Michelin Symmetry ones on mine didn't have so much tread left, I was going to buy the GY Assurance Tripletreds for it from the recent DTD sale. Combined with traction control, they would help a LOT. I've had several sets of Kumhos, both LT & passenger car tires, they were useless in snow, not very good in heavy rain either.


I have Winterforces on my Vic, and the car is superb in snow.


There's someone who lives on my hill (at the top, actually) with a Grand Marquis. They have Altimax Arctic tires on the rear.

Guess what car is ALWAYS parked on top of the hill when we get snow/ice?

The owner has no problem getting up the unplowed hill in the snow, getting by the often-stuck AWD vehicles.

 

[dwcopple]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
We have a '99 and for the size of the car, there isn't much legroom front or rear.

Yep, good for fat old people who have shrunk with short legs. That is the main reason we got rid of ours. Our 2011 Civic I replaced it with had more rear leg room and far more up front. Real world room, not some magazine [censored] statistic.

 

[hattaresguy]

Couldn't pay me to drive that dinosaur.

For $100 I'll take one and enter a demo derby, good for that, its about it.

 

[gm03]

I have owned 1 Crown Vic am currently driving my 3rd Grand Marquis, total miles I have put on these cars , between 600,00 700,000. I generally follow factory guidelines for maintenance. In all those miles I have never had a major repair , in fact any repair at all is extremely rare. As stated earlier these are solid dependable , comfortable and surprisingly economical cars. I am old, I suppose , if being born in 1945 is old but I am not fat nor do I feel compelled to denigrate another person or what they choose to drive.