Talk to me about Crown Vics

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The wife has decided she wants a sedan. Her first preference was for a LeSabre. Thankfully, she noticed that (1) there are hundreds of these around town already and (2) they are ALL driven by old women. Being aware of the intake manifold gasket issues with the GM 3.8L, I breathed a sigh of relief at her epiphany.

Now she thinks she wants a Crown Vic, probably of 2000-2003 vintage, and NOT a police interceptor. She seems to have taken a liking to the LX Sport edition.

I know the 4.6 is a good engine. I just need a quick rundown of the red flags I need to watch for when inspecting prospective candidates. What are their weak spots?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
The 4.6L is as bulletproof as you can possibly get. I would recommend a 2003+ if you can, and if not try and go for a 2001-2002, as those came with performance-improved cylinder heads. The 2003+ adds a knock sensor and a larger oil slump, but overall it's a different animal under the skin - frame, steering, suspension, etc.
 
I drive one everyday for work. I don't know about the regular versions but the CVPI takes a licking and keeps on ticking. One problem we've had with every crown vic so far is the gas gauge not working at all or working intermittently. The dealership has "fixed" this problem many times but they never work for more than a month.

Fuel consumption is actually quite good for a giant V-8 car. The transmissions seem durable as well.
 
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One of, if not thee best car to come from America is the Crown Vic.

You may want to check out a Lincoln Town car. They can be had aswell for a great price used.
 
I have the 96 Mercury Grand Marquis, 210,000 miles, and still runs great. The only caution is the pre 2002 had the all plastic intake intake manifold which quite often failed. Leaked water. The 2002 models corrected that problem and all is well. Great car for the money.




M1 oils
 
03 and up would be a good choice. Intake manifold leak problem was addressed and the suspension was revamped a bit. We have three in the family, an 03, 04 and 05. Out of all of them, I prefer the ride of the 03. And for 05 only they moved the antenna to the right rear quarter panel rather than in the back window. The 03 is a cvpi, the 04 is an LX and the 05 is a sport. I feel just a tad cramped in the sport because of the floor shifter, but I'm fairly big.
 
When I sold mine last year, and bought a Subaru Impreza 2008, it was like I was no longer riding a whale, but had lasooed and saddled a cougar. The Crown Vic handling and performance is terrible compared to a proper modern design like the Impreza. In the past year, I have sold off
all my three Fords. The Impreza can be had for far less than a Crown, and is a way better vehicle. Also in the snow, my wife
"loves her Subaru".
 
Also, the Subaru Impreza is much quieter, the ride is much more stable and controlled, feels like it's glued to the road, and in case you would like to over take on a two lane highway, the Subaru engine just takes off like a jet. The flat four engine has no counter weights, because none are required, meaning it will rev like a bat out of *()&. Top speed of Impreza
is 160 mph and it is stable at that speed. Top speed of CV is maybe 125, and you feel like you're on the high seas, noisy as all getout, and just about ready to disintegrate. The CV platform is a joke. I used to be a Ford believer, but I just got rid of my last one, and good riddance.
 
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Originally Posted By: scoobie
When I sold mine last year, and bought a Subaru Impreza 2008, it was like I was no longer riding a whale, but had lasooed and saddled a cougar. The Crown Vic handling and performance is terrible compared to a proper modern design like the Impreza. In the past year, I have sold off
all my three Fords. The Impreza can be had for far less than a Crown, and is a way better vehicle. Also in the snow, my wife
"loves her Subaru".



You are talking apples and oranges. Some people just want a nice large sadan instead of a itty bitty car. I happen to own both. A Grand Marquis and a Focus.
 
Originally Posted By: MinivanMauler
The wife has decided she wants a sedan. Her first preference was for a LeSabre. Thankfully, she noticed that (1) there are hundreds of these around town already and (2) they are ALL driven by old women. Being aware of the intake manifold gasket issues with the GM 3.8L, I breathed a sigh of relief at her epiphany.

Now she thinks she wants a Crown Vic, probably of 2000-2003 vintage, and NOT a police interceptor. She seems to have taken a liking to the LX Sport edition.

I know the 4.6 is a good engine. I just need a quick rundown of the red flags I need to watch for when inspecting prospective candidates. What are their weak spots?

Any help would be appreciated.


Your wife is a very smart intelligent person..You are very very lucky to have married such a smart person...I can see she makes very smart choices.

Like everybody here says they last forever as long as they get serviced which I aleardy know you will..

If you can swing a 04 that would be the best year to go with..You should get a 03 or higher cause in 03 the suspension and other things got improved.. By 04 the mainfold issue was taken care of..
 
Driving a Crown Vic is not like driving a car, scoobie, it is like driving the most confortable, fastest, best handling full sized pickup because for all intents and purposes that is what it is. A pickup with a sedan body, and for some of us, that is what we want.

It'd be nice if they put the 3-valve engine (292 hp 4.6 from Explorer/F-150) and 5-speed auto box in them as it'd make a pretty significant upgrade, but unfortunately they are not going to put the engine resorces into it. If Ford took their money and re-designed the CV/GM/TC, Ranger, Windstar/Freestar and the real Taurus when they needed it (or replaced the Taurus with the Falcon), they would have been in much better shape.
 
the crown vic is a reliable proven car that is used commercially by taxi and police and rescue workers country wide the subaru is a great car but a totally different car the subaru handles better may have more power but is also much more expensive to fix as an engine rebuilder the 4.6 is a super reliable long lasting engine with less trouble than the subaru on the average my cousin has a subaru forrester ll bean and it is a nice car although the engine is noisy.(not a problem to be worried about) I like the car and it will probably last just as long as the crown vic unless of course it is involved in an accident with a crown vic than bye bye subaru..
 
which subaru did you have up to 160 and was that m.p.h.? I am curious because there are speed/rev limiters built into the ecm
and 160 mph would be stretching it even down hill..
 
The guy with the subaru is from Canada. 160 is probably Kph which is as fast as he can go in the Subaru.....kilometers per hour, not miles per hour.....Which is about 100 Mph......lol
 
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