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Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis

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#1830 of 3244 by rea98d Mar 16, 2003 (1:13 pm)
"We'll check out the purchase plan at Costco which some or many dealerships participate. Cars can be bought at the invoice price plus a few hundred dollars, according to what we've heard."   Costco? How many cars do you have to buy to get that price?
#1832 of 3244 In answer to rea98d and kinley.... by dinu Mar 16, 2003 (4:35 pm)
Good afternoon "kinley" and "rea98d". My better half and I have been busy in the kitchen cooking up a storm and the Dallas - Sacramento NBA game on ABC finished a while ago so I'm back on line. Dallas won thanks to a great overtime performance by Steve Nash. Yes, our Phoenix Suns wewre the ones who shipped Nash to Dallas. The Suns ownership has made many a bone-head trade in the past.   Thanks kinley for the info. The LS Ultimate Edition that I drove had leather seats and was the only model I've driven as yet. As I remember the GM Ultimate I drove also had Power passenger seat in the front too. We'll check out the LS Premium soon. As for the LSE it may be too long for our standard-sized garage.   Would like to have anyone's take on CR's "negative" comments about the GM. Specifically, what things did CR say that you believe not to be true?   In answer to rea98d, the Toyota sales rep we talked to Saturday told us about the Costco car-purchase program just before we left. He said that all we had to do was come back to his dealership when we were ready to buy and present our Costco card and we could buy our pick of Toyotas at invoice plus $300. Do you have Costco in your part of the country rea98d? Costco was once named Price Club. We also have Sam's Club here in the Phoenix area but we don't belong to it. Don't know any more than that until I go to Costco next week and check with them. Will ask Costco how many/which dealerships participate in this program. Will get back online to this Town Hall discussion group and let you know.   Have to tell you a funny thing that happened at the Buick dealership we visited on Saturday. They ran an ad in the Arizona Republic that they were selling Buick Park Avenues "up to $12,000 off". During the time we were with the sales rep we didn't ask him about the ad but after we parted company, I asked another salesman near a Park Avenue in the showroom about the ad. He pointed to the PA near by and said that was the one the ad was refering to. I walked over and sure enough it had "$12,000 off " painted on its windshield. On closer examination, I discovered that it was a base Park Avenue not an Ultra, and the inflated sticker price they had on it was well over $50,000!!! Well, when $12,000 is taken off that sticker price, it still was over $38,000 for this base Park Avenue, which was higher priced than their Ultra. Didn't check what options were listed on it but it looked like a sales come-on to me.   Would be interested to know about any sales-come-ons you two or others have encountered in the past. With Smetana's Moldau flowing in the background, I'll say 30 and 73s to all.
#1833 of 3244 Re-Think the Buick by ronslakie Mar 17, 2003 (5:57 am)
dinu - I would re-think any decision on that Buick Park Avenue even if they offer $20K off. The reason is that Buick's biggest available engine is the 3.8 V6 which is seriously undersized for a car that size. Buick compenstaes for this by offering it with a supercharger; what it really needs is a V8 like the Northstar that Cadillac has. I have a friend who has a Park avenue and the supercharger just went south to the tune of $2600. Who needs to start with that type of handicap. The 3.8 V6 was initially introduced in the sixties; I had one in a 77 LeSabre and didn't think much of it then.   Ron
#1834 of 3244 on: Re-Think the Buick by dinu Mar 17, 2003 (7:21 am)
Thanks Ron. We've pretty much ruled out the Buick anyway. A question for you: If you were buying a new comfortable, reliable, quality 4dr passenger car with plenty of room, decent handling ability and sufficient power to handle certain conditions where the power was needed, what make and model would you pick? Low re-sale value is of no concern to us as we'll be keeping the new car we buy for ten or more years. Price is somewhat of a concern and the Lincoln TC Executive may be stretching us too much.   We've narrowed it down to three cars thus far: the Toyota Avalon XL or XLS, the GM LS Ultimate Editon, and the Lincoln TC Executive.   On paper, nothing in the Chrysler line seems interesting enough to look into, including their 300 model. Nothing else that Ford or General Motors makes catches our eye or pocketbook. Don't know about the Acura, the Mitsubishi or other makes.   As for the GM and the TC, we have some reservations on the quality for long-term ownership based on some reviews we've read. Do you or others on this forum have any reservations on these cars?   Others viewing this forum are welcome to voice their opinion in answering the question I asked at the beginning of this post.   BTW, I'm wondering if any of the car makers anonymously post comments in the Edmunds' Town Hall forums and/or other similar websites. I don't see how Edmunds or other websites could screen out such posts.
#1835 of 3244 Dinu: You have excellent classical music taste. by kinley Mar 17, 2003 (11:11 am)
" With Smetana's Moldau flowing in the background" Currently I like Sam Barber, Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, and of course, Mozart. Bach organ is pleasant and Beethoven is always welcome. Now, back to the cars.   We too buy for the long term. Our present Towncar was purchased new in '94 and has over 105,000 miles. When the market improves significantly, I'm looking for another, perhaps an '04. The '03 Crown Vics, GM's, & TC's have the same running gear from engine to axle. Same wheels and tires. Same rack & pinion steering design, however, the TC has the more rear room. I don't think the GM LSE is any longer than the Ultimate or LS, thus both would fit in the garage. Suggest you dial in www.lincolnvehicles.com & see what's there as far as dimensions go. They tell all on that website. A few years ago, I flew to Detroit and toured the Wixom factory seeing how the Lincoln is made. Their computer sequential process with same day inventory of parts was very interesting. IMO the tour is worth the price of getting there and wouldn't factory drive away be fun?
#1836 of 3244 by rea98d Mar 17, 2003 (12:19 pm)
All we got here is a Sam's. I was just trying to be funny, cause in places like that, you end up buy 10,000 floppy disks for $5, pickles by the 5-gallon bucket, laundry soap in 55-gallon drums... I figured they'd sell Toyotas shrink-wrapped in 5-packs for $70,000 or something. Get the "Avalon Variety Pack," and have 5 different colors.
#1837 of 3244 Hi again rea98d & kinley by dinu Mar 17, 2003 (4:32 pm)
Got the humor the first time rea98d, but I didn't acknowledge it or carry on with it when I replied. Your comment was funny though. The wife works at Honeywell and as I'm retired I do all the grocery shopping which I don't mind doing. As far as Costco goes I only buy spices like garlic powder and other spices in rather larger bottles than what's in the supermarkets....also Epson ink cartridges for my printer, 3 bundle pack of the 2 lb. Arizona brand tortilla chips, 96 oz. bottles of Woolite, ...........well I could go on and on! Didn't go there today but will later this week when the rain lets up a bit.   I see by your profile that you own an '82 Grand Marquis. It must be holding up pretty well. Tell me about the car: any history of problems with it?.... service done at the dealership.......or anything else you'd like to say about it. Do you have the bench type front seating or the bucket style. We haven't decided which kind we'd get if we bought a GM. One thing I definitely don't like about the GM is the positioning of the spare tire in the trunk. It's set up high and obtrusively making the placement of other stuff, like baggage, rather awkward. The trunk floor is rather low and I'd imagine it might be a little more difficult to get suitcases and the like out. The Lincoln TC does it better regarding the spare and the design of the trunk.   Kinley, it's good to meet another classical music lover. I have a life-long passion for this kind of music. Andre Previn said it best: "A day without music is a day lost." I'm also into jazz, world music and the old pop standards. Your choice of composers that you mentioned are fine. How about Bartok, Dvorak, & Poulenc?   Back to the car stuff: It's good to hear from someone that's had a TC with so much milage. Tell me about the car a bit as regards any problems with it, cost of parts & servicing it if that's significant, and anything else you'd like to tell me. With the incentives that Mercury has this month and my wife's discount via Honeywell, perhaps I can get the bottom line down to a comfortable level for us. The GM Ultimate Edition and the Avalon XLS will likely be close to $10,000 less than an Executive TC. So I'll be looking into how much lower I can get the bottom line for a TC. I'll check on the length of the cars for a fit in my garage. I'll check out that website you mentioned. Your trip to the Lincoln factory sounded interesting. My home state is Indiana and have gone to Detroit a few times but that was long ago. Didn't get to visit the Ford museum that I've heard about nor did I go to a Ford factory. When the wife retires we'll be touring back east in the car we'll be buying this year. She retires in 2 or 3 years. We want to experience the New England area in the fall and then wheel up to Canada and travel across Canada, then cutting down to home in Arizona. We've never been to Canada other than Vancouver B.C. and nearby Victoria. Nice talking with both of you guys.
#1838 of 3244 For kinley: by dinu Mar 17, 2003 (5:42 pm)
Have been doing some reading of the other forums and found your comments in the Town Car forum. Your #777 was an interesting history of problems/repairs that you've had. Some of your other posts were read. By reading them I've pretty much got the answers to my question put to you above. Any further comments are welcomed.
#1839 of 3244 Car Selection by ronslakie Mar 18, 2003 (5:40 am)
dinu - Reference your question on what I would select. I currently have a GM LS and I am pleased with it except for back seat legroom. If I were looking right now I believe I would look at a regular (not Exec) Town Car. I would get about 3-4" more of back seat legroom; the Exec can add $10K on to the price real quick and I am not sure you are getting your moneys worth. There are some deals out there on the TCs for around $30K you just have to hunt them down. I have found the net very helpful in that regard. It is a shame that us rear whell drive fans don't have a bigger selection but in 2 years Cadillac and Chrysler will be switching their larger models to rear wheel drive.   Ron

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