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Sedans Ford Crown Victoria/Mercury Grand Marquis Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis
3244 messages, Last post on Aug 25, 2009 at 8:13 PM
You are in the Ford Crown Victoria/Mercury Grand Marquis Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
| over a year, asking questions about God-knows-how-many SUVs, I finally realized that I needed a good road car, and I bought, on July 31, 2004, a 2004 Crown Vic LX Sport...had to have the floor shifter and bucket seats...while my 2000 Intrepid will cool freezing air within 1-2 minutes, the Crown Vic needs about 3-4 miles before it really cools...took it to the dealer, they said it was low on R134a (Manufacture date was 08/03, sat on dealer lot about a full year) and did some repairs...cools better and it IS acceptable, but not as well as many other Fords I am familiar with...I believe it can do better and faster, but dealer says within specs...as much as I really like the car, they could have put a few more options on it...the Grand Marq has an option of Homelink, which would eliminate the need to place my garage remote on the sunvisor...it could also have, like the Intrepid, a fuel info system (you know, instant mpg, average mpg, distance to empty, etc.), and an in-dash 6-CD player instead of the trunk, as the dash unit certainly has the space for it...but, overall, I like the vehicle, glad I bought it, getting 20 mpg now, waiting to go on long road trip to really break in engine (now has 3000 miles, changed oil at 2500, used Motorcraft Synthetic 5W-20 as per owners manual, will continue to change every 5000 with synthetic)...dark grey exterior with charcoal grey leather interior, looks like an unmarked police car...will keep you posted, feel free to ask questions if you like...Bob | |
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You have to get the digital dash to get the info center on the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis. As far as the a/c goes, see my post above, and just do a little surfing on the internet to see the mechanical quality of the Chrysler A/C on the LH cars has some higher than normal repair issues. An evaporator is 8-9 hours labor plus the parts to repair, as the dash has to be taken apart. I'm hopeful the 2006 refresh/redesign will address many of your issues. The best rumor I've heard is the Crown Vic is going to a 6 speed auto in 2006, along with a redesigned interior and exterior. Thank the Chrysler 300 for that, or Ford may have continued to build this car without any changes until the stamping machines turned to dust. |
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| I have a '94 GM with almost 191k miles. Love it! Still has original suspension - rides great. It has a few electronic problems, such as non-working air bags and a blinking "check engine" light, which will be looked at shortly. Wish I knew how much it would cost to fix the short in the air bag wires -- I've been told it could be substantial, depending on how long it takes to trace down the short. Otherwise, except for the blue smoke it blows, it's a wonderful car and even though I'm starting to get new car fever, I hesitate to just give this car away, which is what I'd be doing. What are the planned updates for 2006? Major restyle or what? If the updates are exciting, I may wait for them (if the car cooperates). | |
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But they could have made the info center an option w/o the digital dash; I hope the 2006 will have a 300 HP engine like the Marauder, or at least 275 HP w/325 ft lbs...a race car for older people and young people "in the know"...a tachometer would be nice, even tho it is an auto trans, side marker lights like the Grand Marq would be helpful (my 83 GM had them, and it illuminates the side of the road like a baseball field at a night game when your signal light is flashing)...keep the floor shifter and bucket seats, of course...moonroof option might be nice...DEFINITELY an audiophile 6-CD in dash unit with 250/300 watts, like some of Ford's other vehicles (like Mountaineer)...I also appreciate the power reclining seats with adj inflatable lumbar support in driver and passenger, was almost the sole reason to buy the car...most Fords, I believe, have manual reclining seats, few have power recliners... Also, years prior to 2004 (don't know which ones. specifically), the Crown Vic taillights had amber signal lights on the bottom of the red lens... they made it all red in 2004...I have always believed that amber flashing signal/emergency lights are much more visible at night than all red...why did Ford make that change, when they already had the design, engineering and wiring for the amber/red lights???...it just seems to me that the vehicle was safer with amber, and they retrograde it to be all red...why??? |
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Moonroof is a factory option, I believe it was added to the option list part-way through the 2004 model year. On the CD player, not sure why they still go with a trunk-mounted one. Similar story on the tail light lenses. The only thing I can come up with is since the car has a huge fleet purchase percentage, maybe the decision has something to do with that. Let's hope the interior has a major reworking for 2004. It is currently not bad, but some of the features are out of date.
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is really much better than the red one. i agree. I have no idea why Ford started to change everything to red, including the Freestar. But so are other brands doing. Example, the new GM minivans will have red lamps, and Toyota minivan got red lamps as well. Seems that ford tries to match all rear signal lamps, to match the Explorer/Expeditions looks. |
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| Sometimes I think it is only change for change's sake, as in make them buy the new one cause it is different than the old one. I can't possibly imagine that anyone would think that would work very well on CV/GM owners. Most are far too practical (and sensible) for that. | |
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Replying to: harmar2 (Sep 18, 2004 9:51 pm) That was a lot of useful information! I have an appointment with Ford tomorrow to take it in along with my list. Hopefully they will be able to correct these things. I will be sure to take in your note and suggestions with me as an FYI of some things to look for. It is nice to have this source of experience the forum provides in dubugging issues that many owners have been through. Thanks Again |
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| On the previous design Explorer, the signal lights were also amber, but the taillights were, naturally, red...they changed to all red on the 2002 redesign of the Explorer...it wasn't so many years ago (1960s, 1970s) that ALL of the imports had amber signal lights, British, Swedish, Italian, German, etc...that's how you could tell an import on the freeway a full mile ahead of you, was that you could see the amber signal lights over a mile away, all American cars had ONLY red, until sometime in the late 80s/early 90s, Buick/Olds actually put amber signal lights on a few of their larger, luxury models...considering the safety factor, I cannot see why it would be something that is changed from year to year...plus, it gives you extra bulbs in the back, so if your taillight bulb breaks, you still have amber signal lights, but if it is all red, a bad bulb may cause you to lose parking lights (lower filament) and brake and signal lights and 4-way flashers (upper filament)...another reason for amber, is that it is a separate bulb and circuit for signal lights and 4-way flashers...so, why do they change it??? | |
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| My guess? Cost containment and lack of customer demand for an otherwise costly feature... | |
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