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Future Vehicles Future Crown Vic and Grand Marquis
152 messages, Last post on Jun 07, 2008 at 4:54 PM
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Replying to: peetiedog (Dec 19, 2007 9:36 pm) My question is have any of the lovers of these cars driven a new Taurus or Sable? I can't speak to the durability but I think you would find the Taurus/Sable to have a more comfortable and quieter ride, more rear seat room, better driving dynamics, better visability, stronger performance and better fuel economy, while taking up about a foot less garage space. |
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Replying to: ionosphere1 (Dec 20, 2007 8:04 am)  Excitement in a new car is always a good thing, but I assure you, your new Grand Marquis will give you more comfort and reliability than any other car within $10,000 of your car's price. These cars are basically bullet proof. Your salesman's correct in that when you order the car, Ford allows you both 'Price Protection' and 'Incentive &/or Rate Protection'. There are a couple steps he has to perform to accomplish it for you, but it's basicly pretty easy for him to do, so you need not worry. The worse thing that could happen is that things stay as they are; if there was a price increase, you'd get the price in effect on the date of your order, and if a bigger incentive is offered, you'd get the better of the two. Normally the wait time on an ordered unit is about 6 weeks +/- a week or two, but around this time of year there's always a holiday shut down for about 2 weeks. There was also an additional delay caused by Ford moving all Town Car production to the St. Thomas plant where the Grand Marquis' are made, which could easily account for another couple weeks. But the wait will be well worth it. Check with your salesman from time-to-time for updates, he should be able to give you production & shipping updates on your car's e.t.a. The "must take delivery from dealer's stock by 01/02/2008" is there to prevent dealers and customers from trying to get their deals grand fathered back into expired programs.  As far as doing some minor improvements, I think it should go beyond just adding back-up sensors and an updated dashboard. For 2009 model they should make some substantial improvements, like a significant facelift (front of the A-pillar & rear of the C-pillar), maybe even new door skins, definately update the interior and dashboard (maybe add a Nav System & improved seating), and definitely some re-engineering (improved suspension, increased horsepower & torque, etc), and then add some more goodies (like memory seats, heated & cooled seats, Sirius radio and dual-zone climate control). Move the big Merc Cruiser a little more up-town. Make the car more of a Buick competitor. It doesn't have to be a total re-design, but give it some changes one can easily detect. Even old geezers and us near geezers like toys and luxury, and shouldn't have to defect to Chrysler, Buick, or Toyota (Avalon) to get it. Make the car look like a new car and give it a nice bump uptown, and a lot of people will trade their old big Merc's in for a new one. These are the kind of changes Ford could do for just a few thousand dollars per car. They could even pack in a little extra profit margin (into what are already profitable cars) and reduce incentives by a couple thousand dollars, which would make it more than economically feasible and attractive for them. These steps would give them a great stop gap car that can soldier on for another 3 or 4 years, until they can come up with a suitable world-class competitor. I'm sure sales would bump at least 25 - 50%, once again IF the car were done right. There are a lot of people out there who have 3 to 7 year old, low mileage, above average Grand Marquis', who are not willing to trade-in perfectly good cars in for another one that's no different than their current one. But give them a car that looks like a NEW car, and WHAM!, you got their attention and their open checkbooks. A person will bump from a $31/$32k car to a nicer, newer, $35/$36k new car, IF you give them a significant upgrade. Of course that means they would have to do an equivalent upgrade to the Town Car as well. But then I'm not sure Ford can handle that kind of success. Someone up in the Dearborne Ivory Tower is committed to the death of these venerable old buggies. Sorta like when they tried to kill the Mustang and replace it with the Probe, all the Mustang enthusiasts were up in arms; even Ford couldn't ignore how stupid that move was, no matter how blind they were. The worse part is that Ford can't seem to learn from their past mistakes, they just keep shooting themselves in the foot and choosing to roll down the 'Suicide Hill' to extinction. It seems the only reason they're still here is because they occasionally screw up and produce a winner. And that's too bad, because my whole family was and is a Ford family. Until recently, defection to another automaker was treason. And the worse part of that is, in my heart of hearts, I still want them to succeed. I hope somebody up there in the Dearborne Ivory Tower wakes up, and soon. Because if Ford dies, a little part of me dies with them.   Anyway. Good luck to you Ionosphere1, I wish you the best with your new Grand Marquis. Pass on the good news every chance you get, to all who will listen. 
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You seem to be quite knowledgeable. The salesman told me that when they receive an invoice for the car, that it would be about 2 weeks from then that they would get the car and he would call me when he gets the invoice. There is an item on the printout they gave me that I didn't notice until I got home. Something called LMDA Assessment for $700. Looking online, it appears to be some non-negiotiable fee related to advertising? Do you know about this $700 fee they tacked on? If it does have to do with advertising, then it is a ripoff, as Ford DOES NOT ADVERTISE the Grand Marquis. If Ford were to make big improvements for 2009, I would be jealous, as it won't help me.
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There are a lot of people out there who have 3 to 7 year old, low mileage, above average Grand Marquis', who are not willing to trade-in perfectly good cars in for another one that's no different than their current one. But give them a car that looks like a NEW car, and WHAM!, you got their attention and their open checkbooks. Your statement applies to Town Car owners as well. If Jaguar had a dealer here, I would have purchased an XJ8 in 2004. Now, I'm considering an XJ8L, but still the nearest Jag dealer is in the next state. Saw a photo of a "new" proto type Town Car with suicide doors & I liked it a lot.
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Replying to: ionosphere1 (Dec 21, 2007 7:31 am) As to the LMDA, what that means is Lincoln-Mercury Dealer Advertising association. Every brand of car has some sort of local or regional advertising association, and a dealer would be stupid not to be part of it. Once a part, the assessment is non-negotiable. They don't just run ads, sometimes they augment the manufacturer's national marketing programs with additional or different incentives designed especially for the needs of their local markets. It's sorta like "Buy a Ford Mustang convertible from any of your participating Miami (or Southern Florida) area Ford dealers, don't buy a Nissan or Chevy" type of adds. The 'dealer specific' adds are additional to that, and paid for by the dealer himself to say 'Buy your Mustang from Joe Blow Ford, not from John Doe Ford across town' type of ads. The 2 weeks to arrival from invoice date sounds about right for most American cars. I hate to say it, but I hope you end up jealous about the 2009 or 2010 models. If they make the significant changes I'd like to see them make, I'm going to trade my low mileage, pristine 2005 Lincoln Town Car Signature L in on a new one. If they don't make any significant changes, I'm gonna keep mine. I still can't believe that Ford deleted the Moon Roof, THX Sound, and Navigation System from the options list. Now how stupid is that? 
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Replying to: euphonium (Dec 21, 2007 10:49 am) The XJ8L is an extremely nice car. I've driven a number of XJs. The newer ones are much more reliable than the mid-late 90's vintage and older, and the 80's & early 90's vintage XJs could be a nightmare to own. Still no matter how good the car is now, I'd have a little trepidation about owning one if there was no dealer within at least 50-75 miles of me. But the Jag is one very sexy set of wheels, no doubt. Good Luck to you if you do get one. By the way, what state are you from, anyway. You say you saw a photo of a "new" Town Car with suicide doors? That one must have slipped past me. Tell me where you saw it, I'd love to go look at it and do a little research on it. If you have a link to it, please attach it. A while ago I saw some photo's on what was purported to be the possible reincarnation of the Lincoln Continental, and that had suicide doors. But that was pre-Mulally at Ford, and since that time a lot of stuff was axed and Ford changed product direction. I'm aware of the probability of Ford bringing their re-engineered Australian RWD platform over to the U.S., and the possibility of it being the replacement for the Panther (CV/GM/TC) platform. Keep in mind that Ford had to mortgage virtually every asset they own, just to get the meager resources they do have. Don't expect them to get too bold in their product approach. At least not until some of their new products coming on line hit pay dirt for them. The new Fusion/Milan/MKZ, the 500-Taurus/Montego-Sable, the Mustang variants. and the Edge/MKX have all been working better than they expected. A lot of the face lifted vehicles like the '08 Focus, the Escape/Mariner, and the Expedition/Navigator are doing very well. The coming new stuff like the Flex/MK?, the MKS, the all new F150, and the coming Hybrid Fusion/Milan & possibly MKZ should add a lot to the bottom line. Together they'd fund a lot of aggressive product offerings. In the meantime, a significant facelift for the CV/GM/TC, about the magnitude of the new Focus/Mariner/Navigator, would recharge that market segment and buy Ford the time they need to develop world class replacements. Facelifts only cost a fraction of a complete re-do, and these cars are already very profitable for Ford, this could not only buy them the time they need, it would make them even more profitable and protect a market segment they already own.
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The strange thing is, is I am unsure exactly what the color will look like. It looks completely different on different websites. Even the Mercury website has it look different depending on the page, and even on the initial GM page if you rotate the car, it gets darker or lighter. The brochure looks different too, so I find it confusing. As dark blue is my first choice, I'm sure I'll like it, but I wish I knew what color to expect. Some webpages it looks sky blue, others purplish, and others grayish blue. There were no cars in that color on the lot. I'm in Seattle, so I don't know why the blue would be a hard sell.
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Replying to: peetiedog (Dec 21, 2007 6:28 pm) It is coincidental that Ionosphere1 & I live in WA, he in the Peoples Republic of Puget Sound while I reside on the Columbia down river from Portland, 50 miles. That I know the dealer there from his racing days fifty years ago causes me to hesitate about bringing a needy XJ8 to his shop for repairs & Tacoma is really to far to flatbed a car. If only the local Lincoln dealer had a qualified Jag mechanic. I understand your feelings about the BMW & Audi. My son in law has a recent 3 or 5 Sedan, our daughter just bought an X5 & our son's Audi A8 is very comfortable and quick. Out of habit, I prefer our TC for road trips. 66 Mustang GT Coupe, Ivy Green Metallic is my trophy car & garage queen having owned it for over 40 years. It hasn't been wet since '95.  "For the Love of Cars"
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Replying to: ionosphere1 (Dec 21, 2007 8:19 pm) Your Lincoln-Mercury sales person must not be trying to hard to serve you, because putting your mind at ease about the color is easy. All Lincoln-Mercury dealers should have a photo album sized binder called a '2008 Mercury Product Portfolio' in their stores. Inside there is an 'Exterior Paint Colors' chart with small paint chips on it for every color offered on the 2008 Mercury product line-up, Those chips are 97-98% true to what the actual color will be, so should give you a reasonably acurate representation of what to expect. You should demand that he show you this information. Every store has had these product portfolios in store for about 3 months or more now. Ask him to print you out an order update, and while you're at it see if he'll provide you with a copy of the 'Dealer Order Retail Announcement' (DORA), tell him if neccessary he can hide or cover-up his cost numbers. This will allow you to see how the vehicle was ordered, so you can confirm colors and equipment, etcetera. You want to confirm your color soon, so as not to be stuck with the choice of taking a car you don't like, or loosing your $3000 non-refunable deposit. All production is down now, until just after New Years day; which means your car probably hasn't been built, and maybe not even locked in yet, so you may still be able to change it if necessary. Once the car is built, it should only take a couple weeks for transit time. Norsea Blue is not a hard color to sell in the Seattle Region. It's just that some dealers may not have had good success with certain colors, and so they don't stock them. Usually the hottest colors in cars like that are Black, Silver, and Champagne/Gold, with Dark Blue/Lite Blue/White all kinda vying for the 4th spot, with Red usually dragging the rear. If I were you I'd ask for a statement in writing about the deposit being non-refundable, signed by a manager. If you have not already signed one, DON'T. Clarify with them that you will loose your entire $3000 if you do not take the car, even if they later sell or dealer trade the car away? Obviously if they sell the car at a profit, their profit will immediately become $3000 greater because of them retaining your deposit. If they dealer trade the car away, other than transport costs, they're in a 'no harm - no foul' position. If they suggest that this is in fact the case, let them know that you are going to confirm the legality of this act with the Washington DMW, the Washington Attorney General's office, and the Better Business Bureau (BBB), then almost all the local TV & Radio new stations have some kind of 'Consumer Action Reporter' who'd probably love to sink their teeth into that one. Even if it is legal, $3000 seems like way too much of a penalty. Heck, from dealer's invoice to full MSRP, there's not $3000 of profit in the car. Try and negotiate some lesser, more reasonable amount, like $500 or maybe $1000 at the maximum. Sounds like this guy is gouging you. I'd bet that just having an attorney write a letter to the owner or general manager would solve that problem, and a simple legal letter probably wouldn't cost you more than a few hundred dollars. Whatever happens, good luck to you. The Grand Marquis is a great car, even if your salesman or dealership isn't so great.
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Replying to: euphonium (Dec 21, 2007 9:28 pm) NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A TROPHY CAR! If you could only see me right now, I'm turning green with envy. I would look soooo cool in that car.
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