The biggest thing I'd watch out for is the interior room.... it is a really cramped interior except for width.

Legroom is tight with your feet elevated in a weird way.. headroom is smaller than you'd expect, and the backseat is cramped unless you're sleeping in it. It is admittedly an awesome emergency sleeping spot.

I daily drive a Crown Vic, and I consider the ZX3 a more practical car in every way, and the interior is quite a bit comfier. All the extra room in the Panther seems to be in the long hood and the monster trunk.

If you don't care about any of that then nope... not too much to look for. They're kind of like ****roaches... impossible to kill.

 

Legroom is tight with your feet elevated in a weird way.. headroom is smaller than you'd expect, and the backseat is cramped unless you're sleeping in it. It is admittedly an awesome emergency :hump: spot.

Fixed it for you.


Great car choice, btw! I had an '82 that was the pimp car. :thumbup:

 

Yeah, my roommate has a P71, so I got a good feel on interior. Would be nice to have the extra power and room. My ZX3 is always packed for room, and never have room for other people in the car, and with a dog it just makes it hard to live with. I figured it had about the same reliability as a Crown Vic.

 

Dont forget your daily dose of Geritol :lol:

 

Stay away from the air ride versions of the car, expensive to fix. I believe 04 has the revised intake manifold that doesn't leak coolant, that's good.

I would suggest 3.73 gears and a trac-lok. At least the trac-lok to get this thing moving in slippery conditions.

Other than that they are are an awesome platform, I averaged 27mpg on the highway in my '92 Crown Vic. They are happy to cruise all day, and are excellent for road trips. My biggest gripe with these cars is that while the seats are comfortable, there is no bolstering to keep you in the drivers seat while performing spirited driving.

If a Marauder is out of the $$$$ range, and the P71's are all beat up with ugly interiors. I would suggest a Crown Vic LX Sport, dual exhaust, better wheels, floor shifter, basically a poor mans Marauder. Good luck.....

 

If a Marauder is out of the $$$$ range, and the P71's are all beat up with ugly interiors. I would suggest a Crown Vic LX Sport, dual exhaust, better wheels, floor shifter, basically a poor mans Marauder. Good luck.....

I second the Sport - 04 CV LX Sport here. Bucket seats & console shift 120k miles on it.

Only gripes are that the cats went bad, twice. I read it's from extended hwy driving, the motor tends to lean out and the cats heat up and go bad. I put Magnaflow Stainless ones in...

go to ADTR.net for goodies. Crownvic.net for info.

edit - oops you got the GM, woot!

05+ Mustang take-off wheels fit perfect btw

 

They're great cars, in '03 they went to rack and pinion steering and updated the front suspension and as previously mentioned, they're about bulletproof.

 

Got one as a loaner 2 years ago. Was actually impressed with the way it handled. Not nearly as floaty as I expected. Not as precise as my focus but good none the less. Ridiculously roomy inside. But the head room was limited. Biggest grip was the heater and radio controls. Simply horrible ergonomics.

 

Ridiculously roomy inside.

I gotta figure out what I'm doing wrong. :lol:

 

And you can do mods of all sorts. I've been wanting one to put a 5 speed in myself. I've been following this guy and here is a total review of his car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU2SAtQuX4w


If this car looks and drives good chances are it's going to be great. These things are like tanks. You can get lots of mileage out of them.

 

my buddy LOVES crown vics and grand marquis. He's had 3 of different years and body styles. His current one is a '01 grand marquis, it has 195k on it, and it runs and drives like brand new. And they are very roomy cars and get pretty good mileage. We've run 6 big people in there before (i got front middle, because I'm only 6'2" and 210 lbs), and while it was a little cramped, I'd like to see anything else try that. They also get surprising mileage.

If I didn't like the gokart handling of small cars like the focus, I would strongly consider one and put a T56 in it... :thumbup:

 

I am 6' tall and in my experience the back seat isn't the most comfy. Hopefully the one you are looking to buy doesn't come with an injection molded plastic back seat and your passengers aren't required to wear handcuffs in order to sit back there.

:lol:

 

So I did pick up the car last week, and so far I love it. Nice and comfortable. First stop was the tint shop and that was done within 24 hrs of having her. 15% all around. I got the double din Kenwood Navi in it, and Kicker QS components and and L7 are going to be going in soon, with Kicker amps to match. Proper pictures and thread to follow.

 

Dont forget to Donk it out on 28's :lol:

 

Haha definitely not.:lol: I was thinking more along the lines of the Marauder for inspiration.:evilgrin:

 

Post up some pics! GMs and CVs have always been some of my favorite rental cars :thumbup:

 

Do you have the QS comps installed? If so, thoughts?

What amplifier are you using? Bi-amping?

Nice GM, love it.

Get some new white walls for it and keep it real.

- Drew

 

I have to order it from accomodations yet, not too sure on biamping yet. Have to get the amps figured out which ones I'm going to get and their inventories are light right now. Plus the L7 I picked up was dual 2 ohm so I have to find a decent 1ohm stable amp or go with something different.

 

I can only think of 3 downsides

1) the tiny (for the size of the car) back seat

2)fairly bad fuel economy. Expect at least a 50% increase in fuel costs over a focus. But hey it's only $4/gallon.

3)folks asking if you borrowed grandma's car.

 

Yes but insurance on one of these puppies is also 'grandma demographic'.

Tips to increase your mileage: Mobil1 in the motor and rear end (75x-90) - seriously I got an extra 50 miles a tank with M1 in the rear end. Clean your MAF regularly with the proper spray cleaner. Change your oil every 3-5k, it's a big car and the 4.6, while a tank, works hard to get things going.

I've read on CV.net that with the Marauder/P71 airbox (80mm MAF), P71 intake (straight shot, w/o the giant silencers on it) and a tune (you need it for the MAF), people see an increase in both mileage and of course, horsepower (well as long as you don't have your foot in it all the time).

Another thing that goes out are the little tiny o-rings in the HVAC controller - it gets hot, and they eventually get brittle and break, so all of a sudden you'll only get air through your defrost vents. Luckily it's a simple fix, don't spend $400 on a new one, but buy a $6 pack of o-rings from McMaster Carr and do it yourself:

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=36922

My Blower Control Module fried after that (had zero air at all), but that's a $50 part as well, and a couple hours of your time.

Last thing - if you get a squeak in the front end, it's most likely your hood latch or bump stops. Lube those first, then go into the suspension.

 

i didnt read any of the previous posts but the window regs go on the older grand marquis/crown vics dont know about the newer ones but goodluck with the car i had a 93 crown vic and loved it. very nice car though!!

 

I drive an 06 P71 for about a year now and it's a pretty dependable car.

The only problem I have with the car is a very intermediate misfire/stall in wet weather (I'm talking about one or two misfire a commute in very wet weather). I'm not really concerned about it, considering the hack job the police department did in decommissioning the car (chopped off wiring everywhere). Also, the motor solenoid for the HVAC is busted and it only blows hot air out of the vent (an easy fix, an even easier fix if you just take out the air bag and manually move the vent door).

The gas mileage is a bit painful, but considering the size of the car it isn't that bad. I love how big the trunk is. I easily was able to fit 3 dead prostitutes in their dead pimp in the trunk, and it's pretty easy to clean up.

The front seats are hella roomy, I haven't heard any complaints about the back seat but only women been back there. The P71 seats are huge, and stab resistant, and withstood the 24/7 and 4 years of abuse pretty damn well.

The NVH is defiantly not luxury level on the P71. But I'm sure the GM is much better in that regard. Lastly, driving on the highway is really pleasant because everyone thinks you're a cop.


All in all, the Panther's are some damn good cars.

 

^^same reasons I've been thinking of getting one. That and I could do some stuff with it.