I’m looking into buying a crown vic/ grand marq
My main concern by far is the reliability of the engine and tranny with some mileage on it.
Any stories and advice?
They are good, reliable cars. 2008 model year was bad, according to Consumer Reports. I judged their transmission and engine no worse than most other vehicles either in or out of the Ford family. Key is proper maintenance, including ATF and filter changes when indicated or around each 30K miles driven. My two Ford trucks all have 80+K miles on their transmissions, and no issues. I suspect I am harder on my trucks than you will ever be on the Crown Vic.
The vast majority of engine/transmission problems are caused by the owners and not by design flaws.
Abusive driving habits, lack of maintenance, allowing a car to run low on oil or overheat, etc. all play a big part in reliability.
My current Lincoln (4.6 with electronic overdrive transmission) has essentially the same setup as the Vics and at just a shade under 250,000 miles it was pretty much bulletproof up until a few weeks back when someone broadsided me and did it in.
Even with that mileage, the transmission has never been touched (never needed to) and the engine still carried almost 190 PSI of compression in all cylinders. It also used no discernible amount of oil between the roughly 3500 mile oil change intervals.
The Crown Vic/Grand Marquis is one of the most reliable vehicles available on the used car market. That’s why so many of then end up as taxis.
If you’re not afraid of a V8, you can’t go wrong with a well-maintained Crown Victoria or Grand Marquis.
I’ve owned one of each, and have no complaints about either car. They are inexpensive to buy and inexpensive to maintain. What’s better than that?
If you’re lucky, Caddyman will include his insights regarding these vehicles. He’s an expert, which I am not.
New or used? Lots of info on model year changes and trim lines can be had at http://www.moldyrabbit.com/liquid/index.html
A good forum specific for these cars can be found at www.crownvic.net.
Repair parts are plentiful and inexpensive. Insurance rates, particularly on the GMs are low. Used units that are gently used by old farts are inexpensive because the depreciation rate is high. You can’t say Grand Marquis without Grand ma.
I own two of them, a '92 and a '98 police model. They have both been excellent cars. The '92 needed a transmission rebuild ($1800) at 105,000 miles, it now has 150,000. I paid $3500 for it 7 years ago. It has also needed a pair of tailpipes and a drivers door window regulator kit. I replaced the air springs with steel ones. It gets 17-28 mpg. The '98 was purchased at a police car auction, former Colorado State Patrol car. It had 98,000 miles on it when I bought it for $3000 in 2002. It now has 135,000 hard miles, including Mexican dirt roads…This car had a plastic intake manifold (they all do) with a plastic thermostat housing that cracked and leaked. Ford replaced most of these for free with an improved version and in later years this problem was corrected. Be sure any car you buy has the improved manifold. I washed the engine with a H.P. washer and ruined 2 coil packs at $80 bucks a pop…Other than that, this car has been trouble free. It’s not as comfortable to drive as the '92 LX nor does it get as good mileage, 17-24. But it’s more responsive and fun to drive. The '92 burns a quart of oil every 800 miles, the '98 will be down a quart at 2000 miles… These are the last cars using body and frame construction.
Well maintained taxi fleets get 350,000 miles out of these cars. The ones with duel exhausts have the performance package, including a handling upgrade. Enthusiasts have their own board, www.crownvicnet, something like that…
Ford will make them in 2010, the fleet cars and the Grand Marquis, no Vics.