With sedans selling poorly and the demise of several already planned, I started thinking. What is your favorite sedan produced by the Big 3 - in terms of design, quality, and comfort/driving enjoyment?
I know this is a very broad area, but since it’s an opinion question, your thoughts are appreciated.
Share the model year and your choice. Thanks!
2017 Chevrolet Caprice. Based off GM’s Zeta platform. Basically a 4 door V8 Camaro with a better ride. Last offered in 2017. Cancelled because most buyers did not agree with me.
2nd choice - 2004 Mercury Marauder with the 302 hp 4.6 DOHC V8
Honestly, I really like my 2009 Ford Focus…has some pep when I need it, nice on gas, has been pretty easy overall on maintenance (though I would like to point out that the lack of an access hatch to the fuel pump from the top is stupid…at least I made it 182k before I had to replace it, plus the one I cut will be there if I need to do it again!). My favorite sedan I ever had was my 2001 Toyota Solara with the cloth top. Lots of fun to drive, handled really well, good power. I liked how it looked (completely subjective of course).
My definition of a large sedan is 126" wheelbase, big block v8, rear wheel drive, seats 6. None of the big 3 make anything like that anymore, but when they did, I usually drove a Chrysler New Yorker or an Olds 98.
The big 3 ? – Honda - Toyota - Nissan
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My parents’ 1959 Olds 98. Comfortable and quiet. I was too young to drive it but it had a great radio for broadcast band DXing! Their 1968 Chevy Impala was a bringdown, but at least I could drive it.
No. Toyota, VW, and Hyundai. GM is number 4.
I suppose the OP meant the Detroit 3. The one I like best that I drove is the 2017 Impala Premier. A terrific sedan with excellent handling, comfort, and very quiet. My heart belongs to my parent’s 1964 Series 62 Cadillac hardtop. Charcoal exterior with white and black interior. I don’t know how many gallons to the mile it got, especially when I was driving like a 17-year old boy, but I loved it.
The Chrysler 300C comes close.
If they sold them here, I’d pick up one of the Aussie spec Falcons (probably an XR6 model for the novelty value). But of what’s currently available new on dealers lots, There’s good deals to be had on the Taurus SHO and Fusion sport. FCA still makes the Hellcat Charger, but the SRT 392 would be be more practical for a daily driver. The Cadillac CTS-V is an awesome car, probably not quite as good as an AMG E Class or M5, but significantly cheaper.
But overall for cars that people actually bought. And cars that measured up again everything in their category at the time, I think the pinnacle of the U.S. made sedan was the 2nd gen Ford Taurus. Now hear me out. No, they aren’t collectors items todays, nobody wrote songs about them, and people don’t remember them as fondly as a 60’s big block boulevard bruiser, but it did something that no American car was able to do for the prior 20 years , It went against Honda, and Toyota, and Nissan and won. You can point to classics like the old impalas or mercury turnpike crusiers, but those cars didn’t have be but so good, they didn’t face the kind of world-wide competition that some of the newer (more overlooked) cars did.
I have never had a sedan. But really liked my 72 Electra 225, 4 door hardtop. My parents had a 66 Catalina 4 door hardtop, which, IMHO, was one of the best looking post-fin Pontiacs. Nicely equipped for a base model.
56 Desoto, same 126" wheelbase as the Chrysler New Yorker with a smaller lighter hemi. Full 6 passenger, chair high seating and a huge trunk. Got 17 on the road,but gas was less than 25 cents a gallon and it had a 26 gallon tank so range was good. it was not great off the line but passing power on two lane roads was fantastic. Also, the faster you went, the better it rode.
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I had an Olds Delta 88 with the F41 handling package. This 1980 sedan was quiet and a great highway car. The road holding was good enough to cross the Rocky Mountains fast on a trip to the West Coast.
The whole family liked this car. Next favorite was a 1988 Chevy Caprice, also with the F41 handling package . Not as quiet but also a great road car for long trips.
When you say “Big 3,” are you referring to the american-owned companies that were once the largest manufacturers in the world (GM, Ford, and Chrysler), or are you referring to the current worldwide top three based on manufacturing numbers (1.Toyota, 2. Volkswagen, and 3. Ford)?
Mercury Grand Marquis
Big 3 must be a term from nearly 70 years ago, when there were half a dozen car makers based in the US. At some time about 1950 there were also Nash-Hudson, Studebaker, Kaiser, etc. Some of the early 50’s sedans were quiet and luxurious, but in my opinion they’d scare the crap out of you on today’s freeways and streets. They ran straight ahead pretty well, but corners and sudden moves? And in an accident they’d kill you quick.
I think the current Ford Fusion sedan is a very nice package, and I take one when I’m renting a car.
Yes. The Big 3 I referenced were GM, Ford, and Chrysler. I listed Big 3 because I had originally imagined sedans from the 50’s-80’s being noted. It’s nice to see newer models mentioned too and from a variety of manufacturers.
The two best ones I ever had were a 1975 Olds 98, and a 1966 Chrysler Imperial that I bought in 1996.
I have always wanted an Imperial from the early to mid 60’s
The car was magnificent. The torque was like a locomotive, handling was like being on rails, smooth, quiet ride, I commuted 170 miles per day, and that car almost made it pleasant.
Last year I met a man with a 54 Imperial he had rescued from a junkyard for $200,50 years ago and completely restored himself.
When I remarked on the large size of the A/C compressor he told me the reason that Chryser’s AC of the day workes so much better than Lincoln or Cadillac A’Cs did was because Chrysler used the system that their Airtemp Divison had been making for Pullman railroad cars. The compressor was a V4 and he said he had had to recharge the system only once since he had restored it.