Driving a 2001 Ford Crown Vic in the UK! Part 2: On the road
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- čas přidán 11. 04. 2022
- Part 1 here: • Real Road Test: Ford C...
Having looking around the @furiousdriving Crown Victoria in the previous video, this time, I take it for a drive, squeezing this American giant down some tiny country lanes in Sussex/Surrey. Contains lovely V8 noises, a wiper test and comparisons with my 2001 Ford Fairmont AU. Matt will post his test of my car from Wednesday 13th April.
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I was a NYC taxi driver and drove a crown vic for years. This is a great car, a true work horse, that would drive 24 hours a day 7 days a week in the worst traffic grid in the world without issue.
I can explain the surprising road noise easily. The P71 and P72 Police Packages were only available on base model Crown Victoria L as regular production options to Police departments only. The L, particularly in P71 form, lacked a lot of the sound insulation that was standard on higher trim level, such as GL, LX, and Ultra.
The stiff and wobbly is an easy fix. It needs to have Ford gas dampers fitted. Although made by Monroe they are calibrated very differently. In the aftermarket dampers, Monroe made 2 sets; regular or heavy duty. In the Ford branded dampers they made 5 different sets for this generation of Panther. In the box ones Ford offered 8 different sets depending on engine and suspension packages.
Thanks for the excellent explanation.
Stiff and wobbly at the same time, either Ian is describing the Crown Vic's handling or a swinger party in a jelly factory.
Or an overly affectionate fat man.
Carol Vordernorks?
I think l was at that swingers party, good times.
Mr. Blobby, eat your heart out!
Built at the now-defunct St. Thomas Assembly Plant near London, Ontario, Canada along the corridor between Detroit and Toronto. I grew up about 15 minutes from the plant and have many fond memories of seeing acres of brand new Crown Vics and Grand Marquis in the compound (as well as the Marauder in '03-04 and the Lincoln Town Car from 2008-2011). Also, there was usually one of each model on display up on illuminated platforms by the entrance. I also toured the plant in 2006 and shortly before it closed in 2011. Passing by so many times in my childhood must have influenced me because I have owned many Panther platform vehicles in the past 20 years - currently 4 in the fleet, ranging from 1985 to 2007. Thanks for another great video!
Ah yes, that's right. It was London Ontario - I was close when I said Windsor. Close as in the Canadian definition of close 😊
The design of the Crown Victoria is just so timeless.
Having watched part one yestersday, we watched the film 'Cop Shop'. To my delight, a number of Crown Vics starred in the movie, with references to them in the dialogue which I was gleefully able to explain to my bemused wife.
The police car is very utilitarian, so it did not come with the sound insulation packages found on the Town Cars, Grand Marquis and civilian Crown Vics. The rear springs were also designed to carry a couple hundred pounds in the trunk, so the ride improves when you collapse the springs a bit with some weight. Cruise control was an option some agencies did not pay for.
I was anxious to see what you thought of the Crown Vic. You were right on the money when you described the interior as rather cheap with lots of hard plastics. They sound quite “hollow” to me. And in our below 0° F winters the plastic creaks maddeningly .
BUT! everyone drove them. Especially little old ladies who weighed 90 pounds. They often watched the road through the steering wheel . At the opposite end of the spectrum were the cop cars and government fleets. While they weren’t overly luxurious they were tough as nails. I think that was the reason so many older folks had them. Dependability. I’ve had several, from the Galaxy’s to LTD’s to the Crown Vic. The Mercury Marquise was a slightly more luxurious version of the Crown Vic.
The lack of sound deadening insulation allowed lots of road noise. Especially when running winter tires with ice studs! But compared to a Plymouth or Dodge of about the same size the Vic is far superior in most ways.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Glad you enjoyed it, it always puts a smile on my face.
The thing that gets me is the sound, not just the V8 (which is just lovely, if more muted than anyone expects) but the squeaks and rattles - every TV cop show or movie you've ever seen filmed in a Vic sounds just like this. But now Im worried I didnt give Betty enough beans to adequately compare!
I've been following Matt's updates on his CVPI for a while now, and he's certainly done good on his dream to have one in the UK. The way he ended up buying the car, it was meant to be!
I have had a number of these vehicles and currently have an export variant of it's sibling - a Mercury Grand Marquis - made for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries; namely Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the UAE. Granted, mine is modified and tuned as such with everything from 15" Wildwood brakes to a custom suspension setup, getting more smiles to the gallon than miles.
But with that being said, the appeal of this car is not things like build quality, but rather it's uniqueness is today's world. Traditional American styling, body-on-frame construction, rear-wheel-drive with a live axle, torquey V8 powerplant, split bench seating with a column shifter, etc. and of course, rock solid reliability and ease of maintenance. The only thing reminiscent of such features today are fullsize GM trucks, such as the Chevrolet Suburban, but they've gotten pretty complex over the years as well, with the current generation sporting an independent rear suspension.
That said, I grew up around fullsize, body-on-frame American sedans such as the B-Body Chevrolet Caprice, C-Body Buick Electra and Oldsmobile Ninety Eight. This was towards the end of an era, where American cars may not have has the best of build quality, but were certainly ahead in contrast to most regular European offerings in terms of how they were equipped; automatic transmissions, air conditioning cruise control, power driver and passenger "pillow" seats and lumbar, courtesy and opera lighting, etc. Not many affordable European cars of the time had power windows on all four doors, for instance, unless you went for something upper market. Often into the 90s, you'd find driver and front passenger windows were power, but the rears were manual on something like an Opel Astra.
Obviously today, with globalization as mentioned in the video, cars are pretty much the same the world over. There's nothing, IMO, that distinguishes a Chevrolet Traverse from a Hyundai Palisade or a Honda Pilot and they all equally have their problems, such as excessive carbon build up with direct injection, as one example, that may require head removal and walnut blasting as "maintenance".
In short, with the Panther Platform, the KISS principal applies. Simplicity is king.
Should have told you, cup holders pull out from under the radio but are tiny!
Donut holders?
You can add some height to a cupholder with a piece of exhaust pipe from the store, or adjust the diameter smaller, or cut it most of the way around with a saw or dremel, bend it over, and make one cupholder hold 2 drinks with the proper planning. Could also use a hole saw of the right diameter so the cup can sit down lower. Take out the original piece and find one in a junkyard to hack up if you want the original in good condition. '00 grand Marquis, mine worked fine as is, but other cars have had cup issues.
Canadians tend to get miffed when you refer to the USA as "America", because Canada is very much part of North America. For a while, the Crown Vic (and Mercury Grand Marquis) were legally considered to be imported cars in the U.S., because they had less than 75% U.S.-made parts content. This also helped improve Ford's corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) because back then it counted domestic and imported models separately, so moving the Crown Vic to the imported column made the rest of Ford's domestic models less gas-hungry on average. Once that rule ended, Ford started using U.S.-built rear differentials in the Crown Vic, bumping its U.S.-made parts count back above 75%.
'Murica !!!
Canada is America Lite. Same look. Same culture. Same everything except with a few "ehs" sprinkled in.
@@encinobalboa The Canadians got the brains 🧠, you got the 💩
When I was growing up in the 1980's, this was the type of car that your grandparents would own (besides being the local cop car and taxi!). Ford also made a wagon version of the Crown Victoria for the first generation of the Panther platform (Clark Griswold's Family Truckster in National Lampoon's Vacation was a modified Crown Victoria Town Squire wagon). It was even available as a coupe until 1987...us gen X kids didn't think that they were very cool until we grew up and had kids of our own and lamented the distinct lack of rear wheel drive Body-on-frame v8 powered wagons with a cool 3rd row rear facing seat and fake wood grain panels 😢
To be fair, Canada IS in North America, just not the United States ;-)
Great video!
Couple of notes:
The 06 onwards have a rev counter as well as an idle hours counter (to give an idea of when oil changes were due). Yes, 03 onwards with the wider track and rack and pinion steering are far superior handling cars to be honest. The year most guys prefer is 04, so rack and pinion steering but with the cable throttle that was replaced by drive by wire from 05.
Cruise control, power seats, CD player, carpets were all options.
Finally a cracking Easter egg you missed is the certified speedometer writing around the speedo.
Can't wait for Matt's take on the Fairmont now!
Lieutenant Hubnut out on highway patrol in the Crown Vic. Magnificent.
Interestingly, had things gone to plan, the Australian Ford Falcon may well have replaced the Crown Vic in American law enforcement agencies: as late as 2016, just before production closed down for good, a proposal was made to ship 70,000 Falcons per annum to the USA - had Ford executives in the US not blocked the proposal, the Falcon would have stayed for at least a few more years. Instead, Holden in Australia stepped in and shipped lots of Holden Caprices to the US, that became law enforcement vehicles.
I have an '02 Crown Victoria that's been in the family since new. It's got over 200,000 miles on the odometer between me and my Dad and has been all up and down the east coast of the US. It tickles me to see someone from another country experiencing and enjoying this car.
In the United States the Ford Crown Victoria was most commonly used as a police or taxi and was comparatively rare in civilian specification.
A majority of civilian versions were the Mercury Marquis.
Mercury was Ford's upmarket division and the Mercury was considerably more luxurious than the Ford.
When you mentioned road noise and suspension clunks you could tell that that was a poverty spec police version.
The Mercury Marquis was significantly more refined.
This brings back memories of my Ford Crown Vic which was a 1999, when I lived in the States back in 2011. Very simple to maintain and keep on the road. I like the sound of slow speed auto changes, mine had air suspension, where the police spec ones have springs.
Lovely V8 cross-plane crank noise. At some point it this car needs to meet Binky. Police light on the bonnet and Police Squad music accompanying the arrival into a stack of cardboard boxes. I know it was a trash can in the TV series, but that might get a bit scratchy.
Even if the P71 is not all that nice of a car, it really is something of a historic importance, it's the last body on frame sedan on earth, nobody has made them this way since.
Considering that's how the car as we know it started, it's sort of neat to have a fix start and end for this sort of traditional build.
It truly is sad to see these just crumble away from the abuse they get in the US due to their low post service cost.
These cars can stand up to a whole lot of use. My brother had an 86 Mercury Grand Marquis Estate, the Colony Park. His had the hard to find 351W as well as the Trailer Tow III Package. It finally went to the breakers after the body mounts broke. His wife accidentally went off roading down an embankment and into a tree. The twisting broke the body mounts and he didn't think it worthwhile to sink the money needed to fix it into a car with slightly over 550,000 miles on it.
@@michaeltutty1540 what a car
That’s a big handsome car! I can totally imagine it crawling around the rain soaked night streets of New York watching out for hoodlums up to no good!
19/4 22 - Plenty of work for it here too then.
I felt Betty needed another road test camera stuck on her. 😁
That's a great looking example and in very good condition. It looks all the more better not being kitted out as a police cruiser, but as a regular-looking sedan.
I also quite like this for it's subtle green detective spec....ness. And chrome wheel trims. Credit to Matt.
Looking forward to seeing the review of Betty.
Nice review Hubnut. More please - you're actually really really good at it!
Who doesn't love a ruddy great V8 in a tank? soooo cool.
Welcome to Sussex, very much on my home turf there! Local fun fact - you did about a 5 mile stretch of the driving test route along the B/Hill bypass and up the A23, and the Castle Inn you went past near Hickstead services does a very good Chinese. Seen the Crown Vic on Matt's channel and very excited to see you pair up for a head to head comparison. Love this video and glad you enjoyed the car.
I had a -93 LX spec one as a daily driver here in Sweden for about five years. Can´t tell you how much I miss that car! The road noice Ian mentions, was not present in the LX. It was simply the quitest car
I´ve ever owned. And for fuel economy it delivered a steady 10liter/100km, very good for such a large car.
Thing is, that 10 litres per 100 kilometers is the same as that fuel use in my 78 Thunderbirds, both with the 5.8 litre 2bbl carbs and FMX 3 speed transmissions, both of my 79 Thunderbirds, both with the 4.9 litre Windsor V8. I got the same result from both of my 88 Panthers. My 87 and 89 Grand Marquis had the 5.8 litre V8 and they were down at 7 litres per 100 kilometers.
Great to see a road test again, and what a car to do it with...
Most excited, to see you driving round my neck of the woods. I even recognised your service station pull off. Whoooaa! 💖
Love the video. Nice to see you in an American car. My Dad and had several Crown Vics. One was an '85 and the other was an '83. Both had 351 V8's. We got them when our Township retired them.
Meant to say my dad and I had several.
Matt's Crown Vic is the first British Crown Vic I've seen where my instant reaction hasn't been "Ford Timelord" lol
I really enjoy your car reviews. Very enjoyable and entertaining as always.😁
Love the noise of a V8
And another great video has always Ian and miss hubnut and hublets and hubmutts 👍
Hi Ian another great road test as always
I think some versions did include cruise control, depending how it was ordered.
This does not have sound insulation like the equivalent civilian Ford.
OHC V8. And yes, four speed overdrive automatic.
Not surprised you like this Ford. Excellent review, thank you!
Remember, we Americans drink copious amounts of coffee ☕!
As a yellow cab driver for a bit, I got to try out most of the different panthers, p71's, LX's, grand marquee LS, GS and the air ride versions. The trick to make most money, was to get the softest air ride versions, drive faster without the passenger noticing, due to the disconnect from the road. P71 is clearly faster at full throttle driving, but one can drive a Grand marquee with air ride faster before the passenger complains. Averaged 14,000 miles monthly.
Matt is very lucky to have found that lovely crown vic and a great spec a detective pack car as well I agree Ian most I have seen over here are the police spec ones so nice to see a change have always liked them and when I went to Colorado they were everywhere
Hope you enjoyed your drive Ian
Boating on the main road.
I can feel your excitement.
I drove a civilian spec crown vic in 2011 when in the US. Love them to bits
Magnificent engine sound 🤎🤎🤎
Fabulous review, Ian! Can't wait for Mr. Furious video's 😃
I would love a Crown. Matt has done very well with his purchase. You should of kept driving and gone home Miss HubNut would be pleased Lol
An interesting fact is that many of the taxis are former cop cars. Also, the civilian versions of these cars were really marketed towards a senior citizen demographic since younger people really didn't buy them. Many civilian owned old P71's were owned by people who wanted to drive a car that instilled fear in other drivers, especially the white ones with blackout window tint that tended to be the popular unmarked cars. No one ever thought a black grille Crown Vic was anything but a cop since the chrome grille was the civilian variant. Also, the P71 had a different frame than the normal cars with extra strengthening done to it for better handling.
Big thanks to Ian and Matt for buying these cars and letting enjoy them via You Tube
Brilliant video Ian 👍 what a lovely car
There was a Crown Vic and the Mercury equivalent for sale in my area, The Mercury was in old lady driven condition, low miles with a graze down the passenger side, not a deal killer, but is was out of my price range, and with the present situation with gas prices, my Ford Focus for instance, that used to cost $40 dollars to fill up, now cost $70, so it’s not the best time to buy a V-8.
Sounds amazing! I like the cup holders. After all, there's no tea shelf or even a coffee shelf.
Nice road test! These were tough cars; our local police force (fairly small town) still has a couple, though they've largely switched over to the Ford Explorer. On YT is quite a harrowing police chase which took place in Seattle several years ago; the main pursuit camera car was a Crown Vic, and practically the whole North End police force was out, tracking down a car-thief, who finally ended up in a Camaro. The camera car "pitted" the Camaro at one point, but he got away; the Vic kept going strong. A bit later, the view switched to another car, an Explorer, which rear-ended the suspect, not too hard, but it was enough to put the Explorer out of commission. The suspect was caught...it did not end well for him at all (shots were fired)...
Wow what a beast. Lovely noise on acceleration
I have fond memories of riding in Crown Vics and Lincoln Towncars in 2003 in the USA.
That family of cars, particularly the early-mid 90s versions, are some of the best beater cars ever. They last forever with basic maintenance and get surprisingly good gas mileage for what they are. If you find one cheap in good shape, they're a great bargain. I bought a '94 Lincoln Towncar years ago with 187,000 miles on it for $1200, and put another 100,000 miles on it with basic maintenance, including several cross country trips. And yes, I did get close to 30 mpg US at a couple points.
They're mechanically very durable but they will nickle and dime you with the electrics, as the owner of a 2000 Townie.
@@exxusdrugstore300 Admittedly yes, by the time I got rid of my '94 none of the window regulators worked and some relay in the dash wouldn't stop ticking. But I drove that thing through blizzards and across Death Valley on a 125°F day. Not much could stop it.
The V8 sounds pretty epic
Love big and wafty and good effort from Matt. Had a Nissan Maxima '96 2.0 v6 many moons ago in more
or less same colour for a few years loved it. I worked for MB for 11 yrs so do big expensive wafty too but
my heart remains with the two part ex's i drove one being a 7 series 90's BMW ( hard to beat) and a Ford Granada Scorpio
you know the type before the design team found a huge bag of Colombian marching powder..........
Great content as usual.
Ian sorry to Furious but I prefer the Aussie car. It seems more modern, with almost a Jaguar-like look to it. I have driven an Aussie Ford similar to that and they are sweet - you weren't crazy to import it. Those Aussie Ford 6'es are great engines. It's not just that it's more convenient being a RHD car in the UK.
It is always interesting to see USA cars in places that you don't expect them to be. The Crown Vic you are driving is the cop spec one. The consumer ones had a more floaty suspension so that you don't feel most of the road imperfections. The noise could be the type of tires (or tyres for our UK friends). A consumer spec Vic and the Grand Marquis had squishy Continentals on them. To be honest, i always found the Vics and Grand Marquis to be a bit cramped inside. The dead pedal (where you rest your left foot) stuck up way too far and was not comfortable to me. Back in 2009 my folks were replacing a 1993 Ford Taurus and were looking at a new 2009 Grand Marquis. My dad test drove one and found it too cramped in the drivers side and they ended up with a 2009 Taurus which while having a smaller foot print was more roomy inside and was more comfortable to ride. You mention the Vic's dated layout. Well the interior design does date back to 1992 with the dashboard debuting in 1995. Later Vics had a idle counter as despite all the high intensity cop chases on TV, most police cars hung out on the side of roads or parking lots idling for hours (though if car chases are your thing, watch the car chase in the movie To Live and Die in LA where a cop/government spec Impala is put to its paces)
Interesting that he found the Taurus to be more spacious. Comparing an 09 Marquis to an 09 Taurus, front leg room and head room is identical, with the Marquis having more hip, and shoulder room. Rear seat dimensions are a different story. Taurus has more leg room in back, but the Marquis again has more hip room and shoulder room, making carrying 3 passengers in back more of a cramped experience in the Taurus. Additionally, carrying 6 passengers in the Taurus isn't even an option due to the center console arrangement. Trunk space is identical (Though I've driven both cars and I find it hard to believe the trunk in the Taurus can hold anywhere near as much cargo as the one in a fullsize Ford). Overall interior capacity on both cars is rated at 108 cubic feet by the EPA.
The redesigned Taurus at that time, while not physically larger inside, was set up a lot differently than a traditional sedan, especially a panther platform car. They had a high seating position and upright footwell, almost like an SUV or minivan, quite the contrast to the low and wide interior of a full-size Ford from the time. I myself own an 07 Grand Marquis and also owned a 2004 Ford Taurus in the past. Compared to the newer 09 Taurus, the 04 Taurus had more front seat leg room, head room, hip room, and shoulder room, also meaning it had more space than my Grand Marquis. However, despite this, the Taurus just never felt as spacious to me as the Mercury, and I'd have friends of mine get in the Taurus and comment on it being more cramped than my Mercury, despite the Taurus supposedly being the roomier car. You got in it, and it felt like a small car, because it was. And speaking on comfort, I personally find the seats in all of the 08 and up body-style of midsize Fords (Taurus, Sable, Montego, Five Hundred) to feel like bricks to sit on, with no side support, and a cushion that is hard as a rock. Far less comfortable than a fullsize Ford, or even an older Taurus.
If you found the dead pedal to be too far away, well, that's because these cars don't have dead pedals. Never did. Dead pedals didn't really start becoming a thing in American cars until the late 80s or so, and even then it was only on more "modern" vehicles, certainly not big cars like the GM B body and Ford Panther Platform.
My late brother was a retired cop and he said that his cohorts liked the Ford over the Chevy Caprice because the Chevys tended to fall apart, aka, cracking in half.
Reminiscent of an Australian 5L Fairlane except the Fairlane has a lot more toys to play with. I have a 120.000 KM 5 LT NL Fairlane Ghia and love it.
4:21 the giggle you get when driving a "slow" car fast is just so relatable
Hi. They make LED bulbs for those indicators which prevent hyper flash/ can bus errors. Panther was introduced around 1979. Have a good day.
I love the idea of somehow getting a hold of an Crown Victoria like Matt's, to do the rounds to clients in the community (as a senior carer). A smile would be brought to many, many faces.
👍
I used to use a Citroen Acadiane and Citroen CX when working as a community nurse in the 2000s and 2010s. It brightened my day at least!
@@robblack407 I have a daily XC90 for work - ideal for putting wheelchairs and a couple of mobility scooters in the back, and sliding infirm clients in and out the passenger seats without too much effort or fuss. This could not be said for my Mini Cooper Convertible - which is the fun-day vehicle.
Both bring smiles to many, in any instance - me inclusive!
@@robblack407 Try a 2 CV, lol
Very cool review. Side note: Warninglid was going to be the venue of the Europa Truck Trials in 2000, i can see why the venue changed now. Also Pease Pottage services there as well.
I love the comparison between the Fairmont and the crown Vic. Was wondering if you guys would team up and do it! 👌🏻👍🏻
I agree the Crown Vic doesn’t have the V8 burble like V8 s of the sixties and seventies.I used to have a 1992 Mecury Grand Marquis,which was the posh version of the Crown Vic same engine 190 HP.
This is why I much preferred my 89 Grand Marquis. I had the 5.8 litre (351W) and the towing package. The factory 215 horsepower, thanks to the factory dual exhaust, and the 390lb/ft of torque at 2,200 rpm made for both effortless wafting and the ability to tow 6,000 pounds of trailer.
@@glennpowell3444 Dont see how that in itself can make a difference? Seems more likely ignition pulses and exhaust differences is the reason, maybe?
@@glennpowell3444 Well the angles of crank journals and stroke length are of course a design choice, related to the aspects of engine they want to make that can affect sound in some small way, as can many other factors. I was mostly talking about the bigger factors (louder sources of noise) with the pulses and exhaust. Tehnically, I guess every part of the car affects the sound it makes in some small way, with resonances though the bodywork etc.
Anyway: Not sure just the OHV or OHC are related other than indirectly, i.e. OHC engines are likely more modern motors as well as more likely to run 4/5 valve heads etc.
@Alfred Wedmore Is that really true though, or is it just indirectly true?
There are tons of racecars that because of regulations have to run OHV (Which is less than ideal, dont get me wrong), and revs to way above 10 000, as well run ludicrously aggressive cams, and still seems to last ok (Nascar, for example).
Is there really any data that you cant run as much compression on an OHV engine, or as an aggressive of a cam, everything else being similar? Or is it just a function that most OHV derived engines are much older designs?
What I mean is, certainly making a pushord engine rev to 20 000 rpm isnt all that feasible, nor optimal, but for normal car revs these days (about 6000), it seems OHV does just fine as well these days, even with similar compression, and "aggressive" cams. So isnt the sound difference really just down to the OHC engine, by virtue of being a newer design, running different valve timing and compression, not the OHV/OHC in itself?
@Alfred Wedmore Well yes, I know and agree with all of that (valvetrain weights, moving mass, wear etc). OHC is a better way of doing things in many/most situations.
But the question was if the OHC vs the OHV valve train technology in itself made a difference to the exhaust sound for street cars with their limited revrange in modern times, or if it is, as I wrote earlier, simply an indirect result of other benefits that mean most modern engines are built as OHC, vs the mostly older OHV ones.
I am not (so far) convinced modern materials mean there is still a difference in limits for valve actuation at "normal" revs, at similar service lives and cost. Chevrolet third gen small block onwards for example is produced in enormous quantities and is a fairly modern engine design with OHV. Havent heard much about cam actiation limits compared to a ohc engnes of similar displacement for normal usage. Of course, there are many things I might not have heard, that is quite possible.
I am of course always willing to change my mind, do you know where I can find out for sure? Some cam testing/technology comparison white paper of similar modern engines maybe? Cheers mate.
The Crown Vic, one of Jack Reacher’s favourites (or possibly Lee Child’s). Enjoyed this one even though I am subbed to FD as well.
Nice tea-shelfery, Matt. lol
Nice car swap, both of you.
I love my 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis which I bought in 2013 for $3500. It's very quiet, but is a bit higher end, with sound insulation. Old-school as hell; I can't imagine driving a new car. It's unbelievably cheap to buy and own, aside from the gas mileage, which is certainly not worse than any and better than most SUVs. New car owners pay a fortune in yearly registration fees, mine cost $137 this year (in California!). Parts are inexpensive, always available and easy to install so the labor is cheaper, too. Mine has 109k miles (175k kilometers) and is good for at least another 150k. People are very much appreciating the Crown Vics and Marquis more here now, for all the reasons given. I used to drive Lincoln and Cadillac limos in NY in the 80s, and have been into the land yachts ever since.
Great review, I now want one. Bah. I remember the 2.8i Capri police cars in Manchester during my Student days 👮♂️
There are some rather mad machines over here in North America. The Mercury Marauder and the giant jelly bean shaped Impala SS are fun, but humongous.
The crazy monsters are the piles of GM and Lincoln cars that went front wheel drive in the 80s, but still have monstrous v6s and v8s up there!
Ian you should come back to Australia and do some road tests 👍
Hopefully, this was a good opportunity to determine what common parts if any, the Crown Vic shares with the Fairmont. The rocker switches, for example.
I don't think a single component is shared.
Yeah, its awesome. They say they can go on forever, even in the harsh police duty.
Only when I saw this video did I realise how much I've missed the wiper testing.
Fun fact: the Crown Victoria was significantly outsold by it's slightly posher Mercury Grand Marquis twin
Lovely car and good video 🚗🚙🚘👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
It is a 4 speed automatic. In drive, it will shift through all 4 gears. If the overdrive on the end of the shift lever is turned off, the car will not go into 4th gear. If the shift is in 2, it will start in 2nd gear and stay in 2nd until it is manually shifted into D.
ah the Crown Vic. The greatest "Sedan" to ever come out of America I was very sad when they stopped making it. Its the one car I'd like to own here in the uk.
This car is in the same colour green that I am experiencing with my envy. It's one of the cars I miss from when I was in the states with work well over a decade ago. That engine sound will live with me forever, the civilian versions that handled like a drunk mattress rowing the wrong way up Niagara Falls compared to European cars. so I miss the handling less so. Those were the days.
At one time, there was an after-market cup holder that looked rather like a saddle with pottie holes in it, that sat between the seats in the gap However, they did slide a bit, and without precaution tended to pool the tea/Coffee in the foot well. Shades of Jake and Elwood. (Wait, that was a Dodge Monaco)
You would just be forever pressing that throttle pedal and listening to that glorious noise
Great Review Ian, the noise especially I love, you cannot beat a lovely V8!! So question is what do you prefer the Crown Vic or the Fairmont? Love the Hubnut style Cup Holder!
Fuel consumption isn’t that bad. Driven hard my 1995 MX5 1.8iS does only a bit less around 9L/100. Thanks Iain for giving the conversion from mpg to L/100. I wish more CZcamsrs would do that. It’s a pain having to get out my calculator every time, I’ve been out of the UK for too long to be able to easily get my head around that one! MCM causes me similar problems by quoting power output in Kw with no « translation » to HP
I reckon we need to see Hubnut compete in the Freedom 500 😉
This is a police interceptor version. The suspension is much stiffer than the civvy version. The civvy one wallows and rides like a marshmallow. Also as noted the police car has no sound insulation pretty much.
I wonder if one of those folding tables from a mk1 Honda CR-V would fit in the centre to improve the tea shelf/cup holder.
I drove Crown Vics starting in the early 1980s, up to 2009, on the Job. The early 80s ones had crap overdrive transmissions, which got fixed with this later body style. The ones with the 355 rear ends were noticably quicker and would pull top end better. Tough cars, room inside to work properly and good performance. Their demise made Coppers everywhere sad.
The closest thing I ever got to a crown vic was a cortina.
The Crown Vic weighs around 300 kg than your Fairmont which would explain many of the handling differences. It's closer in weight to a Ford Territory, but with a lower centre of gravity presumably.
These were/are rugged cars. You can find videos on CZcams of gearheads doing an automatic to manual transmission swap. There is a fellow in Canada who builds and sells a pedal conversion kit. You put in a manual transmission from a Mustang, bolt on a turbo or supercharger, and burn rubber at the dragstrip.
I used to get 40+mpg from my Rover 800 but it was new at the time!
I once drove past the Ford plant (Talbotville Assembly) near St Thomas, Ontario, and the lot outside was just a sea of unmarked yellow Crown Vic taxis.
We need a hub note goes global in America!
Oh well if I cannot have a 63-66 Lincoln Continental in England (apparently cruises at 10 mpg) then a Crown Victoria would have to do LOL -amazing they can get 30mpg out of it.
Find a box Panther with the 351W and trailer towing package. 40 miles to the gallon is entirely possible. My 89 did that right off the show room floor.
lived in canada from 2007 to 2013 those cars where built in St Thomas Ontario , i love these cars and the Mecury version which was the Gran Marquee or the one i always wanted the Mecury Marauder.
I noticed all the mini-cameras stuck onto Betty - I know that's how Matt does his videos, but you usually never actually see them.
Aha I detect another old Little Chef. Guessing at Hickstead
I do love these crossover videos and it figures that Mr Furious would think of the tea
The overdrive on that is an electronic control. Basically it's not a lock so much as allowing the transmission to shift into overdrive. If you were some place mountainous like Norway or Colorado you'd turn it off. For England, leave it on all the time unless you're driving up or down Hardknott Pass or something.
I live in the UK and would love to own my own CVPI - sadly I live in a little village with tiny litte roads and I don't think a big american sedan would suit it very well! great video though! Shame we didn't get this car over here, but I 100% understand why that never happened!
The AU's were / are great but I really wish that you had bought the Ghia model Fairmont as it was the first of the Falcons to IRS (with LSD) and was on a whole other level compared to the standard Fairmont's live rear axle. Also the Ghia's had a VCT engine with (or an old Windsor V8) which was much more livelier. and then there were the TickFord options such as bigger brakes, Momo steering wheel, sports suspension (lower and a bit firmer), 17' wheels and a body kit. I always preferred an optioned out Ghia over the XR6's & 8's which were really sporty povo' packs. If you'll ever back down under you will have to try the entire AU model range including the Fairlane's and LTD's. Then you can charter a cargo boat to take them all back with you. 🤣
Thanks for the great vids. 👍
I still reckon the IRS in the AU's were far better than the B/F series "Control Blade" IRS.
The AU "tram lined" less, felt hell of a lot tighter, had far less flex when pushed hard, and gripped far better overall.
I have boxed in the blades on my old BA XT retired cop car which made it feel alot tighter, but the issues were still there
@@maxrockatanksyOG Yes the AU IRS was a much better system but was expensive to produce so the later Falcons got a compromised set up with the control blade system that was cheaper to produce so could be standard across the range
This guy is really whipping it 😅 I would be driving like a grandpa with uk gas prices.