Oppo Poll: Help Decide The Fate Of My Friends Crown Vic

"offroadkarter" (04RauderDTR) 11/06/2013 at 00:37 • Filed to: ford, mercury, panther platform, crown victoria, marauder

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Alright so here is the deal, one of my friends is looking at picking up a new daily driver (2010+ Mercedes E550) and if he does buy this, he's looking to sell his 03 Marauder. He offered it to one of my other friends, who at the moment has a 04 crown victoria sport.

Here is the run down on both cars, I know both of their histories very well so I am in full support of this idea, but I want to hear what you all think.

The current car is a 2004 Ford Crown Victoria LX Sport. For those of you that don't know, this is the top trim crown victoria. It has a 239hp 4.6L 2V V8 with factory dual exhaust, a 3.27 rear axle ratio, and comes with 17" 5 spoke wheels. It also has power leather buckets, a center console shifter, Electronic HVAC controls, homelink, overhead console, rear air suspension, and some other shit that is probably standard on every LX panther out there.

Here are the specifics about the car:

97,000 miles and counting

21mm rear swaybar off a 03 marauder

Added a freshly rebuilt Ford Limited Slip Diff

18" 5 spoke bullitt wheels off a shelby GT (these probably won't go with the car)

Marauder 80MM MAF with SCT Xcal3 tune

Ditched the amber corner lights for clear corners

Car also comes with a spoiler that has yet to be installed or painted

Now, for the second car in question

This is a 2003 Mercury Marauder, this is (in my opinion) the top trim panther as far as a performance platform goes. It comes with a 302HP 4.6L 4V V8, a true Handling & Performance Package suspension setup (unlike the sport which came stock with a 17mm rear bar and base rate springs), 28mm front swaybar, 21mm rear swaybar, police rate coils up front with HPP airbags in the rear, tokico shocks all around, 18x8 wheels, and the interior has its own improvements including unique bucket seats, a unique gauge cluster with tach, a gauge pod in the center console and its own interior trim. Since this is a Job 1 03, it also has map pockets on the seats.

Here are the specifics on the car

54,000 miles and I don't see it hitting 55k any time soon since my friend only drives it like once a week at most (garaged since 07, possibly even earlier, was bought with 24k on it)

Interior looks like it has 5000 miles on it

New brakes all around

New rear tires

Morimoto MH1 HID Projector Retrofit (Built by me)

Heinous Motorsports Billet rear control arms (upper and lower)

4.10 gears in a freshly rebuilt rear end (new bearings, axles, clutch packs, seals)

PCM has been reflashed with a Xcal3 using the Pro Racer Package (allows you to tune yourself, comes with the car)

Car ran a 14.4 on the track with a trans shift issue, tune has since been corrected

Here is how I see it

Upsides:

Trading up for a higher trim panther

Car has less miles

Car is in better shape (Vic lived in RI, Marauder in MD)

Car has more power

Car handles better

Car is more unique

Downsides:

Car is more unique - some parts are long obsolete

Vic's can stand a LOT of neglect and keep on chooglin, Marauder's aren't exactly on par with taxi toughness IMO, but its close to an extent. For someone who can be a penny pinching bastard and dare I say rather uneducated about cars at this point, this could be an issue.

Marauder must have 91 octane at a minimum. This won't cost THAT much more per tank, but it still won't take 87 like the Vic will.

Current owner has strong case of OCD - this may transfer with the car to the theoretical new owner.

So what say you Oppo, stick with the Vic? Or trade up for the Merc? Please post your thoughts below, I'll be sharing this with both parties.

Thanks in advance!

Takuro Spirit > offroadkarter 11/06/2013 at 00:42

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For him, I say keep the Vic.

Let someone else who will love the Marauder like it needs to be loved buy it.

offroadkarter > Takuro Spirit 11/06/2013 at 00:51

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If you know the market of these cars, and where my friend lives in Maryland, it'll end up in the ghetto driven by a guy who would more than likely put it on 24's.

Since I have to work on his car as it is, I know I'd end up working on this one to lol.

I did all the work to the vic so far pretty much. I rebuilt the brakes, tossed the wheels on, installed the swaybar, rebuilt the EATC, put the MAF on, installed a 9007 headlight harness (which needs a new relay), and plenty of other shit. (I tend to be the mechanic in my circle of friends, I've worked on more panthers and explorers than I'd like to remember) I showed him how to work the Xcal3 so now he knows how to check and clear for DTC's without my assistance. I always show him what I'm working on, how, and why it broke in the first place so he can learn some of this stuff to. IMO every real man should know the basics of auto mechanics, and I already got one of my other friends from barely knowing how to change a 194 bulb, to replacing the radiator and brake lines on his explorer w/o my help.

Neglect isn't an issue, trust me, if he let his car get into a taxi state I'd beat his ass with his old 17mm swaybar, its still a very clean sport, its just kind of temperamental at times.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > offroadkarter 11/06/2013 at 01:53

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1) Buy the Marauder.

2) Scavenge any parts off of the Vic that may be better than what the Marauder has.

3) Install better parts on Marauder and rebuild the Vic with the leftovers.

4) Sell the Vic

5) ????????

6) Profit!!!

offroadkarter > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 11/06/2013 at 02:03

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I dont think the vic has a single thing on it thats "better" lol

The only thing that can be argued is, I believe the vic has cleaner paint job, but I'm not about to do a body swap.

Squid > offroadkarter 11/06/2013 at 02:51

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Trade up to the Marauder. Marauders deserve good homes. Plus it is better to see a rareish panther stay within a circle of friends with panthers. It really is a no brainer to trade the vic for a lower mileage Marauder.

offroadkarter > Squid 11/06/2013 at 03:01

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thats what I figured

CV sports are rare, Marauders are rarer

Mattbob > offroadkarter 11/06/2013 at 07:42

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Marauder

CalzoneGolem > offroadkarter 11/06/2013 at 11:18

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Marauder > Vic

We're done here. What's to discuss?

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > offroadkarter 11/06/2013 at 11:19

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Marauder. Engine definitely makes me say Marauder.

Oh and I'm the resident Mercury lover so my opinion may be swayed. You can get the Winged Helmet Mercury logo on them to replace the standard Merc logo.

Coolest logo in car history (I may be biased).