Valet Auto Review: Mercury Marauder

[Enola Straight]

This edition of VAR deals with the Mercury Marauder.

http://www.elepent.com/photos/mercury/marauder.jpg

Model tested is silver with black interior. The shifter is not column mounted but a t-bar. Just ahead of the shifter are two gauges...voltimeter and oil pressure.

http://www.canadiandriver.com/news/0...r_con_dash.jpg

The main selling point of this vehicle is that it is Ford's answer to the Chevy Impala SS...and fails to deliver.

Though the DOHC 4.6 v8 motivates this 4 door, I believe it is a Lincoln-derived unit, and not the Mustang Cobra firebreather. There is no muscular rumble from the exhaust, and everyone knows the sound of speed is almost as important as speed itself.

This vehichle simply can't shed it's image as a Grand Marquis...the archetypical senior's car.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

It seems that the people that got this car are trying to be cool, but not affording enough for the cache of a Mustang (whatever is left) or a Camaro (when they were available). Ford has better engines at their disposal and (like you pointed out) went with the Lincoln package instead of a more beefy Mustang package. It makes you wonder who the car was even marketed towards in the first place and if the intended audience is buying it.

[Khampelf]

Even in that spiffy black and silver, it looks like a taxi, or a cop car.

Maurader, M.A.

[Auntbeast]

Well, if that isn't a cop car. It should be.

Bleh.

[garygnu]

Can one award negative style points? Jzeesh.

[anamnesis]

Uh, yeah. Welcome to 2003. I had to do a double take at the thread date to really make sure this was actually made yesterday. Are you sure this isn't another edition of "Five Year Old Auto Review"?

Time to actually bring out the truth instead of misinformed opining ...

The 4.6L Modular is not a Lincoln engine, it is a Ford unit and has found application in dozens of Ford products, in various incarnations with different valvetrain setups and displacements: Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury sedans, as well as Ford Trucks in higher output V10 configurations. It doesn't "sound" like it has any power? It's supposed to be more sedate as it is a large sedan, so the exhaust tuning is slightly quieted down. Put Flowmasters on it and it sounds just like any Mustang GT.

It is what it is: a hot-rodded Grand Marquis. Ford tuned up all the components to make it a hauler. If you want something more exclusive than a hot-rod sedan built out of the mold of a 30-year old car platform (yes, the Ford Panther RWD platform upon which the Crown Vic, Grand Marqus, and Town Car has been in existence since the late 70's), then I guess it isn't for you. It was a niche product, and as a result, sales basically dropped off after everyone that wanted one, got one.

Despite the fact that the Panther platform is an artifact by design and engineering standards in the automotive industry, it has survived intact for half a dozen generations of evolution in the car industry and is a very solid platform. It underpins the last remaining domestic sedans which use a body-on-frame design (as trucks do) rather than a unitized/unibody design like all other cars now do. That gives the car incredible strength and explains why municipalities use Crown Vics as squad cars. If it looks like a cop car, that's because it is one, though police departments often get a Crown Vic "Intercepter" model from Ford with a similar performance treatment to the Marauder. It may be stylistically bland by today's standards, but blandness does not a bad car make, and beauty is, after all, in the eye of the beholder. It has classic proportions, and as it is now, the Panther triplets are quite unique in the marketplace. They are cars with a spirit from another era, and that is not such a bad thing, if only for sentimentality's sake. Ford is recognizing the fact that their demand is not what it used to be, and will be replacing the Panther with a new full-size RWD platform before long. Ford did not market the Marauder particularly well either, but much like this OP, this isn't news. This was just another example of a respectable product that died due to Ford's characteristic failure to quickly respond to market demands. Kind of a shame.

So, in summary, if you don't want to look like a crusty old senior in a hot rod sedan, go buy a Mustang and look like a cocky young punk instead. Personally, I think anyone who owns a Marauder has more taste than any Mustang owner could ever hope to have ... I guess taste comes with age. I'm 26 and I love the Marauder, but that could be because it crosses age boundaries and I don't judge people based on the car they drive, particularly when it's as capable as the Marauder is.

R.I.P. Marauder, we hardly knew ye. You are a future classic.

[Happy Scrappy Hero Pup]

So, in summary, if you don't want to look like a crusty old senior in a hot rod sedan, go buy a Mustang and look like a cocky young punk instead. Personally, I think anyone who owns a Marauder has more taste than any Mustang owner could ever hope to have ... I guess taste comes with age. I'm 26 and I love the Marauder, but that could be because it crosses age boundaries and I don't judge people based on the car they drive, particularly when it's as capable as the Marauder is.

But... you preemptively judged people by the car they drive in the sentence right before you said you didn't.


I've loved all the Valet Auto Reviews so far, but what's next? Valet Auto review: Ford Tempo?

[anamnesis]

Heh, yeah, but I was sarcastically echoing the judgments already stated in the thread by others. You're hardly an old fart if you have one of these, even if you are an old fart.

I personally can't wait for his review of the Cadillac Cimarron. Sorry, are these actually supposed to be reviews or just random, uninformed glimpses into car culture?

[MannyL]

No Valet Auto Review:Pontiac Aztek if I end up at his casino instead of Harrah's where I normally go

[Enola Straight]

No problem...the Aztek isn't distinctive enough for me to critique.