Anyone have advise/opinions about Crown Vics from 2000-2005? I'm thinking about buying one and just wanted some thoughts.

3/24/2006 6:53:30 PM

don't get a used cop car, they're rags

3/24/2006 6:57:32 PM

^depends. if you get a detective or some other higher up's car from the shp, they're usually somewhat low mileage, driven easy, yet follow the same rigerous maintinance schedules as any other cruiser.

3/24/2006 7:00:27 PM

true that, steweys wasnt ragged really until he got it was it?

3/24/2006 7:07:00 PM

haha, yeah his was pretty clean until he got ahold of it

3/24/2006 7:10:25 PM

my brother just bought one from the highway patrol and it seems to be a real good car. no obvious problems and it looks new.

3/24/2006 7:36:00 PM

What about non-p71's? I'm looking at both, but don't really need the extra hp or stuff from the p71 package, if the regular ones are cheaper and as reliable.

3/24/2006 9:14:36 PM

What's the point of owning a Crown Vic unless it's a P71? You're not a senior citizen on medicare.

3/24/2006 9:16:22 PM

Is there anywhere besides Ebay to look for one of these? Does the SHP or local city forces do regular auctions of these things? Most of the ones on Ebay are pretty good distance from here.

3/24/2006 9:38:00 PM

To get a SHP car, you'll need to check out the NC surplus auctions. http://www.doa.state.nc.us/ssp/vehicles.htm
They also have former city and state department vehicles. However, they're all high mileage (usually get retired at around 100K) and often have various things wrong with them. You get what you pay for.l

On the other side of the coin, my mom has a '97 Crown Vic, bought from carmax a few years back with 31,000 miles. It's been a good car, with one catch--out of nowhere, the torque converter died. If that hadn't been under warranty, it would have been a ~1K repair. Not having heard of transmission/TQ failures being a common problem on these cars (especially at under 40,000 miles!), I'd chalk that one up to bad luck. The 4.6 is a well-sorted engine, and it's put together decently, nice interior, decent power for a car its size. It's very long, and you sit fairly high, but it's more maneuverable than you'd think in parking and the like, and you can actually see the ends of the car. Don't expect good on-road handling though, lots of body roll and float. Rides nice and smooth though. Actual room for 6 full-size adults, though if you have someone in front-middle they'll be sitting over the split (60/40 front bench). Mileage is better than you might guess, 14-17 mpg city and 25-28 mpg highway.

Granted, a few things may have changed on the newer models ('97 was the last year of the 1992 body style), but it's basically the same car with slightly freshened skin. I think they did a major suspension update in '03 or '04... The Sport models ('01 or '02 and up) have front buckets rather than bench, I think a few suspension tweaks, and true duals, which bumps HP up a bit. Plus a body-color grille, unique alloys, and less chrome.

I do have to wonder what your rationale for buying one is though. Good cars, at least in my opinion, but you don't often see someone on a college message board considering a newer one, or at least a non-P71.

3/24/2006 10:25:05 PM

Well, I'm no mechanic, and certainly not in to cars, but I know of them to be good cars, don't like SUV's, but am just not comfortable in compacts. My mother used to drive an 89, and that was the car I drived on in high school, just a really good car till the alternator started going out on it frequently, then we lost the water pump and traded it. I have a Lumina now, so I'm used to biggish cars. I guess I just like Vics, and I want to buy a car that I actually want now that I can kind of afford it with my new job.

3/25/2006 12:11:10 AM

I think it would be bad ass to have a vic, especially with the brush guard still on the front and shit. What would be even more bad ass is drop a 4.6 DOHC, with a kenne-bell on there; ultimate sleeper while sitting at the stop light, up until the point it takes off and all you hear is blower whine.

3/25/2006 12:20:51 AM

^That, sir, is why the long-term plans for my car include a blower.

(I drive a '96 Lincoln Mark VIII. 4.6 DOHC under the hood.)

3/25/2006 12:43:06 AM

whats the curb weight breakdown of an blown cobra, lightning and a mark 8?

my understanding is, the stock supercharged motors in the 03/03 cobra and the lightnings are great - and add minimal mods, even better. but start overspinning the stock SC, or even dogging it alot with a KB and good luck cooling that intake charge enough. we start a pool on which piston goes first.

3/25/2006 1:28:06 AM

paging Mark VII

3/25/2006 8:15:05 AM

It's hard to beat a crown vic or grand marquis for the money. they are rwd, V-8, comfortable, and have much more room that some front wheel drive import that costs a lot more. My wife and I are thinking about buying a car in the fall and I'm sure we'll look hard at those.

3/25/2006 8:25:29 AM

they are not bad, all vics from 98-02 are the same, in 03 they got a slight HP increase with teh better heads and they also got rack and pinion steering...
all state cars go through the same rigorious maintance, and all maintance is done through ford dealers, they try to take them off the Rd at 60,000 miles, but some go over. When i bought mine back in 02 Sgt Philips ran the sale program at the communication and logistics building on Blue ridge, he and I had a long talk about what cars were the nicest and what he thougth was the better ones to chose, and he actually told me the unmarked cars had a tendency to not be taken car of as well(I was looking at a green Sgt car at the time).

Once again there is no HP increase froma P71 to a non P71(given it has dual exhaust) it is just heavy duty stuff like electrical, suspension, seat mounts Stuff like that.

Mine has 125,000 on it and runs as strong as the day it was new, turns high 15s in the 1/4, burns no oil...
and has overall been a great car...

3/25/2006 10:22:52 AM

I think curb weight on a stock 03 cobra is about 3550, somewhere around in there. I saw a guy at True Blue performance one day, 03 cobra, he put on a Cold Air Intake, Upgraded blower pulley, long tubes, o/r X-pipe, and a catback, then got it dyno tuned, he jumped from 380rwhp to 475rwhp! it was ridiculous.

3/25/2006 11:19:35 AM

Quote :

"However, they're all high mileage (usually get retired at around 100K) and often have various things wrong with them. You get what you pay for.l"

actually, the city retires police cars at 50K while fire has to retire their cars at 100K. i wouldn't mind having an old fire car. the P.I. crown vic's will haul ass and handle amazingly well.

3/25/2006 11:59:50 AM

d0rift0!!!!!11
http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=334476

3/25/2006 12:18:31 PM

crown vics should have rudder-tiller things instead of steering wheels
imho

[Edited on March 25, 2006 at 7:08 PM. Reason : .]

3/25/2006 7:08:29 PM

Crown vics are nice but I prefer the Caprices

3/25/2006 9:47:58 PM

buy a ex cop car and you might get a free bag of drugs with

3/25/2006 10:15:05 PM

I just bought a 99 p71 from the SHP on blue ridge. Its a clean car, no dings but it has been repaired on a fender where they hit a deer. It had 85k on it, 3.55 rear open diff, high output alternator, and a button on the dash to pop the trunk. It preforms well off the line to be a 4000 lb car, but really shines when you are just driving and nail it. they are set up for running people down.

3/25/2006 10:44:50 PM

i like that silver one with the big ass bumper on the front, shit i may get one day.. jb u can tailgate cars at night and they'll think ur a cop.. shit put some strobes in the light hehe ur set.

my friend's dad used to have a retired one, put long ass antenna's on it and he rocked out cop glasses. cops would wave to him all the time as he sped by

rofl.

3/25/2006 11:12:24 PM

They do make good highway cars for the reason that people tend to get out of your way.

3/25/2006 11:36:57 PM

The last thing you want to do it try to make it look like a cop car, if a oficer can prove your intent, it is starting as a class 1 misdeminor, and can go as high as felony impersonating an officer, I was thteatened by some A-hole cop that i looked to much like a cop car(as if the 17 inch black wheels and the spoiler are just something every cop has). Luckly I went over his head and got him in trouble for hassling me.

Overall still a great car....and on one occasion the pushbar has saved my ass! i was behind a girl making a left turn from a stopsign, she started to go, then stopped about 10 foot in, and I ran into her at about 15-20 the pushbar and the rubber pads on it took the impact and left no mark on either vehicle.

3/26/2006 10:08:18 AM

Did you add the pushbar on yourself? I didn't think most SHP cars had one...

3/26/2006 11:59:49 AM

Also remember that the p71 crown vics were equipped with tranny coolers. I'm a firm believer that anyone that owns an automatic transmission (especially the Ford AODE/4r70w) should have a tranny cooler equipped.

That's why you rarely have tranny failures in police vics

3/26/2006 12:40:17 PM

They're relatively slow, but I like a big car.

3/26/2006 1:51:29 PM

"I ran into her at about 15-20 the pushbar and the rubber pads on it took the impact and left no mark on either vehicle."

Physics dictate that this did not happen. A 20mph impact would leave both vehicles with what I would consider significant damage.
Ahmet

3/26/2006 2:28:53 PM

physics in itself isn't really the deciding factor. it would be the design/engineering of the two impacting surfaces and their ability to absorb shock.

3/26/2006 2:53:37 PM

when i grow up i want to take ahmettronics 101

3/26/2006 3:17:35 PM

Yes I installed the pushbar, comes from growing up watching the dukes of Hazard, but the SHP is starting to put it on select cars, and I know Apex has adopted the same brand on theirs. the fact that the pushbar and the bumperit is attached to both absorb, as well as the bumper on her car, plus the added help that the rubber padding on the bar kept it fom scratching...either way I plowed into a girl in a Newer accord the week before thanksgiving, and no damage was done to either vehicle...

all Vics hav a tranny cooler but the P71s have a much larger cooler

3/26/2006 4:31:24 PM

Quote :

"I was thteatened by some A-hole cop that i looked to much like a cop car(as if the 17 inch black wheels and the spoiler are just something every cop has). Luckly I went over his head and got him in trouble for hassling me"

This had to have happened in Cary

3/26/2006 4:45:41 PM

"physics in itself isn't really the deciding factor. it would be the design/engineering of the two impacting surfaces and their ability to absorb shock." I don't believe that a pushbar can fully absorb the impact of a 3500lbs vehicle from 20mph.

His claim that the impact happened at close to 20mph works with the assumption that the vehicle was able to attain 20mph in a 10ft distance, which is another significant hurdle for the credibility of his claim.

I'm going to assume that the impact happened at closer to 5mph, and that he has little or no experience with this sort of rapid deceleration. Furthermore his guestimate of the closing speed at the moment of impact was significantly inaccurate. If anyone with one of these wonder push bars wants to show me otherwise, I am up for the amusement of watching a crown vic so equipped run into another vehicle (or if you so desire a wall at reduced speed).
Ahmet

3/26/2006 4:56:12 PM

Quote :

"I don't believe that a pushbar can fully absorb the impact of a 3500lbs vehicle from 20mph."

of course not, no one said it did. there's many other parts and assemblies involved here. bumpers, mounts, subframes, etc.

Quote :

"the assumption that the vehicle was able to attain 20mph in a 10ft distance"

you're making assumptions without facts. i don't see anywhere that it says he started from a dead stop and was exactly 10ft. away. quite possible that wasn't the case, the only thing stated was that she stopped 10ft. into the intersection.

by your argument, it's possible he misjudged the distance also. why believe the distance judged and not the speed? logically, you should have it opposite. cars have speedometers for reference, but as far as i know crown vics don't have any sort of measureing device for distance.

3/26/2006 5:25:05 PM

have you never bumped your freind to piss them off? plastic bumpers can take a pretty good hit with no damage

3/26/2006 5:44:50 PM

Quote :

"but as far as i know crown vics don't have any sort of measureing device for distance."

liar everyone knows that the odometers measure in miles, feet and inches

3/26/2006 5:48:08 PM

mines metric, it goes by kilometers, meters, decimeters, centimeters, millimeters, micrometers, and nanomteres

3/26/2006 7:25:11 PM

True there's room for error. I did think he could've misjudged the distance, but it would not have added anything to my argument, hence I left it out. His statement is vague enough, but by my interpretation, he only had 10ft to accelerate. I will acknowledge that this, indeed is, yet another point of possible error.

It is for these reasons that I am now offering $50 to him (or somebody else with a crown vic and the wonder push bar) + a friends accord a 20mph impact, that will have both the cars unscratched. I am MORE than that confident. I will put more money down if we can find a credible 3rd party. This isn't a joke, I would pay up if somebody wants to take me up on it.
Ahmet

3/26/2006 7:31:53 PM

i got $100 that says i can hit 20mph on my speedo in 10 feet

3/26/2006 7:43:57 PM

Your speedo doesn't always display the actual momentum of the vehicle...
Ahmet

3/26/2006 7:45:54 PM

you guys are going way to into it.....
either way...pushbar...better than no pushbar in this situation, without it i clearly woudl have at least scratched the hell out of both cars if not damaged the bumper covers

Summary Pushbar=good Used Vic=good car cary po-po=bad guys

3/26/2006 8:40:31 PM

Quote :

"Your speedo doesn't always display the actual momentum of the vehicle..."

no shit

3/26/2006 8:59:23 PM

as long as you dont have lights in there how can you be impersonating an officer? people also dont pass you like jackasses, nor do they pull out in front of you.

3/26/2006 10:14:57 PM

about lookin like a cruiser.. if that is the case they shouldnt sell those cars to the public. the strobes would be illigal and the antenna's served a legitamate purpose for his cell phone and cb radio.

i doubt u can get in trouble with that. i hope that a hole cop got into lots of trouble.

3/26/2006 10:38:06 PM

riding around with a pushbar is not impersonating a cop

riding around with broken rear swaybar IS

3/26/2006 10:57:04 PM

I love how the question about a car turned into a physics/ word use pissing contest.

3/27/2006 8:34:50 AM

Why would you want to buy a car that has been driven to the limits almost every night and at one point been bloodied, pissed and puked in?

3/27/2006 9:13:04 AM