School me on Crown Vic Police Interceptors

[hotrodtba]

I am thinking about picking up a Crown Vic Police Interceptor P71 as a daily driver to keep the miles off my truck, and it will actually get a little better gas mileage as well. Local car dealer has a 2003 P71 Crown Vic I am considering. It has 47,000 miles. It was a supervisors car. Has full interior with carpet floors, the street appearance package with the full wheel covers, body side moldings, etc. Has cruise control, and even factory CD Player. Only holes are two small antenna bases, one on the roof and one on the trunk. It is in great shape. Drives out great, very tight, no rattles. Interior is in great shape, no tears or stains. Engine is quiet and smooth, no noises and no leaks. He is asking $6000, but says cash he will take $5200 firm. Does this sound like a decent deal? Anything to look out for? Thanks.

 

[Magneto]

I have looked at a couple the last few months and that sounds like a pretty darn good deal from the prices I have seen. Here is the link to it. They are asking $4000 I think. http://www.johnjonesautogroup.com/2005-Ford-Crown-Victoria-Police-Salem-IN/vd/9541071

 

[Magneto]

Here is an almost exact same car and they are asking $7900. That should make up your mind for you. http://www.johnjonesautogroup.com/2003-Ford-Crown-Victoria-Police-Salem-IN/vd/10614892

 

[rockhopper46038]

Be warned, the cigarette lighters are prone to not working...

 

[rotortech]

I have owned a Crown Vic and currently own a Mercury Grand Marquis. These are easily 15 year / 200,000 mile cars. I have not owned the PI version but I suspect it will perform similarly. I had the Crown Vic for 14 years and now I have been driving the 2001 Merc for 11 years. The PI will be more costly to operate and maintain than the non PI due to all the heavy duty parts/ dual exhaust / larger engine / etc. I get 20 mpg in town and 30 mpg on the highway with the Mercury - not much power though.

I think the car you showed in your post looks pretty nice. The price is good for that mileage. I think it is really hard to find one that clean.

 

[GlockRock]

My first squad car was an 03 Vic. Loved it.

 

[confused89]

So starting in 2003 all of the "panther" platform cars recieved the same engine. The Panther platform cars would include the Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, and the Lincoln Town Car. The only engine that they put in there it the 4.6. The Mercury Marauder has the 4.6 liter 32 valve engine. The differences in the years prior to that are the heads and dual exhaust. The cars that had the Handling and Performance Package (HPP) recieved honeycomb style wheels, air ride suspension, dual exhaust, and 3.55 rear end gears (Corwn Victoria's and Grand Marquis could recieve that package).That car is going to have 3.55 rear end ratio. You should expect 20-24 mpg mixed driving. If you got a plain Grand Marquis LS or GS you would have 2.73 rear end ratio. That is not a bad price for what it is. These cars will have no problem making it to 200,000 miles. I only have 82,000 on my 01 Grand Marquis.

If you want the mother load of info go to crownvic.net

 

[perry]

Throw a blue wind breaker on a hanger in the rear window, replace the antennas, and never get a speeding ticket again

 

[norman428]

Throw a blue wind breaker on a hanger in the rear window, replace the antennas, and never get a speeding ticket again

Hes not kidding, but becoming a wacker should never be a goal, the police get suspicious and everyone will call in on you for speeding, because they think they are calling in on a police officer, trust me. it gets old.

Anyway, Drove a 00' for a few years, the cars are beyond easy to work on, parts are cheap and very easy to find due to the amount of retired police cars, and the ONLY reason i sold it was to get better gas mileage.

Now that said, the 03' did have its issues in the PI class, you will loose your alternator around 100k, coil packs are toast and expensive to replace sometimes, and spark plugs break off inside the motor, which are VERY difficult to remove.

I highly recommend reading up on Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, Marauder, and Towncar Very helpful people on there that can answer any question you can ever have about those cars.

If it helps at all, I plan to buy another one someday and the fact that it was a supervisors car, huge bonus. Its hard to do damage to a car from a desk.

 

[IndyColtsFaithful]

IMO get the tranny checked out before. Supervisors car or not, they all use their own vehicle for their training (the name of the training is escaping me at 7am, I'm sure I'll remember it right when I log off). The training is fun, you basically find the limits of your car without flipping it however it is very hard on the transmissions. Other than that and the large blind spot you should be good to go with this street legal racing tank.

 

[hotrodtba]

The cars that had the Handling and Performance Package (HPP) recieved honeycomb style wheels, air ride suspension, dual exhaust, and 3.55 rear end gears (Corwn Victoria's and Grand Marquis could recieve that package).That car is going to have 3.55 rear end ratio. You should expect 20-24 mpg mixed driving. If you got a plain Grand Marquis LS or GS you would have 2.73 rear end ratio. That is not a bad price for what it is. These cars will have no problem making it to 200,000 miles. I only have 82,000 on my 01 Grand Marquis.

If you want the mother load of info go to crownvic.net

It's funny you mention the gears. I'm trying to figure out if it has the limited slip diff or open diff. The door sticker has the axle code as "Z5". In doing some internet research, that is the code for the 3.27 conventional or open diff. I've read that its not uncommon for the door code to be wrong. The articles I've read say to check the tag that's attached to one of the diff cover bolts. I did that this evening, and its marked "3L27", which in my research indicates the 3.27 trac loc or limited slip diff. So now I'm not sure which one it has. Guess I'll have to do a burn out and see if it leaves two marks or one.

 

[jbombelli]

Crown Vic PIs are good cars. I had one (a 2000) for a few years, and drove the hell out of it. I finally sold it to my brother, who still has it.

A couple of things: before I bought mine, I thought that people would get out of the way if they saw you coming up behind them, IN A POLICE CAR. They don't. They hit the brakes in front of you. It happens a lot, so be prepared for that. Next, you'll see people do a lot of stupid things when they see you, like look really stupid as they yank their seat belt over themselves, or lock up the wheels to avoid running the stop sign they were just about to run before they saw you. If you think people are stupid drivers now, wait until you're driving around in a Crown Vic Police Interceptor.


And +1 to crownvic.net. I learned a lot about that car there.

 

[confused89]

I thought that they only offered 2 gear ratio's. I guess they must have changed that.

 

[hotrodtba]

I thought that they only offered 2 gear ratio's. I guess they must have changed that.

In the PI cars, yes they offered 3.27 and 3.55.

 

[mcolford]

Police INterceptor means very little. Suspension is slightly tweaked, and maybe a different exhaust. Supervisor or not, Id be cautious.

Have you ever had a rental car? Did you take care of it as your own? Think about this... Im just saying LE cars dont typically get nice and gentle miles.

 

[phylodog]

Crown Vic PIs are good cars. I had one (a 2000) for a few years, and drove the hell out of it. I finally sold it to my brother, who still has it.

A couple of things: before I bought mine, I thought that people would get out of the way if they saw you coming up behind them, IN A POLICE CAR. They don't. They hit the brakes in front of you. It happens a lot, so be prepared for that. Next, you'll see people do a lot of stupid things when they see you, like look really stupid as they yank their seat belt over themselves, or lock up the wheels to avoid running the stop sign they were just about to run before they saw you. If you think people are stupid drivers now, wait until you're driving around in a Crown Vic Police Interceptor.


And +1 to crownvic.net. I learned a lot about that car there.

LOL, I'm glad to see others get to enjoy this as well.

Haven't seen anything I'd disagree with on here. They are definitely 200K capable vehicles. I've had a 96, a 2001, a 2003 and now a 2011 and the only consistent issue I've seen are easily warped brake rotors. I've never intentionally trashed one but they've all seen hard use when necessary and I've never had a major issue with any of the cars I was issued. I've seen many, many still in use with well over 150K on them and they were still going strong if they had been taken care of.

The interior/exterior can be a pretty good indicator of the mechanical history/potential of the vehicle. Cops who put forth the effort to keep them clean usually also make sure the scheduled maintenance is done. I would never buy one if it looked slightly beat up as it has probably been trashed.

Aside from the unfortunate aspect of people thinking you're the po-po and driving like complete idiots around you (be prepare for your blind spot to ALWAYS have someone in it) from what I've seen I wouldn't hesitate to buy one like you've mentioned.

 

[Fargo]

IMO get the tranny checked out before. Supervisors car or not, they all use their own vehicle for their training (the name of the training is escaping me at 7am, I'm sure I'll remember it right when I log off). The training is fun, you basically find the limits of your car without flipping it however it is very hard on the transmissions. Other than that and the large blind spot you should be good to go with this street legal racing tank.

EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operator's Course) is I believe what you are thinking of. Also, not all departments use their own cars. There is a pool of retired ISP cars which departments can rent from ILEA to run the course so they don't fry the trannys/tires on their squads or ding them up on the inevitable [STRIKE]pedestrian[/STRIKE] cone runovers.

Best,

Joe

 

[CTC B4Z]

98% will burn oil... The valve seats in the 4.6 are flawed and have been for years... Blue smoke on start up and accel...

 

[Denny347]

EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operator's Course) is I believe what you are thinking of. Also, not all departments use their own cars. There is a pool of retired ISP cars which departments can rent from ILEA to run the course so they don't fry the trannys/tires on their squads or ding them up on the inevitable [STRIKE]pedestrian[/STRIKE] cone runovers.

Best,

Joe

Yes, we have "training cars" we use during recruit EVOC that get run hard and put away wet. Those are nasty cars. Now we do use our own cars for EVOC in service but it is not nearly as hard on cars as the academy course and do not tear the cars up...it is more of a refresher course. Slow/med speed backing, parking and weaving.

 

[Typhon1390]

I guess used cars are more expensive than they used to be, but I had an 03 back in 2007 and paid less than that. I also had to pay to repaint it though from two-tone Sheriff colors. For the mileage and the condition of the car I'd take it you want it.

They're very reliable cars, fun to drive, practical, but I'd still advise caution. On the interstate, they're great, left lane lurkers clear for you and you can pretty much get where you're going. Also semis are less prone to swinging into your path at the last second. As has been mentioned though on more isolated roads like in residential and rural settings people tend to drive at or under the speed limit and you may just be stuck behind them which can be a pain. And yeah, you will see lots of dumb stuff. People do react and you can tell who realllly doesn't want to have anything to do with a cop at that moment. So there's ups and downs to driving it.

My biggest problem with it though and why I ultimately got rid of it was people calling in for impersonating. I got surrounded by 5 cars once and from separate call had detectives from out of town show up at my house. The first incident they were actually exceedingly civil and professional despite having just trapped me in an intersection, they listened to what I had to say, gave the car a look, and asked the person who called in if they were sure of their story and they fessed up to having made it up. The second time though was a pretty good scare because the detective that showed up to "get my statement" had no interest in even letting me finish a sentence and was clearly of the mind to try to get under my skin. I eventually did get pissed off and he wrote a nicely manipulated report making me sound uncooperative even though the only sense in which that was true is that I wouldn't agree with his narrative, but that night was the end of it because there was nothing to substantiate the guys bogus story. That's kind of scary and a pain to deal with, so bear that possibility in mind.