Faults:

Front air suspension, easy fix.

Antenna up and down, easy fix.

JBL stereo static sometimes, not fixed yet.

Radiator leak, easy fix.

General Comments:

Quick!! Very quick! Actually it can be scary fast!! The top speed is over 140mph. Never done it, but I am sure it can.

Stops good. Turns good. Handles good.

Good on gas for a V8.

Good in snow - Sure Track (Ford).

Quiet, heavy and safe. Would not trade the weight and safety of this car for any economy car. NEVER!!

Overall a great car! Quick... Very quick!! Wow!

Headlights are no better than a lit candle in a Hurricane. Replaced with 8000k bulbs, problem fixed.

Door handles stretch, and are weak and a pain in the butt to replace when they snap off. Typically around 100,000 miles.

No rain gutters so the doors will freeze shut in wet snow or freezing rain if the car is left out doors. This will really wreak havoc on the door handles if you use them to open the frozen doors... Yikes!

The seats are OK, far better in 1997.

The 1993 is the fastest model ever made. The later LSC models come close in power.

I have driven 2 1993 Mark 8s and Grand Marquis. Most have the 1st to 2nd gear shudder. I bought a Marquis with 52,000 miles and it had the shudder, mostly when cold. Never got worse, never got better. Got rid of that Marquis when it had over 130k miles and was still the same. Current 1993 Mark 8 has 75k miles and no shudder... This is rare. Does not seem to be a problem but more of an irritation with these cars.

Trunk space is OK, but not huge. You can take a long trip with this car, but you cannot take everything with you.

Air suspension, typically the fronts will go bad. An easy fix with Arnott air shocks. I would never buy one with the spring conversion as the air suspension is great engineering. Since the air spring are so easy to replace on this car, I would never go with coil springs. NEVER!! Front air springs can be replaced in less than an hour. Very easy to do. Mark 7s are much harder! Mark8s are easy. Putting coil springs on this car ruins the car for me.

If your Mark 8 gets on the hot side in summer, it will shut the A/C off for you to prevent the car from overheating. A nice touch. If this happens, you need to replace the radiator with a new one, as the bugs and road grime will plug it up. Check to make sure the aux fans are working first. But my bet is that the radiator is getting up there in years. Another easy fix. I had a fan go bad on my first Mark 8 and got one from a Ford Taurus junk yard. Fits nice. Had to adapt the plug though. A new Mark 8 fan is expensive!! Wow!! And the Taurus fan works great for cheap!!

This car has 4 wheel alloy independent suspension and stainless dual exhausts!! Amazing car for sure.

If you need more info on this car, let me know. The bottom line is that if you can find a low mileage version in good shape, buy it! And enjoy the ride.

Faults:

Front air suspension converted to 93 Thunderbird springs $150.

Rear air suspension converted from Suncore Ind. $250.

Alternator due to upgraded sound system $200.

Seized waterpump $100 + new belt $25.

New battery $135.

Headlights converted to hid projectors from a Rolls $375.

Tires around 600 for New yoks.

Tie rods 100.

Lower control arms 180.

Strut rod bushings 70.

Front and rear sway bar links 300.

Upper control arms from Thunderbird 150.

Factory amplifier's electrolytic capacitors all blew, causing static type sound (they have a limited life).

General Comments:

Alright, so before you think that the list of things that have gone wrong is a lot, you must keep in mind that it has 225,000 km on the clock now. The car has overall been very reliable, nothing wrong until 190,000 when the water pump seized. I drive it very hard, and take it up to the cottage every weekend in summer (500 km of very rough roads, mostly pot holed dirt). Most of the suspension parts I replaced because one small thing went wrong, and I decided to do the whole front at the same time instead of fixing it later.

The alternator blew, because instead of fixing the stock systems amp, I upgraded to a uber powerful sub/amp with 4 component speakers to another amp (total 2500 watts).

I absolutely love this car, it's by far the best car I own, and that's saying a lot as I own quite a few. I love how comfortable it is, it handles like it's on rails. The acceleration is very good for a vehicle of its weight and size, it has a very nice growl to it under wide open throttle. The second gear bark is fun too, but be careful on wet days as it could spin you right around going 100 KMH, which is scary. You also really have to think before you give it the beans, as the first gear goes to 100 so you need to make sure you have enough space. It absolutely seems to fly when overtaking on the highway; once I realize I'm going a bit fast, I am at 170 KMH.

The only complaint about the ride and handling is in winter time, it's terrible even with snows or ice tires on; I have tried Firestone Winterforce, Michelin Xice 2 and Blizzaks. They were all a fail.

I found out that if you need front suspension parts, then a Ford Thunderbird of the same year has the exact same ones (they are half the price of mark parts). This only applies if you have changed to coil springs, as the air ride needs the balls on the upper control arm and lower for the height sensor.

I will keep this car until rust eats away the whole body or I crash it. I may even use it as my coffin when I die.

BTW my other cars include a 911 turbo, a Cadi DTS, new CTSV (second favourite), a Charger SRT8 and my old Plymouth Prowler (third favourite), just to put in perspective of how much I truly love this car.