1999 Mercury Grand Marquis LS 4.6 High output

Summary:

I love the car and I think it's a great value if bought used

Faults:

Tie rods went bad at 110,000 miles.

Brakes make noise for no known reason.

Starter makes funny sound just after the engine starts running & quits in about 5 seconds.

General Comments:

This full size car is no slouch, I go from 50 to 17 just by pushing the button in the glove box.

4.6 dual exhaust has go & gives over 20 miles per gallon.

Seats could be more comfortable, front & rear.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 28th December, 2005

19th Mar 2007, 22:26

This is for the person asking the glove compartment question.

The button is used for traction on the road.

1999 Mercury Grand Marquis LS 4.6L

Summary:

Best value on the market

Faults:

Replaced all brake pads and front rotors when purchased at 100,000 miles. Could have turned rotors, but prefer replacing. Used ford parts as I have tried after market brake parts and believe that original brake parts are worth the money.

General Comments:

I put about 24,000 miles per year on a vehicle almost all highway miles for work. Was looking to replace 1995 Ford Pickup with a car for better gas mileage. This Grand Marquis with 100000 miles was cheap enough.

I have to say it was much more than I expected. I had done a little research and knew the Marquis had a major redesign around 1997. The car overall is comfortable, the trunk very large, and the performance both power and handling very good for a large car.

With the "precision track" traction control and 4 wheel anti-lock brakes, I see no need for front wheel drive any more. I have driven on "black ice" and snow enough with it to say it is pretty hard to get into trouble with it (assuming you use common sense). The rear wheel drive is much more fun to drive when you push it around corners. Have driven a number of front wheel drive cars, and although they are great in snow, they are really strange when turning under a lot of torque.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 4th May, 2005

10th Mar 2006, 09:06

My parents have this car, and in my opinion this car is a worthless piece of garbage, a total waste of metal. At first driving around in this car, you feel like a king of the road due to its size and powerful engine, but after some time your pockets get thinner and thinner. This car guzzles gas like no tomorrow, I get approx. 400km on a full tank of gas. We originally bought the car in 2003 with only 76000km on it. We didn't start getting problems till around 2004. First the tires on it kept on going flat, so eventually we bought a new set of tires. Then those new tires started going flat, then we had to replace the rims. We did some minor exhaust repair in order to pass the e-test. About a year later we started getting some major problems, the engine started making more and more noise during regular driving. Then one day the front left tie rod broke off while driving @ 60km/h. The front left wheel was completely disabled and was almost impossible to turn. What happened was that tee bolt that held the tie rods cracked and disconnected the tie rod from the left wheel. As for the rest of the car, there is no way in hell that you can have good handling in that vehicle. I have to make a 6-point turn whenever I want to do a U-turn due to its length, parallel parking is impossible. The only good thing about this car is that you can create big smoke screens whenever your doing brake stands, and drifting with this car is somewhat satisfactory, other than that this car is useless.

10th Mar 2006, 16:57

The problem with tires going flat when fitted to cast aluminium alloy rims (no-one has "mags") is that the casting is porous in places and allows air to escape very slowly.

This can be fixed by simply painting all the way around the wheel on the inside. The paint fills the tiny holes.

Am I a genius or, what?

11th Mar 2006, 04:08

The prior comment just wants me to rush out and hand the keys to my teenage children. Its hard to get good gas mileage when you are power braking and burning out.

5th Sep 2006, 16:22

This is a comment to the "my parents..." comment. Have your parents ever done a regular tune-up? Have they ever had the suspension checked? If I had a son that does burn-outs and drifts with my vehicle I would take the money from his account to pay the repair bills. And if he did badmouth my vehicle I would give this rude adolescent two earfuls!

19th Apr 2011, 00:27

This review has got to be a joke.

Firstly, the GM gets good gas mileage if it is even marginally tuned. Mine gets over 28 MPG on the highway. And no, this is not hype or exaggeration.

Secondly, it is a durable and reliable car. This is why the police and Taxi Cab companies use it and its sister car, the Crown Vic. Perhaps the burnouts, the drifting and the brake stands may have some small impact on the durability of the vehicle. I don't know. Just a guess.