5th Aug 2005, 22:05

I think it GREAT that your gas mileage is fantastic. I have a 97 and my gas mileage in 1 word "ROTS". I barely get 13 in the city and the highway at 55-75 mph I knock around 16-18. I have used the 93 octane and the 89 and 87, the mileage never improved even with the octane variations and octane booster, I even tried different brands of gas. The car is finely tuned, fuel injectors immaculate, the car is pristene in and out. Gas mileage "ROTS"!! Any suggestions? Anybody? Thanks.

9th Aug 2005, 05:50

This was from the on board computer. Now I am in the process of checking myself using your method. And yes US gallons is what I am using. I live in NY. The mileage somewhat improved with the 89 octane, but not a whole lot. I am still getting only about 13 mpg city, yesterday with a full tank of 89 and a straight 70 mph on the highway, I only got 17-18 mpg. Its curious though, with my 95 I have gotten 17 mpg in the city, and on the same highway run with the 89 octane got an average of 24-26 mpg. One time I actually went slightly over 27 mpg.

9th Aug 2005, 05:55

Oh, I forgot to mention the OUTRAGEOUS gas prices we have in New York. $ 2.89 for 93 $ 2.75 for 89 and about $ 2.67 for 87. Anybody else, with the exception of California paying prices like this. I California pays more, my dad lives there and complains all the time. I told him to move to Wyoming and get a horse. No Ford problems then. Oh, yea, by the way my dad has a 99 town.

13th Aug 2005, 13:55

I do love my 97 Town Car Signature series. The radio and climate controls on the steering wheel are great, and the gas mileage is great, too. I will get, on average 25 mpg on the highway, per the computer, but confirmed with filling up the tank everytime and and tracking the number of miles with the trip odometer, and dividing those miles by the amount of gas it took to fill up. I have found that the miles to empty start out accurate, but the computer's algorithm alter this by weighting the calculation from a 20 gallon tank to an 18 gallon tank. In otherwords, if you went to 0 miles to empty on the computer, you'd still have 2 gallons in your tank. Good for some, but I prefer accuracy to trickery. In town, I get about 18 mpg. Outside of the mechanics, my biggest complaint is I'm a target for vandalism: keying, big dings, and once a side swipe while parked at the airport.

Biggest mechanical problems.

- The lights will flicker, as the first commenter described, without any kind of pattern. I greatly reduced this occurrence when I discovered that the wire harness to the headlights had gotten loose. It is installed at the factory with black friction tape, which had gotten brittle. Re-taping and keeping the wire's from moving pretty much solved the problem.

- The tie rod ends and ball joints went out at 120,000 miles.

- The brake lines are NOT made of stainless steel. Yesterday, my brake light came on because I was low on fluid. I am facing having to replace all of my brake lines due to corrosion. I find it hard to believe that a car of this quality does not have stainless steel brake lines.

- The driver's window mechanism has gone out twice, once while still under warranty. Poor design in the cable system causes it to rub against vertical bracket. I go through 4 toll booths on my way to Chicago, so I use the window a lot.

- y-pipe, exhaust not made of stainless steel.

- factory cell phone is analog only, no one knows how the electronics work so I have no options for upgrade. No service provider does analog anymore.

6th Jan 2011, 21:41

My 97 Executive Town Car is a very good car.

Issues with the car.

- The horn is stuck, so I had to unplug it.

- On the front driver's side, the car squeaks.

- The temperature gauge doesn't work.

- Had to replace all the ball joints on the front at 115,000 miles.

- The front brakes are squeaking after just a month of replacing them.

- There is a gas smell coming from the car; smell it when you turn a curve at high speeds.

- The blend door actuator.

Other than that, the car is excellent.