What About The Marquis?

Have you ever thought about the Mercury Grand Marquis as a possible option for a new car? Or a new used car?



For as long as I can remember, the whole Mercury Grand Marquis model & Mercury Grand Marquis Hub Caps stood for "Well if it’s not broken, don’t fix it". I’m sure people still go by this rule, even if they don’t have a Mercury. This model Mercury - which is considered to be a "fancier" version of the Crown Victoria - displays old-school automotive design with its hefty but heavy body-on-frame construction.



The sad thing about the car is that the ride & handling aspect of the car wasn’t as great as people thought it was going to be. To sum it up, the Grand Marquis & Grand Marquis Hub Caps weren’t as sporty as people wanted it to be. The positive things about the car is that it had so much room for passengers inside its cabin, it was fancier than the Crown Victoria, it was quiet when it ran, and it had a bulletproof construction. Since it didn’t have too many positive features in order to lure drivers in, that was probably the main reason why cab companies and different police departments favored the Crown Victoria.



If you were the type of driver that just wanted a big & comfortable V8 that was fully equipped and nothing more, then this is the car that’s specifically for you! It’s even better if you get it used, you get all the same things with a cheaper value. Just remember, you get what you pay for. There are no fancy features like navigation or bluetooth - you can add those on your own, but that is one of the main reasons why the car is offered at such a good price.



The generation of Grand Marquis & Mercury Grand Marquis Center Caps that’s out now was first released in 1998. Simultaneous to the brand’s downfall, they actually just stopped producing the car this year (2011). The full-size 6 passenger sedan was typically offered in 2 trim levels: GS & LS. When you go with the LS, you won’t get a lot more features, but you’ll get more features than usual.



Even though the car had a 2-ton curb weight, the car was actually pretty quick off the line all thanks to a 4.6-liter V8 engine. The output would vary during the car’s run, but the models that were made from 2003 and later usually had 24 horsepower and 272 pound-feet of torque. The only transmission available was a four-speed automatic one. The different Marquis models were fitted with an optional Handling package to receive a power increase to 235 hp .. even though it was discontinued in 2007.



Throughout all of the years that it was manufactured and sold, the car had received more than enough updates. The major changes took place in 2003 - this was then the car got a whole new chassis and a redesigned front suspension. It even got a new rack-and-pinion steering; this was all included to improve performance and handling. Antilock brakes had become standard that year and front side airbags became available.



When you took the car on the road, it performed & had its faults as expected: soft & forgiving ride with mushy handling. In the end, there was really no way of getting around this big sedan's decades-old design, substantial weight and large dimensions - it was just too old. I mean, the inside and outside appearance of the car was really nice and attracted buyers. The thing that threw them off was how old the car’s design was. Do you know what I mean?