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Wednesday morning I took the van in for some maintenance work at the dealership. Well the girl who is suppose to give me a ride home was out at the moment so I decided to go out and take a look at the cars. I looked at a couple new cars including a Charger with a 3.6L "High Output" (yeah, that's what it said on the fender badge) and a Toyota Tacoma. I wasn't too impressed (but I did like the look of the Charger since it was a nice red color) so I wandered over to the used car lot. I was just browsing around and a salesman came up and asked me if I was looking for something. I told him I was just browsing and he let me go. I saw some nice cars, but I didn't like any of them.
I came across a nice 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis and I just had to take a closer look at it. It was white with a gray interior. It was a GS because it had hubcaps and cloth seats. The newer panthers really don't give much legroom for the middle seat, but then again not many people use the middle seat for a passenger. I really like the 2004/2005 exterior "refreshening" better than the new and older ones. The headlights and grille are just the right proportion and it still has the large rear reflector on the decklid simulating a full-width taillight. I liked the car so I kept it in the back of my mind.
After browsing the inventory I decided to head back to the service department when the same salesman sees me again. He asked me if I saw anything interesting and I told him I liked the Grand Marquis. He asked me if I was still in school and if I was looking for a car. I told him I'll be heading off for the university in the fall and my parents are thinking about getting me a car (yeah, total lie, but it works). So we wander over to the Grand Marquis and take a closer look. Man, I really liked this car even though it was the base model. It has power seats and power lumbar support. He told me to start 'er up and I did. That V8 sure sounded nice. It's not very rumbly like the old V8s of yesteryear, but it sounded refined. There was a slight ticking though and it sounded a little tired, but it ran good. The A/C was already on and man it was cold!
So, feeling adventurous, I asked him if I could take it for a test drive. He told me that he was waiting for an important phone call but I could take the car home to show my parents. He put on the dealer plate and sent me off. Wow, that was pretty cool. So I adjust the seat and mirrors and put it in Drive and worked my way out to the street. Wow, I can't believe he let me drive the car by myself! I mean when my dad and I were looking at cars a few years ago they let us go without the salesman, but I don't think I've ever gotten the chance to take a car all by myself alone.
So I decided to drive around town for a while and go home. The V8 was very responsive and it packed plenty of power. I mean I barely touch the gas pedal and it moves! And the torque is awesome. I didn't even push it and it just forces its way up to speed. The brake pedal was a little firm though. It just felt a little harder than what I'm used to, but it stopped well. The steering was pretty light for a big car. I'm assuming it has speed sensitive power steering like my Sable. And it turned decently. It didn't feel like a big car. I don't know, but I felt real natural in it. It was almost like driving my Sable. At times it felt big, but when turning and braking I thought I was in my Sable. The only think I miss is the tach. As you know, the panthers didn't come standard with a tach (although the new models now have a tach). That was the only thing that bugged me while I drove it. I also took it down some rough roads and it took the bumps beautifully.
So I take it home and I showed my mom (just because I was excited to have a new car by myself and I had to tell someone). She was happy for me and I decided to play with a few things. The trunk is massive! I crawled in there and figured I could sleep in it if I needed to. I noticed that the trunk release button was missing in the cabin. I fiddled with the radio a bit. It was cool that it had a CD player. Then I decided to take it back to the dealership. When I left I noticed it had an automatic parking brake release. It automatically popped the pedal when I put the shifter in Drive. I thought that was pretty cool.
So I'm heading back to the dealership when I come to a stop at an intersection. There's a truck that came to a stop to my left and I was going to turn left. Well, I was there first by half a second so I decided to go first. I quickly tapped the gas pedal and holy crap! I had awoken the beast and that thing squealed the tires! Hot damn! I didn't even floor it and it was fighting! I had to back off the pedal to stop it from squealing and got back on the gas slower to keep it moving. I decided to give it a little more gas to get up to speed (about 45 MPH) and it moved! I totally have fallen in love with this car! So I get back to the dealership and park it. I try to find the salesman and he was busy with another customer so I waited. When he finally got to me I told him that I love the car, but my parents thought it was too big and they told me I should find a compact car. He told me to bring them in and we'll look at some other cars. I chuckled and told him sure. Then he asked me if I was having a vehicle being worked on at the service department. I told him yes and he told me that the service department paged me about five minutes after I left. So I go back over there and the girl had returned to give me a ride home.
According to the website, the car had 34k miles and was selling for $18k. I'm guessing it used to be a rental since it had so many miles on it in one year. There was also some curb rash on the hubcaps and the missing trunk release button. It was still a very nice car nonetheless. It was still very powerful and responsive for a really used car. It's definitely on my list of cars I want to own. Some people think it's archaic and needs to be replaced. In my opinion, it's definitely refined and a pleasure to drive. I don't think it needs any major changes. All it needs is a tach and it'd be perfect.
Here's some pics of the car I stole from the dealer's site:
I came across a nice 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis and I just had to take a closer look at it. It was white with a gray interior. It was a GS because it had hubcaps and cloth seats. The newer panthers really don't give much legroom for the middle seat, but then again not many people use the middle seat for a passenger. I really like the 2004/2005 exterior "refreshening" better than the new and older ones. The headlights and grille are just the right proportion and it still has the large rear reflector on the decklid simulating a full-width taillight. I liked the car so I kept it in the back of my mind.
After browsing the inventory I decided to head back to the service department when the same salesman sees me again. He asked me if I saw anything interesting and I told him I liked the Grand Marquis. He asked me if I was still in school and if I was looking for a car. I told him I'll be heading off for the university in the fall and my parents are thinking about getting me a car (yeah, total lie, but it works). So we wander over to the Grand Marquis and take a closer look. Man, I really liked this car even though it was the base model. It has power seats and power lumbar support. He told me to start 'er up and I did. That V8 sure sounded nice. It's not very rumbly like the old V8s of yesteryear, but it sounded refined. There was a slight ticking though and it sounded a little tired, but it ran good. The A/C was already on and man it was cold!
So, feeling adventurous, I asked him if I could take it for a test drive. He told me that he was waiting for an important phone call but I could take the car home to show my parents. He put on the dealer plate and sent me off. Wow, that was pretty cool. So I adjust the seat and mirrors and put it in Drive and worked my way out to the street. Wow, I can't believe he let me drive the car by myself! I mean when my dad and I were looking at cars a few years ago they let us go without the salesman, but I don't think I've ever gotten the chance to take a car all by myself alone.
So I decided to drive around town for a while and go home. The V8 was very responsive and it packed plenty of power. I mean I barely touch the gas pedal and it moves! And the torque is awesome. I didn't even push it and it just forces its way up to speed. The brake pedal was a little firm though. It just felt a little harder than what I'm used to, but it stopped well. The steering was pretty light for a big car. I'm assuming it has speed sensitive power steering like my Sable. And it turned decently. It didn't feel like a big car. I don't know, but I felt real natural in it. It was almost like driving my Sable. At times it felt big, but when turning and braking I thought I was in my Sable. The only think I miss is the tach. As you know, the panthers didn't come standard with a tach (although the new models now have a tach). That was the only thing that bugged me while I drove it. I also took it down some rough roads and it took the bumps beautifully.
So I take it home and I showed my mom (just because I was excited to have a new car by myself and I had to tell someone). She was happy for me and I decided to play with a few things. The trunk is massive! I crawled in there and figured I could sleep in it if I needed to. I noticed that the trunk release button was missing in the cabin. I fiddled with the radio a bit. It was cool that it had a CD player. Then I decided to take it back to the dealership. When I left I noticed it had an automatic parking brake release. It automatically popped the pedal when I put the shifter in Drive. I thought that was pretty cool.
So I'm heading back to the dealership when I come to a stop at an intersection. There's a truck that came to a stop to my left and I was going to turn left. Well, I was there first by half a second so I decided to go first. I quickly tapped the gas pedal and holy crap! I had awoken the beast and that thing squealed the tires! Hot damn! I didn't even floor it and it was fighting! I had to back off the pedal to stop it from squealing and got back on the gas slower to keep it moving. I decided to give it a little more gas to get up to speed (about 45 MPH) and it moved! I totally have fallen in love with this car! So I get back to the dealership and park it. I try to find the salesman and he was busy with another customer so I waited. When he finally got to me I told him that I love the car, but my parents thought it was too big and they told me I should find a compact car. He told me to bring them in and we'll look at some other cars. I chuckled and told him sure. Then he asked me if I was having a vehicle being worked on at the service department. I told him yes and he told me that the service department paged me about five minutes after I left. So I go back over there and the girl had returned to give me a ride home.
According to the website, the car had 34k miles and was selling for $18k. I'm guessing it used to be a rental since it had so many miles on it in one year. There was also some curb rash on the hubcaps and the missing trunk release button. It was still a very nice car nonetheless. It was still very powerful and responsive for a really used car. It's definitely on my list of cars I want to own. Some people think it's archaic and needs to be replaced. In my opinion, it's definitely refined and a pleasure to drive. I don't think it needs any major changes. All it needs is a tach and it'd be perfect.
Here's some pics of the car I stole from the dealer's site:
