About a week ago I ordered a brochure on ebay, from 1994, that did a "head-to-head" comparison of the Ford Crown Victoria vs. the Chevrolet Caprice. Apppearantly there was an outside company in the 90s that did non-biased comparisons of competing car models (others include Toyota Camry vs. Honda Accord and Ford Escort vs. Chevroelt Cavalier, etc...) The tests take almost everything into account, including acceleration, handling, road holding, braking, ride, accomodations, price, weight, interior volume, and more (do note however that though styling is briefly mentioned in the brochure, it is not one of the deciding factors since different people have different tastes) Also note that these are civilian models not the police ones
To give you a better idea of what I'm talking about, here is a picture of the front page of the brochure:





So, which do you think won? (in the brochure I mean, not in "your opinion") I was pretty sure I knew the answer even before I got it anyway, and I did, it's pretty obvious actually if you think about it I will post the answer after everyone has been given a chance to guess

The Caprice won? (Though I would have rather the Crown Victoria win, as I prefer that car)

The Caprice comes off a lot better in that section, but you saying "it's obvious" makes me think the Crown Vic won, because; which one are they still making?
That doesn't mean it's a better car though. Ford has a history of making a car that sells and not changing it until it's horribly outdated.

Oh, and the 4.6 made 190hp? That's abysmal! That was a brand new engine design in the early 90s.

Oooh, two completely different guesses. This is quite entertaining, though I am having to try very hard not to give away the answer

Btw BlackIce, you are able to read that from the image I posted? It seems quite blurry to me...

I know this may sound like an opinion, but it's not. Speaking of police models (I know that's not what the brochure is about), the 1995-1996 Chevrolet Caprice LT1 (9C1) was much better than the Crown Victoria. That is perhaps one of the best and most popular police vehicles every made. I have never heard a single officer badmouth that car.

I'm guessing the results are the same with the civilian models. Just wanted to back up my opinion.

Caprice, even though I would prefer the Crown Vic

I don't actually have a guess, my deductions lead me to opposite conclusions. I think it's more likely that I misinterpreted your statement, and the conclusion indicated by this one section of the review is correct. It also may be possible that they found the Caprice lacking in other areas (interior, probably), and I interpreted your clue correctly. I know there's nothing to lose, I just don't like guessing.

The forum shrinks the image down to manageable size, if you right click and select "view image", you can see it in it's full 1414x1600px size. It's still blurry, but legible.

Personally, I'd take the Caprice. Even before I knew it handled better.

Well when I said "guess" I didn't necessarily mean you should "guess", I just meant "answer" based on facts, or not.

You have made a good point with your argument for the Caprice. And you are right about the interior, inside the brochure they make a point to say that the Crown Vic has both better layed out controls and is more roomy, or at least makes better use of the room it has. But the Caprice still handles better and is tons faster than the Crown Vic, but at the expense of a quiet luxury feel and smooth ride (which the Crown Vic wins hands down)

Any more takers?

I give in ... Which one was it? (or if you don’t want give the answer away just yet publicly >> send me a private message telling which one it was)

Me to please

Ok, I will tell now. But before I do, one last chance for any more guesses? I will give a few more hours...

I'll guess the Caprice, based on the layout of the page. It just kind of looks more favorably portrayed in that its picture is bulging out of the borders and the color near the text matches that of the car. My eye is more drawn to it visually.

Well, I think you may be over-anylizing it a bit there. The front page is just supposed to be an introduction, it isn't suppoesed to give away which one is better. I suppose I shouldn't have posted the picture, as it sort of creates a bias if you look at it a certain way...

Ok well, as it seems no one else wants to comment, I will end this once and for all.

The winner is... Chevrolet Caprcie!
Do note that both the Ford and Chevy are very good cars though, as said in the brochure (and is also my personal opinion) The Caprice a just a lot more "sporty" with it's better handling, less body lean, and much, much faster engine than the Vic. 0-60 in 6.6 seconds That's faster than a lot of sports cars! The Crown Vic's time was only 8.5 seconds, which is not bad but certainly not astonishing either. The CV is more of a luxury "boat" while the Caprice is more like a sports car in a large shell. If you want a better ride, and a more relaxed luxury feel, get the Vic. If you want good handling and lightning fast acceleration, get the Caprice. And If you want both, get a BMW

I knew it! Damn automotive journalists! They wouldn’t know a good sedan if a Crown Victoria ran them over ...

(just kidding of course)

@ Zero-to-60 times ... wasn’t the Impala SS (of the same generation) faster than the Caprice? What were it's zero-to-60 times?

And with that cushy suspension the driver wouldn't even feel it




Seeing as that we now know the mind-boggling 0-60 times for the regular Caprice, I wonder why they ever needed to create the hot-rod Impala in the first place? Though I suppose it was more about image than the actual performance...

Anyway, a little online searching for the 1995 Impala SS came up with... 7.0 seconds?? Hmmm... who would have thought?

So, do you have the rest of the pamphlet?

Yes, I will post pictures of each page soon. Hopefully they will not be so blurry so they are easier to read.

that's sounds strange, especially for the non-SS non-police version

If you think the Crown Vic is cushy, try the Mercury Grand Marquis(and I'm not just talking about the suspension here). Before and after I bought my 1994 Plymouth Voyager, I had opportunities to buy Mercury Grand Marquis that I had to pass up. The one before the Voyager was a 1990 and the one after the Voyager was a 1993. Both had full-size spare tires which I liked, but the '93 was so luxurious my parents wanted to sleep in the back seat. Unfortunatley, the '93 was too expensive.