Have a few Marauder questions.

[U2SLOW4ME]

Well I figured this would be the best section to ask. I don't currently have a Marauder but am seriously considering buying one. I currently have a 2004 GTO with a few goodies. It puts down over 400 RWHP and then I spray a 150 HP shot of Nitrous. I am really tired of the tiny trunk and working the car seat in and out of the back. I know it's not gonna be anywhere near as fast as what I have but I want a big 4-door with a large trunk (that I can actually fit my big guns in) that still hauls butt, so the Marauder is looking good to me. I am a Police Officer so I have A LOT of experience with Crown Vics. So here I go with the questions.

1. What is the real 0-60 in an '03? I find many different answers on auto sites.

2. What is a realistic MPG?

3. Are there problems that I need to know about?

4. How much Nitrous can the motor safely handle?

5. I know it is speed limited at 120? What is the top speed when the limiter is removed with the stock gears?

6. How well does it respond to bolt-ons?

7. If you had to do it all over again knowing what you know now. Would you buy it?


Thanks for any help.

[CBT]

I answered a couple, some could have really long answers so I didn't touch them. Like car problems, oye.



Well I figured this would be the best section to ask. I don't currently have a Marauder but am seriously considering buying one. I currently have a 2004 GTO with a few goodies. It puts down over 400 RWHP and then I spray a 150 HP shot of Nitrous. I am really tired of the tiny trunk and working the car seat in and out of the back. I know it's not gonna be anywhere near as fast as what I have but I want a big 4-door with a large trunk (that I can actually fit my big guns in) that still hauls butt, so the Marauder is looking good to me. I am a Police Officer so I have A LOT of experience with Crown Vics. So here I go with the questions.

1. What is the real 0-60 in an '03? I find many different answers on auto sites.

2. What is a realistic MPG? Brother that depends on your foot speed.

3. Are there problems that I need to know about?

4. How much Nitrous can the motor safely handle?

5. I know it is speed limited at 120? What is the top speed when the limiter is removed with the stock gears? I've heard/read crazy talk up to 180+

6. How well does it respond to bolt-ons?

7. If you had to do it all over again knowing what you know now. Would you buy it? Yes, only sooner.


Thanks for any help.

[offroadkarter]

1. What is the real 0-60 in an '03? I find many different answers on auto sites.

Around 7 seconds, the car doesnt know the meaning of "low end torque"


2. What is a realistic MPG?

If you drive normal, around 22-23 mixed... thats what i get anyways, most members can pull 19-23 mixed


3. Are there problems that I need to know about?

03 300A's (the early builds) had axle issues, basically they werent made correctly and would slowly eat themselves away, also on black 300a's, the paint would just shed its clearcoat easily... Sometimes the wiper motors like to turn themselves on at random but its not as widespread of a problem as the other two i listed. Cars with heated seats, the heated seat switch will flicker, its an easy fix, just resolder the connections...


4. How much Nitrous can the motor safely handle?

125 shot, but get it tuned!


5. I know it is speed limited at 120? What is the top speed when the limiter is removed with the stock gears?

You dont want to go over 120, the car's stock driveshaft will start to bow and you can snap your tailshaft and do untold ammounts of damage to your transmission. I know when my car gets up to 115 i can hear a humming coming from underneath


6. How well does it respond to bolt-ons?

Depends on which bolt on's. A CAI wont really make to much of a difference, but a CAI + good tune certainly will


7. If you had to do it all over again knowing what you know now. Would you buy it?

Yes


Thanks for any help.


welcome to the site

[Blackened300a]

You dont want to go over 120, the car's stock driveshaft will start to bow and you can snap your tailshaft and do untold ammounts of damage to your transmission. I know when my car gets up to 115 i can hear a humming coming from underneath

I been over 135mph with 4.10s and had no problems.

[RR|Suki]

Never driven an N/A one, just wanted to say welcome :banana:

[offroadkarter]

I been over 135mph with 4.10s and had no problems.



From what i've read on here not every car has the same point of "oh noes my driveshaft is about to spear me in the ass" as other cars....


I haven't wanted to "test" how high i can go because anytime i hit 115 my car starts to rumble in the middle and i know its my driveshaft looking like a banana...

[guspech750]

I say just get an 2004 DTR Marauder. But I am partial to the DTR's;)

But really. I highly recommend getting a Marauder. I have a 2005 GTO and granted it is much faster and the interior is very nice. I think being in a big fullsize (sweet looking) cool car that you hardly see on the road and has good power, great comfort, and kick ass looks just out does the GTO over all. I drive my Marauder everyday. My GTO is going to be kicked to the curb sometime. And on another note. I can not stand GM anymore.

:bows:All Hail the Mighty Marauder:bows:

[LANDY]

From what i've read on here not every car has the same point of "oh noes my driveshaft is about to spear me in the ass" as other cars....


I haven't wanted to "test" how high i can go because anytime i hit 115 my car starts to rumble in the middle and i know its my driveshaft looking like a banana...

Mine is one of those who will vibrate at 115mph and over thats why i had to go with the dynotech driveshaft

[Aren Jay]

7 seconds, unless you get a custom tune, from The Z man or DR or Lidio Ctrlraven has a tune which gives him around 0-60mph in 5 seconds. Super Charged you can go from 4.5 seconds down to low 3's. Depending how much money you want to spend. See his You tube link here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp-thPZ3wzA


Highway 24-25. City 17ish Aggressive.


03 are not as good as 04's stock, but once you do a few upgrades you will be running fine.


Forget the Nitrous, get an upgraded high stall torque converter. and bump the rear end to 4.10's.


Stock driveshaft limit is around 125mph, drive shaft loops help but a better aluminum or metal matrix or carbon fibre driveshaft will fix it and let you go as fast as you are able.


CAI and Tune plus brakes, driveshaft, axel - if necessary and control arms will keep you happy and in total control. Rear end is the next thing to do and then headers exhaust and do an evenflow cooling kit. Add a Supercharger for more power or change engines to the max.

Dr Caleb has a NA 2003 with 1.25g cornering (both ways) and 1.5G braking. For road course racing.

The Marauder is a big car but it pretends it is a small car and is very quick. It really doesn't weight alot but it generates lots of high end power and just keeps pulling the faster you go.

[WESTTXPATRIOT]

i have a naturally aspirated one. and i have been over 125 and she still pulls hard with the 4.10's. thats my two cents. if you buy one youll enjoy it. i got enough space for car seats subs and the stroller and still able to haul some butt if necessary. god i love this car bout to go drive it now later.

[U2SLOW4ME]

03 300A's (the early builds) had axle issues, basically they werent made correctly and would slowly eat themselves away, also on black 300a's, the paint would just shed its clearcoat easily... Sometimes the wiper motors like to turn themselves on at random but its not as widespread of a problem as the other two i listed. Cars with heated seats, the heated seat switch will flicker, its an easy fix, just resolder the connections...


How do you know the build date or if it is a 300A? Here is the VIN's of the two 03's I have been looking at if anyone knows how to find out any records on them.
2MEHM75V83X663230 AND 2MEHM75V53X617080



I say just get an 2004 DTR Marauder. But I am partial to the DTR's;)


DTR??



7 seconds, unless you get a custom tune, from The Z man or DR or Lidio Ctrlraven has a tune which gives him around 0-60mph in 5 seconds. Super Charged you can go from 4.5 seconds down to low 3's. Depending how much money you want to spend. See his You tube link here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp-thPZ3wzA



Perfect. I can handle that.

[U2SLOW4ME]

I have looked for an '04 but can't find one within 500 miles of me.

[Fourth Horseman]

Welcome to the site! If you decide to go forced induction instead of spraying we have some good options. There's tons of info here. Good luck on getting your new Marauder and enjoy! :beer:

[justbob]

DTR - Dark Toreado Red

[Black_Noise]

If you are looking for a family sedan, with some get up and go, and still looks like a bat out of hell then the MM (mercury marauder) is for you.

I started from stock and am still lingering close to it, but if you spend around 500 for a programmer (xcal3) with some custom tunes (from Lidio @ alternative auto) and a JLT cold air intake, the it really wakes the car up and it gets off the line better and it also is greatly noticable above the 4k Rpms.

gas mileage is pretty good for as big and fast as the MM is.

[Vortex]

Well I figured this would be the best section to ask. I don't currently have a Marauder but am seriously considering buying one. I currently have a 2004 GTO with a few goodies. It puts down over 400 RWHP and then I spray a 150 HP shot of Nitrous. I am really tired of the tiny trunk and working the car seat in and out of the back. I know it's not gonna be anywhere near as fast as what I have but I want a big 4-door with a large trunk (that I can actually fit my big guns in) that still hauls butt, so the Marauder is looking good to me. I am a Police Officer so I have A LOT of experience with Crown Vics. So here I go with the questions.

1. What is the real 0-60 in an '03? I find many different answers on auto sites.

2. What is a realistic MPG?

3. Are there problems that I need to know about?

4. How much Nitrous can the motor safely handle?

5. I know it is speed limited at 120? What is the top speed when the limiter is removed with the stock gears?

6. How well does it respond to bolt-ons?

7. If you had to do it all over again knowing what you know now. Would you buy it?


Thanks for any help.

I also used to own a new 6 speed M/T 2004 GTO, drove it for a few months and sold it to buy my 2004 MM. I got pissed one day when my parents were coming to visit I was going to have to rent a car because there was no way they could get in and out of the back seat. Anyway, totally different kind of cars. The 2004 GTO is much quicker than any unsupercharged MM and probably most of the supercharged ones. The GTO was capable of 165 mph and then in 2005 they got the bigger engine! That said, it was a pretty vanilla looking car, I dont recall even getting a second glance from anybody in it. The Marauder though, different story. Not as fast as the GTO but fast enough, especially once you are rolling. Looks are particularly good and it attracts attention at pretty much every light. I think it looks faster/meaner than it probably is but thats ok with me. Added to that it is way more comfortable and practical than the GTO and handled almost as good, suprisingly good for a large car. My advice (and wish I would have thought more back then), keep the GTO and buy a nice used MM also.

[offroadkarter]

How do you know the build date or if it is a 300A? Here is the VIN's of the two 03's I have been looking at if anyone knows how to find out any records on them.
2MEHM75V83X663230 AND 2MEHM75V53X617080




DTR??




DTR = Dark toreador red... See sig image

PM RoyLPita, he can give you a full oasis report... We have a thread on the forum somewhere about how to tell the "300A/300B" designation on a car. Just search for it

[03calitejas]

Mine is an '03 300A (earlier build date)so I'm probably partial to those but I do like the front seat map pockets that the later 03's and 04's dont have. The 04's have a slightly beefier transmission apparently but I haven't had any issues with mine yet (136K miles and it's not babied on the road). There are a lot of LEO's on this site with Marauders so you can probably get some good insight from them. There are also quite a few Marauders in the DFW area. One of the fellas in Frisco (Dpearce I think)just bought a blue one and added the supercharger to it.

Mine only has the SCT tune (got it used for $150) and a cold air intake (got that used for $75) for power adders. I did change to the 4.10 rear end and 31 spline axles also as my axles were worn out at about 100K...it makes a huge improvement in the launch. I also added the aluminum driveshaft along with a safety loop in case a u-joint fails at high speed.

I have had mine pegged at 140 with what seemed to be a lot of throttle left but I really don't know the top end. Friends of mine that are serious Land Speed Racers out in California calculate that it should run about 185 in a standing mile if I can wring out another 80-100RWHP (That's keeping it normally aspirated without running the juice).

I've read on here that the cast crank and rods in our engines are the limiting factor for HP and that it's wise to keep them below 450RWHP. Others know a lot more about power adders and I think there are a dozen or so people here pushing around 700.

Only thing I would do differently is maybe buy a blue one as they only built like 327 or 328 of them. The black paint on the hoods and roofs on some blacks have blistering issues but I haven't lost any large amount of clear coat. I dont think the silver, red or blue ones are as prone to this. To me it's an agggravation but not something that would prevent me from buying another Marauder.

Keep an eye out for a DFW area get together and go check out all the colors and also compare the NA cars to the Blown ones.

[LIGHTNIN1]

You will enjoy your Marauder when you get it. As others have said , just a tune and cold air intake will give the car enough power but it can be made into a Hotrod Mercury with other add ons. You should be able to find one easily between this site and Autotrader.;)

[03calitejas]

"dpotter" is the dude in Frisco with the SC blue one, not "dpearce"

[Krytin]

I've been over 140 mph - 145 on the GPS with no vibrations. stock rear/shorter tires and modifications in signature.

[ChiTownMaraud3r]

I've been over 140 mph - 145 on the GPS with no vibrations. stock rear/shorter tires and modifications in signature.

Been over 130 here with everything stock except Zack tune, and shorter rear tires as well. Felt great.

[MrBluGruv]

I've gotten to approx. 160 with 3.55 on 245/45/18 rear tires. Didn't feel any problems until I had to slow down, stock brakes not good for slowing down at any rate from that speed. :(

This car is seriously a lot more nimble and agile than people would like to give it credit for being a big heavy 4-door, I would not feel bad about running a technical route in it against "sports cars", it handles like a champ.

[SID210SA]

Well I figured this would be the best section to ask. I don't currently have a Marauder but am seriously considering buying one. I currently have a 2004 GTO with a few goodies. It puts down over 400 RWHP and then I spray a 150 HP shot of Nitrous. I am really tired of the tiny trunk and working the car seat in and out of the back. I know it's not gonna be anywhere near as fast as what I have but I want a big 4-door with a large trunk (that I can actually fit my big guns in) that still hauls butt, so the Marauder is looking good to me. I am a Police Officer so I have A LOT of experience with Crown Vics. So here I go with the questions.

I have an 04 so some answers may vary:

1. What is the real 0-60 in an '03? I find many different answers on auto sites. Mine is about 5.xx

2. What is a realistic MPG? I get about 16-18 in city and upto 25 mpg hwy.

3. Are there problems that I need to know about? Lighting Control Module (LCM) and Electronic Air Temp. Control (EATC) <easy fix for DIY.

4. How much Nitrous can the motor safely handle? Some run 125 Shot.

5. I know it is speed limited at 120? What is the top speed when the limiter is removed with the stock gears? Mine was speed limited at 127...since the tune by Lidio I have reached 140 with no sounds or problems and still had plenty of pedal left. Slowing down real fast with stock brakes when going that speed is a problem.

6. How well does it respond to bolt-ons? I have the Tune by Lidio and a JLT CAI and that really wakes up the motor and sounds louder too.

7. If you had to do it all over again knowing what you know now. Would you buy it? I wouldnt have slept on it like I did....I still got the one I wanted. Glad I got the 04.


Thanks for any help.

Welcome to the site.