New to the forum and a question...

[simian12]

Hey everyone,

I'm Mike, and I have been looking for a Marauder for a while now and just recently found 2 of them close by.

1. The first is an early 2003 black 2 owner private party with 101K for $9700. It looks like it is in great shape and everything is stock with clean title.

2. The second is a black, 3 owner, late 2003, (traction control) model with 47K for $11,900. It is in great shape, stock, but has a lemon law title out of Texas. (They have no idea why it was returned, but the steering wheel was replaced when repurchased by Mercury from original owner.)

My question is which to go after? I am tempted to by the lower mile, late 2003 Marauder for around $11,900, but I am squirrly about the lemon title. I am not sure how much tha affects the value or if I should just look at this vehicle like a refurbished dishwasher. Fixed by the manufacturer and don't worry about it. Also are either of these cars decent deals at this price?

Thanks for your help,

Mike

[YankeeMarauder]

Im a newbie but here are my thoughts:

The early 2003: Higher miles dont scare me, plus has less owners than the other one as well. However, listen for noise in the rear. I had a bent passenger side rear axle when I got mine.

Late 2003: I dont know what the "Lemon Law" brand here in TX was from, but that would scare me, especially for $13K. I wouldnt buy one with a "branded" title, not for that price.

I bought my black 300A a few months ago at a dealer with about 45K on the clock for $10.5K, but I had a bent axle. Cost me $1500 to fix, I had the whole rear end rebuilt though. Could have prob got away with about $500 but upgraded the rear as well from 3.55s to 4.10s.

I think the early is closer to realistic in price than the late. But thats just a newbie for ya :D

[Pat]

I would go with the lower mileage car. Based on my experience reading about problems associated with our cars over these past six years the fixes have already been discussed/solved on the forums.

Regards,

[simian12]

Perfect 1 to 1 ...that helps...

Any other thoughts?

[SpartaPerformance]

Contrary to popular belief the Lemon Law doesn't mean the car is a pile of crap. The Lemon Law goes into effect after the same problem has been attempted to be repaired/solved atleast 3 times by manufacturer. It's possible it has something to do with steering wheel, cruise controls, finish pealing etc....

[gdsqdcr]

Ms; the lower mileage car. The price does not seem out of line to me, I would try to buy lower but I am cheap. The Lemon Law, so it had the same problem a few times, dealer bought it back and replaced the steering wheel.

See if you can vet an OASIS report from RoyLPit on this site. See what that has to say.

In short for a couple of extra grand, the car has 50k less miles.

Anthony

[RoyLPita]

Run reports on both and go from there.

[SID210SA]

Personally...I would skip both and keep looking....you can find a lower milage care for for the same price as the 101K car and if you go with the "lemon" car....I would make sure you get something in writing that if the problem with it continues that they will take care of it

[simian12]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I think I will keep looking for that perfect "steal" of a car.

[TFB]

If you could buy the lower mileage one for around $10-10.5K id think it would be a decent deal, lemon title or not...

Mine was bought back by Ford supposedly because it used oil, but I don't think there were any repairs made...

[crouse]

Gage has his for sale. He's here in Minnesota.

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=64282

[En4cer71]

Be patient. Don't settle. Took me a few months but it paid off when I found one with 2500 miles on it. Just think about what you want as far as miles, price, options and stick to that... ebay, Autotrader, here, some people like craiglist... I can't seem to get a liking for it.