Here's a chuckle for ya...

[SergntMac]

Kinda reminds me of the Dan Ackroyd/Jane Curtin SNL news skits...

http://info.detnews.com/autosconsumer/autoreviews/index.cfm?myrec=181

[tetsu]

It's obvious that the review was made entirely from
looking at a picture of a Marauder and never actually
sitting in one.

I've read several negative reviews based on the same
inaccuracies. "sloppy steering" LMAO!!! They must have
ridden in a Gran M instead of a MM.

I have yet to have anyone do anything but drool over the car.

Johnny

[KSMM03]

I'm wondering if the reviewers are tofu sprout eating, birkenstock wearing, tree hugging al gore loving enviromentalist pukes!

There are side air bags?? I can't find them in mine??

"The suspension feels overly bouncy and harsh on anything but really smooth roads, and despite the addition of a “performance handling package” with variable-assist power steering, the Marauder still handles more like a Bayliner cabin cruiser than it does a true performance car."

Really, I didn't know that anyone wanted to take it over bouncy roads, much less off road!

Maybe they need to drive the car...not stare at it from afar!!

[tetsu]

Side air bags are in the side of the front seats near the
doors. You can see a little tag and a special seam where
they will blast out in a side impact.

Johnny

[LincMercLover]

Welcome to last month... :D

[TAF]

Now THAT gives me a chuckle...

[Bigdogjim]

OK, I know I am going to get SLAMMED but, that review was not far off - although poorly written. 87% of the articles I have read do not give the MM good reviews, and I have collected many articles. Car and Driver (July 2002) "thoroughly sorted, nicely balanced - 'more disciplined sedan' than 'delinquent hot rod'." As I posted before, the Lincoln Avaitor "almost" keeps up with our MM and that is one damn SUV! Where is the power they promised? Not in my MM, how about yours? I know you can go aftermaket, but feel they should have put a little more in it from the get-go! Although I have been a loyal Mercury guy from the time I could drive, I now ponder those loyalties......
Big Dog Jim

[Macon Marauder]

No Slam here BigDog: I hear what you're saying. The Marauder as it comes off the assembly line ain't all it could be. But I knew that when I bought mine.

Here's some of my reasoning (rationalizing?): I wanted this car after I test drove it. I considered a Crown Vic LX Sport - similar look, much less performance for about $28K. I feel like I got a whole lot more car for the extra $2K my Marauder cost.

I've never been much into mods as an adult. I always figured I would buy all the performance I could afford to begin with. However, with the Marauder I'm seriously considering a performance chip. Is it a "have to have" for me? Nah. I just think it would be a great way to improve the car relatively inexpensively.

Bottom line: despite Mercury marketing I knew what I was buying. And I'm happy.

[cutt]

opinions are like #$%holes everybodys got one.nobody makes a car that everbodys going to like.i love mine and thats all that counts!

[chapel1]

Cutt" your right on".I love my car and what makes it more fun is this great web site.I'm stock now,but after driving SgtMac's car I'm tempted?That's what makes this car so cool.

[JohnnyB]

Why are we lowering ourselves by dicussing the opinions of these two *********s........

They obviously don't get it...

[tetsu]

Bigdogjim,

They advertised 300 hp. They delivered it. What promise beyond
300 hp did they make or break?

I hope no one was expecting to go stump pulling with a 4.6L motor!

Johnny

[Larry Vogel]

They are both experienced auto reviewer's and have been doing it for years. They as well as most other's are straight forward and tell it like it is. Unfortunately they thought from what they had seen from the Mercury advertizing they were going to rate a muscle car. More than likely all were disappointed and then felt the need to slam it.

[tetsu]

Originally posted by Larry Vogel
They are both experienced auto reviewer's and have been doing it for years. They as well as most other's are straight forward and tell it like it is. Unfortunately they thought from what they had seen from the Mercury advertizing they were going to rate a muscle car. More than likely all were disappointed and then felt the need to slam it.

Larry, if you read their review carefully. You will see that they cannot
have ever driven a Marauder. It appears to me, that it's likely they
reviewed it based on other reviews and a previous experience in a 2001
or earlier Vic/GranMar.

"overly loud" (I can only assume they never heard one in person!!)

"I could get past the Grand Marquis’s stodgy image and heritage if this car had more of the personality of the original Marauders from the Sixties." (Stock Marauders did not exactly look as boss as Larry's!!!
IMHO only the X-100s rivaled the external styling from a stock standpoint.)

"But everything from the chrome five-spoke wheels to the plasticky interior trim to the raucous dual-exhaust note seems out of place on the new Marauder. It just doesn’t feel authentic." (First they want more
muscle looks then they dont like the look-at-me wheels? Interior
apparently needs some simulated wood grain also?????)

" That all-black motif looks sinister, not uplifting. " (LOL!!!! Maybe
it wouldve been better in Hemi Orange?!?!?!?!)

"Apart from the wheels, which really look anachronistic" (When in the past have we seen 18 inch wheels like these on any factory car?? WHEN I ASK!!! They want more muscle but they dont want it to harken back or look menacing?)

"And, boy, do people get out of your way on the expressway" (BS!! These people never drove one. People do NOT get out of our way.)

"The Marauder betrays its pedestrian underpinnings then. The suspension feels overly bouncy and harsh on anything but really smooth roads, and despite the addition of a “performance handling package” with variable-assist power steering, the Marauder still handles more like a Bayliner cabin cruiser than it does a true performance car." (Again indicative that they never drove one.)

"Ford fits the car with a modified version of the corporate 4.6-liter V-8"
(I guess we got saddled with the Fleet Mustang Cobra motor!!)

"It didn’t take Chevy long to figure out it couldn’t sell enough Impala SS sedans to keep the car in production. " (Talking out of rear end again. Apparently unaware that the SS died only because GM killed the whole Caprice platform so they could retool it's plant for SUVs!!)

Oh yeah. In case there was any doubt about this loser, here's a quote fromDan's review of the Cobra (http://info.detnews.com/autosconsumer/autoreviews/index.cfm?myrec=171) . It is quite telling. It tells the tale of someone who a) has never sat in a Marauder and b) thinks the Marauder is supercharged:

" The leather wrapping extends to the steering wheel and shifter, and the Cobra, <b> like the Mercury Marauder, now tantalizes drivers with a new instrument: a standard boost gauge. </b>uge resides in a new electroluminescent instrument cluster."

To these people, I say, "Feh!"

Johnny