Well, the phantom Marauder finally arrived today. It turns out Ford really was telling the truth when they were giving me all of those reasons why my vehicle was so heavily delayed. This vehicle was just definately worth the wait as it's everything i've dreamed about in a beast like this. The engine appears to have pretty good torque as it acclerates just fine, even when it's running at very low rpms. My only complaint is that throttle tip-in is a bit too abrupt and is something I wish was more gradual.
What also impresses me is how awesome this car handles, and how light it really feels! The steering wheel is so incredibly precise, you might actually mistake the Marauder for a german type sport sedan as it's always on-center, and always turns where you want to go. The exhaust note is a bit raspy for my taste, but does sound nice and aggressive, although I wish it was louder.
Here is the horror story:
I had to call my insurance company to get my coverage transferred over to the Marauder, and the response I got was a bit disturbing. When I first got hold of the insurance agent, she asked me what in the world was a Mercury Marauder, which forced me to explain in great detail what it was about. After she enters my VIN, she said the computer popped up that this is not a valid vehicle, and that she would have to talk with her boss to see if they could even insure me because the computer wasn't letting her enter my information in. After about 20-30 minutes waiting on hold, she finally comes back and said that her boss also had no idea what a Mercury Marauder was, and had to manually enter it since there were nothing on the Marauder in the system. She said that they'll get everything corrected, but this is what they would have to do till they get it corrected so that I get covered immediately! She said I must be the first Marauder owner to get a policy with them.............