1997 Ford Crown Victoria from North America - Comments

This car was ordered from the factory by a man born in 1917. Allow me to say that he didn't drive like an old man.

This car has EVERY item that goes into a Police Interceptor (except for the exclusive police package items.)

The car was meticulously maintained by the dealer he purchased it from. I have a buddy who is a "wrench," and I have him do all my service work.

Other than regular preventative maintenance, I had the brake pads changed on all four wheels. I did this only because I had a brake squeal, and figured it wouldn't hurt to change the pads.

The only other item that I have had serviced, by the local Ford dealer, was to have a complete transmission service. I did this for two reasons... one being that the maintenance book in the glove box suggested it at 50,000. However, I also had a "rumble strip" chatter occasionally and they oil change place showed me that my transmission fluid was "a bit weak."

Since the transmission service, I have no further chatter.

There are only two other items that I have on my "list" to take care of.

First, the factory has the car set up to have the PCV valve changed, at Ford's expense, at 60,000.

And second, I plan on replacing the P225-60R16 high performance Michelin tires that came stock on the car with identical rated and size Yokohama tires. I am not a fan of Michelin tires, and have been told by several people that the Yoko tire will be the closest match to the performance/handling specs of the Michelins... if not be an improvement.

It is important to me that the car's handling performance not be altered, seeing as it is an "unofficial" police interceptor.

Oh...and the running cost number above, being a 7/10 is simply because of the performance of the car and MY RIGHT FOOT.

My 1997 Crown Vic was a beautiful car, but a hunk of junk, always costing me money. I had to buy a new car because when I took it in for service, the shop would not let me drive it home. The support piece for the lower A arm broke off from the frame and they could not fix it! I had the car towed home and my husband disassembled the front end and we had a race car welder repair the damage. "Bad factory welding work, the part should never have broken off like it did" he told us. It was reassembled with new shocks and I decided to keep it for my grandson. I came home one night 3 weeks after the car was back on the road, parked it in the driveway and ten minutes later the car was in flames! The next day I received a recall letter from Ford Motors and they said don't park it in a garage as there was a risk of an under hood fire! Ford treated us like crap and wouldn't even acknowledge the bad welding work on the frame even though I sent them photos, and the fire was summarily dismissed. We own other Ford products and was satisfied with every car but this one. I bought a Dodge Magnum to replace this car, and I'll probably not buy a new Ford product again.