1981 Mercury Grand Marquis LX from North America - Comments

Needed new coolant thermostat at about 60,000 km.

Needed new front brake pads at 110,000 km.

Apart from oil changes every 6 months and new tyres at 72,000 km, nothing else was done to the car.

Spacious, comfortable, reliable and a pleasure to own.

I rented a Mercury Marquis 2005 model to take on vacation because our other vehicles are two-door, and we wanted to take our granddaughter along. The car performed acceptably, and the huge volume of trunk and interior space was just what we needed. Gas mileage was fantastic for a car this size, up to 26 mpg if you held it down to 60-65 mph, around 24-25 if you held it around 70-75. Weak points were excessive wind noise around windows, making it difficult to enjoy classical music on the CD. Also, the steering was slightly mushy, nothing like Toyota or Mercedes, and so took a bit of getting used to. Also, the body is loosely suspended, so you get a bit of rocking and rolling that makes the car feel uncertain in cornering. Finally, it is a big car with a large displacement V8 (I think 4 or 4.2 liter) gasoline engine, but power output is actually rather low for such a large engine, and the vehicle is slightly underpowered, not way underpowered, but certainly not exciting. Maybe the Marauder model would take care of these complaints. One other point deserves mention. The driver's mirror is suspended from the windshield, and directly in front of the mirror is a ceiling consule that houses a compass. Strangely, approximately one-half of the view from the driver's missor is obscured by a view of the front of the compass! On numerous occasions, I realized that I was not getting a clear view of the road behind me because of this problem. Someone is not sweating the details to leave this kind of anomoly in the vehicle. I am not sorry that we rented tdhe Marquis to take on vacation, but at the same time I found it slightly disappointing, and the driving experience made me feel a little sorry for Ford Motor Company in having to use this sort of product to compete with Lexus, Mercedes, etc. Ivan R. Vernon.

Yes, I agree with you about the wind noise, my '81 & '89 were the same.

If Ford gave the car just a little firmer damping and springing it would be a better riding car.

I would like to try the Mercury Marauder as that is supposed to be a bit more sporting.

To the first comment the engine is a 4.6, haven't got to the new model grand marquis yet, so I have no say about the complaints you made.

I think Ford Motor Company would be flattered and surprised that you feel this car competes with Lexus or Mercedes!

It's intended to be a simple, cheap to maintain and cheap to buy, spacious family car with soft, underdamped suspension to suit the taste of elderly Americans and in all those things it succeeds.