1996 Ford Thunderbird LX from North America - Comments

Motor mounts had to be replaced, and transmission had to be flushed due to occasional violent shaking of car at and above 35 mph. ($500) Covered by 5,000 mile used car warranty.

Rear calipers were frozen, and had to be replaced.

Front rotors need replaced.

Cannot turn off car with key. The plastic shaft which pulls the ignition switch back is broke. Ford wants about 300 dollars to fix it.

Stock CD player sometimes refused to play or eject CD. To fix that I got a sears card and replaced the CD player, and ended up spending around 700$ on other stereo stuff. (My most costly maintenance so far). I enjoy it though.

I love driving my car. I am Six foot Seven, but once I get my right leg underneath the steering wheel, I am comfortable and all is good. I love the low to the ground feel I get while driving, and the four wheel fully independent suspension makes for a super smooth ride.

Gas mileage is about 300 miles per tank.

Car handles great, and has the best acceleration after 40 mph.

There are lots of things you can do to upgrade this car pretty easily.

Only problems with my car are with the transmission. Has delayed shifts, and has hard, loud shifts from reverse to drive, and drive to reverse.

I had a 1996 Thunderbird LX, and ended up having about $1800 worth of transmission work done at around 70k miles. Definitely a problem. Car handled beautifully- with ABS and traction assist, I easily handled her in the severe snowstorms we had this winter, and when she slipped, she caught herself quickly.

Gas mileage, for me, was not impressive. However, I also upgraded the stereo (had no cd), put in new speakers, and she was a lot of fun. My biggest complaint was the size of the vehicle after my son was born. Getting him in and out of the backseat with those long doors was a hassle, I always had to park in the back of parking lots because the width of the car with the doors open is astronomical. Definitely a nice ride, though.

I purchased a lx v6 thunderbird 4 months ago. I had the heads completely redone with oil change tention pulley for about 1250.00. Put a K&N air intake system with a gorillaz chip performance chip.. Changed out the washer fluid reservoir because damaged from wreck in 2000. car was painted and looked great until someone knocked the drivers side corner light off. I replaced both front corner lights. put a Lebra on. added seat covers temperature gauge. pioneer cd aux, mp3 player with four original factory 6x9s still rocked.. so I took it a step further and added a sony xplode 12 inch woofer connected to a sony 600watt amp. added 4 new tires and try to look for every little accessory I can find... I got around 25 to 26 mpg on a 7 hour trip to washington.. When cold have to wait on the gas to get going... when warm runs great... on first push... as a 35 yr old I always wanted a play car with the sound I could not get as a teenager.. for the price I am having a blast with this car.. I have had it up 110mph ONCE... the handling is great. for a first car for a teenager it would be a great gift... or for us sneaking up on to 40 a good relaxing car, comfortable car to drive... wife wants a suburu wagon and I feel I might have to sell it soon.. OUCH... hsprings, mt. She might have to drive the truck longer haha.