Highly satisfying in most ways except gas mileage
Pros: Vast interior and trunk space, quiet as a library, swift V8 power, authoritative road presence.
Cons: Poor fuel economy, roly-poly handling, small gas tank, gauche styling to some.
The Bottom Line:
If you can afford the gas and will watch the transmission's health, it makes a GREAT open-road car with lots of room.
Author's Review
I had one of these from '92 to '97. The prior owner was a senior citizen who put only 7,000 or so miles on it, so I had a chance to really put the proper mechanical and cosmetic care into it. The results: outstanding. The fuel-injected 5.0-liter 302 V8 was an especially smooth operator this model year, and had abundant power for acceleration and passing. Transmission shifts were also creamy smooth. Lots of room and stretch-out space both front and back, and the trunk could haul gobs of cargo and still ask for more! Velvety-soft ride that could be mistaken for a limo as my college classmates found out once they stopped sneering at the car's boxy, old-fashioned styling. Cornering isn't a strong point with this model, but body roll didn't seem too bad unless you were really pushing it. Cheap insurance rates too. All this room and quiet makes it a nice choice for a long freeway journey. Fuel economy was NEVER good. It's the nature of the beast. Figure on never higher than 15 MPG around town, and barely hitting 20 on the highway. To make matters worse, the gas tank only holds about 18 gallons vs. 22-25 gallons on competition cars like Chevy's Caprice, so you'll be filling up a lot! At least it runs well on 87-octane gas. Styling is either classy old-school formal or just plain gauche depending on your perspective: big chrome bumpers, standup hood ornament, straight-up eggcrate grille, quad headlights, etc. Mine had the half vinyl top and the thick whitewall tires to add to the effect. Back in the early-mid 1990's, this car could command respect from other drivers who frequently mistook it for an unmarked police car...at least until they saw the vinyl top and the whitewalls. Around 70K miles, the A/C compressor needed replacement, and I recall the real main seal stared leaking about then. Not out of line for this mileage. At 110K miles, the transmission began shuddering and needed a costly rebuild. That hurt. I've noticed a lot of ads in newspapers for this vintage LTD Crown Vic mention a "new" or "rebuilt" transmission, especially around 90-100K miles. Hmmm. The rebuild and the bad fuel economy convinced me that it was time to seek something more economical, so I sold it to an old man in 1997. He was especially grateful a couple of years later when he got into a highway head-on collision with that car and walked away without serious injury. These full-frame big American cars can take quite an impact and their bulk will still protect their occupants pretty well. While I was sad to see a car that had served me so well die like this, it was nice to know that its design saved a life. I still miss this car today.
