End of the line for the CROWN Victoria...

[eiriksmil]

alistairk said:

eiriksmil said:

Wait.. You can actually lift the body off the frame on the CROWN Victoria? That's hysterical.

Not sure why its hysterical, its the way all cars were built, OK a long long time ago, but...

In fact police used to REQUIRE separate chassis cars. Good ramming strength!

What I meant is when you speak of lifting the body off the frame, images of air-cooled VWs, American lowriders and street rods pop up in my head. Yeah, many trucks (pick-ups) still use leaf suspension and are built on a frame. But being able to lift the body off the frame on a 2007 fullsize saloon car, that's pretty funny to me.

[61fury]

My 94 CROWN Vic; it burned a quart of oil for every tank of gas, the transmission was "wonky" and required continual fluid changes, yet it was dead reliable and never left me stranded any where. It could do 24-25 mpg on the highway. It was a cop version, the only difference was that it had dual exhausts and a leaky oil cooler which I ditched. the original seats did not recline but at least they had stab-proof backs to protect me from my friends. I replaced these with junkyard power Grand Marquis seats. It had great paint and not a speck of rust anywhere, not even underneath.
As for its alleged antiquity, I laugh in the better parts of town seeing Hummers that will never go off road and BMW's that will never top 40 miles an hour ( except on the interstate where the biggest challenge is not falling asleep.) BOF or no, it was a car much like any car, as much fun as you want to make it.
I grew up on small FWD cars, Audi Fox, Ford Fiesta, a real POS of a V6 Camry, a big quiet boat seemed to be in order. I loved it, and would have considered another for its replacement, especially the 98's and up, which I consider to be very handsome.
Once I was hungover at the beach and saw it gleaming in the sun. It looked very much like a giant surfboard and a great white shark at the same time. I had a plan, I got a pair of genuine surfboard fins, to stick on the trunk. Then I was going to paint the wheels the classic hot rod orange red, complete with baby moons and ribbed trim rings. then lower it. Who cares if burned oil, very much in keeping with the original hot rods, dangerous smoky heaps that they were.
Alas my plan was foiled by my very own inability to ever actually finish anything ( though I still have the surfboard fins). Then the transmission crapped out. The end.
[

[akku]

the G8 is RWD? I assumed it was the same FWD platform as the wImpala etc.

[Saru]

The Commodore/G8 is the same platform as the upcoming Camaro. Or, rather, the other way around, the Camaro will be the same platform as the Commodore/G8.

[mercmad]

the Conformadore ,known locally as a dunny door or the Holdung Commode, is Rear wheel drive and the later ones have a Mercedes copy suspension which makes Fords antiquated offerings in the new mustang hilarious. ;D
Commodes are available left hand drive because the biggest market isn't Australia ( 80% of production is bought by Government departments here ) It's actually the Arab States where thousands are sold as Chevs and Caddillacs.
Queensland Police have a few of these high patrol cars

[MattW]

Heh, gotta love a police HSV Monaro.

[akku]

mercmad said:

which makes Fords antiquated offerings in the new mustang hilarious. ;D

Ford fitted an IRS in some models of the old SN95 Mustang and the aftermarket made money selling live axle conversion kits. Ford knows which side of the bread the butter goes. IRS gives weight, traction and camber issues as well as many designs being worse for wheel hop in a powerful RWD car than a leaf sprung live axle was! A bunch of feedback I've seen is querying if the Chevy Camaro is going to be a sales dud like the Monaro based GTO was because of its IRS.

Ford have rewrked the live axle arangement in the 05&up Stang. It works well. Its hardly antiquainted.

[gtd2000]

marinanut said:

Holy mother and father... that would clear the middle lane of doddery old farts and even give 'Mr B*W' a scare. Why can't we get some of these?





Oh yes, .......too 'aggresive' I suppose.......

The trouble with most modern "American" cars is that although they might look pretty cool on the outside it usually leads to complete and utter disappointment when you actually sit inside one or drive it.

[Dorset_Clive]

I was lucky enough to visit the Washingtonb DC at my companies expense a few weeks ago Near my hotel there was the FBI Police (no, really!) HQ, with their Chargers. Despite the excellent pics above, I haven't seen a picture that looks as half as good as these do in the flesh.

They are truely AWESOME!

The first American can I would really like to own!!

[akku]

I have to agree, I wasn't sold on them until I saw the fuirst real ones when I was over in the US a couple of years ago. Next time we were out there I managed to rent one. Only a V6 but a nice car. The V8s must be fantastic. the dash is very plain, but well laid out. Reminded me more of a modern Peugeot or something GTI like I have been in recently before - white dials in matt black and all that.

My only complaints with the yank stuff is when I get a V6 where a V8 should be. I try and avoid renting the FWD V6 stuff. Although I did drive a Chevy Lumina Z31 which is a FWD and that was a surprisingly agile car. Far to good handling for me so I didn't buy it, naturally.... ;D

Dash was bland but no worse than the disappointment of getting in a Skyline R32 or R33 or a 200SX or something. Blandness abounded in the 90s and still does in a lot of dashes.

[Dorset_Clive]

I just noticed there's a Charger for sale at that car showroom "barn" next to the M3 (near J5) for those that know it. I may have to pop in there on the way home tonight...

[montythemole]

We do get the Dodge Avenger now from 15k, saw one yesterday and like it for it's Yank looks:

[akku]

Looks nice, like a somewhat shrunken Charger, but its a 2.0 FWD (or the somewhat-lame 2.4) which kind of limits its appeal to me really. Same white-dial interior thing going on as the Charger.

The yanks get a 2.7 V6 and 3.5 V6 with optional 4WD on this car. I think they call that the SRT6? They don't even bother with the 2.0 which should tell you something.

"Oh no, the Brits won't want a car which actually accelerates, just slop in that 2.0 we used in the Neon and they'll love it."

I'm just amazed they've refrained from plastering the inside with fake wood as they seem to think we like that, which we don't, Cadillac please take note. USDM models get nice satin black and brushed ali trim, UKEM models get gawdy fake wood.

Its like they don't actually want to export these cars...

[akku]

and just to annoy us, this is what the yanks get for the £15K we get the 2.0 stripped out base model for....



Dodge Avenger R/T 3.5 V6 4WD 6 speed auto.

Color option $150

Sunburst Orange Pearl Coat $150
Dark Slate Gray/Light Graystone leather $0

Features/Options

Leather-Trimmed Bucket Seats
MyGIG® Multimedia System
Hard Disc Drive
Touch Screen Display Monitor

Monotone Paint Incl.
Premium Front and Rear Floor Mats Incl.
2.24 Overall Top Gear Ratio
6-Speed Automatic Transmission
3.5L High Output V6 24V MPI Engine
Air Conditioning w/ Automatic Temperature Control
8-Way Power Driver's Seat
6 Speakers
Front and Rear Stabilizer Bars
Bridgestone Brand Tires
P215/55R18 BSW All Season Touring Tires
18" x 7.0" Aluminum Wheels

Safety, Security and Convenience Group
Rear View Auto-Dim Mirror with Microphone
Daytime Running Headlamps
UConnect® Hands-Free Communication

Premium Convenience Group:
Prem Headliner w/UGDO, LED Lighting, Assist Handles
Rear Cargo Organizer
Rear Passenger Assist Handles
Sun Visors with Illuminated Vanity Mirrors
Instrument Cluster with Display Screen
Temperature and Compass Gauge
Air Filtering
Heated Front Seats
Front & Rear Aimable LED Lamps
Traveler/Mini Trip Computer
Remote Start System
Universal Garage Door Opener
Tire Pressure Monitoring Display
Heated/Cooled Front Console Cupholder

Rear Seat Video System

Engine block pre-heater

Smoker's convenience group

Delete Rear Spoiler (No Charge)

Power Sunroof with Open/Close Express Feature
Premium Headliner Module
Rear Passenger Assist Handles
Sun Visors with Illuminated

Upgrade to 18" x 7.0" Aluminum Chrome Clad Wheels $550

which ships for $28,700 before dealer or online discount.

I'm not sure I'd pay for all of those options but that is as full loaded as you can get it!

Not sure what I think of this, its called the "Stormtrooper!" Maybe in black?

[gtd2000]

One of my favourite US rentals for a few years (2001~2003ish) was the Pontiac Grand Prix GT with the 3.8L V6, my last rental in the US was the newest incarnation of the Mitsubishi Eclipse with another 3.8L V6 and was like proverbial $hit off a shovel!

Here's me scraping snow off it on the way to work just outside DC

[MattW]

Apr 8, 2008 9:14:34 GMT gtd2000 said:

One of my favourite US rentals for a few years (2001~2003ish) was the Pontiac Grand Prix GT with the 3.8L V6, my last rental in the US was the newest incarnation of the Mitsubishi Eclipse with another 3.8L V6 and was like proverbial $hit off a shovel!

Here's me scraping snow off it on the way to work just outside DC

Yep, that'd sum up the 4th gen Eclipse quite well. Utter curse word.

[akku]

was the Grand Prix GT the supercharged one? I always fancied one fot he Buick Regals with the SC 3.8 V6 gen 2. Some of the guys with them do well in street class FWD drags. Proper potential, and in an "old mad car" package

[gtd2000]

Apr 8, 2008 10:46:16 GMT MattW said:

Yep, that'd sum up the 4th gen Eclipse quite well. Utter curse word.

To be honest when I first saw the design of the new Eclipse I wasn't impressed and couldn't see why anybody would take one of these over a 350Z.

To be fair, I had this longer term rental for about 3 months and the acceleration and handling was extremely good for a FWD (IMHO) but it was very uncomfortable after a couple of hours in the saddle.

[gtd2000]

Apr 8, 2008 19:26:24 GMT akku said:

was the Grand Prix GT the supercharged one? I always fancied one fot he Buick Regals with the SC 3.8 V6 gen 2. Some of the guys with them do well in street class FWD drags. Proper potential, and in an "old mad car" package

I had a colleague with the supercharged variant but i only ever had the normally aspirated engine. The main appeal was the perceived torque and stiffish (for an American car) handling - but on paper it's actually pretty slow