New Owner of a 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis GS

[dcu1976]

Hello All! Like the title says I am a new owner of a Grand Marquis. The car actually has been in my family for quite sometime. First my parents owned it, they took very good care of it and put on quite a few miles(mostly highway driving across the country several times), then they gave it to my youngest brother who has treated the car very poorly, he had two accidents but they were with no other vehicles, basically the combination of heavy car and wet road, and bald tires caused him to run off the road and hit a light post(2x's). he just recently moved out of state with my parents and has now passed the car down to me(his Big Brother) and so I have been spending my time/money slowly fixing everything wrong with the car, The only major thing wrong with the car that I have noticed is the rear axel seems to possibly be slightly bent, while driving the car it has a slight shimmyish/wiggle until you get to about 60+ and then the car rides like your floating on a cloud! I personaly love the car but wish I could get better gas mileage, my previous car was a Mazda Protege with a 1.5l engine, so going from that to a 4.6l you really notice the power, and mileage, I understand that this car is a heavy beast and I also like the fact that my family and I are wrapped in steal. But gas at $3.65 a gallon, its a fortune to drive. Does anyone have any tips on the car they would like to share?!

[GoodSamaritan]

Welcome!
What sort of mpg are you getting out of it.
In good working order most folks get surprisingly good mpg out of these beasts.

Also what state are you in?

[gabegt90]

welcome to gmn mang

[79lincolnlover]

You pay for class with gas

[87gtVIC]

Welcome!

[dcu1976]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome, first some correctons, I was told the axel was bent, well thats not true, the tire had a bulge which caused the shimmy. I replaced the tire and she rides smooth! After driving this car for a few months, I have to say "I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THS CAR!" I have noticed today for $20 @ 3.89gal which gave me 5.129 gals. on a 140 mile trip 85% highway wth A/C on I got 27MPG! Ths was not the first tme either, my last $20 gave me 28MPG! Can you believe it, this car has 3X the displacement of my old car and gets 10MPG less then my mazda plus I ride wth soo much more style now! just need to get some new rims or hub cabs because the black steelies look horrible, Anyways, I'm VERY Impressed, BTW, why are they called Panthers, and Whales/Aeros? I have been to shy to ask in fear of getting BANNED/FLAMED, LOL. Additionaly, I live in Zephyrhills Florida, same place as the bottled water and am looking for some local fellow panther owners who could walk me thru the whole J-MOD and additional upgrades. I would love to meet up, chill and educate myself on these awesome rides! Thanks again!

[tjc78]

"Panther" refers to the platform that the vehicle is built on. The first year of this platform was 1979. The Town Car, Mark VI, Crown Vic, and Grand Marquis are all on this platform

Model year nicknames=
79-91 "Box"
92-97 "Aero" (TC 90-97= Aero)
98+ "whale"

Hope that clears things up a bit.

[SVT98t]

Welcome to the Party!
I think it's time I make a thread on fuel economy.

-ryan s.