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  March 11, 2011 11:13 a.m. Conquest351 Reader

  I drive a 2000 P71 every single day. It's nearing 200k on the clock and I have lifter tick. She uses a little oil. Fuel mileage ain't bad. I'm thinking 20+/- mpg. Don't really care enough to check.

  The down side is this...

  EVERY ONE thinks you're a cop. They either move out of your way (good) or slow way the hell down and piss you off because they're too scared to move (bad). The seats are kinda uncomfortable for long trips (3+ hrs). With the front seats back for a 6' driver, there is little rear leg room.

  Good side... Parts are easy to come by. The cooling system, power steering, and transmissions all are super heavy duty and have cooler upon cooler on them to keep temps in check. If you're speeding past a cop, wave and keep that speed. 99% of the time they wave back and you're good. Can't tell you HOW many tickets I've avoided. LOL I have been pulled over because the officer thought he knew me.

  My dream would be to swap the new 5.0 and 6-speed into this thing and throw some Bilsteins and poly bushings under her and keep driving it. I love the Vic!

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  March 11, 2011 11:15 a.m. m4ff3w SuperDork

  NGTD wrote:

  One downside (?) that no one has mentioned is that almost everyone I know drives FWD vehicles. Many people don't react well to RWD vehicle dynamics because they are simply not used to them.

  My wife hasn't had a FWD in a loong time. Her current daily is a Mercedes 190e 2.6

  That said, I passed and sold the XR4ti last night.

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  March 11, 2011 11:33 a.m. NGTD HalfDork

  In reply to m4ff3w:

  All the vehicles you describe have returned to iron oxide up here.

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  March 11, 2011 10:52 p.m. curtis73 Dork

  Biggest downside to me is this: large car + 281 cubes = torque deficit

  Later coil-on-plug will give you fits.... period. When one starts to fail, just know that you're in for a bit of a hair pulling experience. You have a few choices:

  1) the DTC will tell you P0304 - misfire cyl 4. You'll replace the plug on #4 and then it will say P0302, misfire 2. You can keep doing this until the misfire goes away and you've bought anywhere from 1 to 5 coils. The problems is that when you replace the weakest one, the next weakest one takes its place.
  2) when you get the misfire code, find someone with the Ford software. Going rate is $20-50 for off-duty techs, or $100 at the dealer. The Ford software has an oscilloscope thing that shows you which coils are the weakest and you can just skip to the answer and replace X coils.
  3) just suck it up and buy all 8.
  

  Otherwise, the 4.6L is a remarkably bulletproof assembly. The only other typical problem is the intake. The earlier ones had a plastic intake with a plastic thermostat housing. Its expensive to replace, and only as reliable as plastic can be. Dorman makes a complete kit to replace the entire intake - with gaskets, thermostat, upper and lower housings, the works... and it replaces the plastic water parts with aluminum. Last I priced it, it was $180. Its a bargain.

  Spend some considerable time in one before committing. I find that the ergonomics are worse than terrible. I have driven many, including a TC with adjustable pedals, tilt and telescope, 9-way seats, the works, and I could not find a comfortable arrangement. Even if I adjust the pedals all the way to the floor, telescope the wheel out the whole way, I always felt like the steering wheel and dash were too far away.

  But... don't worry about reliability or parts cost. The car itself is a rock-solid, cheap-to-fix, full-frame, cushy car.

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