I love my P71. Moreso every day I own it. If you don't get it that's fine. go drive your honda/neon/whatever.
I dominated a 3rd gen eclipse gt twice on the way home from work yesterday. First from a roll, then from a stop. Not an amazing feat, but I bet that kid never tries running from the cops.
ignorant wrote: What mods? C&D gets 16's with a stock car. That's as slow as my civic with half the MPG. tell me again why I should buy one? The data proves that stock for stock the P71 is slower than a civi version and is as slow as my civic in the 1/4 mile times. so produce some DATA.. from an independent source that says the car stock for stock is good at anything. Seems like its a jack of all trades and a very poor one at that. am I ignorant? yes... But I have dataer...
The stack of 78 timeslips from this year is my "data". It took all of 3 mods to get solid 14's. $600. It's not rocket science.
Why is a P71 worth getting? It's a well-rounded car that does everything without complaint. Name ONE other $2500 car that can drag race all year without breaking, go autocrossing and embarrass anything on street tires, do track days until the cows come home on stock components and actually PASS other cars, and still have the stones to be reliable as a rock every day to and from work while hauling 5 people and towing 5000Lbs? You CAN'T! THAT'S why P71's are great! They are a CHEAP way to buy some form of performance that will still be a loyal daily driver, and if it ever does break the parts are cheap, plentiful, and easy to replace. Did I mention how safe the car was or how cheap the insurance is?
If you don't like it, that's fine. But stop with the propaganda to try and convince others not to.
so...this is not helping out much at all...
CarKid1989 wrote: so...this is not helping out much at all...
Oh yeah? Your Mom doesn't help much at all. 
Filter out the chaff and you've got some wheat here. I'd say the knowledge points from this discussion are:
~ low to mid 20's mpg.
~ reliable - no surprise as they're used as taxis and cop cars.
~ roomy
~ inexpensive to modify and definitely serviceable as a daily stock.
~ can be had for around $3k or less
You got you some data son!
Alonso wrote: Check out PropertyRoom dot com It's police auctions online and they sell used cop cars and other stuff pretty often
I still don't feel bitten by the P71 bug, but this helped me lose 10 minutes of my life. Too bad the Orlando office doesn't have any car stuff at the moment... police auction online
I wonder what that kid did to get his Nintendo seized by the popo.
gonna go check out the cars tommorow. he just got an 02 in with 100K and the pushbar for 2700$ hmmm....
http://www.govdeals.com/ <-- good gov'ment auction site
CarKid1989 wrote: gonna go check out the cars tommorow. he just got an 02 in with 100K and the pushbar for 2700$ hmmm....
You really would rather have an 03+ Panther. The 02 and older Panthers still use a lot of older suspension components. Most everything suspension wise is interchangeable with Panthers from 1979-2002. In 2003 they did a huge redesign which included rack and pinion steering, and suspension design that more easily allows for coil over conversions in the front. The rear was also changed to to parallel 4 arm with a watts link, and the shocks were moved outboard of the frame rails for improved handling. 03 also marked the addition of knock sensors so the engine puts out a few more ponies as well due to the more aggressive timing.
What patgizz said about fwd vs rwd. I have both, a ZX2 5spd and a Liberty automatic. Both with four snows. The ZX2 will go where the Liberty can't in two wheel drive. As far as understeering in a corner, you were going too fast. Ever watch an automatic push the front wheels when braking ? In ice racing, rwd sucks.
There is a Mercedes 300D down in Mount Vernon for cheap, looks in good shape, I think the price was around $800.
ignorant wrote:
http://www.govdeals.com/ <-- good gov'ment auction site
Damn you, Iggy! Damn you, damn you!
http://www.govdeals.com/eas/itmDisplay.cfm?itemID=57&acctID=1740
<
(e36 M3 5-spd, current bid $1600)
05+ Mustang GT's get their brakes from the 03+ P71's. If I ever replace my 01 it will be with an 03-09. Failing an 03+ the 01-02 is the one to get as 00- have the weaksauce ~175HP NonPI 4.6/ (That's Non Performance Improved, not Police Interceptor, Ford's stupid 4.6PI acronym is where all of the confusion comes from)
i went to check out the 03 today. Its sweet. Where the rocks get kicked up from the tires is a bit eh, but its not bad. It needs tires though. Brett said Sams Club will do it all for like 350$. So im looking at $3500 all said and done.
The car will get fully servied as promised, will get a new driveshaft, and will have the steering looked at along with everything else he promised. Interior is clean, but the ugly ruber floor covering is prob gonna go. Im going back friday with my dad (who is an ASE master tech and just down to earth which is what i need) to check it out. Im looking to buy this one for sure.
The thing is bad ass
Stock 225/60/16's on the 01/02's are cheap, I'm not sure what sizes the 03+ use though. For $350 you can get a set of 17" 05+ Mustang GT Take-off's and really look nice, plus nice tires.
Why does it need a driveshaft? Most people take the aluminum driveshaft out of P71's for other projects, they're nigh-on indestructible.
Rubber floor is NO big deal. I bought a brand new carpet kit from eBay for $89 that matched the interior color perfectly. Took less then an hour to install along with my new seats.
With all that said, $3500 for an 03 with those miles is good. I paid $2450 for mine, which is an 01 and had 120000 miles when I got it.
I think it's time for.....
SHAG CARPETING
or maybe
Orange One Inch Thick SHAG CARPETING
Its needs a driveshaft cause the one one the car clunks when changing from park to revers or drive. he said the the joint. Ummm the U joints?
The U-Joints are replaceable on P71 driveshaft. I'd be leery, he may be trying to swap in a steel on on you. 
I'd skip the "services" and pay a lower price. Use the savings to have the u-joints done and buy a set of Mustang take-offs and carpet.
I console myself on having an '02 by pointing out that their wheel offset lends itself better to deep-dish wheels, and you can get bilstien HD's cheap where newer ones can't get them at all.
ignorant wrote:mtn wrote: What vehicle can very comfortably transport 4 FULL grown adults (three people over 300 pounds), pull a boat (18 foot), and still get 23 miles per gallon? It can do almost anything that an SUV can do (at least what most people use it for), and its a hell of a lot more fun to drive. Plus... that back seat is hugeask svrex about his buddies diesel excursion that gets 25mpg highway. or Cotton about his dually cummins diesel that gets around 25mpg. Maybe downhill with a tailwind. Maybe. you still haven't given me one reason to purchase one of these cars. the car has killed 30 Law enforcement officers and its slower than the civilian version http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/1269541.html?page=1
I have a 1992 ( i know, not exactly the same) that gets 27 highway. I LOVE the machine.
great for road trippin, took 4 of us to GA twice, and carried the troop to the Daytona 24 last year, and was even in GRM!
my car has very few mods, but I am set to come in 2nd place in the Detroit Region SCCA Rallycross championships...
as for driving a RWD car in the winter, My 92 is on its 4th winter in my possession, and has served very well the whole time. all you need is a decent set of snow tires. Got in and out of alot of snowy situations.
P71's are just flat fun in the snow, the extra .8" of ground clearance means we can clear bigger snow banks!
Oh and on the wheel issue, the 98-02 (and IIRC the "aero" body ones from ~92-97 as well) use a much deeper dish wheel. The 98-02 P71 brake setup shares some common parts with the 94-04 Cobra brakes and upgrading them to full Cobra/Mach 1/Bullitt status is fairly easy. All 99-04 Mustang wheels fit but require a small spacer to reach the outside of the wheelwell (except the aftermarket deep-dish 10.5" wide ones). IIRC the 94-98 Mustang wheels are the same as the 99-04's...
So anyways, 98-02 you can use fox5/SN95/New Edge take-off's or numerous aftermarket knock-offs (I'm partial to a set of staggered Mach 1 Magnum 500 look-alikes). Factory steelies work with no problems and are 16" (225/60/16 tire) and very deep dish so you can run trim rings (like I do).
03+ just plop the 05+ Mustang stuff right on, including Shelby/whatever, no spacers needed. All Mustang brake upgrades bolt right on as well. They use the flat FWD offset so the cop steelies look like CRAP and 17" wheels are the smallest that you can run (235/55/17 is the factory size I think).
P71 wrote: The U-Joints are replaceable on P71 driveshaft. I'd be leery, he may be trying to swap in a steel on on you.
I see what your saying but i dont think this is the case. I know its aluminum and i made it know to him that i do. Seenig the difference should be obvious.
He seems to be a straight up kinda guy. Ask Patgizz
P71 wrote: Oh and on the wheel issue, the 98-02 (and IIRC the "aero" body ones from ~92-97 as well) use a much deeper dish wheel. The 98-02 P71 brake setup shares some common parts with the 94-04 Cobra brakes and upgrading them to full Cobra/Mach 1/Bullitt status is fairly easy. All 99-04 Mustang wheels fit but require a small spacer to reach the outside of the wheelwell (except the aftermarket deep-dish 10.5" wide ones). IIRC the 94-98 Mustang wheels are the same as the 99-04's... So anyways, 98-02 you can use fox5/SN95/New Edge take-off's or numerous aftermarket knock-offs (I'm partial to a set of staggered Mach 1 Magnum 500 look-alikes). Factory steelies work with no problems and are 16" (225/60/16 tire) and very deep dish so you can run trim rings (like I do). 03+ just plop the 05+ Mustang stuff right on, including Shelby/whatever, no spacers needed. All Mustang brake upgrades bolt right on as well. They use the flat FWD offset so the cop steelies look like CRAP and 17" wheels are the smallest that you can run (235/55/17 is the factory size I think).
A little bit incorrect here. All panthers from 1979 till 2002 use 0mm offset wheels, so without 1.5" spacers you can not run mustang knock-offs on 98-02s. 98-02 do have the larger brakes, so they are forced to run 16" wheels or larger.
Only 2003+ panthers can use mustang wheels without spacers.
1.5" spacer wow, I thought it was smaller then that. There's like eleventy billion 98-02's running around on SN95 wheels though so it must not be that big of a deal... I know the 05+ Mustang wheels aren't even worth trying.
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