If you ever thought the Mercury Grand Marquis (and, by extension, the Ford Crown Victoria) could make a great muscle car with a few tweaks, so did Mercury. The result? The Marauder.
In addition to a little more power over the Grand Marquis, the Marauder also received an upgraded suspension and unique styling.
This particular Marauder features some minor modifications like …
Most you see are black in color. The red shown is nice but they made a dark blue that looked nice. As a sales guy this would be a great vehicle to spend time in.
I really want to like the Marauder, but I'm not sure the 4.6 DOHC is the best engine for a car that heavy. It's not particularly torquey.
Add a supercharger and that changes things, but...
I did like the Marauder when I first saw one and today they are rare as hen's teeth, at least around these parts they are. However, taking an ex-Highway Patrol Crown Vic and transforming it to something similar would not be that difficult to do. The 4.6L engines were weak feeling in my opinion (I had a *gasp* Thunderbird with the 4.6L V8), so I would take a 5.0L or larger engine any day. Heavy cars just need torquey motors.
I've told this story here before, but I was bringing a parts car home one day and running late. As this was long before I had a cel phone, I stopped at one of those highway service stations to call home. It was off the highway 401, not far from where these were built, and there were a bunch of OPP's, like your troopers, milling around outside with a handful of what looked like hopped up pursuit vehicles. Quite a few months later I read about the Marauder and realized that's what they were all driving. I wonder if they were working with Ford on their development?
Deep down we all have that desire to have a performance sedan that was made in the good old USA.
Coyote bolts into a CV chassis without adapters. Electrical on the other hand can be a spaghetti mess...
Google "Lounge Lizard".
Go down the rabbit hole reading articles on the C/D project car. Granted, not a Maruader, but same.
I remember the original issue, still have it somewhere.
I don't what it is, but I've just always thought these were so cool ever since they came out. Very low key badass.
*cough* These are better *cough*
Appleseed said:*cough* These are better *cough*
no...no they weren't. (Ive owned both) The Marauder was far superior and one of the few vehicles I regret selling.
ish_da said:In reply to Will :
I had a Pontiac GXP -08, the 303hp 5.3L one.... I couldn't catch the Marauder going down the road and trust me, I tried but failed. I dunno if something was done to it, but he definitely outpaced me.
Either it had over $10K in performance work, or the Poncho was stuck in second gear! 
newest gtp I've driven was a 98, but I don't imagine yours was slower - and it woulda easily out run my heavy old 03 Merc. Mines only a 2 V, little sister to the 4 V; the difference is cool, but not dramatic.
Do love the Marauders 
Appleseed said:*cough* These are better *cough*
The Marauder was clearly an attempt by Ford to grab the coattails of Chevy's Impala SS. I cannot speak to driving or owning one, but from the outside, it was just missing some panache the Impala had in spades. I'm not sure how to explain it though. The Impala looks intentional, like a complete package. The Marauder always looked to me more like a 20 year old kid inherited grandma's Mercury and slapped gaudy wheels on it.
I keep staring at it and I think part of the problem is the ground clearance.
P3PPY said:Appleseed said:*cough* These are better *cough*
The Marauder was clearly an attempt by Ford to grab the coattails of Chevy's Impala SS. I cannot speak to driving or owning one, but from the outside, it was just missing some panache the Impala had in spades. I'm not sure how to explain it though. The Impala looks intentional, like a complete package. The Marauder always looked to me more like a 20 year old kid inherited grandma's Mercury and slapped gaudy wheels on it.
I keep staring at it and I think part of the problem is the ground clearance.
Impala SS ended in 96, Marauder started in 2003, a 7 year gap can hardly be described as grabbing the coattails. Instead Ford took time to actually build a proper performance sedan rather than a tarted up version of their standard offering. And no Im not a Ford fan. I've owned way more GM than ford but in this instance Ford got it right where GM didnt.
Main difference is the SS was all cosmetic, there were no real performance enhancements to it over any other caprice. In short, it was a stickermobile, one of GMs favorite offerings.
The Marauder had the 32v cobra engine and other mild upgrades to suspension and braking. Yes it was subdued cosmetically, but from a driving and performance standpoint it is a wonderful car.
Compared to the standard Impala, the SS was more or less a police spec car with upgraded suspension and other heavy duty components so it wasn't exactly a stickermobile.
Being an old guy living through both new car introductions I feel the industry was more jacked up over the Impala SS as there was a last blast feel to it. Almost like when this goes away it's all Camrys and Cobalts.
In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :
Never gets old - perfect!
In reply to JThw8 :
I hear your point that the Marauder is objectively better, I'm not trying to argue that. But no matter how much better the implementation was in the Mercury, I disagree about their motivation. I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that four years between end of production and the probable start of the Marauder's design meant that FoMoCo was trying to ride the ongoing wave of popularity. They're both RWD full size body on frame four door police-used models that were made into a cooler looking version. Walks like a duck.
/my opinion
It's so much cooler to say "police model" than "Taxi".
In reply to ShawnG :
If you're hardcore, it was always 9C1.
Appleseed said:*cough* These are better *cough*
Came here to say this. It only took Ford a decade to come up with a car with less torque, more weight, and worse brakes.
If I had a nickel for everytime a cop commented to me in my SS about having to switch to the CV, I'd have a lot of nickels.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
The nickel reference....
In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :
And as I mentioned in the GRM IG post, I think Dan Aykroyd is a fan of the Marauder; endorsed by an original Bluesmobile guy is pretty good...
Florida Highway Patrol ran Marauders back in the day. Kinda the best of both words, right?
A friend of mine just sold his Marauder. It was a nice car, he enjoyed it, but everything in it is now 20 years old, and Ford (or, hell, any American marque) just doesn't build interiors to take 20 years of regular use. And even the mechanical bits were starting their slow decline into nickle-and-dime territory. If you found a really pampered, garage queen example, maybe, and if all you're after is the performance, then fine, but there's better ways to get the same performance cheaper.
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