Good idea or Bad idea (I have a dilemma, please read the whole thing.)

[Moby and Lucille]

I have a dilemma. (This is a long post but I promise you it's as short as I could get it and tell the whole story)

First a little bit of a back story. My wife had a pretty decent car as her daily driver and I had the Taurus. Well, a married couple that we're close to (we were actually best man and matron of honor) had a car crisis, and so we helped them out by basically giving them this car ($500, in monthly installments of $100) Jodee just figured she'd just wait a couple months, then get a loan for like a focus or something. She bought a $400 "El Cluncador" to tide her over in the meantime. Well, since then she's decided she doesn't want to get a loan for a car. We are refinancing our house and are getting a sizeable cashback, but apart from paying off the taurus, we're more or less putting all of that money into the house. We only budgetted on $2000 for a car for her, which in my mind wasn't enough for a reliable car. Bare minimum in my mind would be $3000. Bare minimum.

So what I was thinking of doing was trading in the Taurus (it's a 2003) and getting something a little bit older, a little bit less valuable and then take the cashback and give it to Jodee to put with the 2K to get her a better car. That was the plan. Now what would be practical would be to go smaller, you know, like a focus or a neon or a malibu. But if I figure I'm giving up my almost brand new car, then I'm gonna get something I like, even if it's less efficient. What do I like? Panther platform cars! The Crown Vic and it's Lincoln/Mercury counterparts! So I'm going around, trying to find 1998 or later panther cars that would be nice enough to be worth my while yet be cheap enough to get me back enough dough to make it worth my while.

One place I'm at is a Chevy dealership. And they have a 1999 Crown Vic in white with blue leather interior and only 69k miles for $10k. Trade in on the 03 Taurus is just under $9k. I told him what I was after and he told me he couldn't go that low. He told me he could probably do a straight up trade, but not go any lower than that. So I told him to call me if anything else came in.

Well, in the meantime, Jodee finds this 96 Ford Contour, as tricked out as a contour gets, with the DOHC 24V V6 engine, moonroof, and leather interior (and the absolutely most comfortable front seats I have ever sat in period, might I add.) It does have 108k miles on it though which is a little high, but it seems to run just fine. Anyway, the dealer was wanting $3000 for it, and I talked him down to $2500. We can handle that $500 over because she's gonna sell El Cluncador to her sister for $250. And we can free up $250 by not doing a couple small things we were gonna do, such as buy the newest version of Mac OSX (Tiger)

So, now there's no need to sell the Taurus. And I'm split right down the middle. 50% of me is relieved that I don't have to give up the car, and 50% of me was really looking forward to ambling down the road in a Panther.

Now, here's the question: The guy at the chevy dealership said that he'd trade me straight across. So I could still have that Crown Vic. But there's no longer the need to free up money for Jodee, so there's no good reason to do it (other than the "I want it" factor) But I am still Tempted to. The Crown vic is a more resilient car and a more comfortable car than the Taurus. It's a larger car with more room inside and a bigger trunk, it's also got a bigger engine and is a bit peppier. Exterior styling is about a tie, interior styling is actually better in the Taurus. Ergonomically, the Taurus is a little bit better interior-wise as well. And consider this: The Taurus is 4 years older, but only has 20 some thousand less miles on it, which means that the crown vic has either been treated much more gently, or it was beat the hell out of then parked forever. Most likely, it was an old man's car and treated like gold.

To do this is impractical as hell, but most of you know the coolness of having one of these great big land yachts! There's an added bonus to the Crown Vic: Since it's white, people on the road are going to think I'm a cop. Not that I'd ever actually impersonate a cop, and I don't speed very often, but it'd be worth a smile to see everybody on the road around me suddenly start behaving better for me. I'd strike fear into the hearts of my fellow commuters and get a kick out of it by doing absolutely nothing but be there in a white crown vic.

Now, what do you guys think? Should I trade in my 2003 Ford Taurus for this 1999 Crown Victoria that is in all likelyhood less worn and battered than my Taurus? Or should I let go of grabbing a new panther and keep what is practical, what I already know the insides and outsides of, and be grateful for what I have? Or, should I pass on the Crown Vic, but still scout around for something I may like better, like a Town Car? I'm really stuck on this one guys so all the help I can get would be appreciated.

Thanks!

-John

 

[Jason_MarkVI]

I think you need to take test drive both cars (Crown Victoria and Town Car), then you can pick one.

Crown Victoria are awesome but Town Car is much classy feel.

 

[Moby and Lucille]

-UPDATE- I test drove that 99 Crown Vic and I swear I'm not exaggerating. If I didn't already know ahead of time what year it was, and if they hid the odometer (69k) and tried to tell me it was a 2005, I would've believed them 100%. This car looked inside and out, brand spanking new. The leather seats were not worn, there were no blems on the dash or doors or anything. As far as the ride: like it just had it's cherry popped. The steering felt brand new, the braking felt brand new, the acceleration curve surprised me (in a good way) and the suspension felt brand new. My God, this car is immaculate. The only flaw is that it has an aftermarket CD Player in it, and I don't think it's all that hot of one. The factory stereo in the Taurus sounds better, frankly. But that's just it, I got out of this six year old car and have never ever felt that strong of a false impression of newness ever, then get back into my four year newer, 27 some k miles less car, and it felt a good five years older than this four year older crown vic. I think I'm gonna make the trade, fellas!

X-Factor. I got a letter from a ford dealership that has done service work for me in the past saying (in effect) that they are trying to round up as many 2003 Taurus' as they can and want mine. So I call them and ask them what panther platform cars they have, and all they have is one, but oh, what a one. It's a 2000 Town Car. And the nomenclature for trim levels on a Town Car is Town Car, for basic, then Executive Series, then Signature Series, and then, finally, the Cartier. Well, this Town Car was none of the above, it is in escence, above the cartier. It is a Town Car "Congressional Town Coupe" What that means is that it's a custom job, made by the factory, it's all factory, but exists outside the specs of even the cartier. It's basically modified by the same people that custom make the limousines for lincoln! WOW! It's white with grey leather interior, comfier seats than the vic, (though both cars have leather) blue cloth half top, chrome.....everywhere, air ride, a 6-disc CD changer by alpine (factory) and the best factory sound system I've EVER heard. It actually had a sub woofer! And little frills too, for instance, the fold out center armrest in the back seat, actually has cup-holders in it, and there's heating and cooling for the backseat passengers too. WOW! This is clearly the cooler car between it and the crown vic. This car has more bling than I'd have ever hoped to have had in a car in my life. Here's the problem. It has 99k miles on it. Not so much a problem, really, as those 4.6L SOHC V8s just go and go and go so long as they haven't been beaten up. And the Town Car felt anything but beaten up. It felt excellent. Nevertheless, it failed to give that impression of newness. It was a used car. The engine and suspension didn't feel quite as good as the vic, the tranny either, and some of the things like the steering wheel were beginning to show the minutest of wear on them. Nothing to get in a twist about, but after seeing the vic, those subtleties jumped out at me.. I mean, the vic had NO signs of age at all!

Here's where the deciding factor may lie: the chevy dealer was pretty convinced he could do a straight across trade for the crown vic, the lincoln had about a $3000 difference between asking price and taurus trade in value that he was able to get down to just over $1000 (plus T/T/L) Not bad, but here's the problem. In the refinance of the house, we are budgetting just about everything into the house. And the bulk of that is all for one project, putting wood laminate in all of the rooms upstairs except for the kitchen and bathroom. We have four dogs and two of them still have, shall we say, issues involving potty manners inside the house....which is a REAL pain if you've got carpet. So that project has to happen. The only thing that I could really sacrifice to get the approx 1300 (after T/T/L) is this speaker package I was going to get to go with the bigscreen. And one hell of a speaker package it is! Problem, I may not be able to stop the order for the speakers, they may have shipped already, and even if I can cancel the speakers, would I rather have an excellent, but slightly worn Town Car Congressional Town Coupe and no speakers, or an immaculate Crown Victoria LX and speakers. (In yoda voice) Hmmmmm, tough decision this is.