Are police crown vics good cars Veeky Forums? i was thinking about getting a 2005 for $2200 it has 150000 miles

Good A to B cars that are reliable. That’s it.

In every other category it’s pretty shit. Awful performance, heavy, shit gas mileage, interior is 90s Ford, and are total boats

how is a auction anyway? do they tell you if it's in good running condition and who owned it before and mileage or what?

no. they're shit. get a civilian one.

>do they tell you if it's in good running condition and who owned it before and mileage or what?

Nope. You might get service records if you're lucky. Shady auction places have all sorts of dirty tricks to make cars with issued seem fine. It's a risk you have to take.

would you recommend any other car in that price range?

>get a civilian one
how's that better? a cop one is just upgraded

>ama
never replies

Where are you from? And it varies, but you'll know. Municipalities sell shit that's totally wrecked and they sell shit that just came time to retire. You can always go check them out in person.
It varies by municipality. They're usually pretty good at giving information in my experience, and you can always go check them out in person.
This guy is either confused and misunderstanding something or talking out his ass, no offense intended. Public surplus is a good to use and reputable service. It's just local and also state departments getting rid of shit, whether it's park service, police department, school district, fire department, etc. Like buying anything used though, you do have to know what you're looking for. And like I've said, you can always go check out whatever you're interested in.

Pic related is what the description of my 2009 looked like. Most descriptions are pretty similar to this in my experience, and I will reiterate again that you can just look at the car in person lol.
Pro-tip: The dings dents scratches is pretty much copy pasta for these folks because typically that's what you'll see on old cars that were used by government workers... Mine was in fine condition in that regard though.

a civilian one hasn't been beat stoplight to stoplight and has probably had less bodily fluids inside it.

Yeah but muh upgrades

SC Pickens county

Cops rarely accelerate hard from lights unless they're on a call. They get bitched at if their cruisers use excessive amounts of gas and tires.

I honestly think it's silly to worry about the car having been abused if it has low enough miles on it. Any harsh abuse will be immediately evident because it won't run and drive right. They're tough as fuck, reliable cars. Treat it well for the rest of its life and you won't have an issue. Civilian cars usually cost so much more than similar mileage, similar year cops cars and it just isn't worth it if you ask me. I'm no cop, but I don't even think they're railed on as hard as people seem to think. I've never seen one in total garbage condition straight from the department.

redneck detected. just buy a civic.

Huh, I just looked on public surplus at shit in South Carolina, and it looks like they do absolutely nothing through public surplus. Damn. Well, they absolutely have to have some other government surplus/fleet auctions somewhere. Maybe even on-site, in person ones, which would be better. Do a search for fleet auctions or surplus auctions.

2700 is a good bit more than 2200 though

>redneck detected
what are you talking about? and since when did rednecks drive civics? they drive lifted trucks and jeeps you dumbass

lots of redneck live in pickens

where do you live? lots of rednecks live in southern states period

Oh and if you can't find shit in the way of auctions, just find something with relatively low miles that runs and drives good. I live literally across the country from you and surely the markets are different. Cheap Panthers out the ass here.
Also don't be opposed to civilian Crown Vics and Grand Marquis that grandmas are getting rid of. Usually well maintained, low miles, and cheap. Slap in a lower geared rear end, MZT mod, and you're off to a good start.
Performance of civilian cars vs P71s and Panthers in general is largely dependent on year. If you have any questions about that I could answer or you could hit up crownvic.net.

Mine is also a 2009 with almost 60k less miles and a 3.55. I believe I originally said that cars of a similar age and miles to OP's go for a grand less here. 1500 safely.

45 minutes up the road.

*sorry guys i just realized i put the milage wrong it's 105000

Greenville? Pickens is nice i'v lived in Greenville to i much prefer rural areas, i don't see to many i'd call rednecks and nobody bothers anyone nice and peaceful

I can't find any auctions i also just have my learners for now if that effects anything
does the car having 50k less miles effect what you think of the price?

Ohhhh that's not a bad deal then OP. It looks clean too if that's it in the OP pic, and looks like it has the civilian appearance package. Likely was a detective/undercover car. Pretty unique. No holes in the roof because there was never a lightbar there. That's how my 2009 is. If it was a detective car, it was probably taken especially good care of as well.
Just keep in mind that as far as performance goes you're in a less than ideal year for super easy bolt on performance. A non PI block with PI heads and PI intake performs better than an all PI engine because PI heads on top of a non PI block results in a good high compression ratio. HOWEVER, the average person should not give a fuck about this in a Panther, and I doubt you do. Trying to go fast is an expensive and difficult endeavor and not a good idea for your first Panther. You're making the most power a Panther ever made from the factory though (Marauder aside of course) so that's good.

tl;dr good deal OP, especially if you get them down a few hundred.

spartanburg. and this is true. i'm just giving you a hard time. ex-police vehicles are generally garbage. if you can afford better, get something else.

Sorry for badly timed replies, they're long and I'm not seeing updates while I type lol. See above reply

They're not bad for how cheap you can get them for. V8 engine, infinite aftermarket. Kinda cool to discover weird hidden quirks and cop features in them i guess. Handling isn't very good, so don't take hit the toe gay in one. If you're looking for p71's exclusively it can be tricky finding one that isnt on its last limbs, but look for one with low idle time. Theres some good youtube guides floating around that cover the process of getting a good one.

As someone with an autox Miata that can take a roundabout at 80 with ease, I don't have trouble taking a roundabout at 40-50 in my 2009 P71 which isn't half bad for a 4000lb boat. And even THICCER sway bars, upgraded control arms, watts link, etc. can go a long way in making them handle pretty decently though. This is all autism and shouldn't be of concern for your average Panther owner.
Like anything cheap and easy to repair if it breaks, it's great fun to hoon regardless of how fast or good at handling they are. Street cars are for funsies and not lap times. Panthers are very good at funsies because they can lay rubber and be extremely fun to go sideways in.

Civic, Accord, Camry, etc.

I love rear-wheel drive V8 sedans and coupes but this one just isn't worth it, especially police-owned models with that many miles on them. Jap ecoboxes like the ones i listed above would be a lot better as they handle better, can be had in manual, do great in snow, and will be as reliable or more than a crown vic.

Any upgrades you want from a P71 can be easily applied to any civilian Panther body. These are the last of the body-on-frame boats, they're basically big Lego kits with even less yearly parts-count changes.

I would get a miata or something but there way to overpriced
spartanburg is the worst city in the upstate besides anderson really, never lived there but that's what just about everyone seems to think lived in greenville anderson and well pickens obviously

It's good as long as you reply sooner or later lol

>It looks clean too if that's it in the OP pic, and looks like it has the civilian appearance package.
That's the Wikipedia image for the Crown Victoria, listed as a 2003 base model but didn't all non-P71 Crown Vics come with the keyless-entry door keypad regardless of trim level?

This is it it's supposed to have a small dent in the side
Sorry for the screen shot let go won't let you save pictures

...

Dang I thought you were on to something good lol.
Also meant street appearance package*
I just saw civvie wheels, grille, and body matched mirror shells and thought that's what it was.
>didn't all non-P71 Crown Vics come with the keyless-entry door keypad regardless of trim level
There may have been some years where it was standard (standard options changed a fair amount across the Crown Vic's lifespan). I'm honestly not sure. But I am sure that it wasn't standard for all years. I think you had to have the absolute most basic model to not have it though regardless, and I don't think many of those cars were available.

The pictures themselves are generally concerning, but maybe it's just a retarded old dude. I also notice it's in silver birch, LX wheels, no spotlight, no push bar brackets sticking out the bumper (which a lot of departments just remove but you know), and I don't see holes in the roof. I'm thinking THIS is a street appearance package P71, likely a detective car. Which is cool. I definitely think it's worth checking out.

Oh and it doesn't have the police interceptor badge on the ass lol. It's possible the LX wheels were added, spotlight removed, etc. and it was just a slick top (no light bar) car to begin with, but all of that combined is doubtful. It's not really that big of a deal, but street appearance package IS very neat and not seen all that often, relatively. Especially cool since you won't be looking like a cop as much and you don't have stupid holes everywhere, and I think civilian cars just look so good, especially in silver birch.

>googling things
>stumble onto this
youtube.com/watch?v=tfNy8Qhf2Sg
>average p71 owner.avi

I might've been wrong, yeah, I'm used to remembering option-years for the Marquis and even those are usually off by a year or two compared to the Crown Vic despite being the same goddamn parts on the same goddamn car. The way I remembered it was the keypad on the door was standard on everything, but actual no-touch entry with the unlock button on the key fob was an option, which is probably incorrect, given this car doesn't have one.

Any other shots of the car? If it's a 2005 there should be a visible radio whip antenna on the passenger side rear quarter panel, that's one of those weirdo one-year-only things Ford did for no real reason.

No Interceptor badge on the back, but it still has the black inserts instead of the civilian body-color ones. If we had shots of the interior (to look for the center-of-dash trunk release) or ass end from underneath (dual exhaust) it would be easy to see if it was a SAP P71 or a standard Crown Vic, but it might just be a mishmash of replaced parts (like the trunk) or something.

the guy also said he had paper from where it passed the 27pt test i'm not exactly sure what that is

You're right on the black rear fascia. It should actually also have chrome trim on the ass as well, which this doesn't and that'd be more than a matter of swapping the trunk. Also doesn't have the chrome bezels on the handles. In conclusion, not SAP. Had to refresh myself on all the intricacies real quick. But hey, LX wheels and no holes in the roof is a bonus anyways.

>27pt test
Also called a multipoint inspection. Certified service center goes over the car and makes sure shit ain't fucked. Not sure how trustworthy that is as I just got this from a quick google, but it doesn't seem bad.

alright guys thanks for the input and help i'll think about getting it especially since apparently theres nothing on goverment surplus or autions that i know of

I mean if you care about performance, (and if you're buying a landyacht for that there's your first mistake) then just go straight for a Mercury marauder or an Impala SS

They alright

I think vics look cool and i only have 2200 to spend

Different strokes for different folks. Some people want a sleepy cop car or some shit or are just working with what they already got. Anyways...if you want performance you should objectively go with the Impala SS because LT1 that is better to begin with and can actually have power added onto it for a decent price. I can't think of a Chevy counterpart to any Ford that isn't better to build for performance honestly but that's another debate.
Also
>tfw Impala SSs are becoming ridiculously expensive and they all have high miles now
I mean I just want an LT1 B body wagon anyways but man it's a shame

if there that bad then why has the government used them for so long?

Wut? I'm the Panther autismo who loves Panthers. Not sure what you're getting at.
I'm not dissing anything, just making a side track comment about Ford vs GM performance.
Tbh though Chevy cop cars like the Caprice 9C1 have always been better as cars, just more expensive which most police forces aren't down with. The P71 is superior in the realm of availability and price. Way more of them were bought. That's why that is true. And there's definitely a reason departments kept them for so long. Reliable, capable, and cheap as dirt. The Caprice was all of that but not as cheap. The cops who used them liked them more according to everything I've read, but most departments didn't like the price as already stated. Ford has just always been better at those sorts of contracts, because that's what it's all about. Blah blah blah it's all a different topic lol.
I'm still searching for a decent Caprice 9C1 though because THAT I will build into a go fast car. Muh small block Chevy.

i just want a reliable somewhat fun daily driver

ive heard theyre heavy as fuck and corner like ass, but they go for ages.

Great for that. If you're OP I think we've been over that. Was just making bants with the other dude previously, sorry for the confusion.

He says never having done a starter on one -.-

It's pretty bad man I had to use a telescopic ext for the third bolt took awhile.

1999 Grand Marquis reporting in.

Get a cressida

Lol yeah. I don't think Ford has EVER put the starter in a good spot on anything, I swear. I've also been spoiled by small block Chevys in trucks. Easiest starter job there is.

Update
the guy said it was used or personal transport by the state and claims all maintenance is up to date

>used for personal transport by the state

Picking up hookers for the governor?

they are like driving a humvee with some giddyup

nothing is tougher than a crown vic