Oddly, there are very few Panthers in taxi service here. Or is that not odd? And this MGM is obviously not the typical ex-cop car Panther taxi that are rather common elsewhere. It even has nice alloy wheels. I have incredibly little exposure to these cars, and have never driven one. But the few times I’ve ridden in the back seat of a Panther taxi, I found the experience a bit lacking. The seat seemed awfully low, leg room was limited, and it just felt like I was riding in a car designed a very long time ago, in terms of its basic architecture. Doh! Except for its ruggedness, it just strikes me as a car not all that well suited for taxi work. Bring on the van taxis….
I was still shuttling 3 kids to grade school in the morning when I went from an 89 Cad Brougham to a 93 Ford CV. From the driver’s seat, there was not much difference (other than less luxury and better performance). In the back seat, it was a whole different story. There is significantly less leg room in these than you would expect. The extra wheelbase in a TC would be huge.
I suppose the tight rear quarters should be expected, since this car is on the same 114 inch wb as a 1964-67 GM A body (i.e. – Chevelle, which was called an intermediate back then). I have always wished that Ford had offered the lengthened version of this car (that I saw doing taxi duty in Chicago) to the general publlc.
Yes, a six-inch stretch would’ve made a world of difference. 120 inches is the base point of entry for anything calling itself full-size. I would note that is the wheelbase of the Charger/300.
One serious compromise to the Vic and Marquis.
That would be the VIN code P70, offered only for taxi use here in North America, and needless to say very basic inside and out. Oddly enough Ford offered a long wheelbase Grand Marquis as well, but they were for Middle East consumption only.
Personally I think that Ford should have dropped the 114″ version entirely when they put the new frame under them in 2003. It just amazed me that they offered 4 different wheel bases and had 4 different sets of rear doors, door glass and roofs with the limited volume that they were selling at that point. It would have been easy to trim a couple of inches off the front end and kept the lesser Panthers to keep the same overall length and had an extra 3 or 4″ of space in the interior.
My Dad used his inherited Town Car for kid- and family-ferrying duties, and even with multiple adults in the back seat (I remember a couple of occasions where my father would be carrying four adults and I’d be in the center-front spot on the bench seat) it never really lacked room.
Four first graders lengthwise in the back seat was another popular seating arrangement—you can extend that seat belt over two laps, right kids?
Yes but a TC has an extra 3″ of wheel base, and all of that shows up in the back seat leg room.
Yes, plenty of room in the back of a TC. My Cartier is now our “going out to dinner” car for that reason.
the key to comfort in the back seat of a panther is to sit more upright and back against the seat back. no slouching! then there is plenty of room.
That has been my experience too. Chair like rear seating. Sit upright as at the dinner table and you’re fine. FYI I’m 5’11” and 160 lbs.
Whenever I rode in the back of one of these taxis, it felt exactly like riding in the back of a police car (which I try never to do). I guess it makes sense, since most of the panthers still doing taxi duty in Philadelphia are “retired” CVPI cop cars. In these parts, there are still many Panthers on the road in taxi duty, but they are slowly being replaced by Nissan Altima Hybrids, Ford Escape hybrids and Toyota Sienna minivans.
I have to agree. While part of me wants to love the Panther, I never quite felt at home driving one. I probably haven’t driven one with the upgraded suspension, but the rentals that I drove always had a floaty feel to them, like they didn’t want you to make any abrupt maneuvers. A new F150 feels more secure by comparison. At the rental lots, I would usually pick the Impala or the Cadillac DTS over the Panther.
You need to drive an ’03-’11 Panther, any flavor. When Ford redesigned the front and rear suspensions and converted them to rack and pinion with coilovers up front it completely changed the way they ride and handle.
Interesting. A good friend of mine inherited an older Crown Vic from her uncle. It surprisingly felt like my parents 95 Econoline conversion van when I drove it the first time.
No, while the 03 and up got a new front suspension, the rear was a carry over from the 98 redesign and in 2000 they dropped the rear sway bar on base models. The lack of the sway bar does make a significant difference in the way they handle. I’ve got one of each of the generations of aero Panthers in my driveway and have owned a couple of others. I’d take a base 92-97 over a base 03-up as far as handling is concerned. With HPP or stand alone RAS then yes the 03 up is an improvement.
I did drive 03 and up Panthers, but I don’t think they had any improved handling package. In both CV and Lincoln Town Car flavors. They made my 95 Thunderbird feel like a BMW in comparison 🙂
By the 03 the HPP package was really rare, mainly found in Marauders, Crown Victoria LX-Sports and Grand Marquis LS-Es. However the cars with the rear air suspension which was mainly found on Town Cars by that time at least have the small rear sway bar that makes a very surprising difference.
I had an HPP CV that got wrecked and replaced with the same year non-HPP RAS car and there was a significant difference in how they handled. However I had it up on the lift one day and low and behold the link for the rear sway bar connection was broke on one side. Fixed that and the difference in handling was almost like night and day.
Prii are popular in Chicago, and though I doubt they’re actually larger in terms of rear-seat volume the space is certainly better utilized.
You also get the novelty of riding in an aggressively-driven Prius, which can be pretty fun.
Between those taxis, sales reps and kids borrowing their parents’ car, are aggressively-driven Prii that much of a novelty anymore?
Prius and Camry hybrids are popular as cabs here $10gallon gas sees to that but diesel hyundai Sonatas abound too as do Jap vans of various models the old standby the factory cab from Ford fell out of favour against 300k km warranties on hybrid Camrys for taxi use, Toyota are definite serious about their car.
If you want to see an aggressively driven Prius, follow my mom around. I am not joking… She has a Prius, and drives it quite aggressively 🙂
I have a non-hybrid Altima, and the trunk is cavernous. Rear seats are as roomy, if not better then the CV. I was thinking that would make it a good taxi choice, but then again, I’m not sure how much trunk room the batter packs take up, as I’m not familiar with them.
I had a look at one of the few panthers in this area the other day and sorry I remain unimpressed even in extra long I cannot see the attraction
Durability. Probably the toughest car on the road, period. There isn’t any foreign brand car out there that can take abuse like a Panther. And they’re probably the cheapest and easiest cars out there to maintain, no $1000 brake job BS here like some of those foreign brands *cough BMW*…
And here it is
I’ve driven a lot of these cars in my life because I audited a rental car corporation that had a fleet of Panthers from coast to coast.
These cars are indestructible, inexpensive and a fantastic retro ride.
Last year while a Saturn of mine was getting a transmission, I rented a 2011 Grand Marquis while the Saturn was in the shop. I was seriously considering getting a Panther to replace the Saturn until that time. The Mercury reminded me of the reason I didn’t like the car – the ride. While the ride wasn’t as bad as the 1988-1992s I rolled around in, the 2011 still has a soft billowy ride that disconnected me to the rest of the world. I didn’t like it.
But the Saturn needed to be replaced and I had to keep an open mind. So, a few months ago I was shopping for a replacement when the idea of a good Crown Victoria came up by the salesman on the car lot. The price was right and there was no harm in looking and I am glad I did.
Turns out, the Crown Victoria was the LX Sport. It was a completely different animal in how it handled as compared to the Mercury, the Town Car or the other Panthers. Within a couple of miles of racing around in it, the ride difference between these Police Interceptor-derived rides and the average Panther was illuminating. It was an epiphany.
I bought it.
Now I wonder why Ford didn’t make the better suspension found in the LX Sport or the Mercury Marauder the standard ride? I believe it is the perfect full size car ride.
So, I can’t agree with the view that the post 2003 Panther ride is not as good as the first year Panther’s. I’ve driven literally thousands of Panthers and now that I am the owner of one of the LX Sports, I am even more familiar with the differences among these cars. Based on my experience, it would have been excellent for Ford to have given all the cars post 2003 the longer wheelbase and the sports-tuned suspension they put into the LX Sport and the Marauder – if it was all possible.
Having had this retro-BOF cruiser for the past couple of months, my excitement over the car has not diminished. This is still the sweetest ride I’ve had since the Mustang or the Miata. Knowing it represents the last full size BOF American classic road car makes it even more awesome.
I finally “get it”, and am pretty happy that I have.
Well even just keeping the rear sway bar on the base models would have helped a lot. The bigger problem though was the cost cutting consolidation. Rather than keep making all the civilian and police specific bits they used many of the police specific bits, like control arm bushings, on the civilian cars and then softened up the civilian springs to compensate. That along with dropping the rear sway bar made the final cars so wallowy.
Congrats on the LX-Sport they are hard to find as they are actually even rarer than the Marauder despite being made for longer, though not as rare its Mercury clone the LS-E. There are a couple of LX-Sports on local dealers lots but both have been wrecked at least once and show the signs pretty blatantly in the pictures so I haven’t went to look at them in person.
This and other comments of yours helps me to understand why so many people bitch about the wallowy ride on a Panther. My 93 LX has always ridden quietly but fairly firmly (due to the sway bars) and is not a wallower at all. In fact, it is a MUCH better handler than my son’s low-mile 89 MGM, and I have always tended to brand the bitchers as folks who are too used to Civics. Now I know that some of the issues with no sway bars and squishy springs are at play.
I saw a Saturn last week unfortunately flat phone and no camera prevented pics it was a 2 door SR2 from memory strange looking critter but RHD which I found odd I didnt know GM tried to export them but there were at least two here as it was red with a green L/H front guard
Really late here, but GM factory-built RHD Saturns for the Japanese market (no I don’t know why). We’ve ended up with a few in our sea of used Japanese imports, there’s been a few on trademe over the past few years. I can’t imagine why the used-car importers would bring a make that didn’t exist here, so I’m guessing they were picking them up dirt cheap at the Japan auctions.
City of Chicago once mandated that city cabs should be EPA classed ‘Large Cars’ around 1997*. Thus nearly all were Crown Vics, until recent fuel price hikes. Then, Mayor Daley was all ‘cabs need to save fuel’ and allowed smaller or hybrid cars.
Now a mix of everything from Scion xB’s to Hybrid Escapes, to some old Vickys. But, also in city, after cabs are 5 years old or so, thye must be retired. So soon no more Panthers, Downtown.
*This was done after GM killed off the Caprices. Chevy puished Lumina cabs, and riders complained of small back seats. So Mayor Daley said ‘all should be roomy cars’.
BTW: Daley retired.
Daley should be tarred and feathered for what he did to Meigs Field.
Shot this on the way home today a Nissan Cedric cabbage Skyliner will know its details
Last time I sat in the back of a taxi was an old Chevrolet Caprice,whale edition. It was like sitting on a half dozen stuffed polyester velvet teddy bears. Panther body cars seem European in comparison.