my 2004 Gran Marquis

I recently lost my brother to a car accident. He lost in a head on collision with a Mercedes. I commute 66 miles every day with much of that spent on 2 land country roads so I wanted to find something that I fit in (I'm 6ft3 and not skinny) and something that would give me a fighting chance if involved in a heavy crash or hitting a bambi.

So I narrowed my search to the Crown Vic/Gran Marquis/Marauder genre of vehicles. I looked at some used cop cars but they were exactly that, used cop cars having lived hard lives. I then spoke with Tom Doan, my local Marauder nut. He had nothing but good things to say about the Vics/Gran Marquis/Marauders. He assured me that I could do anything I wanted, once I got to that Panther platform.

So after some searching (I did check here in the classifieds) I found a 2004 Gran Marquis with 32,000 miles for 12,800. It had lots of bells and whistles including a sunroof. I talked the dealership down more then a grand and drove her home.

So I now have a really nice Gran Marquis sleeper car. I'd like to start off slow and cautious and see where that goes.

So by that story, I feel I'm just inside the doorway, having a Mercury in the driveway. Now the question is how do I get to the Marauder part of the world without killing my gas mileage.

warm regards

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