The Morning Call and Mcall.com's view

The full-size, six-passenger, Ford LTD Crown Victoria has achieved new popularity in the past year. In fact, sales on this car have been so good that Ford opened another plant in Canada (in addition to the two plants that were in production) to build them.

Not bad for a car that was to be replaced in the 1983 model year with by mid-sized vehicle. A stable supply of fuel is usually given as the reason for the resurgence of the big car but that is somewhat of a simplification. The most likely reason is that the big car of today is not the big car of yesterday and more consumers are discovering this.

Today’s LTD Crown Victoria (the Crown Vic tag is to distinguish it from Ford’s mid-size LTD, the car that was to replace it two years ago) offers as much passenger room as the full-sized Fords of the oil crisis days (there always seemed to be some sort of crisis in the 1970s and early 1880s) but is much more fuel efficient. Gone are the monster-sized V-8s. They have been replaced by smaller engines, advanced electronics and fuel-saving transmissions. The Crown Vic is still the conventional front-engine/rear drive car which, itself, is beginning to be somewhat in the minority in an age of front-wheel drive cars. But this type of car has not increased in price as much as the newer designs, and price certainly is always a big consideration when it comes to buying a car.

To get an idea of the popularity of the Crown Vic, an Allentown Ford dealer noted that his sales of the car had increased 55 percent more last year. Although the whole auto industry is up 25-30 percent this year (all makes and all cars) this is still an impressive gain. As of now there are no plans to discontinue the car. Ford will keep building them as long as there is a demand. So, it is not one of these things that if you don’t buy it now, you won’t find it later. What would happen if there is another big oil crisis, however, is another story.

The test car was a particularly handsome-looking car with its midnight blue metallic paint, padded vinyl roof and top-of-the-line interior. At a fast glance it could easily be mistaken for a Lincoln Town Car. Even if you glanced a little slower, you would still know it is a luxury car. It is, of course, a good-sized car and this you could check for yourself by glancing at the dimensions: Wheelbase, 114.3 inches; overall length, 211 inches; width, 77.5 inches; height, 55.3 inches, and curb weight, 3,748 pounds. The trunk measures 22.4 cubic feet which makes it the largest in its class and all the Crown Vic’s six passenger will have room for their collective legs. In fact, the minimum leg room in the back seat is 40.7inches. The driver has good room up front – maximum leg room is 41.2 inches – but the seating is just a little different than most cars. When first entering the Crown Vic (even with the seat extended fully back) it looks a bit cramped as the se at is closer to the dash than in other cars (with the exception of Ford products). The driver sits in a more upright position and doesn’t have to stretch his/her legs out which is the reason for all that back seat leg room.

The Crown Vic with all of its power equipment – brakes, steering, four- speed overdrive transmission – was an easy car to drive. Even drivers of smaller cars had no problem with it. The size, at first, may be a little intimidating (to small car drivers) but it won’t present any problems. There are three things, however, that you have to know fuel door release and the location of the horn button. Actually, there really is no release for the emergency brake which could drive a person up the wall looking for one. There’s an automatic release – just put the transmission selector in drive and it releases. It will not release in reverse but if you put it in drive and then back into reverse, everything works out. Like some other Ford products, he fuel lid release is hidden. It is not as hidden as some others but you still have to look for it. Since it obviously is hidden for a reason, let’s keep it a secret. The last item is the location of the horn button. It is activated by pushing in the turn signal stalk which is a bit difficult to get used to.

With its long wheelbase, the Crown Vic has a very comfortable ride. Even though the test car had the optional heavy-duty trailer towing package, it wasn’t that noticeable. If anything, the heavier springing improved the handling. The test car was by no means a sports car but it cornered fairly flat for a luxury-type car. The basic suspension features coil springs and stabilizer bar up front and coil spring, four-bar link in the rear.

Ford’s tried and true 302 V-8 (5.0 liter) is the standard engine for the Crown Vic. It comes in all kinds of versions, from a bit wild in the Mustang GT to somewhat mild in the large passenger cars. The Crown Vic’s version features throttle body electronic fuel injection and is rated at 134 horsepower at 3,600 rpm and 232 foot pounds of torque at 1,600 rpm which isn’t bad power. The test car, however, was a little quicker off the line than the standard Crown Vic because of its trailer towing package. How, you may well ask, is this so? The towing package provides for a lower axle ratio – 3.55:1 compared to 3.08:1 – meaning more power is delivered to the rear wheels which was quickly obvious on the test car since it didn’t take too much accelerator pressure to squeal the tires.

The extra power cost a little bit in gasoline but not that much because of the four-speed automatic overdrive transmission automatically shifts into overdrive fourth when the car reaches about 45 miles per hour. In overdrive, engine speed is reduced about one-third which, of course, means fuel economy should be better. While the test car’s lower axle ration and overdrive transmission didn’t quite even themselves out, things weren’t that bad. Or, let’s say, they could be worse.

The test car averaged 12 miles per gallon in town and 19 mpg over Lehigh Valley highways. The EPA rating for the Crown Vic (with the standard 3.08:1 axle ratio) is 17 mpg city/27 mpg highway.

Base price for the LTD Crown Victoria four-door is $10,943 including a nice level of trim and appointments. The total price on the test car, which included all kinds of options and a destination charge of $480, came to $16,159. A goodly sum but not really outrageous for a full-sized luxury car, which with some $5,000 of options, the test car could certainly qualify as. Some of the higher priced options included luxury group interior, $1,034; air conditioning, $743; dual control power seats, $454; cast aluminum wheels, $390; towing package, $302; tripometer computer, $215; speed control, $176; AM/FM stereo with cassette, $310, and premium sound system, $179.