Mercury Marauder
LOS ANGELES--Mercury was pulling all sorts of tricks from their sleeves today at the Los Angeles Auto Show, showcasing performance in an atypical manner for this stoic marque. The big news, and we do mean big, was Mercury's interpretation of the full-size muscle car. Using the best-selling car in Florida as a starting point, this Grand Marquis-derived sport sedan would undoubtedly send a shudder of disbelief through most buyers of Lincoln-Mercury's full-size sedans. Although it may still look like a golf-course cruiser, the Mercury Marauder is anything but.
Mercury retains their ubiquitous 4.6-liter V8 engine as the heart and soul of the Marauder, but force feeds it energy-inducing oxygen through a K&N air filter and Ford SVO supercharger. The Marauder also gets a dual 2.25-inch exhaust, which exit through polished three-inch tips, reducing back pressure at the rear of the car. The resulting 300 horsepower would be enough to make most drivers forget that the Marauder began life as a Marquis.
The Marauder is about more than raw power, however. Mercury improved the car's handling by adding Edelbrock Performance IAS shocks, bigger sway bars, Enkei SST-2 alloy wheels, and Pirelli P-Zero performance tires. The improved motion control is designed to give the car sportier handling, while the big tires should improve the Marauder's ability to stay planted to the road.
Interior enhancements include sporty gauge faces, a floor-mounted gear selector and leather sport seats.
Mercury officials likened the Marauder to the chopped and shaved Merc coupes of the early '50s. We think the Marauder is more similar to the dearly departed Chevrolet Impala SS, the last true full-size sport sedan sold in the United States. Frankly, we don't care who is right; we would just like to see a car like this back on the market.
LOS ANGELES--Mercury was pulling all sorts of tricks from their sleeves today at the Los Angeles Auto Show, showcasing performance in an atypical manner for this stoic marque. The big news, and we do mean big, was Mercury's interpretation of the full-size muscle car. Using the best-selling car in Florida as a starting point, this Grand Marquis-derived sport sedan would undoubtedly send a shudder of disbelief through most buyers of Lincoln-Mercury's full-size sedans. Although it may still look like a golf-course cruiser, the Mercury Marauder is anything but.
Mercury retains their ubiquitous 4.6-liter V8 engine as the heart and soul of the Marauder, but force feeds it energy-inducing oxygen through a K&N air filter and Ford SVO supercharger. The Marauder also gets a dual 2.25-inch exhaust, which exit through polished three-inch tips, reducing back pressure at the rear of the car. The resulting 300 horsepower would be enough to make most drivers forget that the Marauder began life as a Marquis.
The Marauder is about more than raw power, however. Mercury improved the car's handling by adding Edelbrock Performance IAS shocks, bigger sway bars, Enkei SST-2 alloy wheels, and Pirelli P-Zero performance tires. The improved motion control is designed to give the car sportier handling, while the big tires should improve the Marauder's ability to stay planted to the road.
Interior enhancements include sporty gauge faces, a floor-mounted gear selector and leather sport seats.
Mercury officials likened the Marauder to the chopped and shaved Merc coupes of the early '50s. We think the Marauder is more similar to the dearly departed Chevrolet Impala SS, the last true full-size sport sedan sold in the United States. Frankly, we don't care who is right; we would just like to see a car like this back on the market.
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ford_flexer says:
12:28 PM, 07/20/2011
AWESOME CAR