Ford Panthers are Cool, pt.2

So, I gushed a bit in my last blog about the Panther cars. Here’s a description of my time behind the wheel of one.

Unfortunately, the lack of power is palpable. You get the sense as you roll deeper and deeper into the throttle that the car should be accelerating faster than it is. Granted, a 2008 Grand Marquis is only rated at 225 hp, but it feels like the ECM is keeping a tight grip on performance, metering it out at a very misery rate. Couple that with the transmission’s annoying penchant for performing upshifts as early as possible at any throttle position other than wide open, and there are few thrills to be had in a straight line.  

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But, the car handles a winding road with a surprising agility that belies it’s sofa-on-wheels, luxo-barge persona. It actually handles quite well- better than you’d think for a large car. It’s true that the car is softly sprung, but the shocks do a good job of canceling a lot of the floaty feeling. The brakes are a lot better expected, too. Where I had anticipated fade and smoldering brake pads, I was instead rewarded with progressive fade-free stops as I attempted to hustle the car through a mountain road.

The place the car truly shines is on the highway. The thing is planted, solid, and stable at speed and the miles roll by effortlessly and drama-free.

You can tell the influence the law-enforcement community has had on the evolving of this chassis. Both the ’98 and ’03 suspension redesigns were a direct result of addressing problems cited by police department s around the country who need a car that is tough enough to jump curbs, haul a ton of gear (and a perp or two), chase down scofflaws, and idle for hours on the side of the road. They really are better than the sum of their parts.

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In my opinion, the Panther platform is an excellent chassis that has been let down both by Ford and by the marketplace. Full-sized cars fell out of favor with the car-buying public at least a decade ago, and, with the exception of the ’03-’04 Marauder, Ford has let the Panther cars rot on the vine, marketing them as though they were frumpy leisure suits. With a little more power and a more aggressive engine and transmission tune, these could be serious sports sedans.   Why on earth trucks and SUV’s became so popular is beyond me. It proves that style and image factors much more heavily on peoples’ buying decisions.