2004 Ford Crown Victoria Review (continued)
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Walkaround

It requires a conservative taste in automobiles to appreciate the Ford Crown Victoria's appearance and a very critical taste to dislike it. The Crown Vic is big, mostly bland but also oddly admirable in its haughty restraint. From a distance, its considerable rear overhang marks it as a sedan of the past, but as you approach, you realize that its basic shape is still a pleasant thing, and Ford has kept it that way with just the right nips and tucks.

Crown Vic's formal looks suggest dignified duties: going to work and back, shopping excursions, or maybe an outing to the theater on Saturday night with another couple. The long hood says power and direction; the traditional chrome-ringed grille denotes an elevated station in life. There's more than a wink of Lincoln influence in its long, liquid flanks, and its thick vertical C-pillars. Fortunately, bright work has been applied sparingly, letting you see the Crown Victoria's true shape, rather than its ornamentation.

The LX Sport is distinguished by more aggressive wheels, tires, and monochrome trim. Mechanically, the Sport model includes dual exhaust, a high-performance torque converter, firmer springs, stiffer anti-roll bars, a standard air spring rear suspension, a lower rear axle ratio for quicker acceleration, and special 17-inch wheels and tires.

Interior Features

Entering the Ford Crown Vic is a snap: the doors present a yawning access to the driver's seat, which is wide, located at an easy slide-in height, and nearly devoid of lateral bolstering to impede your inward progress.

Once seated, drop your left hand to the side of the driver's seat bottom and you'll feel the control for the lumbar support. Perched on the door panel is the easy-to-use controller icon for the remainder of the seat's eight-way adjustability. Still not comfy? Near your left knee on the dash is a switch to electrically reposition the accelerator and brake pedals ($120 on base model, standard otherwise). Not only is this adjustment convenient, but it's a significant safety factor, moving shorter drivers away from the steering wheel's airbag.

Before you is an array of distinguished, readable gauges, including an atypical but welcome oil temperature gauge. In the center of the dash (a long arm's-reach away) are the simple-to-use controls for the sound system, heating and air conditioning. (The LX Premier and LX Sport feature handy steering-wheel mounted buttons to operate these remotely.) The dash is broad and minimally sculpted, with periodic blisters and brows to emphasize different areas, and a thin streak of imitation wood across the bottom for visual relief.

Crown Victoria models can be configured to seat five or six occupants. The five-passenger LX Sport features two front bucket seats with a floor-mounted shifter and center armrest/storage bin nested between them. The standard six-seat models employ a split front bench seat with an old-fashioned column shifter. The six-seat configuration offers compelling versatility, but that front center seat is not attractive given its hard bottom cushion, next-to-no legroom (there's a big transmission hump there), and a lap belt instead of a shoulder belt (no upper body retention). Any takers? Only little people are likely to volunteer" to sit there.

The rear seats, on the other hand, offer lots of elbow-stretching room, plenty of headroom, but little knee room. The rear center seat is a better deal than the front center seat, with tolerable legroom (straddling your feet around the smaller driveshaft tunnel), a softer seat cushion and a proper shoulder belt.

There are several reasons why live-axle rear suspensions have fallen out of favor in automobiles, and one is the useful room they subtract from the cabin and the trunk. In the Crown Vic's case, one casualty is that rear knee room we mentioned. Another is its trunk configuration. It may sound silly to complain, when the Crown Victoria leads its class in trunk capacity; but clearly the trunk could be both larger and longer if the Crown Vic enjoyed a modern, space-efficient independent rear suspension.

Outward vision is a mixed bag. The big windows provide a panoramic view. But the mirrors are much too small, particularly the rear-view mirror, which has to be adjusted just-so to do the job. The driver's dual sun visors can be arranged to effectively defeat late-afternoon glare.

Safety is enhanced by a load sensor in the outboard front passenger seat. If it detects an occupant, it activates a chime to remind that person to buckle up; if no occupant is detected, it de-activates the passenger-side airbag. It's all part of what Ford calls its Personal Safety System, which also provides dual-rate airbag deployment depending on driver-seat position and vehicle speed, plus pre-tensioning and energy-managing belts. ABS (with panic brake assist) is standard. Also standard are rear LATCH-system child seat anchors. As mentioned, side-impact air bags ($300) are optional. If this sounds like an impressive complement of safety equipment, it's because it is."