Beyond the fact that these sedans are both Fords, very few characteristics are shared between the two. This very “old-school” 2000 Crown Victoria is full-size, body-on-frame, rear-wheel drive, V8-powered, and six-passenger, courtesy of its leather-covered front bench. Behind it is a 2012 Ford Focus, that with compact size, unibody construction, front-wheel drive, 4-cylinder power, and cloth bucket seats, seems to contradict the Crown Vic in every way.
While the original Crown Victoria buyer likely differed in wants, needs, and demographics from the modern Focus buyer just as much as the cars themselves, it may surprise you that the current owners of these two cars are very much alike along these lines. Each car belongs to good friends of mine, both of who are approximately 22 years of age, college students (at the time of this picture), and use these as their daily drivers to get to and from work, school, girlfriends, and other typical daily events of young twenty-something lives. Just goes to show that two very different sedans can serve an identical purpose, and that there isn’t just one stereotypical vehicle for a certain demographic.
They both have four doors and likely 16″ wheels but the commonalities end about there.
The size contrast isn’t as large as one might think, given one is full-size and the other compact.
They are front engine 😉
That is true as the car I bought every one called an “old mans car”. Now that they have driven and rode in it, they no longer say that. I am making converts one at a time!
Thanks for reminding me other people think this way too.
I’ve been told the same thing about my LeSabre.
I always just say that older people are much smarter than I am!
Old men know what makes a good car!
Hell, some people refer to my car – a 2007 Holden Calais, aka Pontiac G8 – as an old man’s car. So be it. I’m ok with that.
You could probably get a photo of the two together in blue-and-white NYPD livery…so they do overlap their Venn diagram of marketing…
To my unschooled eye, this looks like a Crown Vic LX – at least it is a civilian version with alloy wheels, not a common sight in the later years of these. Too bad you didn’t get a look inside to see if it had the console.
Personally, I would take the Vic in a heartbeat over the Focus. But then everyone here already knew that.
It is an LX, but it has a front bench. The Crown Vic belongs to my friend Billy. I’ve ridden in it several times.
No buckets in a grey CV and if it was a CV LX Sport there would be no chrome on the bottom of the tail lights and trunk lid those pieces would be the same color as the body. Also it being confirmed as a 2000 rules out the LX Sport version. The 16″ “lacy spoke” wheels and the hint of a tail pipe sticking out of the cut out on the driver’s side does mean it has the business end of the LX Sport, the HPP option. So 3.23 gears, stiffer springs and sway bars front and rear and a power steering computer tuned to give less boost.
Nothing like a good ol’ Crown Vic for comfort. They ride smooth as silk, can fit 6 people in relative comfort, handle great for a large vehicle, take bumps like they don’t exist and are reliable as hell……oh, wait – they don’t make these anymore! Hmmmmmm…….
The Crown Victoria – yes please, thats the sort of modern car I like. Just needs a deep buttoned red crushed velour interior and it would be near perfection
The Focus – blah. Its a driving appliance. Whiteware for going from A to B in. And back. And not especially enjoying the trip
As a near “life long” owner of 4 cylinder powered cars and trucks, I’ve recently been considering a Crown Victoria. These old CVs can be found dirt cheap and the difference in price between the 2 cars here, with gas currently so cheap, makes the larger car even more attractive.
There’s a slightly newer LX Sport that I pass on my walks in the area. It’s a very Marauder-like black with the 5 spoke alloys.
Windows shrink too much on modern vehicles, and belt line goes too high.
One would think that glass must be extremely expensive these days, but I suspect that rollover safety requirements are mostly to blame for the thick A pillars, high belt lines, and small windows we see on so many new cars. Some of them remind me of my 1947 Chevrolet Fleetline Aerosedan – driving that was like looking out of a cave.
Not that I’m one to question regulations…. But are rollovers in CARS really a problem enough to merit the oversized/visibility reducing pillars and high beltlines? Or is this just a sweeping mandate meant primarily for tippy SUVs, with normal cars just getting caught up in the red tape?
Even normal sedans are (or at least, seem to be) taller than they used to be.
I think it’s also done so the side airbags will work better and also to help protect the occupants better from a tall vehicle T bone. But the lack of vision is a accident avoidance problem. So cameras and lane change alarms are now needed. The thick A pillars in my Titan also force me to look around them sometimes. But at least the side windows are big.
The ’94 Ram really started the thick A-pillar trend in trucks, IIRC. Even going from a ’96 to an ’06 F-150, there were slightly narrower A-pillars (but thicker at the bottom thanks to the mirror mounts).
And at least the rear window will always be big!
I’m sure the regs are to blame for A pillar size, but I think high beltlines are just a styling thing.
The high beltlines are mostly a result of the Euro pedestrian impact standard. That mandates a crush space between the hood and what’s under it, and the beltline has to go up to follow the hood line. Then the wheels have to get bigger…
I’d take the CV, though I’ve always resented what Ford and Chevrolet did to the trim bodies of the 79 and 77 on the same platform.
The Focus ? Less room in the rear than the previous model and the notorious and unreliable Power Shift automated manual ? No thanks. Contrast that with the Chevy II featured earlier today.
Kind of reminiscent of my own driveway, with “the big car” and “the little car”. Mine is a ’97 Crown Vic LX, and my wife’s is a ’12 Kia Forte Koup.
Lots of Panther history in the family though–this CVLX is my third, also having owned an ’03 Marauder and a ’91 LTD Crown Victoria LX. My parents currently drive a ’10 Grand Marquis LS, and the ’97 Crown Vic was theirs until the Grand Marquis replaced it. Not sure what they’re going to do when the GM needs replacement, though with only 63K miles on it, it should be good for many years given their current driving habits.
If I may ask, what happened to the Marauder? Those cars are so lusted after, I’m almost better off modding a regular GM, right down to the badging! A former neighbor had one. He called it more than his like-new S-Class.
(No, I didn’t live in a ritzy neighborhood. The gentleman ran a livery company out of his modest house.)
I sold it in 2011. I had a long-ish commute and gas costs were killing me, plus it was starting to develop some small issues here and there (it was at about 115,000 miles). My wife’s Alero was giving us major problems, so I took that over and traded the Marauder on the Kia for her to drive.
Bad decision in retrospect. I really should have found a way to keep it! But we all have the one that we foolishly let get away…that one is mine. Not sure what became of it, I never saw it for sale on the dealer lot where I traded it, so it may have gone somewhere else in the Hendrick empire, or to auction. Or maybe they had a buyer who was waiting for a Marauder to appear. Who knows?
Another vote here for the Crown Victoria.
I’ve driven both and, although I’d take some of the newer features from the Focus, I’d go with the Lady Victoria any day.
I’d take the CV as well, but if I was in the market for a new-to-me Panther, I figure you just as well find a Lincoln Town Car.
I’ve thought about a Focus (albeit in hatchback form, and definitely with a stick). That being said, if I were in college now with what it costs, the last thing I’d want is even more consumer debt in the form of a car payment!
Crown Vic’s the opposite of my slow-car-fast tastes, I drive on well-traveled two-lanes a lot and puttering along at 1-2 mph under the speed limit in a car capable of so much more, because the driver ahead of me still isn’t 100% sure I’m not a cop would be an exercise in blood-pressure-skyrocketing frustration.
Vic all the way. more space, more comfort, more reliability, and much more room to work on anything if it does break. cheaper to purchase, too. the focus only wins on MPG and if you have to park in very tight spaces. looks are personal preference, but for me, Vic no contest.
It seems that more than 50% of the Ford Crown Victorias produced from 1992-2011 ended up being cop cars and taxicabs. Just like the Dodge Diplomat and Plymouth Gran Fury was in the 1980s. Most Ford loyalists who wanted a RWD full-size car went for the Mercury Grand Marquis. In fact from 2008-2011, the Crown Vic was reserved for fleet sales (mostly cop cars). And they held up quite well. Even today, I still see a lot of Crown Vic Police Interceptor cop cars from 5-10 years old still on patrol.
If it weren’t for cops and cabbies, the Panther probably would’ve been discontinued <5 years after the RWD GM B/C bodies.
While it may seem that way since those vehicles are usually on the road 24/7 that is not the truth. Fact is unless they operate in a local that requires new cabs the taxi operators just ran the retired police cars. Even in NYC where there is a maximum age for cars it was still common for them to use retired cop cars or ex rental fleet cars. Why spend $25K for a new car when you can pick up a ex-police car for $5-6K (when they were both the choice of taxis and police cars) or a rental car for $15K. In either case you end up with a car that is finally fully broken in (police car) or not even broken in (rental car) that will go another 200K-300K with only tires, brakes and an oil change every year or two.
Once the Crown Vic was no longer available the police deptartments started keeping them much longer. A number of them actually had the cars rebuilt once either in house or by one of the companies that just rebuild P71s. Spending $18-$20K on rebuilding, repainting and relivering them still saved them money vs spending $22K for a Charger or $27K for a Tahoe and they had a car that they did not need to buy all new equipment for and cost less to operate for fuel, maintenance, repairs and would be good to go for longer than a Charger. Tahoes do seem to last as many of those don’t seem to be retired until they are nearing 200K.
It is true that the retail buyers mostly switched to GMs as they were pretty much the same price as a retail LX which is why the discontinued that version and only offered the P71, fleet LX, taxi and GCC spec cars from 2008-2012. Yes 2012 as there was a run of GCC cars produced in the first two weeks of Septemeber 2011 that were labeled as 2012s.
I don’t dislike the Crown Vic and I don’t particularly love the Focus, but I think I would take the Focus: fun-to-drive for a compact, more fuel efficient, easier to park, nicer quality interior (if not particularly nice-looking with that goofy cell-phone center stack).
I can appreciate the Crown Vic’s low repair costs, reliability, space and looks, but I’ve driven a Vic before and I didn’t much care for it (2007 rental). I think when it comes to big RWD sedans, I either want it to be plush and loaded to the gills or sporty like my old BA Falcon.
I bought a ’95 Grand Marquis new, put over 130K trouble free miles on it before the “keeper of the check book” wanted a smaller car. It was (so far) the best long distance road trip car I have ever owned.
I have a last generation Lincoln Town Car now, my third Town Car.
My Hondas and Tie-oddas were for dependable (if somewhat bland & boring) daily transportation cars; my big Panthers were “keepers”.
I’ll take the Focus make mine turbo diesel with DSG thanx, if I want a RWD Ford with a V8 truck motor I’ll buy a Falcon.
I’d have the Crown Victoria personally.
But, given a choice, I’d rather just stick with my LeSabre. I’d have to check stats to be sure, but IIRC, the Buick actually had more interior space than the Crown Victoria did.
Other than that, it’s hard for me to knock the Crown Victorias. They were very good cars.
Even after downsizing in ’86, the LeSabre still had more space than the Ford (especially in the back seat) because of the unibody FWD construction.
That’s what I thought I read. When I was looking for my car (I ended up with the LeSabre), I passed on a 1995 New Yorker. The LH cars were really space-efficient.
But, for sheer simplicity, the Panthers were a good choice- especially after the discontinuation of the Caprice/Roadmaster.
I can’t say I’m that attracted to either but I’ll pick the Vic if you twist my arm. I never liked the 98 restyle.
I was just at a memorial service this past Sunday, for a close friend of mine. I drove my ’83 Ford Ranger, 4X4 longbed with swapped in 302/5.0L and C4 trans. Currie 9 inch rear axle with disc brakes.I built the truck myself back in 1991. Had one of the younger family members ask me why are you driving THAT??? Some of today’s younger generation may never have a clue.
I`m old school, so I`ll take a Crown Vic or Grand Marquis over a Focus anyday. The king of the retirement community cars, and for good reasons.Big, comfortable, six seaters, decent gas mileage for a large car and parts easily obtainable.
A question from Europe: how does the Crown Vic compare to the last generation Chevy Caprice (’91-’96)?
In terms of riding comfort, handling, and reliability/ease of maintenance?
The Crown Vic is comfortable, quiet and looks great. The Forcus is noisy, harsh riding and doesn’t look all that great.
No, I didn’t mean comparison with the Focus – I’m wondering about comparison with the Crown Vics most direct rival, the Chevrolet Caprice (1991-96)!!
I live in Europe myself, but I’ve not driven the 91-96 Caprice. Only the generation before. But the older Caprices is maybe a little less soft than the Crown Vics.
Agree! But I am slightly biased.
Nice! 🙂
I’ve driven the Focus – in various iterations – as rentals and the 2015 version is a excellent machine: agile, responsive and well appointed. Never drove a CV but was shuttled by quite a few via cab rides in Chicago and NYC which were always comfortable experiences. As far as piloting either car, my preference is with the Focus.
I just did a 3 hour trip in my 2005 Grand Marquis today. Pouring rain the whole time. I love the full size comfort! 171,500 miles and strong as day one. I keep on top of the maintenance and keep a good set of Michelin’s on it. I get a consistent 22 mpg and I am not afraid to drive the hell out of it.
I’ve had my ’03 CV Sport for two years and it is still the most enjoyable car I’ve owned. Don’t confuse these cars for regular CV – they are more like Interceptors and Marauders. I still get strangers, (usually really young guys), wanting to know if I would sell it.
My little kids love the big back seat, the stereo and the quiet speed and ride.
My mom owns the Focus, as seen in this photo. She loves small cars. It is roomy and she loves all the options, the navigation system, the modern computer stuff, the customized streaming photos, changing the colors of the interior lighting, all that stuff. She drove big floating cars while raising kids and when it came to her own ride, always wanted something small and sporty.
Both cars have been flawless.
My two cents worth- a Crown Vic is never good news. It’s
-(Forgive me older folks) An octogenarian plowing through the tomato table at a farmer’s market.
-The police.
-A city county or state public servant ready to pour Karo syrup into your life’s clockwork.
-A crazy person police wannabe in a retired CV.
-Mulder and Scully hunting a monster of some sort, in your back yard.
-Men in Black chasing aliens through your town.
Please take this in the spirit in which it was intended. 🙂
I bet that the Victoria has more room inside. I have driven both, liked both, but the Vic is bigger where it counts and will probably last a lot more miles, assuming equal maintenance.
If these words could have save Plymouth, Mercury, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, etc…