MPG?

Just a wild guess ... if Pac stands for Pacifica it is like a bookshelf when it comes to aerodynamics, while the Town Car is more like a couch ...

Wir mailen uns ... Hans

If the '97 Town Car is allegedly getting 30mpg on the highway, something's wrong. I rented a Grand Marquis of that general vintage, when it was a current model year vehicle, and it did good to break

24mpg at 65mph, much less 30mpg. This was from the onboard trip computer in "Instant Fuel Economy" mode. Only way I could get it to read higher was to "Coast" rather than "Cruise".

It also was a total slug in performance. I found the traction control switch and turned it off and it would not spin the Mich Symmetrys in dirt. Adequate power in normal driving speeds, but it did have a good "run" at WOT from 75mph to 100mph (had to get away from some pesky traffic groups on the interstate before getting back to the normal cruising speed).

Just my observations . . .

C-BODY

I have a 1995 Ford T-Bird LX 4.6 v8. On a fairly flat interstate run, cruise control on, doing 60 mph the cars gets an easy 29 mpg on regular gas.

My 88 New Yorker 3.0 v6 still gets up to 32 mpg on the highway

My 2000 300M has gotten up to 27.8 mpg highway with tires inflated to 32 psi. Dropping air pressure to suggested levels results in 26.5 mpg highway.

I've been told that cars designed and built in the mid 80's and early

90's do not weigh as much as current models and this affects mpg.

The version of the 4.6 v8 in my T-Bird is rated at 205 hp. The speed limiter clicks in at 105 mph. 1500 rpm gets you 55 mph, just loafing along in 4th gear.

The engine was designed during a time when mpg was more important than perfomance. The engine seems weak by todays standard but provides reasonable highway mpg.

Newer versions of the Ford 4.6 had performance improvements, heads, intake, ignition redesigns that improved seat of the pants feel at expense of mpg.

I don't know enough about the Pacifica to comment on drivetrain, engine or weight and how that impacts mpg. Steve

Unfortunately recent cars have increased weight significantly.

For example he base Chrysler 300 is much heavier than my similar sized '95 Concord, but they do need much more metal to contain that huge gas consuming hemi engine. The more reasonable 3.5L 300 model suffers because of is monster engine brother.