I have a 98 Grand Marquis. I noticed that when you use "drive 2" on the gear s*it selector, the car starts out in second gear, and there is less torque to the rear wheels. This seems to work good for me when there are icy roads.
I had a 1965 Ford Galaxy that had the same type of arrangement with the transmission. Is this a patented thing with Ford? I have had GM cars and Chrysler and those cars had different speeds in the lower gears.
It is the way Ford designs them for the exact situation you decsribe - to reduce breakaway torque. Should you want more breakaway torque, you can manually select "1" and then shift to "2" or "D2" whichever yours has.
It is one of my favorite things on Fords. They quit it for a while, my '84 'Bird and the '93 Cougar (both AOD) don't have it. I wouldn't have gotten out of my drive without it on my '95 Crown Vic this winter, tho. I guess the other guys don't think it is worth it (and it might not be on a FWD car). Since Ford never stopped making RWD, maybe this is part of why.
Paul
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