Mercury Grand Marquis

Which Mercury Grand Marquis years should you avoid?

Going by 3,708 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Mercury Grand Marquis years to avoid are 2005, 2003, 2004 and 1997.

• 2005488 complaints, 3.1× a typical Grand Marquis year, most often about the headlights.
• 2003362 complaints, 2.3× a typical Grand Marquis year, most often about the headlights.
• 2004348 complaints, 2.2× a typical Grand Marquis year, most often about the headlights.
• 1997316 complaints, 2.0× a typical Grand Marquis year, most often about the engine.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →