General consensus of the 97+ Mark VIII?

[Katshot]

The MKVIII's are sharp cars for sure. And fast too! My son has a '95 in the white you mentioned. Very sharp car. I've always been up in the air about which version I liked better though. The older version like my son's and the one pictured above have virtually the same interior as the later version so it's really only the exterior that's different. As far as that goes, I think the earlier version is way better looking but the later version had much better lighting. I've just never been able to warm up to the front end on the later version. That big goofy-looking grille just kills it for me.

[DopeStar 156]

I never liked the VIII's. Never. My favorite Mark has got to be the VI and the VII in very close proximity. I tried to buy an 83 Mark VI with like 75,000 mi. on it and it was really nice inside, it was black with red pinstripe with red velour seats and a digital dash with the CB. Daaaaaamn that car was nice. If that used car dealer still has it I'd make him an offer. He wanted some rediculous ammount for it some two years ago when I offered my Mark VII as a potential trade. I think he wanted like $6,500 for it. It was mint, but not worth no $6,500. And when I say mint, I mean mint..................I think I'll pay him a visit today....LOL!

[Randy_W]

I knew Katshot was gonna like that Ford!

[Playdrv4me]

I have to say though, despit the fact that I think the Mark is the better car, my Continental definitely had the better interior. It had things like an optitron gauge cluster like in the Lexuses, door mounted seat controls and in later models, steering wheel controls for the radio.

I actually didnt even know til recently that the Mark was even based on the Thunderbird, I guess if I had looked at the similarity between the 80's ones it would have made sense, but I think Ford did a great job differentiating them after 92'

[davesdeville]

I like the Mark VIIIs. I'd have bought one, but I like the look and interior of the ETC more. They're RWD and have the 4.6 that can be modified easily compared to northstars so they have their plus sided. But I opted for the ETC because I'm not going to be doing any serious mods.

[Leloz]

For $3K you can't get a clean example... for $5K possibly at a auction. Two weeks ago at Manheim a extremely clean '97 with 48K brought $6300 (I bought a '98 Concours from the same dealer that day). The 4.6 tends to need costly repairs around 75K, so make sure you save room for those problems, especially if it is an auction car and you can't test the transmission. They are nice cars though, very elegant looking and a good bang for the buck.

A 750iL will run over your budget unless it is a E32.

$5K will easily get you a Northstar powered STS, Concours, or Eldorado... and they are just as nice as the Mark VIII but do lack certain features that you desire.

Goodluck!

[Blackout]

The Mark VIII is a great car for the money. Like you said you have a lot of modern day luxury car features for like next to no money. I got my 1995 Mark VIII with 93k miles on it for $4500 out the door. Interior and exterior in perfect condition. Bu watch out for the airbag suspensions. It's a cool feature to have but having to replace it when they go bad can get quite expensive. On mine I just replaced the air bag suspension and put in coil overs with a 2" drop. I don't know really too much about the 2nd gen Mark VIII's since I own a 1st gen. But I know that 2nd gen;s used OBDii while 1st gen's used OBDi so the 2nd gen's are slower then the first gen's even with a LSC equipped 2nd gen. But as for the Xenon's on the 1st gen's I will be upgrading my halogen's to the HID's for sure. The biggest pain in the a$$ about the non Xenon headlights is the housing's suck. The reflective material in them goes bad after awhile because it's not made to withstand all the hot temp's in such a small housing. Right now the my headlights are the equivalent of taping a flashlight to the hood of your car and driving around. IT SUCKS!!! BUt good luck with whatever car you choose. If you get the mark VIII then come and visit us over at MarkVIII.org or cadillacforums.com

[powerglide]

Love the Mark8, though too plasticy inside....still wuite a bargain!
Heard xenon headlights breakdown alot and expensive to fix, just some stuff I read....

Leloz makes a good point, you can pick up a nice eldo for the same money....although I would prefer a RWD myself.

Caddy over a Lincoln!

[Playdrv4me]

Yea I think the Xenon failures were primarily on the 96 models, as far as the 4.6 is concerned, I think they are good engines. I know we bought Continental with 86k on it and aside from a Tuneup at about 110k, it hasnt needed anything and is now at about 135k when I traded it in. Im relatively confident in that engine. The transmission is a different story, I know the Connie was FWD so the Mark is a whole different animal for sure.

[Stoneage_Caddy]

Originally Posted by Katshot

The MKVIII's are sharp cars for sure. And fast too! My son has a '95 in the white you mentioned. Very sharp car. I've always been up in the air about which version I liked better though. The older version like my son's and the one pictured above have virtually the same interior as the later version so it's really only the exterior that's different. As far as that goes, I think the earlier version is way better looking but the later version had much better lighting. I've just never been able to warm up to the front end on the later version. That big goofy-looking grille just kills it for me.

Im with you , the facelifted cars looked like they had a pineapple shoved up there arse ....

The first ones best exemplified the look of that car , all the lines were taught and crisp , the facelifted cars looked like Anna Nicole after the first 3 months of bingeing on macdonalds ...the lines were sorta there but she was blaoted and something wasnt quite right with her face ...

The interior was one fo the best ford ever did in the 90s

Gussied up T bird ? Pretty good roots to come from if you ask me , beatter than Fox Body ...MN12 cars were outstanding cars , only downfall is they were too heavy and expensive to build ....ford canned/cut back the idea ..MN12 had big potential , the plans alone in early 88 were for it to be used in the manner as what we know as "DEW98" today ...We had a 93 T bird ...to this day we comapre each and every car we own and drive to it ....mom has even coampred my cadillac to our old bird ...thats how good that car was as far as ride , handleing all that good stuff....

We would probably still have th ecar if it wasnt fo rthe odd electrical failures and the inherit 3.8 cylander head issues ...