Should ITrade My Rx8 for a Panther?

So I have the chance to buy a '98 Grand Marquis with 76,000 granny fresh miles on it for the paltry sum of $700. It's not perfect cosmetically but the interior is decent. It has leather, single exhaust, and an open rear. It's forest green with a beige gut.

IF I get this car I will trade my 2005 Rx8 six speed Grand Touring with nav. It has 40,000 miles on it.

Why would I do this? I'm bored. I want to build a garage and need liquid assets. I will get what I paid for the Rex 15 months and 12,000 miles ago.

Questions...

 A. Should I do this, and why, why not?

 B. Where do I go to get go fast suspension parts and nicer wheels/tires for this thing? The Googles only turn up donk sites with lambo door conversions.

Cut and pasted out so we can all read it:

So I have the chance to buy a '98 Grand Marquis with 76,000 granny fresh miles on it for the paltry sum of $700. It's not perfect cosmetically but the interior is decent. It has leather, single exhaust, and an open rear. It's forest green with a beige gut.

IF I get this car I will trade my 2005 Rx8 six speed Grand Touring with nav. It has 40,000 miles on it.

Why would I do this? I'm bored. I want to build a garage and need liquid assets. I will get what I paid for the Rex 15 months and 12,000 miles ago.

Questions...

A. Should I do this, and why, why not?

B. Where do I go to get go fast suspension parts and nicer wheels/tires for this thing? The Googles only turn up donk sites with lambo door conversions.

Thanks Dexter. It shows up fine on my computer but I guess not for everyone.

A garage is way better than any car as you can use it to build more cars!

So what I'm confuzzed by is what you're trading the 8 for, because it's obviously not the $700 Panther.

In reply to ReverendDexter: I work at a dealership which doesn't help with my auto ADD. I would trade the Rex against the Mercury and the dealership would give me a check back for the excess equity.

Then you want to know about all kinds of parts to put on the Merc. Isn't that counter productive to what you are trying to accomplish?

NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE

Is this a serious question? Why the heck would you trade a perfectly good sports car for a Mercury Grand Marquis?!

If it's only $700, just buy the Merc outright. Hell, you could put that thing on a credit card.

If you are bored with the 8... do it. Trade it in, get the Mercury for a paltry sum.. and sink the rest into a garage and a cheap Miata

Cash is good and if a car is just a car to you, then do it

In reply to bravenrace:

Well, in a word, yes... BUT... That part of my question was more musing than anything else. This will be my DD so I'll probably leave it stock anyway. I figured if there was a cheap way to parts bin mod it, this would be the place to ask.

In reply to Sky_Render:

In this context, it's not a sports car but a daily driver. I've got plenty of fun, fast, cool cars, some of which haven't even gotten to my reader's rides page. ( note to self to get on that) I should mention that there's a note on the Rex too. All-in-all if I do this deal I'll walk away with +/- $6k and no more payments.

for $700 i don't know how you resist?

if nothing else it can pull your fun cars when they need it. Plus, on days you want to get somewhere with an absolute minimum amount of physical effort, you know there's a marquis waiting to take you there.

hrdlydangerous wrote: All-in-all if I do this deal I'll walk away with +/- $6k and no more payments.

100% do it. If you can go from payments to no and cash make it happen. Assuming this isn't a turdball need

As someone who is about to buy a Town Car, I say HELL YES!

Mustang limited slip, some nice Maurader suspension bits and a good set of "true duals" should make it pretty fun!

There is nothing like Torque. Especially coming from a Rotard.

I you are not going to keep the RX8 forever then getting rid of it now seems like as good a time as any. The fact that you can get rid of it for same money is great and since you can get into a bargain ride with no lag time in between, then better.
If you really find you do not like the Maquis then I am sure you can get out of it at any time for more than the $700 you have into it. I bet you can get a least a year or more of "free car" out of it.

hrdlydangerous wrote: In reply to Sky_Render: In this context, it's not a sports car but a daily driver. I've got plenty of fun, fast, cool cars, some of which haven't even gotten to my reader's rides page. ( note to self to get on that) I should mention that there's a note on the Rex too. All-in-all if I do this deal I'll walk away with +/- $6k and no more payments.

Oh, well if you already have other sports cars and want to get rid of the payments on the RX-8, then this sounds like a pretty great deal.

Sky_Render wrote: Is this a serious question? Why the heck would you trade a perfectly good sports car for a Mercury Grand Marquis?! If it's only $700, just buy the Merc outright. Hell, you could put that thing on a credit card.

This.

Scary thing was, when you wrote "Panther" I thought of this: We actually had one.

A Gran Marquis is a turd. You can slap a suspension onto it, but it will still be a large turd. If you take some money for a garage and PROMISE that you will buy a Miata, we might let you do it.

hrdlydangerous wrote: In reply to bravenrace: Well, in a word, yes... BUT... That part of my question was more musing than anything else. This will be my DD so I'll probably leave it stock anyway. I figured if there was a cheap way to parts bin mod it, this would be the place to ask.

Well, that's different. I'd say if the car looks good to you, meets your needs, and allows you to build a garage, then go for it. Getting 12k miles for free in an RX-8 is a pretty good bonus!

Sky_Render wrote: Is this a serious question? Why the heck would you trade a perfectly good sports car for a Mercury Grand Marquis?! If it's only $700, just buy the Merc outright. Hell, you could put that thing on a credit card.

Well put and exactly right!! Those are the kind of cars I grew up with and couldn't wait to get away from. My Dad always had full size Chrysler products and not the good ones with big blocks but Fury wagons with 318s. It couldn't even do a burn out, believe me I tried! When I got my first "sports car" if you can even call it that (an early Jetta) it was like "OMG it's got a tach, a manual, it stops, it handles, it's fun to drive" all things by the way a Mercury Grand Marquis is/does not. To each his own but an RX8 for a MGM....I think I just threw up a little.

Of course this is just my opinion and may or may not have anything to do with your reality.

they serve completely different purposes. they both serve that purpose very well.

he already said he has other sports cars. i don't see what the big deal is.

belteshazzar wrote: they serve completely different purposes. they both serve that purpose very well. he already said he has other sports cars. i don't see what the big deal is.

No big deal. We are just on a forum expressing our opinions. There is no right or wrong.

In reply to pinchvalve:

Don't worry. I've already owned three Miatas including a MazdaSpeed. My next one WILL include LS power.

Even though it's a large turd it does have a V8 and rear drive. It probably gets the same fuel economy as the Rex and I don't have to carry full coverage insurance.

I'll have to find a P71 in the junk yard for springs and sways because my only beef with driving this car is the ocean liner ride quality.