2003 Mercury Marauder: the name returns

The Marauder name returned for 2003 on a full-size sedan, powered by a 302-hp 4.6-liter DOHC V8. Wikipedia records 7,838 Marauder sales for 2003 and 11,052 across the entire two-year run, against an initial company forecast of 18,000 cars a year, a shortfall this record's own overview carries without further explanation for why demand fell so far short of that early projection. The car was built at St. Thomas, Ontario, from May 2002, and this record's own key facts note that the production engine itself was engineered by Roush, a detail drawn directly from the brochure's own footnote rather than from a separate performance-tuner source.¹

The 7,838 figure is documented as a sales count rather than a build count, and this record's own production note flags that the underlying table does not state whether it runs on a calendar-year or model-year basis, so this record records it as calendar-year pending further review rather than asserting a basis the source itself does not confirm. An unpublished lead notes a separate owner-forum compilation giving a 7,839 build total with its own color split, a figure later repeated by Curbside Classic without citing any underlying record of its own; this record does not adopt that figure in place of the sourced sales count. Separately, this record's own paint note flags an internal tension in the sources: Wikipedia's own color-specific sales figures sum to exactly 7,838, matching the sales total, but Wikipedia itself cites no record for that particular three-way split, while the brochure printed for the car's launch lists Black Clearcoat as the only exterior color offered at all, apparently before the other two colors became available.¹

Two engine entries describe what is functionally the same 4.6-liter DOHC 32-valve V8 from two different sources: Wikipedia gives it as 281 cu in, rated 302 hp on an unstated ratings basis, while the brochure's own selected specifications describe the same aluminum-block-and-heads V8 with sequential fuel injection at 302 hp at 5,750 rpm and 318 lb-ft at 4,300 rpm under the SAE net standard, a considerably more detailed rating than Wikipedia's bare horsepower figure. The 4R70W electronically controlled heavy-duty four-speed automatic overdrive, with an 11.25-inch high-stall torque converter, is documented as the only transmission offered, confirmed independently by both the brochure and Wikipedia's own chassis section.¹

MotorWeek gives a base price of $34,495 and an as-tested price of $35,045 once fully equipped, a roughly $550 gap that this record's own price notes describe without stating exactly which options accounted for the difference. No further options beyond full standard equipment are documented in this record for the year, and no separate options list or order guide was found to itemize what that $550 actually bought on MotorWeek's own test car.²

Three exterior colors carry their own production counts: 7,093 Black Clearcoat cars, 417 Silver Birch, and 328 Dark Pearl Blue, summing exactly to the 7,838 sales total already described. Two interior colors are documented, a Dark Charcoal leather-trimmed interior and a Light Flint leather-trimmed interior that the brochure's own footnote states became available in fall 2002, after the car's initial launch.¹

Specification detail is extensive: a 114.7-inch wheelbase, 212.0-inch overall length, 84.9-inch width including mirrors, a 19.0-gallon fuel tank, standard BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDWS tires sized P235/50R18 front and P245/55R18 rear, 20.6 cu ft of cargo volume, and an EPA estimate of 17 city and 23 highway mpg, alongside a standard 3.55:1 limited-slip rear axle. This record's own specification note flags a height figure of 58.9 in as printed in the 2003 brochure specifically, while adding that the 2004 brochure and Wikipedia both instead give 56.8 in for the same measurement, a discrepancy this record carries as the 2003 source's own stated figure rather than silently substituting the other sources' number.¹