AmericanArchetype; Mercury Marauder brings a retro idea to the 21st century-sort of.(Brief Article)

If you don't already get it, nothing we say will make you understand.

The Mercury Marauder draws its inspiration from an old-school construct, one that broadly dictates V8 power and rear-wheel drive in a full-size car. Think muscle car on a large scale, or muscle sedan, if you will. It is an emotional antithesis to today's high-revving, front-drive pocket rocket.

There are subtleties to this formula. It must be American-bred, steel and rubber and glass forged in a factory powered by Rust-Belt blood, sweat and tears. Cars from Stuttgart, Munich or Tokyo cannot qualify.

Power must be plenty, too; sound produced under power must have a palpable grunt. Five, even six, adults should fit comfortably within its four doors: They need not be swathed in the trappings of today's standard luxury-high-tech materials, electronic gadgetry, sophisticated cockpit design-but braced in a simple, practical, understated cabin with a hint of the sinister oozing from its seams. Given that, the car's identity should remain shrouded-clearly from those who don't get it-in the guise of another grandfatherly full-sized car. The smallest giveaways are allowed: monochrome paint, big wheels, ever slight trim mods, and oversized pipes tucked under its rear bumper.

That's the idea, anyway. And it is how every hot rod four-door 409, Fury and Torino of the original era appeared. How Marauder stacks up against those ideals is something else.

The Marauder gets its motivation from an all-aluminum 4.6-liter dohc V8 pumping out 300 horsepower at 5750 rpm and 310 lb-ft of torque at 4250 rpm. While those aren't numbers to sneeze at, consider that the top previous-generation Marauder, from 1969 to 1970, had a big-block 429-cid engine turning out 360 horses. Consider also that the new car's 300 horsepower must move 4165 pounds of body-on-frame heft. The old car weighed about the same, though options could push it to 4500 pounds.

The new Marauder moves out, no doubt. But relatively high peak numbers combined with weight means getting tires to chirp-let alone scream-off the line requires more than just stomping the gas pedal. Only if you brake torque the engine can you break its rear tires loose; once off the line the Marauder quickly scoots down the road. We'll have to wait to fully track-test the Marauder to see just how quickly, though Mercury thinks it'll do just under seven seconds to 60 mph and turn in a high-14-seconds in the quarter-mile.