Input on Lincoln LS

[dodge man]

I'm still looking for a vehicle for my daughter and I've focused on a couple Lincoln LS's. One is a 2002 with 97000 miles on it. I haven't seen it yet, they are asking $7200. The other one is owned by a co-worker and is a 2004 and has 85000 miles on it. I drove it today, it drives good, but it's pretty dirty inside, but would clean up.

Any input on the overall quality of these vehicles? I have always thought they were good looking and was impressed with the power out of
a small V8.

 

[Peacock]

Lots of electrical gremlins. Think Jaguar. The V8 engine is of Jaguar lineage. I worked at a FLM dealer when they came out. Even the Ford engineer referred to them as throw away cars because of the high numbers of modules they had controlling everything. Gonna be hard to find a rear lighting control module 10 yrs from now....

 

[Diamondpilot]

Lots of electrical gremlins. Think Jaguar. The V8 engine is of Jaguar lineage. I worked at a FLM dealer when they came out. Even the Ford engineer referred to them as throw away cars because of the high numbers of modules they had controlling everything. Gonna be hard to find a rear lighting control module 10 yrs from now....

My sister had one on a 3 year lease. Never a issue but she turned it in with 50,000 miles or so. I would not want my kid driving a rear wheel drive vehicle. That would be my main concern. Check insurance rates.

Chris

 

[schmism]

This is for an "adult" daughter... or still teen driver daughter?

cant say I would recommend that car for a teen driver, now that i think about it, cant say i would recommend that car period.

Is that style car her taste? I would think you could do a lot better for $7200 (something that suits her better) than a Lincoln. IMHO

 

[Diamondpilot]

This is for an "adult" daughter... or still teen driver daughter?

cant say I would recommend that car for a teen driver, now that i think about it, cant say i would recommend that car period.

Is that style car her taste? I would think you could do a lot better for $7200 (something that suits her better) than a Lincoln. IMHO

Not sure if you remember right but the LS was a hot little sedan. Not your grandads Lincoln.

Chris

 

[HHR]

I would recommend a Town Car, Continental or a Zephyr before an LS.

 

[schmism]

Not sure if you remember right but the LS was a hot little sedan. Not your grandads Lincoln.

Chris

oh no i googled it before hand....

not exactly what i call a "hot little sedan" but to each there own right Looks to me like a Lincoln had a one night stand with a mid 90's camry and thats the offspring. (ie mid 90's toyota styling 5-7 years late)

infact i had to go get a 95 camry just to compare (Cause im board at work)

 

[IndyIan]

If you are looking for reliable trouble free transportation, there are better options. I looked into the LS's a while ago but they have too many trouble spots. Hydraulic cooling fans that quit, they eat coils, plastic cooling system, front ball joints aren't replaceable so you need to buy whole new front A arms... The transmissions don't have a good rep either.
They are pretty rare too, so the stealership is probably the best option for repairs. But if a few $1-2k repairs aren't an issue for you, its a nice car to drive!

 

[Blast Chamber]

I agree with the others about passing on an LS due to reliability issues. If you want a Lincoln a 1998-2002 Continental would be a much better choice from a reliability perspective. I had a '98 and had very good luck with it.

My daughter drives an '08 Pontiac Vibe and she just loves it. It's a "cute" car that has good safety and reliability ratings and also gets great gas mileage. In the $7-8k price range you should be able to find a clean example with under 100k miles.

 

[jwstewar]

Monica's cousin has an '02. She goes through coil packs like crazy. She takes it to a shop so much for them, they actually have a set waiting on the shelf for her when she comes in so they can install them and get her on her way. She has also had a problem with losing steering control some how and has had to have it towed in 2 or 3 times because of it. I haven't driven, but she said she's had some issues with the transmission where it doesn't shift right and sometime won't shift at all and then other times is great. I put a set of rear brakes and rotors on it last fall. Fairly easy job. For a 2002 and about 130k on it, I thought the underside had a lot of rust on it. Body didn't, but underside sure did. She just graduated from nursing school (and paying for that is why she was still driving that car, she had it before she started as she is a non-traditional student and went back at age 35 or so) so she said as soon as she can situated in her job and get some money saved back up, that LS is going bye-bye.

 

[Peacock]

For similar money you could buy an '03-05 Accord 4 cylinder. Rick solid reliability, very safe, parts are cheap and they are cake to work on.

 

[timswi]

Monica's cousin has an '02. She goes through coil packs like crazy. She takes it to a shop so much for them, they actually have a set waiting on the shelf for her when she comes in so they can install them and get her on her way. She has also had a problem with losing steering control some how and has had to have it towed in 2 or 3 times because of it. I haven't driven, but she said she's had some issues with the transmission where it doesn't shift right and sometime won't shift at all and then other times is great. I put a set of rear brakes and rotors on it last fall. Fairly easy job. For a 2002 and about 130k on it, I thought the underside had a lot of rust on it. Body didn't, but underside sure did. She just graduated from nursing school (and paying for that is why she was still driving that car, she had it before she started as she is a non-traditional student and went back at age 35 or so) so she said as soon as she can situated in her job and get some money saved back up, that LS is going bye-bye.

That doesn't happen to Fords does it?...Just kidding and directed elsewhere, not you...Anyway, I agree....Cars like this are luxury vehicles and there is a ton more to break even though some of it is just a pain (ie leveling systems etc)...Go simpler...There are a ton of mid-range cars out there that would fit the bill..Thinking mid size/mid range...Accord, Malibu, Camery, Taurus (or whatever they call it today)...etc.

 

[dodge man]

Thanks for all the input. I test drove the one I saw on Craigslist and prompted this post. It was a piece of crap. It looked nice and was in good shape apperance wise, but the brake pedal went to the floor, the air bag light stayed on, and it had a bad shake like it had a bad tire. I drove it about a half mile, turned around and parked it again and told the guy the way the brake pedal was so soft it wasn't safe to drive.

I test drove a 2006 Charger at a dealer ship also. Me and the wife liked it a lot, but it was price a little high for what we want to spend. I also drove a co-workers Lincoln LS, its a nice car, I can't really find anything wrong with it. As a rule, we havn't been taking my daughter with when car shopping, she is going to get what she gets. Its kind of hard to predict what she wants, she wants a 4 door. We had to pick her up before we drove the LS. She really liked the Lincoln LS. I would have bought it but the co-worker is trying to figure out how to price it.

I appreciate everybodys input on what to buy her. I'm the kind of person who buys a car based more on emotion than it being practial. I like to own nice vehciles but I also want them to be reliable. I do a lot of the work myself, but I'm at a point in my life I don't really want to be swapping engines or transmissions either. A simple vehicle would be better and isn't out of the question.

Once again, I appreciate the comments and keep them coming. One thing great about this board is you get a wide variety of people that own different vehicles and also a lot of people that work on their own stuff.