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MM Retro Write-up: 1999-2006 Lincoln LS
IN A NUTSHELL: Generally an excellent Detroit-Competitor to the Germans, but IMO suffered from a few marketing-errors.
Lincoln, today, with its (mostly) crossover line-up of SUVs vastly different from even those of a few years ago, and selling to people of all ages and walks of life, is generally doing quite well, although the Division, like much of the rest of Ford, has its work cut out for it in improving quality control at the assembly-plants…recent introductions of new products have generally not gone well in that department.
However, this was not always the case. A quarter of a century ago, the marque was generally looked upon mostly as a producer of Town-Car sedans for golf-playing Retirees, Town-Car limos for High-School Prom Nights and the Executive-Car business, and a front-drive Taurus-derived Continental that was less than impressive in both its design and road-manners….certainly not the equal of the FAR-better (but slow-selling) Continental that would follow it some fifteen years later.
Arch-rival Cadillac had taken on the (then) rapidly-growing success of mid-sized BMW and Mercedes sedans in the U.S. with varying degrees of success in introducing smaller sedans. The initial mid-sized Seville of the 1975 had done quite well despite being on the same platform as the compact Chevrolet Nova. But the Second-generation Seville, with its controversial bob-tail and troublesome 5.7L diesel V8, was a flop, as was the compact Cimarron a couple of years later, with the still-later Opel-derived Catera being poorly-built and Ho-Hum to drive. The Cimarron, PR-wise, was truly a disaster, although I myself mostly liked it except for the joke of a powertrain in the first carburated models. And later mid-sized CTS models were generally successful in the marketplace, although I strongly disliked the first-generation CTS, which IMO could not hold a candle to more-plush later models.
Meanwhile, Lincoln, up to the late 1990s, had done little more to compete with the mid-sized Germans than introduce a tarted-up 1970s-vintage Ford Granada…..the Versailles. Not that the Granada itself was a bad car…..it actually was quite plush and rode like a luxury car, although grossly underpowered even by the slow standards of the times, and, like many Fords of that vintage, prone to rust. People could see that paying extra for the Versailles (named for King Louis XIV’s famous Palace just outside of Paris) bought little more than a nameplate, and it was never very popular in the marketplace, whereas GM had gone to much greater lengths to redo the Nova-based platform for the First-generation Seville and make it into an (almost) real Cadillac.
So, by the late 1990s, with the BMW 5-series and Mercedes E-class sedans/coupes exploding in popularity in the U.S. particularly with well-heeled younger professionals able to afford their price tags, and with BMW products constantly winning Comparison-Tests in the auto-magazines, Lincoln decided to, once again, try for a piece of that rapidly-growing pie. The idea was to try and produce a smaller Lincoln sedan, with a slight sporting-flair and better roadability, to better-appeal to those not in AARP or on their way to a high-school prom. Ford owned Jaguar at the time, and, since a new RWD mid-sized Jaguar sedan (the S-Type) was being designed, the new Lincoln (LS) would use the Jaguar’s platform and much of its running-gear, wrapped in more-conventional Lincoln styling instead of the Jaguar’s sleekness.
Since the S-Type was being designed for those who wanted a sophisticated European sedan, the LS benefitted from much of that……independent double-wishbone suspension front and rear, 4-wheel antilock disc brakes, aluminum suspension parts to reduce unsprung weight (which, all else equal, improves both ride and handling), and, inside, standard seat-leather and a steering wheel with a wood-option. A Sport-Suspension package was also optional. Two engines were offered…a 3.0L V6 variant of the Jaguar’s AJ-V6, and a 3.9L V8 variant of the Jaguar 4.0L AJ-26V8. The V6 could be had with either a five-speed Getrag manual (on the Sport Package) or a five-speed automatic. This was the first time a three-pedal manual transmission had been offered on a new Lincoln since 1951….when “Hot-Lod” Lincolns were popular in those early NASCAR days, among the illegal whiskey-runners/bootleggers, and those who liked to “chop” their cars with lower/shaved-down rooflines. The V8, regardless of package, was only available with the five-speed automatic. I personally thought that restricting the manual to only the V6 was a marketing error, since the car that the V8 LS was being aimed at (the BMW 540i) offered its V8 with a manual. But Lincoln, for inexplicable reasons, during the entire production-run of the LS, never offered a manual V8 to compete with the manual 540i. I suggested it to Lincoln reps several times at the auto shows, but no dice.
On the outside (and inside), noticeably less chrome-trim was used on the LS than than on other Lincolns, in an obvious attempt to change the car’s image, though a somewhat muted wood-tone package inside was available. I thought the interior, myself, was a little too plain for a Lincoln….certainly not as plush-looking inside as the Jaguar S-Type, but I also recognize that that was the whole idea…..a more teutonic Lincoln.
The car’s sophisticated platform and underpinnings really paid off in reviews. Consumer Reports (I don’t remember if they tested the Standard or Sport version) proclaimed, in its first test, that they thought the LS was the highest-scoring American sedan they had ever sampled. I sampled one myself (again, I don’t remember which specific version), and while it was certainly a nice car, it just wasn’t quite my cup of tea…I thought its Jaguar cousin was more to my tastes, although outside of my price-range of what I was willing to spend, and with the Jaguar reputation of unreliability.
Nevertheless, the LS was a far better attempt to compete with the Germans than the Granada-rebadged Versailles had been some two decades earlier, and, although not extremely popular, it sold enough to stay in production through 2006. Even though the manual-transmission versions never sold in anywhere near the numbers the automatics did (perhaps also a reflection of the ever-growing traffic jams of the time, where drivers didn’t want to wear out their left knee on the clutch), I still think, to this day, that, had a manual version been offered with the V8 to compete with the 540i, sales might (?) have been a different story.
The same platform, in a shortened form, with the 3.9L V8 (252 HP) and 5-speed automatic, was also used in the 2002-2005 two-seater Ford Thunderbird, but that will be the subject of another write-up.
And, as Always, Happy Auto-Memories.
MM
__________________
DRIVING IS BELIEVING
IN A NUTSHELL: Generally an excellent Detroit-Competitor to the Germans, but IMO suffered from a few marketing-errors.
Lincoln, today, with its (mostly) crossover line-up of SUVs vastly different from even those of a few years ago, and selling to people of all ages and walks of life, is generally doing quite well, although the Division, like much of the rest of Ford, has its work cut out for it in improving quality control at the assembly-plants…recent introductions of new products have generally not gone well in that department.
However, this was not always the case. A quarter of a century ago, the marque was generally looked upon mostly as a producer of Town-Car sedans for golf-playing Retirees, Town-Car limos for High-School Prom Nights and the Executive-Car business, and a front-drive Taurus-derived Continental that was less than impressive in both its design and road-manners….certainly not the equal of the FAR-better (but slow-selling) Continental that would follow it some fifteen years later.
Arch-rival Cadillac had taken on the (then) rapidly-growing success of mid-sized BMW and Mercedes sedans in the U.S. with varying degrees of success in introducing smaller sedans. The initial mid-sized Seville of the 1975 had done quite well despite being on the same platform as the compact Chevrolet Nova. But the Second-generation Seville, with its controversial bob-tail and troublesome 5.7L diesel V8, was a flop, as was the compact Cimarron a couple of years later, with the still-later Opel-derived Catera being poorly-built and Ho-Hum to drive. The Cimarron, PR-wise, was truly a disaster, although I myself mostly liked it except for the joke of a powertrain in the first carburated models. And later mid-sized CTS models were generally successful in the marketplace, although I strongly disliked the first-generation CTS, which IMO could not hold a candle to more-plush later models.
Meanwhile, Lincoln, up to the late 1990s, had done little more to compete with the mid-sized Germans than introduce a tarted-up 1970s-vintage Ford Granada…..the Versailles. Not that the Granada itself was a bad car…..it actually was quite plush and rode like a luxury car, although grossly underpowered even by the slow standards of the times, and, like many Fords of that vintage, prone to rust. People could see that paying extra for the Versailles (named for King Louis XIV’s famous Palace just outside of Paris) bought little more than a nameplate, and it was never very popular in the marketplace, whereas GM had gone to much greater lengths to redo the Nova-based platform for the First-generation Seville and make it into an (almost) real Cadillac.
So, by the late 1990s, with the BMW 5-series and Mercedes E-class sedans/coupes exploding in popularity in the U.S. particularly with well-heeled younger professionals able to afford their price tags, and with BMW products constantly winning Comparison-Tests in the auto-magazines, Lincoln decided to, once again, try for a piece of that rapidly-growing pie. The idea was to try and produce a smaller Lincoln sedan, with a slight sporting-flair and better roadability, to better-appeal to those not in AARP or on their way to a high-school prom. Ford owned Jaguar at the time, and, since a new RWD mid-sized Jaguar sedan (the S-Type) was being designed, the new Lincoln (LS) would use the Jaguar’s platform and much of its running-gear, wrapped in more-conventional Lincoln styling instead of the Jaguar’s sleekness.
Since the S-Type was being designed for those who wanted a sophisticated European sedan, the LS benefitted from much of that……independent double-wishbone suspension front and rear, 4-wheel antilock disc brakes, aluminum suspension parts to reduce unsprung weight (which, all else equal, improves both ride and handling), and, inside, standard seat-leather and a steering wheel with a wood-option. A Sport-Suspension package was also optional. Two engines were offered…a 3.0L V6 variant of the Jaguar’s AJ-V6, and a 3.9L V8 variant of the Jaguar 4.0L AJ-26V8. The V6 could be had with either a five-speed Getrag manual (on the Sport Package) or a five-speed automatic. This was the first time a three-pedal manual transmission had been offered on a new Lincoln since 1951….when “Hot-Lod” Lincolns were popular in those early NASCAR days, among the illegal whiskey-runners/bootleggers, and those who liked to “chop” their cars with lower/shaved-down rooflines. The V8, regardless of package, was only available with the five-speed automatic. I personally thought that restricting the manual to only the V6 was a marketing error, since the car that the V8 LS was being aimed at (the BMW 540i) offered its V8 with a manual. But Lincoln, for inexplicable reasons, during the entire production-run of the LS, never offered a manual V8 to compete with the manual 540i. I suggested it to Lincoln reps several times at the auto shows, but no dice.
On the outside (and inside), noticeably less chrome-trim was used on the LS than than on other Lincolns, in an obvious attempt to change the car’s image, though a somewhat muted wood-tone package inside was available. I thought the interior, myself, was a little too plain for a Lincoln….certainly not as plush-looking inside as the Jaguar S-Type, but I also recognize that that was the whole idea…..a more teutonic Lincoln.
The car’s sophisticated platform and underpinnings really paid off in reviews. Consumer Reports (I don’t remember if they tested the Standard or Sport version) proclaimed, in its first test, that they thought the LS was the highest-scoring American sedan they had ever sampled. I sampled one myself (again, I don’t remember which specific version), and while it was certainly a nice car, it just wasn’t quite my cup of tea…I thought its Jaguar cousin was more to my tastes, although outside of my price-range of what I was willing to spend, and with the Jaguar reputation of unreliability.
Nevertheless, the LS was a far better attempt to compete with the Germans than the Granada-rebadged Versailles had been some two decades earlier, and, although not extremely popular, it sold enough to stay in production through 2006. Even though the manual-transmission versions never sold in anywhere near the numbers the automatics did (perhaps also a reflection of the ever-growing traffic jams of the time, where drivers didn’t want to wear out their left knee on the clutch), I still think, to this day, that, had a manual version been offered with the V8 to compete with the 540i, sales might (?) have been a different story.
The same platform, in a shortened form, with the 3.9L V8 (252 HP) and 5-speed automatic, was also used in the 2002-2005 two-seater Ford Thunderbird, but that will be the subject of another write-up.
And, as Always, Happy Auto-Memories.
MM
__________________
DRIVING IS BELIEVING