I can't see how those "better" interiors were better, the silver painted plastic trim actually looks better to me since fake woodgrain causes me to dry heave.

 

I agree 100%

 

The main problem with this car was probably not the interior, but the fact that Lincoln, for inexplicable reasons, would not offer a V8 version with the 5-speed manual like it did the V6. The V8, by Lincoln's own admission, was aimed directly at the Classic-Yuppie BMW 540i....which, at that time, sold well in both manual and automatic versions. The V6 5-speed manual, of course, was aimed at the less-expensive 528i and 530i. This omission was something that Lincoln, IMO, never came up with an adequate explanation for.

 

I dont think that was the issue at all, as even at that time the vast majority of cars sold were automatics. The car just felt far less premium than the competition.

 

If one goes back and looks at BMW sales in that era (the primary competition that the LS was aimed at)....a LOT of Bimmers were sold with three-pedals.

Having said that, I will agree that the BMW's rock-like body structure of the time (before the Chris Bangle cost-cutting and thinner materials), Thunk-door closings, and superb steering/suspension-engineering was a least a couple of notches higher than what Lincoln was offering. There is a reason why the marque got its reputation as the Ultimate Driving Machine....and was the classic symbol of Yuppies.

 

It was still a much smaller percentage than those sold with automatics.

 

I definitely agree with this. The first American cars I remember of that era with a decent looking interior was the 2007 Tahoe/Avalanche, 2004 F-150/Mark LT, and the 2005 C6 Corvette. They weren’t THAT great but definitely a step in the right direction.

My mom had a 2006 Escalade ESV Platinum back then and it was unreal how ugly that interior was. The shape of the dash reminded me of my dad’s late 80’s Cadillac Brougham.

 

This correlates with my memories of the time. The interior build quality/design aspects of American cars never fully left the Malaise era until the mid aughts.

 

Ahem.....MUSTANG SALES ARE PRIORITY. Thank you for listening. Ford does dumb decisions like this all the time.

 

That sounds about right the more I think about it. I remember how disappointed I was when I first sat in a C5 Corvette and the dash was shaped like my friend’s beat up Chevy Cavalier. That’s the only negative thing I could say about the Corvette back then. This applied to many of my favorite cars of the era like the Lincoln LS, Chevy Camaro, Pontiac Trans Am, Ford Mustang GT, Dodge Viper, Cadillac Escalade, and Dodge Ram SRT-10.

The C5 Corvette FRC/Z06 was my dream car for a while as a kid and but the interior just ruined the idea of having one. I still want one but I would consider taking an LS swapped Cadillac XLR just for the better looking interior. The Vipers were really bad too. It wasn’t any nicer than a base model Dodge Neon.

 

For viper just don't look at or touch anything inside other than the controls. All is fine just use the V10 and the irrelevant things like the door panels just fade away.

 

It's pretty embarrassing that this was the best American cars had to offer in interiors at the time.

 

I can hear this picture. Everything creaks on these somehow, it's crazy since cars like the LS430 existed at the same time and mine still doesn't have any interior noises at all.

 

I would never have guessed this is a 2004. Looks more like 1990.

 

to be fair, there were better interiors in that era, even from Cadillac. I thought the generation Seville after my dad's had a pretty nice interior, real wood, nice materials and a nice design.