mmarshall

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

mmarshall

Deleted per MM

SW17LS

Biggest issue with these IMO were the interiors. Total Ford crap of the era

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

My uncle had a Lincoln LS 3.9 V8. I remember it stood out to me because it was the first car I encountered with cooled seats. Had a similar interior to the pic below.

Trackruner

That was my first thought too. That interior looks terrible. It's hard to see in those pics but the dash doesn't look much better either. I don't think I agree that it's a serious competitor to the Germans when you have an interior like that.

Here's what BMW, Mercedes and Lexus got you in 2006.





To me it's not even a comparison. I would not even consider the Lincoln over any of these.

SW17LS

It was just no comparison. The car itself was very good, but let down by the crappy Ford spec. interior.

mmarshall

I agree that specific silver-trim interior is not very appealing, but there were better LS interiors. Here's some examples from the article....

SW17LS

Those "better" interiors only had god-awful fake wood vs the silver trim...so plasticky.

mmarshall

Fake is not always bad....NuLuxe proved that. But I agree (and I mentioned it in the write-up) that, overall, the LS interiors were not Lincoln's best efforts. I suspect, but can't prove, that the designers purposely did that, to keep the LS interior from overshadowing that of its corporate brother Jaguar S-Type....which, if I remember correctly, sold for more $$$$.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

This was one of my favorite sedans of the early 2000’s, but the interior was awful. Fords had such ugly interiors back then.

mmarshall

Actually, most American-designed vehicles did, even luxury vehicles to some extent, until the latter part of the decade, when we saw the first real efforts to change from GM (on the 2007 Tahoe and full-sized SUVs), with Ford and FCA lagging somewhat behind.

UZ214

this was a pretty car when it came out new; nice back color and chrome wheels but it did not age every well.

Striker223

These are decent cars except for the interiors, typical early 2000s ford there and not in a good way. Layout is decent and they don't rust terribly underneath

SW17LS

Fake wood is always bad, especially in a luxury car. If its in a Buick or an Oldsmobile or a Mercury or something pretending to be a luxury car thats more excusable, but this is a Lincoln that Ford really thought could compete with the real european and Japanese competition and to put fake wood in it and such a plastic fantastic interior was just a great example of Ford just not getting it. This interior was no nicer than a high spec Ford Taurus.

If you look at Lincoln today, they get it and their interiors are very good, but back then they absolutely had no clue. The shame is, if they had built what they build now back then, Lincoln would be a totally different division today.

jrmckinley

I remember wanting one of these back in the day when I was searching for a 4 door sedan with a manual transmission. I drove this but settled on a '99 Nissan Maxima SE 5 speed (still have fond memories of that car). The Lincoln LS was nice but at the time I wanted something a bit more sporty and the Nissan fit the bill.