Let's just be friends
Written: Apr 26 '04 (Updated Apr 29 '04)
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Pros: Front and rear styling, some extra safety features
Cons: Generic and mundane interior, lacking any kind of soul
The Bottom Line: A competent, yet understyled and overpriced luxury car with way too many irritating faults for the price asked. Disappointing.
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| sfoltz's Full Review: 2004 Lincoln LS |
I can appreciate that some people find the LS a good entry luxury car, but for all the wrong reasons, I'm afraid.
I have always found the exterior of the car to be attractive, in the sense that it does advertise luxury. However, it hasn't any of the "come hither" or "got to drive this car," appeal that some of its rivals do. It certainly doesn't seem to be out of its league appearance wise, but it's too darned sedate to be on anyone's list who is shopping for a sport-oriented car.
I recently found myself in a position to consider both GM and Ford products based on my supplier discount and current rebates, etc. So, I thought I should at least see what this car was like. I've never been a Ford person, but Lincoln carries a bit of panache, so off to the dealership I went.
My research indicated I could only afford the V6 Luxury or Premium models, even after the $5,500 worth of combined discounts. Regardless, when I arrived, there wasn't a single V6 to be found. All that were available were loaded V8 models starting at $43,000 MSRP. I decided to go ahead and test-drive the V8 Ultimate.
It was a very sunny day and as I did a walk around, I noticed I could clearly see the felt lining at the top of the door windows. On a cloudy day, I don't know that I would have noticed it, but in this case, it was very obvious and gave an unfinished look to the window trim. I noticed the same thing on the Cadillac CTS, but to a much lesser extent. I noticed next the alignment on the trunk lid was off and gave it a canted look from the rear.
Otherwise, the fit and finish was acceptable, if not quite what I'd expect on a $40,000 car. The doors made quality sounds when closed normally as well as when I slammed them shut. I did not, however, care for the appearance of the keyless entry pad on the driver's door. Very dated looking to me, even if it would be handy at times.
Inside, I was truly under whelmed as soon as I sat in the driver's seat. The center stack had to be one of the most generic looking I've seen in any car, let alone a luxury one. It certainly wasn't offensive, but what inspired Lincoln to skip on interior statements? Again, it was a sunny day, with the glowing orb hung directly overhead. In spite of this, I could not, for the life of me, read anything on the Navigation screen. There didn't appear to be any plastic protective laminate on the screen, but my less than knowledgable salesman was clueless. No direct light was involved, so if this is typical, I consider it an ergonomic disaster of major proportions, especially since one must use it to operate the stereo and climate controls as well as the navigation system.
Continuing with my interior observations, I thought the dash gauges also very dated looking with easy to read numerals, but too many dashes and lines. The glove box was bigger and more useful than in the Cadillac CTS, but the center console was a mixture of nice and not so nice. The two plastic tabs situated under the top lid are used to open the lower compartment and adjust the position of the top cover to suit where one would like to have their arm rest. Both have a very cheap and flimsy feel to them. It was nice to see a coin changer, of sorts, inside the console, but the console box was somewhat wobbly. One very good thing, in my opinion, is that every door has a grab handle situated above it. Very helpful, for older and handicapped persons.
Next, the leather, which was a light neutral color, was soft but over perforated looking. I think it must have been to accommodate the seat cooling system, but I didn't care for the look. I was also surprised to feel fabric along the bottom edge of the seat before it wrapped under the seat frame. I'd expect that on a Sable, but not in LS! The rear seats exhibited the same cheap feel when I ran my hand along and under the bottom edges. The seats also were much too soft for my taste, with the driver's seat lacking any significant bolstering. The power controls were fairly logical, but I could not seem to get them adjusted to where I was completely comfortable during my test drive.
Too big issues, which I regard engineering flaws: The driver's seat reversed to the farthest position when I turned the car off and went to exit the car. According to the salesman, this is not adjustable. The reason I have an issue with it, is that there seems to be no regard for the person sitting directly behind the driver. When the salesman repeated the feat while I was seated in the rear, the driver's seat continued to reverse and essentially trapped me in the car. What the heck is with that? Perhaps I had an uninformed salesman, defective sample or something else, but I considered it a real problem. I couldn't imagine my mother-in-law being back there when I got out!! The other issue regards the backup parking assistance sensor. While backing up toward an office with plate glass windows, the beeps accelerated until I thought sure I would hit something, although by my reckoning I wasn't that close, On getting out of the car, I was surprised that I still had at least three feet of space remaining before I would have struck anything. A bit too sensitive for this to be really useful, I'd say.
Now for the drive:
The V8 pumps out 280 horses and has a pretty wide range of usable torque. It doesn't exude any pleasurable sounds, though it is pretty quiet even when pressed. While very smooth riding on the highway, there was much more body lean in turns than I would like and most irritatingly, I felt every imperfection in the road through the gas pedal, of all things! The steering was not as responsive as I expected and overall, I just came away unimpressed. Braking was well controlled but was also just average feeling through the pedal. I didn't realize the car had an electronic parking brake, which worked very well. Visibility was very good all around and, for the most part, the car was a fine "around town" kind of car.
In the end even the top end LS just did not appeal to me in any way, after all was said and done. I wasn't swayed by the generous discount I could have received, or the looks or the car's personality, which bodes ill for Lincoln. In essence, Ford Corp. is practically begging to give me the car at cost and I can't bring myself to commit.
I truly believe Ford/Lincoln/Mercury are in big trouble. The only vehicle that's moving off the lots significantly is the F-150. It appears many of their other models are suffering from declining sales. I think the LS are indicative of why that is. It's a sad thing to see.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 43210
Condition: New
Model Year: 2004
Model and Options: LS Ultimate
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Epinions.com ID:
sfoltz
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Location: Portland, OR, USA
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
I know the meaning of life now and how to get out of here ALIVE!!
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