Last weekend I went to Cadillac’s “World Challenge” event, at which you can drive cars from Cadillac, Lincoln, Jaguar, Lexus, Mercedes and BMW on the road course. So I got a chance to compare Lincoln LS, Cadillac Catera Sport, Mercedes C320 and BMW 540ia.

Styling

I like the styling of LS. Although the styling of LS is quite nice and somewhat resembles BMW, the interior and handling is a different story.

Interior

The seats are pretty comfortable. But the materials look somewhat cheap, comparing to BMW and Mercedes. However, one should take into account the price difference. I will not go into much detail here – if you are seriously considering LS, you will go to the dealership and see for yourself. I am going to concentrate on handling.

Handling And Stuff

The road track at the event consisted of (short) full-throttle acceleration straights, braking before turns, turns and slalom. The V-6 equipped LS I drove had automatic transmission. And this transmission took way to much time to decide to downshift. None of the other cars I drove there had this problem.

The choice of car depends on several factors, one of which is what the car is going to be used for. If you are planning to drive leisurely and need cushy suspension and good highway comfort, LS is a good choice.

But for performance driving look somewhere else – the suspension was too soft, car felt big and heavy and the steering is very slow – it took more turns of the steering wheel than in any other car to make it go in the intended direction.

Of course the V-6’s acceleration is no match for BMW 540, but the price difference is huge and the car felt adequate in comparison to Catera and C320. It would be more fair to compare it to 530, which seems to have more room inside and better suspension. However, I really liked the brakes – the car has good stopping power.

Bottom Line

Lincoln LS is no “American BMW” – it looks like one, but the looks are deceiving. It is a comfortable good-looking car for highway cruising.


Amount Paid (US$): 36000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2001
Model and Options: V6, Automatic