If you stroll into a Lincoln dealership today, you might find yourself disappointed at the marque’s current lack of diversity. You have a choice of just three crossovers and the flagship Navigator. It’s been a couple of years since Lincoln last sold sedans in American, and its final entries–the Continental and MKZ–leaned more towards luxury than a sporty driving experience [Ed Note: The MKZ 3.0 was actually kinda quick. -DT]. If you wanted to have luxury and a thrilling drive, you had to go back to the early 2000s. The Lincoln LS was the marque’s interpretation of European sport sedans and the rear-wheel-drive sedan could even get equipped with a manual transmission.
Last time on Holy Grails, reader TheMecca reminded us of a time when Infiniti built a crossover for people who like driving. The Infiniti FX, later the QX70, came available with a coupe-like body and a V8 engine. The top of the line at first was the FX45, which came with a 4.5-liter VK45DE V8 making 315 HP. Perhaps Car and Driver said it best when it summed up the FX45 as “an SUV that thinks, and runs, like a sports car.” The magazine found it ever so slightly faster than a BMW X5 4.6is and a Mercedes ML55 AMG. Later, the SUV would get a VK50VE V8 punching out 390 HP. V8 versions are also weirdly rare, with around 3,000 to 3,800 units on the road. Today, Infiniti takes credit for creating the coupe-like SUV designs that so many automakers love today.
The Early 2000s Was A Fun Time To Love Cars
Today’s Holy Grail follows a similar idea of a luxury car that’s a little different than you’d expect. Reader Jeff H takes us back to the early 2000s. The automotive landscape during this era was a rather wild one. Over at Chrysler, you could buy a Prowler, a retro-style roadster that looked like nothing else. You could also come home with the practical, yet controversial PT Cruiser. Honda’s Insight ruled the fuel economy charts and Pontiac’s Aztek polarized enthusiasts while technically being ahead of its time. And if you wanted speed, there were all kinds of choice out there from the Dodge Viper, Ford SVT Mustang Cobra, and even the SVT F-150 Lightning.
This era also saw some changeups in luxury cars. Personal luxury cars were dying off while luxury SUVs and sport sedans were in vogue. As MotorWeek noted in its Episode 1839, Lincoln had for generations been known for building plush luxury rides. Take, for example, Lincoln’s 1995 lineup. Your choices were the Continental, Town Car, and the Mark VIII, all cushy American luxury vehicles. Lincoln hadn’t even sold a vehicle with a manual transmission since the 1951 Cosmopolitan. But times were changing. European marques enticed American buyers with their luxury and driving performance while the luxury SUV continued to gain traction.
Lincoln had gotten into the luxury SUV market with the Navigator, a Ford Expedition-based posh cruiser that would become a smash hit. But that wasn’t Lincoln’s only trick up its sleeve. As the folks of Motor Trend note, Ford had an idea to steal buyers away from European luxury marques, and it would do it with exciting rear-wheel-drive cars.
Lincoln’s First Sport Sedan
The first vehicle to come out of Lincoln’s plan was the Lincoln LS, and it was another major departure from what the public would expect from the brand. So much of it comes down to Ford product development chief Richard Parry-Jones, chief designer Helmuth Schrader, and engineers brought in from Ford’s European operations. As Motor Trend writes, the LS was built from the ground up to be innovative rather than following Lincoln’s then existing traditions.
These engineers were working with the freshly-developed Ford DEW98 platform. Developed by Ford and Jaguar engineers, the DEW98 platform would find itself underpinning the Jaguar S-Type, Ford Thunderbird, and Jaguar XF. It was supposed to be the underpinnings of the 2005 Ford Mustang as well, though that didn’t happen. Publication the Morning Call notes that the Jaguar S-Type and Lincoln LS share about 40 percent of their parts, yet both development teams worked hard to give both cars entirely different characters. Edmunds Inside Line further describes the magic that the engineers did:
Engineered for solidity, DEW98 provides the LS with an incredible sense of substance. Nary a shimmy nor a shake writhes its way to the passenger compartment, which is tomblike in its silence factor except for somewhat intrusive road rumble from the P235/50R17 Firestone Firehawk LH tires (non-Sport models have 16-inch 60-series rubber) on certain paved surfaces.
Lincoln went to great extremes to isolate the driver from unwanted aural annoyances. For example, the natural frequency of the steering column and steering wheel are purposely high to avoid body-structure resonance, and a metal seat foam support pan was designed for reduced vibration. Hydraulically damped engine mounts also minimize shaking, and the two-piece driveshaft is balanced at the factory prior to installation. A true dual exhaust system helps dampen noise, as do triple-sealed doors, 4.6 mm thick front side glass and a special acoustic shield that keeps out engine racket. Maybe that’s why the tire noise is so obvious, eh?
Attached to the stiff underbody is a four-wheel short-long arm (SLA) independent suspension that makes extensive use of aluminum to keep poundage down and the car’s nearly perfect 51/49 front/rear weight balance intact (52/48 for the V8 Sport we tested). These lightweight double-wishbone components also reduce unsprung weight, helping to keep the Firestones glued to the road. Retarding dive and squat under hard braking and acceleration is a patented rear setup that seats the rear springs and shock absorbers against the frame rails. This allows engineers to dial in a substantial amount of negative lift to keep the rear of the car level. It works brilliantly.
The Lincoln LS marked a few firsts for the automaker. It was Lincoln’s first sport sedan, Lincoln’s stiffest body, and the sedan offered Lincoln’s first manual transmission in 48 years. This car was supposed to ring in a new era for the automaker, and reading reviews of the machine, it seemed like Lincoln really had a winner. Check out this review from Motor Trend:
Unbelievable! That was my overriding thought, as I circled Northern California’s Thunderhill Raceway again and again. Whether accelerating down straights, carving through sweepers, threading hairpins, or hauling it down under hard braking just before slicing in toward a new apex, this car was working surprisingly well. It felt unexpectedly taut, predictable, and controllable as it tackled the ins and outs of the track with the same finesse and fine-tuned control as a world-class European sport sedan. Yet, most amazing of all, I was driving a Lincoln. This is no mushy, wallowing Town Car; it’s Lincoln’s brand-new entry-level sport luxury model, the LS. And it is, quite simply, a revelation.
When the Lincoln LS went on the market in 1999 for the 2000 model year, the $31,450 ($57,266 today) base version sported a 3.0-liter engine that was a variant of the Jaguar AJ-V6. That put down 210 HP and 205 lb-ft torque. Later, this output would get bumped up to 220 HP and 215 lb-ft. If you wanted more power, you had to pay $35,225 ($64,140 today) which netted you a 3.9-liter Jaguar AJ-V8 that sent 252 HP and 267 lb-ft to the rear wheels.
Lincoln originally wanted the vehicle to be called the LS6 or LS8 depending on the engine choice and you can even find brochures that were printed to reflect this. However, as Edmunds Inside Line reports, Lexus was concerned that buyers would confuse the Euro Lincoln for the Lexus LS 400. Lincoln backed down, settling for just LS. Edmunds joked that now buyers would now end up in Saturn dealers looking for a Lincoln LS.
The Grail
By all accounts, the reviews above suggest that Lincoln somehow achieved something fantastic and built an American sport sedan that performed on the level of something European. If you were an enthusiast and wanted to row your own gears, Lincoln had you covered there as well, and that’s the one that Jeff H says could be a holy grail:
My dad had a Lincoln LS manual with a sports package. It was an awesome car. Looks like ~2300 were made. Lincoln isn’t known for sporty cars. Shared platform with the jaguar s-type. Near 50/50 weight distribution. Underpowered, but could this be a holy grail?
Matt Hardigree certainly agreed:
Excellent suggestion. I actually almost bought one of these a few months ago!
As Wards Auto notes, Lincoln sold the LS with what the publication called the “fun” package. While you could get either the V6 or the V8 LS with an automatic, you could spec your LS V6 with a five-speed manual from Getrag. From there, you could add the Sport package, which deletes the brightwork for monochrome trim. The Sport package also adds thick 17-inch wheels and tires, a 38 percent thicker rear stabilizer, heavy duty brake pads, an engine oil cooler, new shock valving, and a more sporty steering system. Getting a V6 with the manual and the sport package was $32,250, or $58,723 today.
As far as how well this worked? Well, MotorWeek seemed to love it:
We tried out the sportiest V-6 manual at our Maryland test track, and recorded a consistent 0-to-60 time of 8.5 seconds. The quarter mile took 16.6 seconds, ending at a speed of 87 miles-per-hour. The V6 engine revs freely, and makes good power above 2,000 rpm, hitting hardest at 4,000 rpm and up. Lincoln’s wide gearing produced a noticeable drop in revs between second and third gears, but otherwise, the gearbox is light and very positive.
Handling is even more impressive, thanks to a new short-and-long-arm suspension. With our car’s firmer sport tuning, standard with the V6 manual, it reminds us of the excellent Lexus GS400. Turn in is quick, with very little body roll. There is some front end plow, but it arrives very late in the corner, and is easily controlled. As is the oversteer that we experienced in sharp maneuvers. The steering is very responsive, though more feel to this well balanced effort would be welcomed.
Braking is accomplished by standard anti-lock-equipped 4-wheel discs. We averaged 134 foot stops from 60 miles-per-hour. Stability is sport-sedan solid, with a soft but very positive feel to the brake pedal.
Out on the civilized road, the LS is still a lot of fun to drive, with its spirited engine and sharp handling. Too bad Lincoln expects the V6 manual model to only make up five-percent of LS sales. So, the majority of LS models to leave showrooms will be equipped with the V-8 which we drove extensively at the press introduction in San Francisco. Overall, it’s about a second quicker than the V-6.
I’ve thus far talked about how the magazines loved how the Lincoln LS drove, but I haven’t mentioned the luxury aspect. In addition to the great driving chops, Lincoln filled the LS with burled walnut trim, standard leather seats with power, memory and heating, dual-zone climate control, a car phone, and a six-disc CD changer. Really, Lincoln wasn’t really moving the needle on technology with the LS. During this time you could find BMWs with refrigerators and Xenon headlights while GM had night vision with heads up displays.
Instead, the goal here was an entry-level Lincoln that drivers would love. The Lincoln LS was supposed to be one of a number of rear-wheel-drive cars meant to reinvigorate Lincoln, but Ford was reportedly suffering from a financial crisis that left Lincoln without the planned RWD platform for future products. That left the LS as the only exciting vehicle in Lincoln’s line and by 2006, even the LS found itself on the chopping block.
As Automotive News notes, the manual version of the car didn’t even reach five percent of total sales. Lincoln sold 262,900 LS sedans between 1999 and 2006, though just 2,331 of them came equipped with that manual transmission. Put that number as a percentage and it’s just 0.8 percent of total Lincoln LS production. Clearly, the vast majority of LS buyers didn’t want to row their own.
Despite that, these still do exist out there. I found two of them in my area and both are well under $10,000. Indeed, these are pretty rare for a Lincoln, but they aren’t worth a lot of money. Still, if you’re looking for the kind of Lincoln that might make your grandfather scoff, this might be the ticket.
Do you know of a “holy grail” of a car out there? If so, we want to read about it! Send us an email at tips@theautopian.com and give us a pitch for why you think your favorite car is a “holy grail.”
(All photos: Manufacturer, unless otherwise noted.)
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Motorweek tested this when new, 0-60 time for the manual/V6 was 8.5 seconds (they said consistently). In 2000 that wasn’t terrible, but also not what I would call fun.
The thing that bothered me the most about the LS was how uncomfortable they were to drive distances. The front seat bottoms were so uncomfortable, and I met others with the same issue with the car.
Reliability of these weren’t too bad, the V8’s actually were way more durable than you think.
I do like the LS styling, but for the platform/engine/trans combos? I can’t belive I’m going to say this…. but LS vs. S-type…. I’d get the S-type with the supercharged motor.
(puts on flame suit)
The LS is on the short list of “project” cars I’d love to have. Since it’s half Jag, it’s a perfect candidate for an engine upgrade to an R engine. Putting the dinky V8 in them was a travesty. It’s a gorgeous car. While not as pretty as the Jag, it’s understated lines have always appealed to me. Just needs a bit more oomph.
I came very close to buying an LS with a manual when they were new. I stopped when I found out the engines were designed by Jaguar. Too dangerous once the warranty ends.
The only Jaguar engines I ever want are straight six and V12.
Currently 0 manual Lincoln LS’s for sale on Autotrader nationwide right now. Good luck!
That is similar to the search results I usually find for these… even digging deeper into Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace listings.
This was a car I was going to suggest for this series. The earlier model years are a clean design that has aged very well, in my opinion. The refresh dropped the manual option and added a lot of tacky looking plastic cladding on certain trims.
Too bad the manual was quite slow with the V6. That doesn’t stop me from searching for these once in a while… though I rarely find any. Hard to believe you found two of them! Same with David’s Sport Trac the other day… super rare, yet mostly undesirable to the masses.
No No No. My son in law had one from new. Thousands of dollars of repairs and mechanics that were frightened of its’ english bits. Go to Mercedes’ Crown Vic article and relive a dream no one ever had, but maybe we should have.
What you’re saying is, manual swap a Crown Vic? I have thought about that as well. Poor reliability doesn’t keep me from window shopping for these once in a while… along with manual X-Types or Cadillac ATS and CTS’s.
Test drove when new. Was impressed. Wished the manual was available with V8. The rub: Lincoln dealerships in 1999 were not places for a late 20something. It looked like a hospital waiting room. With aggressive salespeople to make it worse.
Bought the first of a couple of Audi A4s instead.
I remember all the excitement when the LS came out, it really seemed like exactly the product to turn Lincoln around – as I recall, the average buyer age was somewhere in the 50s, which was like a decade younger than the Town Car and discontinued Continental, and Lincoln-Mercury dealers were reporting a decent number of conquest sales to people who got sticker shock at the BMW showroom.
The first gen Cadillac CTS certainly had more distinctive styling, but the interior was really plastic garbage, the LS’ maybe wasn’t all that great, but it was certainly a step up from the Cadillac.
I suppose sales were lower than Ford wanted, but it seems like they had the genesis of a good idea and you kind of wonder what would have happened if they had done a second generation LS instead of badge engineering a Fusion, it was definitely a lot more credible as an entry luxury sedan than the Zephyr/MKZ
“Not Long Ago Lincoln Sold A Fun Sport Sedan With Rear-Wheel-Drive And A Manual Transmission”
Yes, yes they did, and as someone who turned wrenches in a Lincoln dealership service department at the time, I can tell you that they were absolute garbage.
Yeah, it’s a Jaguar S-Type with all the expensive repair costs and high maintenance but without the prestige or even a hood ornament 😀
The S-Type was also available with a manual and the hood ornament.
I actually came rather close to buying one of these when weighing it against, you guessed it, an E39 530i.
I actually enjoyed the way the Lincoln drove and shifted more than the BMW, and that Duratec V6 stacks up just fine to the M54 for daily duties. They’re very enjoyable cars, and I’m still upset that the one I looked at was in as terrible condition as it was (I would’ve walked away with it otherwise).
”
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Home » Not Long Ago Lincoln Sold A Fun Sport Sedan With Rear-Wheel-Drive And A Manual Transmission
Not Long Ago Lincoln Sold A Fun Sport Sedan With Rear-Wheel-Drive And A Manual Transmission
By Mercedes Streeter
March 9, 2023
6:20 pm
37 Comments
Lstoptop
If you stroll into a Lincoln dealership today, you might find yourself disappointed at the marque’s current lack of diversity. You have a choice of just three crossovers and the flagship Navigator. It’s been a couple of years since Lincoln last sold sedans in American, and its final entries–the Continental and MKZ–leaned more towards luxury than a sporty driving experience [Ed Note: The MKZ 3.0 was actually kinda quick. -DT]. If you wanted to have luxury and a thrilling drive, you had to go back to the early 2000s. The Lincoln LS was the marque’s interpretation of European sport sedans and the rear-wheel-drive sedan could even get equipped with a manual transmission.
Last time on Holy Grails, reader TheMecca reminded us of a time when Infiniti built a crossover for people who like driving. The Infiniti FX, later the QX70, came available with a coupe-like body and a V8 engine. The top of the line at first was the FX45, which came with a 4.5-liter VK45DE V8 making 315 HP. Perhaps Car and Driver said it best when it summed up the FX45 as “an SUV that thinks, and runs, like a sports car.” The magazine found it ever so slightly faster than a BMW X5 4.6is and a Mercedes ML55 AMG. Later, the SUV would get a VK50VE V8 punching out 390 HP. V8 versions are also weirdly rare, with around 3,000 to 3,800 units on the road. Today, Infiniti takes credit for creating the coupe-like SUV designs that so many automakers love today.
The Early 2000s Was A Fun Time To Love Cars
Access 2000 Lincoln Ls Neg Cn329040 031
Today’s Holy Grail follows a similar idea of a luxury car that’s a little different than you’d expect. Reader Jeff H takes us back to the early 2000s. The automotive landscape during this era was a rather wild one. Over at Chrysler, you could buy a Prowler, a retro-style roadster that looked like nothing else. You could also come home with the practical, yet controversial PT Cruiser. Honda’s Insight ruled the fuel economy charts and Pontiac’s Aztek polarized enthusiasts while technically being ahead of its time. And if you wanted speed, there were all kinds of choice out there from the Dodge Viper, Ford SVT Mustang Cobra, and even the SVT F-150 Lightning.
This era also saw some changeups in luxury cars. Personal luxury cars were dying off while luxury SUVs and sport sedans were in vogue. As MotorWeek noted in its Episode 1839, Lincoln had for generations been known for building plush luxury rides. Take, for example, Lincoln’s 1995 lineup. Your choices were the Continental, Town Car, and the Mark VIII, all cushy American luxury vehicles. Lincoln hadn’t even sold a vehicle with a manual transmission since the 1951 Cosmopolitan. But times were changing. European marques enticed American buyers with their luxury and driving performance while the luxury SUV continued to gain traction.
Access 1998 Lincoln Navigator Neg Cn327014 131
Lincoln had gotten into the luxury SUV market with the Navigator, a Ford Expedition-based posh cruiser that would become a smash hit. But that wasn’t Lincoln’s only trick up its sleeve. As the folks of Motor Trend note, Ford had an idea to steal buyers away from European luxury marques, and it would do it with exciting rear-wheel-drive cars.
Lincoln’s First Sport Sedan
2000 Lincoln Ls 2
The first vehicle to come out of Lincoln’s plan was the Lincoln LS, and it was another major departure from what the public would expect from the brand. So much of it comes down to Ford product development chief Richard Parry-Jones, chief designer Helmuth Schrader, and engineers brought in from Ford’s European operations. As Motor Trend writes, the LS was built from the ground up to be innovative rather than following Lincoln’s then existing traditions.
These engineers were working with the freshly-developed Ford DEW98 platform. Developed by Ford and Jaguar engineers, the DEW98 platform would find itself underpinning the Jaguar S-Type, Ford Thunderbird, and Jaguar XF. It was supposed to be the underpinnings of the 2005 Ford Mustang as well, though that didn’t happen. Publication the Morning Call notes that the Jaguar S-Type and Lincoln LS share about 40 percent of their parts, yet both development teams worked hard to give both cars entirely different characters. Edmunds Inside Line further describes the magic that the engineers did:
Engineered for solidity, DEW98 provides the LS with an incredible sense of substance. Nary a shimmy nor a shake writhes its way to the passenger compartment, which is tomblike in its silence factor except for somewhat intrusive road rumble from the P235/50R17 Firestone Firehawk LH tires (non-Sport models have 16-inch 60-series rubber) on certain paved surfaces.
Lincoln Ls 1999 Pictures 1
Lincoln went to great extremes to isolate the driver from unwanted aural annoyances. For example, the natural frequency of the steering column and steering wheel are purposely high to avoid body-structure resonance, and a metal seat foam support pan was designed for reduced vibration. Hydraulically damped engine mounts also minimize shaking, and the two-piece driveshaft is balanced at the factory prior to installation. A true dual exhaust system helps dampen noise, as do triple-sealed doors, 4.6 mm thick front side glass and a special acoustic shield that keeps out engine racket. Maybe that’s why the tire noise is so obvious, eh?
Attached to the stiff underbody is a four-wheel short-long arm (SLA) independent suspension that makes extensive use of aluminum to keep poundage down and the car’s nearly perfect 51/49 front/rear weight balance intact (52/48 for the V8 Sport we tested). These lightweight double-wishbone components also reduce unsprung weight, helping to keep the Firestones glued to the road. Retarding dive and squat under hard braking and acceleration is a patented rear setup that seats the rear springs and shock absorbers against the frame rails. This allows engineers to dial in a substantial amount of negative lift to keep the rear of the car level. It works brilliantly.
Lincoln
The Lincoln LS marked a few firsts for the automaker. It was Lincoln’s first sport sedan, Lincoln’s stiffest body, and the sedan offered Lincoln’s first manual transmission in 48 years. This car was supposed to ring in a new era for the automaker, and reading reviews of the machine, it seemed like Lincoln really had a winner. Check out this review from Motor Trend:
Unbelievable! That was my overriding thought, as I circled Northern California’s Thunderhill Raceway again and again. Whether accelerating down straights, carving through sweepers, threading hairpins, or hauling it down under hard braking just before slicing in toward a new apex, this car was working surprisingly well. It felt unexpectedly taut, predictable, and controllable as it tackled the ins and outs of the track with the same finesse and fine-tuned control as a world-class European sport sedan. Yet, most amazing of all, I was driving a Lincoln. This is no mushy, wallowing Town Car; it’s Lincoln’s brand-new entry-level sport luxury model, the LS. And it is, quite simply, a revelation.
When the Lincoln LS went on the market in 1999 for the 2000 model year, the $31,450 ($57,266 today) base version sported a 3.0-liter engine that was a variant of the Jaguar AJ-V6. That put down 210 HP and 205 lb-ft torque. Later, this output would get bumped up to 220 HP and 215 lb-ft. If you wanted more power, you had to pay $35,225 ($64,140 today) which netted you a 3.9-liter Jaguar AJ-V8 that sent 252 HP and 267 lb-ft to the rear wheels.
Lincoln originally wanted the vehicle to be called the LS6 or LS8 depending on the engine choice and you can even find brochures that were printed to reflect this. However, as Edmunds Inside Line reports, Lexus was concerned that buyers would confuse the Euro Lincoln for the Lexus LS 400. Lincoln backed down, settling for just LS. Edmunds joked that now buyers would now end up in Saturn dealers looking for a Lincoln LS.
The Grail
Lincoln Ls 2002 Photos 1
By all accounts, the reviews above suggest that Lincoln somehow achieved something fantastic and built an American sport sedan that performed on the level of something European. If you were an enthusiast and wanted to row your own gears, Lincoln had you covered there as well, and that’s the one that Jeff H says could be a holy grail:
My dad had a Lincoln LS manual with a sports package. It was an awesome car. Looks like ~2300 were made. Lincoln isn’t known for sporty cars. Shared platform with the jaguar s-type. Near 50/50 weight distribution. Underpowered, but could this be a holy grail?
Matt Hardigree certainly agreed:
Excellent suggestion. I actually almost bought one of these a few months ago!
As Wards Auto notes, Lincoln sold the LS with what the publication called the “fun” package. While you could get either the V6 or the V8 LS with an automatic, you could spec your LS V6 with a five-speed manual from Getrag. From there, you could add the Sport package, which deletes the brightwork for monochrome trim. The Sport package also adds thick 17-inch wheels and tires, a 38 percent thicker rear stabilizer, heavy duty brake pads, an engine oil cooler, new shock valving, and a more sporty steering system. Getting a V6 with the manual and the sport package was $32,250, or $58,723 today.
Lincoln1
As far as how well this worked? Well, MotorWeek seemed to love it:
We tried out the sportiest V-6 manual at our Maryland test track, and recorded a consistent 0-to-60 time of 8.5 seconds. The quarter mile took 16.6 seconds, ending at a speed of 87 miles-per-hour. The V6 engine revs freely, and makes good power above 2,000 rpm, hitting hardest at 4,000 rpm and up. Lincoln’s wide gearing produced a noticeable drop in revs between second and third gears, but otherwise, the gearbox is light and very positive.
Handling is even more impressive, thanks to a new short-and-long-arm suspension. With our car’s firmer sport tuning, standard with the V6 manual, it reminds us of the excellent Lexus GS400. Turn in is quick, with very little body roll. There is some front end plow, but it arrives very late in the corner, and is easily controlled.”
You read this in John Davis’s voice. Admit it.
I owned a Lincoln LS with a manual transmission. It was a great car to drive. Comfortable, handled very well. Perfect size. If they had continued to develop the platform, I would have bought another one.
The V6 was powerful enough, although it would have been interesting if they had made a powerful V8 with a manual. The transmission was smooth.
I pulled into a Lincoln dealer to get it services and the service team was shocked that it had a manual. They had never seen one.
It was the only Lincoln I ever owned. Lincoln never produced another car that I had the slightest interest in.
A really cool car, one of my favorite Lincolns. But owning one now scares the Beejeebus out of me. Low volume means parts will be hard to find, and so will model-specific Youtube videos of repair jobs. Might as well be a BMW.
“Might as well be a BMW.”
There is much to criticize about BMW’s, but a lack of model specific DIY stuff doesnt match my experience.
Owned an E34 and E39, currently own an E46. Lots of sites offering lots of details for repairs and upgrades. Also plenty of parts availability, including upgraded items ( I have some mono-ball suspension parts awaiting installation ).
Back when Ford owned Jaguar, in the Detroit Area, we were rotten with Jags and the LS Lincoln. I bring it up because what ended up happening is that all the Ford Executives and their families would get Jaguars, and everyone had these LS Lincolns. With the discounts, family plans, etc. they were attainable.
I have it in my head that the metro Detroit area had the most Jaguars of any locale in the US.
But this LS, they were everywhere here. and I can’t tell you the last time I saw one. Same with a Jag from that era…
Can confirm. Was an intern in Detroit area at the time, my fellow intern’s dad was an Exec at Ford. When I’d pick her up in my sh!t box to hang out on the weekends, he would insist that I driver her around in his XK8 convertible instead.
My parents had the v8 auto from that era.
It was held together with bubblegum and hot glue Pieces were falling off all the time.
The seats would rip if you looked at them funny.
Granted it ran but looked like crap after a few months of normal usage. The took a hit and traded it in on a car that like to stay together.
Ford Europe was planning to sell Lincoln LS in Europe, including the right-hand-drive examples for the Great Britain, Ireland, Malta, and a few of left-rule-of-road countries. The pre-facelift LS has all of ECE type approval “hieroglyphics” on the headlamps and taillamps (never seen on the previous Lincolns). Thus, the manual gearbox availability.
However, many Europeans have no idea what Lincoln represented as Lincoln had never been officially sold in Europe (until a small number of tenth-generation Lincoln Continental was sold through Ford Europe sales channel from 2017 to 2020). The British people associated the name, Lincoln, with the famous Lincoln Cathedral, and nothing else.
So, Lincoln LS was doomed from the start…
I don’t know if it was ‘doomed’, Europe is fairly accepting of new marques. The Korean cars do well, and Chinese automakers are gaining a foothold.
Yep. DEW was deemed too expensive for the Mustang, so Ford essentially cost-cut the hell out of it to make the eventual D2C platform that underpinned the 2005 “S197” Mustang. D2C had small non-consequential portions of DEW, like part of the floorpan and the gas tank shape.
Meanwhile, Ford did have plans to continue utilizing DEW, but those were scuttled under–I presume–cost-cutting measures. There was supposed to be a Mark IX, but I suppose Ford saw how unsuccessful the Thunderbird had been and decided not to do it. There was also supposed to be a large luxury car for Lincoln that could actually replace the Town Car.
Most interestingly, the “X350” (2003/4-2009) Jaguar XJ was an aluminum version of DEW98. When the “X150” (2007-2015) XK arrived, it was on that same platform. The XJ’s platform was evolved to make the final “X351” (2010/11-2019) XJ, and the platform was also evolved to create that of the F-Type.
And yes, Jaguar inherited the unadulterated DEW platform with the XF, the S-Type’s replacement, and kept that car going until 2015.
So Jaguar, at least, got plenty of use out of DEW.
I’m a bowtie/ weird, impractical car guy, but I always absolutely loved the looks of these. Really considered grabbing a manual one, if it came in v8 it would of been a done deal.
Always liked the style of the LS – feels like the true design evolution of the 2nd Generation Town Car (all-time personal fav, thanks Grosse Pointe Blank)
I got to test drive a manual LS back in the early 2000s! A friend showed up at my house with it, he was out on an extended test drive from the local dealer. It was impressive but also strange to be rowing gears in a car of its size as at the time I was used to compact Hondas and VWs.
Didn’t these cars have all sorts of issues?
Jaaaag electronics do jaaaaag things, but the autotragic transmissions were the real problems, they were positively atrocious.
I don’t think the LS had Jaguar electronics, and even the S-Type didn’t until its 2003 revamp.
The real tragedy is that the LS and Thunderbird only ever had a weird 3.9-liter version of the Jaguar V8. They never got the improved 4.2 and 4.2 S/C engines, which are some of Jaguar’s most reliable ever.
I had the distinct pleasure of spending 5 years of my career at Ford working on the DEW98 platform as the rear suspension engineer. It was a dream job in many ways because the platform was being run and developed by engineers. We fought like hell to make it a drivers car with excellent road manners, good weight distribution, and exceptional steering. We even went so far as to move the 12V battery to the trunk just behind the rear bumper. It was more expensive that way but it improved the weight distribution by 2%! The atmosphere was electric and we had the backing of Richard Parry Jones and Neil Ressler, two of the best executives any engineer could hope to work for. Jag then took the platform and put it under all of their products except the X-type. It’s just a shame Ford didn’t develop it further. They just let it wither on the vine.
I’ve had a few highlights in my career and the DEW98 platform is definitely near the top.
Why did they wuss out on putting the manual behind the V8?
It sure seemed a Ford thing at the time. The Fusion was available with a stick for most of its run, but always only in the lower spec models (I’ve never seen one in person…it’s one of my grails to spot one)
Fusion/Milan started out pretty flexible with the manual availability. Even a Milan Premier (in high school I knew a guy who’s dad bought a new Milan Premier manual). By 2012 it was just the base model IIRC but it more tapered off as the production run continued, though you could still get a mid-spec with the sport appearance package, and actually a better equipped Fusion manual than a 2nd-gen Mazda6 manual. And Mazda was already tapering off the manual-shift upper trim and engine models by the end of the 1st-gen’s run.
But top-spec or big-engine manuals were still more the exception than the norm by that point anyway. By the end of the decade, Nissan and even Honda had dropped top-trim I4/MT combo midsize sedans, Accord topping out at EX.
it’s funny because the first-gen Fusion was a rebadged Mazda6, which did offer the manual with the V6
It’s like the current Bronco. The manual is paired with the worst engine.
That way they can say “We offered a manual but no one wanted it”
I am not sor sure the 2.7 Nanao with all of it’s recalls is much better than the 2.3 ecoboost. Ford needed to nut up and put the F150 Raptor 3.5 and axles under a bronco, with the 7 speed with crawl gear. Or better yet the 5.2 Raptor R v8.
if not on the Lincoln, it definitely should have been optional on the Thunderchicken of that era. they were essentially Lincoln LS underneath.
I lusted after both as younger guy, but I am glad I passed u p both. they had a reputation pretty quick for finicky systems. I assume that is due the JAAAAAAgggg connection.
Market demand, probably. It was sized like a 5-Series but priced like and compared to the 3, and a V8 at all was more of a novelty for the segment. Jag didn’t pair the V8 with a manual either, so probably something that wasn’t worth developing especially as Lincoln was wading into the segment carefully.
I was just writing about this! Not many people know that the platform in the XJ and XK was essentially an aluminum version of DEW.
And Jaguar basically is running variants of DEW to this day (or not all that long ago), with the final XJ and the XF. I seriously shopped the LS V8 back in 2001 as a potential purchase, It drove great, but I didn’t like the feel of the interior materials, and felt like most Fords I’d owned and driven–like it’d start falling apart at 100k miles, which in my use case equaled (and still equals) 2-3 years of driving. Ended up buying a Saab 9-5 Aero instead, and still have it; it’s been retired from daily driver duty for years now.
Yes, with some corrections.
The gen. 1 XF was on DEW, but the Gen. 2 moved to Jaguar Land Rover’s in-house Premium Lightweight Architecture (PLA), ending their use of the core DEW platform after MY2015.
However…
The most recent X351 (2010/11-2019) XJ, yes, did use an evolved version of the X350 (2003/4-2009) XJ’s aluminum DEW platform. But, of course, that car was discontinued in 2019. The canceled XJ EV would not have been on the aluminum DEW platform, but rather the new Modular Longitude Platform (MLA) that is used on the new L460 Range Rover and L461 Range Rover Sport.
The F-Type uses an evolved version of the X150 (2007-2015) XK’s DEW structure, and that car is still in production, until after MY2024.
So the F-Type is the last car to use DEW engineering.
This was such a wild time for sports sedans. People forget that the original Infiniti G35 came out around this time as well and legitimately gave the mighty 3 series a run for its money. Plus you had the E46 M3, the B6 S4 that had a damn NA V8, the CTS-V made its first appearance etc. What a time to be alive.
Unfortunately I’m 32 and while I got to experience all the sports sedan brilliance through reading magazines by the time I could potentially afford one this sort of thing had come and gone. It is what it is, I know we have good sports sedans today but the fact that RWD/manual/naturally aspirated was the approach back then makes a big difference.
Anyway, good grail. My friend’s dad had an all black LS around this time and young NSane thought it looked mean as hell. Can’t remember if it was manual but it’s statistically unlikely.
Don’t forget the manual IS300 and the manual X type. Even Mercedes C classes had stick shifts back then. And the GTO, which was a coupe but still sort of in this category.
We didn’t know how good we had it.
The OG CTS-V was the best of that group by a long shot. The interior was crap, but dynamically it was just so slick. That’s another one I came close to buying, but in the end I couldn’t make the numbers work and ended up with a ZHP—which I can’t really complain about.
The Lexus IS is still my favourite car I’ve ever had. We only got the 2litre six in the IS200 over here, which lacked grunt, but they are just so good. Plus, it was my first ‘nice’ car after years of shitboxes. It was so nice and smooth, I caught myself doing 115 on the way home with it because I was so used to cars making terrifying noises at motorway speeds, which was my audio speedometer.
I had an IS300, and it handled and looked great… nice interior too except for the infamous SRS pad… but otherwise I was meh about it. But I came here to pile-on about the audio speedometer…
I went from a ’93 Accord to an E46 M3, and on the drive home accidentally hit 153 mph in 6th. It sounded the same as my Honda at 73 mph! I had never gone that fast before and haven’t since. I slowed right the fuck down before I could get arrested 😀
When did Pontiac drop the G8? And weren’t they still making Bonnevilles with V8s around this time? Not really in the same class as the others mentioned, I guess, but still a step up.
The G8 died (prematurely) with Pontiac, in 2009; the G8 GXPs were some of the last Pontiacs sold.
The Bonneville with the Northstar is one of the weirder cars GM offered back then; seems like it was a product of Bob Lutz arriving and trying to build excitement on the cheap (as was the GTO). You’d have thought he’d learned his lesson from Merkur…
I remember a magazine test in the early-mid 00s with something like 10 cars from this class, almost all manuals. Crazy times.
Yeah, beat me to it, in addition to the usual suspects like BMW, there was Lexus, Infiniti, Saab, Lincoln, etc. I was just going to mention that and look in my old magazine collection and see if I still have it.
I’m the same age, so I too only got to enjoy these cars vicariously through the auto mags. The LS was always something I lusted after but by the time I began driving, even young and stupid ND4SPD knew that a used LS wasn’t a smart choice. A few years after graduating, a friend got an LS V8 and it confirmed that as cool as they were, it’s not exactly a budget friendly used car. It’s like they say, don’t meet your heroes. At any rate, I still think they’re fantastic looking, especially in black. It struck that balance of looking like a proper Lincoln without looking too much like a proper Lincoln.
And as for the G35, I feel that car doesn’t get the credit it deserves. People, Infiniti included, seem to forget how hot that car was when it came out. That was Japan’s one real shot to overthrow the 3-series and they came pretty damn close. Hell, I’d argue that was the closest anyone ever came to truly rivaling the 3er. That’s in terms of imagine if not outright sales, as no one ever touched the 3er’s numbers.
I actually got to experience those times, and yeah, they were sweet. I knew a girl with a manual G35 and it was shockingly cool.
Yikes posted too fast. Meant to add I’m old enough to have been around when a friend’s dad picked us up from practice one day in his new Ford Taurus SHO. I’d never seen a manual transmission in a big domestic sedan before, much less one that looked like that.
In the old-as-dirt contest, I’m going to say I’m old enough to have enjoyed driving those SHOs when they came out, and they were intensely cool. Unlike anything else out there, certainly at the price point.
I am much older than you guys but agree about the late 90s and early 2000s. Mazda had a runaway hit and it begat the BMW Z3, Audi TT Roadster even the mini Mercedes SLK and the Honda S2000, as well as the funky MR2 Spyder. BMW had ongoing success with the three series, and it gave rise to an even bigger group of competitors as mentioned in the comments. I still daily a 2002 Lexus IS300, nice and reflexes though not at all fast by current standards. also very well built and reliable.
And there were fun or quirky FWD entries too. Saab had the new 9-3, and then there was Acura. I was watching a Motorweek Retro Review the other night and it struck me that in 2004 the Acura TL was $33,195, and the TSX was $26,990. Those prices seem…quaint now. I’m one who is quick to point out that adjusted for inflation a car of today does offer more than its equivalent 20+ years ago, but it’s still different.
You and I are the same age and the section header “The Early 2000s Was A Fun Time To Love Cars” really sat with me. The last couple “turn of the decade” times haven’t felt the same and I don’t think that’s just because it was then experienced through the lens of adulthood.
I’ll be the first to sing the praises of the G35’s FM platform (RWD/AWD, fun to drive, cheap parts, easy to service), but BMW they were not. Tiny brakes, thin metal, cheap interiors made them feel a lot more like Subaru’s. The rated top speed of my G35x (155 mph) would be absolutely terrifying…but I would take the G35 any day over an LS. In my opinion the LS was a great idea, but poorly executed. Also early LS V8 examples may have issues related to the Nikasil cylinder coatings, timing chain tensioners, and disintegrating plastic components in the cooling system. I had the AJ-V8 (4.0) in my Jag, it had basically the same power output as the VQ35 in the G35 and as much as I like the sound of the V8, I knew it was a ticking time bomb.
It’s somewhat called out, but the other holy grail is the Jaguar S-Type 3.0 manual! Shared power train as the LS (with a few more ponies) in a more stylish body with that rich, English leather and wood to cap it off.
And if you want to go earlier in the decade, IIRC, in the late 80s/early 90s, for like a single year or two, Jaguar actually offered a manual in the venerable XJS coupe!
And cut down the weight (they were always porky) by replacing steel with aluminum.
I’m not sure, but I think the manual option came and went on the XJ-S over time – it was available at launch with the V12, I believe we got it when the six-cylinder option (3.6L) was first launched in the 80’s, and we absolutely available in the early 90’s with the 4.0L (a local Jag specialist had one for sale about a decade ago).
And of course, more manual options for Euro market cars is nothing new, but the X300, maybe even the X308, XJ was available with a stick over there as well, which would be rather neat in Sport trim (sort of an XJR without the power).
The V12 XJ-S indeed only came as a manual from the factory in the very early cars and this was only because Jaguar had a surplus of 4 speed gearboxes left over from E Type production. The six cylinder XJ_S was offered as a manual (in the UK at least) through its entire production run, in fact early six cylinders only came as a manual.
X308 was never offered with a manual but the X300 XJR with the supercharged six could be had a manual.
A product of the Premier Auto Group and Wolfgang Reitzle, once of BMW and now off making forklifts.
I nearly bought one of these new, but was frustrated that you couldn’t get the manual with the V8 or even the full fat 240 hp six that was in S-type. Initially, the Jag was auto only, though later it too could be had with the manual (and is its own Holy Grail).
The LS represents the possibility a weird alternative future for Lincoln and Ford. Had they kept developing it, you’d have had a really nice RWD platform — but instead we got the MKZ and MKT and MKS and all that other nonsense.
Still, looking at Cadillac, it’s hard to say Ford made the wrong choice. GM has burned millions of dollars trying to create world class sport sedans, and just as they’ve by all accounts succeeded, the sport sedan as a concept is going the way of the dodo. Ford was probably better off walking away when it did.
MK MK MK M O U S E.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
The problem Cadillac has is that GM spent all that money on decent drivetrain development and then installed it in rubbermaid containers with their own goofy numeric nomenclatures. OK, sure, “Art and Science” rubbermaid, but still…
Yeah, the Blackwings seem absolutely stellar but unfortunately they’re the wrong product for right now. If they came out 10-15 years earlier they’d have absolutely mopped up the competition and be correctly put on a pedestal in enthusiast Valhalla.
But today they’re more or less an amazing niche product. There aren’t exactly a ton of people that want a manual, rear wheel drive, gas guzzling sedan in 2023 and I’d imagine a lot of the folks who do are priced out. Don’t get me wrong-I think they’re amazing cars and I may circle back to a CT4V BW as a stretch purchase in a few years or would jump on one if they ever depreciate into the high 40s/low 50s (extremely unlikely) but they’re essentially 65-100 grand pony cars in a well tailored suit.
Do I think that sounds amazing? Hell yeah brotherrrrrrrr. But outside of us weirdos (I know V10emous is getting one) I’m not sure if I see where the market is. Like you imply, the era of this grail is when the BWs should have happened. Sports sedan nirvana came and went.
Enough weirdos are buying them that the waitlists are still long lol. But I agree overall, GM’s continued dedication to the sport sedan is both awesome and a poor business decision.
This is another one of those examples I point to when people say GM is overly conservative. Conservative? GM has made some *crazy* shit over the years. Decisions that make no sense. Cars that are just plain bizarre. Whole engines designed for like 6 months of use and then shitcanned. It’s a bizarre company.
And this is the automaker that will spend years trying to get one of its oddball products just right, and then once it finally does, it axes it. Pontiac was the poster child for this.
Listen, my friend…if I can get a CT4 V BW that isn’t trashed in the 40s or 50s in a 3-4 years I’d strongly consider it. I’m a weirdo too. The one thing I might have going for me is I’d actually want the 10 speed and they’re more likely to depreciate than the manual ones.
I like your chances of being able to find one. ATS-Vs of about that age seem to be in the 40s now, or even the high 30s.
Fair or not, I think there’s a sense of finality about the 5BW that isn’t there with the 4BW. You won’t see another V8 sedan like it again, let alone with manual, but a 6 cylinder sport sedan may live on a bit longer at competitors (BMW for sure). There’s probably a lot less collector value with the 4BW as a result.
Didn’t Car and Driver just have a Blackwing engine fail after 4 test runs?
Looks like it was after 15 runs, and GM claimed (at the time) to have never seen a similar failure in any LT4 engine.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a40992058/cadillac-ct5-v-blackwing-engine-failure/
Ooh, don’t remind me! I had a 2013 MKS, and it handled like a pig.
The real interesting part was how many shared resources Ford corporate got out of its brands. Ford, Volvo, Jaguar and Mazda all did some really fine work together. Land Rover and Aston Martin were less involved, but got good use of it.