I'm trying to get some opinions on my new car, so if you have any first-hand experience with LS's feel free to chime in.

My old econobox died last week, and I needed a car fast so I went to a dealership to look at some LS's. I've had my eye on them for a while because I like the styling, they are cheap, and they had good reviews.

So I bought a 2003 LS V8 Sport with 53K on it. Its silver with black leather interior and an Alpine 6 CD, 12-speaker amplified system. Aftermarket, it has a Wings West bodykit, HID headlights, Platinum Ultra Spyder chrome wheels and Falken tires. It looks like some dealer badged it an "LSC" model, after the old Mark VIII performance moniker.

I would consider it to be between good and great condition. The KBB retail value in my area is approximately 22K, I paid 16K plus tax and got a 2 year warranty included. Good deal? I can never really trust the blue book.

It actually looks almost exactly like the car in this guy's gallery, except without the aftermarket grill. http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=125



Opinions? Any suggestions for performance or cosmetic upgrades? Its American, so what problems should I look out for? I've read that the valve cover gaskets frequently go bad, and that the tranny is not up to par with the engine.

[Edited on January 23, 2007 at 11:52 PM. Reason : 2]

1/23/2007 11:50:19 PM

get that fucking spoiler off of it.

and on a side-note...isn't it a little late to ask whether you got a good deal after you bought the car? Whether you did or not its a bit late to do anything about it.

1/23/2007 11:52:11 PM

I NEED INTERNET APPROVAL

1/23/2007 11:53:09 PM

I kinda like the spoiler. The car looks kinda boring without it.

And yes, its late to ask whether its a good deal. But I'm still curious.

1/23/2007 11:53:30 PM

nice car. thats a good price.

1/23/2007 11:53:55 PM

paging danmangt40

1/23/2007 11:54:25 PM

Thanks. I don't think the dealer really knew what all was on the car. He kept saying that the "LSC" package was a performance package from Lincoln, and included the chrome wheels and bodykit.

He must have gotten it confused with the LSE model.

1/23/2007 11:55:42 PM

I have always liked these cars

sporty yet with the class of a Lincoln


Rims could make it look good, tint perhaps...theres a few minor things depends on if you want luxury or sporty

1/23/2007 11:57:11 PM

It has these rims on it right now:

1/23/2007 11:58:24 PM

yea the stock rims on this car dont add any class to it at all, thats a good upgrade

personally i think you got a good deal on it and its a great looking car, I like it and thought about getting one myself.

keep the tranny checked out and dont wear it out, my buddy restored one of these back from salvage and loves it

nice pick up

1/24/2007 12:00:05 AM

Yeah, whoever put the rims and other stuff on it also tinted the windows. There is also a some carbon-fiber looking stuff around the dash and doors, I'm not sure if thats stock or a sticker of some sort. I'm still finding out new things about this car everyday.

I'm thinking of putting some dynomat in it, maybe upgrading the amp and subs in the back. I might not even bother fucking with the sound system, my hearing is bad so the dynamat ought to help just by reducing cabin noise.

[Edited on January 24, 2007 at 12:28 AM. Reason : 2]

1/24/2007 12:26:40 AM

Quote :

"yea the stock rims on this car dont add any class to it at all, thats a good upgrade"

those rims? classy? no...

sounds like someone has ruined an otherwise decent looking car with tacky junk.

1/24/2007 12:40:58 AM

Yeah, I'm sure there are some who would feel that way. On the other hand, the car's original styling is a little bit boring even for the age demographic it targeted. A little bit of flash helps in this case, IMO.

I've never been a fan of bodykits on crappy/slow cars, but I think it works pretty well on this one.

I'll take some pics tomorrow and let you be the judge.

[Edited on January 24, 2007 at 12:47 AM. Reason : 2]

1/24/2007 12:46:23 AM

Cars, in general, are going to look more refined with clean simple lines. By adding kits and spoilers, you are distracted from the refinement and design with cheap add ons. The chrome wheels are nothing more than gaudy.

sounds like someone has ruined an otherwise decent looking car with tacky junk.



[Edited on January 24, 2007 at 1:00 AM. Reason : ]

1/24/2007 12:59:00 AM

Thats somewhat of a simplistic point of view. You might want to ask BMW and Mercedes why they trick out their performance cars with side skirts, chrome rims and spoilers.

Everybody knows that kits and rims can look tacky when put on a shitty car. I'm not gonna argue with that. But I happen to think that the upgrades on this car make it look pretty damn good. The upgrades were seamless enough to fool the Lincoln dealership, and me too for a while. I didn't realize it was a bodykit until I did some research online.

1/24/2007 1:09:01 AM

The difference is that the "add ons" on those cars are designed intentionally to work with the design of the car. Yours, like many aftermarkets, do not.

[Edited on January 24, 2007 at 1:16 AM. Reason : ]

1/24/2007 1:14:37 AM

Quote :

"they trick out their performance cars with side skirts, chrome rims and spoilers. "

They don't, the 2nd teir specialty shops do. Same thing as the Saleen Mustang.

And there's a huge difference. The original cars are crafted by designers with years of experience, who have done amazing amounts of research and work to produce a car that fits its market.

The bodykit manufacturers, by and large, churn out hideous shit as fast as possible to sell to idiots with a middle school education who are easily separated from their money.

1/24/2007 1:20:02 AM

Also, what's up with seeking approval/opinions/acceptance of a car that you have already bought? If you really needed an objective opinion, you would have asked before hand. This thread is nothing more than attention whoring.

[Edited on January 24, 2007 at 1:22 AM. Reason : ]

1/24/2007 1:21:11 AM

^True enough, it was stupid for me to think that I could get objective opinions from a bunch of insecure, trolling wolfwebbers. But I had no idea that I was gonna get this particular car with the modifications until I drove off the lot with it.

^^It seems like almost every new BMW and Mercedes thats not a base model has chrome wheels and/or body modifications like spoilers or side skirts. AMG's and M*'s are not modified by some "second-tier" specialty shops.

1/24/2007 1:38:22 AM

Quote :

"The bodykit manufacturers, by and large, churn out hideous shit as fast as possible to sell to idiots with a middle school education who are easily separated from their money."

that was great.

Quote :

"^^It seems like almost every new BMW and Mercedes thats not a base model has chrome wheels and/or body modifications like spoilers or side skirts. AMG's and M*'s are not modified by some "second-tier" specialty shops."

Do you know what is chrome and how it looks like? I am asking because neither BMW or Mercedes have chrome wheels on their factory cars. Base or top of the line. None. Ever.


[Edited on January 24, 2007 at 1:43 AM. Reason : .]

1/24/2007 1:38:39 AM

arent those 3.9 liter v8s?

I havent ridden in one so I cant say for sure how they drive, but sounds kinda small for a v8

1/24/2007 1:53:52 AM

^^Obviously I don't know what chrome looks like, because I was mistaken. Yeah, AMG and M*'s use alloy wheels, which makes sense. Nevertheless, those alloys look a hell of a lot better than the stock brushed aluminum wheels on an LS. If it were my choice, I would have picked a different set of wheels, but I do think the Spyders look better than stock.

^Yeah, the 3.9L V8 is good for 280 horses and 286 ft/lb's of torque. That was not bad 6 years ago but it would get its ass kicked by these newer sport sedans with 400+ HP.

[Edited on January 24, 2007 at 2:02 AM. Reason : 2]

1/24/2007 2:01:04 AM

I think the bodykit works for it. Nice and subtle. Those specific chrome wheels gotta go, though. These styles are the only chrome wheel styles that I like for non-sports cars:



and these Mercedes ones on luxury sedans:


Oh and chromes have to be 20 inches and up or else they're just tacky

[Edited on January 24, 2007 at 8:27 AM. Reason : ]

1/24/2007 8:26:49 AM

are those seriously the rims they had? i would have made the dealer fix that

1/24/2007 9:04:04 AM

your car has been nigged out

1/24/2007 9:23:51 AM

looks like you got a car a drug dealer owned. look in the trunk and behind the seats and stuff. you might find a stash.

1/24/2007 10:57:35 AM

Quote :

"I kinda like the spoiler. The car looks kinda boring without it."

if the car truly looks like that one then the rest of the body kit is fine, but the spoiler totally distracts from the lines of the car, that car wasn't meant to have a spoiler. Its supposed to be a "boring" car.

as far as rims go, the best in my opinion are the stock ones in chrome, they're classy with that little bit of bling factor.

[Edited on January 24, 2007 at 11:55 AM. Reason : .]

1/24/2007 11:54:33 AM

^^I LOL'ed

Then I checked underneath the trunk bed. I found the battery. Apparently Lincoln moved it to the trunk starting in '03 to give the car a 50/50 weight distribution.

1/24/2007 12:11:32 PM

Its a good car. Don't ruin it with your shitty taste.

1/24/2007 12:14:10 PM

let a middle aged white guy borrow it and change what he wants and then drive it

1/24/2007 12:34:49 PM

Looks like your car was previously owned by Master P's girlfriend.

1/24/2007 12:53:25 PM

Lose the spoiler and the chrome wheels and thats a nice car, and a great deal. Well done.

1/24/2007 1:14:08 PM

That spoiler works for that car, don't let the haters get to you. Granted most bodykits are for looks but there is a lot of engineering that goes into most of them. Also, on an M* or AMG mercedes how much performance is gained from a bodykit? Minimal at best so all bodykits are generally for looks unless its a full blown race car.

1/24/2007 2:20:30 PM

it looks like that lincoln is sitting on a cushion

1/24/2007 6:25:04 PM

sounds lke a nig'd our ride that u bought to me.

1/24/2007 6:29:44 PM

my wife has a LSE. Neat car. Love RWD V8 sedans in general. These cars do not hold value so your 16K is pretty good. I'd go no more than 18K for that car. The ride quality is great but i'll say one thing... these cars are very Over-Engineered.

Also her LSE has the same wheels but they are gunmetal w/ a polished lip.

[Edited on January 24, 2007 at 6:33 PM. Reason : d]

1/24/2007 6:32:08 PM

the kit looks good on the car you posted with some decent rims. i imagine the tacky rims that are on it make it look just as gaudy as they do.

1/24/2007 6:34:34 PM

sub 4 liter V8s are for pussies

1/24/2007 6:43:05 PM

^so are sub 5 liter.

1/24/2007 7:00:01 PM

so are sub 7.5 liter.


honestly, pwawn star, you should have bought a real luxury car, with a real interior and real leather, for 16k. but to each their own. at least you didnt buy another econobox.

1/24/2007 7:05:02 PM

Having looked pretty seriously at a couple of LSs, 16k for that car seems to be a good price. The two I looked at were an '02 V8 with 77k miles for $12k and an '03 V8 with 33k miles for $18k. They're good cars, I hope you enjoy yours. Personally I'm not a big fan of the bodykit, but if it's the same on in the picture, it's not terrible. I will say that I would prefer the stock wheels though (one of the stock designs is chrome and looks really good on the car IMO).

1/24/2007 10:11:05 PM

Here's the pics as promised. The rims aren't perfect, but I like em better than stock. I think my spoiler is a slightly lighter shade than the car. I might have to fix that.





I think I need to do an Icy Hot Stuntaz pose in front of it and post pictures on cardomain or some shit.

[Edited on January 24, 2007 at 10:57 PM. Reason : 2]

1/24/2007 10:51:58 PM

if you want to change the rims, I have a set of 20" MB vapor if you're interested.

1/24/2007 10:56:57 PM

damnit i hate people that can't save for just a little longer and get wheels 1-2" bigger so they'll at least look like an improvement over stock in size but nooo now you have cheap shit sparkly wheels that look like ass cause they're not any bigger than stock.

1/24/2007 11:07:06 PM

yeah I hate those people too

1/25/2007 6:46:58 PM

change the rims asap.

1/25/2007 6:57:14 PM

wow dude, for 3-5k less you could have gotten a 2003-4 saab 93, turbo, better ride, better gas, unique, and not to mention you would not have those horrible rims.

1/25/2007 9:47:58 PM

contrary to your belief and constant posting of it, saabs are not God's gift to the automotive world.

get some variety in your life.

1/25/2007 9:54:32 PM

im tired of being nice in this thread


prawn star are you a negroe?

[Edited on January 25, 2007 at 9:58 PM. Reason : white people dont drive lincolns anymore, just go to the dealership and look, its darker than a ]

[Edited on January 25, 2007 at 9:59 PM. Reason : mitsubishi or kia dealership. ]

1/25/2007 9:57:45 PM

didnt say it was.. but for about 75% of what he paid he could have gotten a superior car.. yes, I can say that with certainty.. safety (highest possible), for fun driving (turbo vs slush), gas mileage (I get 34 mpg on the hwy), more features/options standard on the saab, not looking like a black drug dealers car, for having a more rare car, for having a car that handles better... yeah.. pretty fucking sure I am saying it was a stupid fucking decision to not consider it...

1/25/2007 10:01:39 PM