The popularity of a Phaeton: 2006 Lincoln LS V8

I want to introduce to you guys one of the best cars to come out of America: the 2006 Lincoln LS.

The LS was originally planned as a world-market car back in 1999. It was released in 2000 with the options of a V6 or a V8 with a manual transmission for the V6, or automatic for both engine choices. The idea of the car was perfect: all aluminum unibody chassis with aluminum crossmembers, aluminum engine block, aluminum chassis, and aluminum body made it nearly 50/50 with excellent driving characteristics (and it did!) for $30,000. It was sporty 4-door sedan to take on the likes of 3-series and A4, although it did out-perform an E39 540i. In 2003, Lincoln face-lifted the car, with more power and slightly more modern exterior cues. HID headlamps, Navigation, Parking Sensors were all an option. Many engine revamps made the V8 the best HP/Liter ratio of nearly all the German competitors.

The particular LS I am going to talk about is the 2006; the last model year for the LS. Only the V8 was offered, and Lincoln did not break 9,000 units in 2006 out of its total 260,000 car run from 2000-2006. I should stress before I continue that all 2003-2006 cars are all the same.

I’ve driven quite a handful of 2003-2006 Lincoln LS V8’s (I owned a 2001 V6). This car is by far one of the most under-rated cars ever; mainly due to its lackluster interior, and less-than stellar reliability. The car was the most advanced, technologically and mechanically, of any Lincoln produced during its time.

The Lincoln LS suffers from: glitchy sunroof, failed coil-on-plugs, failed window regulators, bad Rear Electronics Module (REM), pre-mature wear of the ball joints, bad clockspring, bad EGR valve, atrocious transmission issues (mainly solenoid related) thanks to the 5R55, bad ABS Speed sensors, the dreaded failed timing chain tensioner of pre-facelifted LS’s, and cooling issues. Having a head gasket issue however is as rare as seeing a Simon Cowell cry. Yet I owned one; many more owns one. There are so many plus points to owning one.

The visibility is early 90’s Honda; it’s good. Virtually no blindspot with appropriately-sized mirrors. The steering is soft, yet firm, and easy to turn. I’ve driven a 2008 Lexus IS250, and I hated the way the steering felt; too firm, and you have to muscle the steering when you’re turning out from a parking space. Then I went back into my Lincoln, and all was right with the world. It’s hard to describe the driving experience because it’s not like any other car that I can compare it to.

You get up in the morning, turn on the car, and the Jaguar (I said that) AJ-V8 roars to life. Idles like the purr of a kitten. You grab the wooden shift knob to reverse, and you feel like your dignity is still intact, despite all the hardships throughout your life. The cooled seats cools your behind and gives you an assured “I can do this today”. You turn the steering wheel and think “it is going to be a good day”. Putting it into drive, you whisk away to the horizon, unbeknownst to you that the car is finding an excuse to put the car into ETC Failsafe Mode… But you love it. You love every minute of this unreliable beauty you own. You look back at it when you park. You show off the features of this technological marvel. You brag about all the aluminum and the Mustang transmission. You say you’re going to put on Brembo brakes from a Jaguar S-Type R, since essentially, they’re a direct bolt on. You want to fabricate your own supercharger/turbocharger. You talk about the demise and the poor choices Ford made with this car; “maybe if they had the robust 4.6L with the even more robust 4R tranmission”. You want to talk about the car and how under-appreciated it is. Yet you don’t have to justify your purchase because it looks amazing. You’re more confused as to how such a car could possibly be this unpopular. The LS is a forgotten car to the masses, but it has aged beautifully.

True story: I was at an emissions center testing for my 2001. A lady comes up to me and tells me I have nothing to worry about because it’s a brand new car. She has an early 2000’s BMW 3-series E46 and even she told me the car was old. That is how good it has aged. A 14 year old car, aged better than a BMW.

Every single minute of this complex, over-engineered, unreliable thing is rewarding and you want to drive it as much as you can. You don’t have the motivation to sell it, despite a cracked block and a messy transmission. It’s the contradiction of the LS: it’s wholly unreliable, but it won’t ever not start up and go in the morning. It can take the beating, it can take the oil starvation, the lack of transmission fluid being sent to the bands, the clogged EGR valve, the leaky intake manifold, the broken timing chain tensioner; that’s the beauty of the LS. It wants to serve you. When it dies, it’ll try hard to start back up because it wants to. It wants you to drive it longer, praise it because of its under-appreciated nature. It’s not as good as a BMW from an ownership perspective; it’s better. Much, MUCH better. And when you have owned an LS for an extended period of time, you cannot fight back the sheer emotions when you see a manual Lincoln LS in the junkyard. The manual LS is rarer than a Ferrari 458. You nod off, head back to your LS, and contemplate of how something so good could possibly be so forgotten.