Advice on a Lincoln
 

Ok, I'm normally a Caddy person when it comes to American luxury, however I've come across what appears to be a great deal. There is an older man, (late 40s, mid 50s) who is selling a 95 Lincoln Mark VIII. It was originally $4400 on this guy's lot, but it wasn't his car to sell.

I started it and it seemed mostly good but had a bit of a roughness to it. Come to find out, it was the MAP sensor and he replaced it. He lowered the price down to $3700. It has 81,000 miles and the only issues are the rubber around the back windshield is slightly worn but it does not leak.

The story behind the car is that a guy who owns the local flea market (Very large flea market) bought it new. Then he sold it at around 40-50k miles to an old lady. That old lady got cancer and died, so the car was inherited by this guy who has it now. He said he drove it some, but then he got cancer. So basically, he didn't drive it, he just went out every few days and started it, let it idle, checked everything, and turned it back off.

The only thing I know is problematic with these Lincolns are the air ride suspension which I know runs for $1500 to $2000 to fix. This one seems fine, but I'm a bit leary on trusting a Lincoln since it is made by Ford and my luck with Ford hasn't been stellar. Does this sound like a worthy deal or should I just save my money? Thanks for any suggestions or advice.

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

1. You like Caddy. GM has the worst rep for reliability of american cars with their Pontiac brand save for Dodge, who's Chrysler and they don't count LOL j/j
2. From what I've experienced personally, Lincoln is a decent car. My coworker had a Cadillac that gave him nothing but headaches. He's put 150k miles on his Lincoln Town Car and never had ANY problems and those are both highway and city driven miles.
3. It's a big car. Bigger engine. Poor gas mileage. It is a major issue these days. Something to concider?
4. Ford has made great strives in reliability versus GM and Chrysler, who's sales and reliability results (according to Consumer Reports, an independent researcher) have slumped. Now, I know they're getting better but Ford is still ahead, albeit trailing Toyota and Honda.

If I can make a suggestion, get a Honda Accord or a Toyota Corolla. They're not too small but not too big and have better gas mileage than a big ole' Lincoln and their reliability and ease of use are above anything america can produce yet. And as for that whole "it's cheaper to fix an american vehicle because you're in america"...it's bullshit. My Ford Ranger costs A TON to fix yet my g/f's honda is soooo cheap.

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

is it air ride? thats what they have suspension problems with, if its air ride i wouldnt touch it, if it doesnt have a problem now, it will soon, it feels good when it works but when it goes out it does weird things that are very embarassing in traffic

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

And one important thing, I live in an extremely domesticly ruled town. GMs, Fords, and Chryslers are EVERYWHERE here, and I've never had to spend much fixing any GM here. I have heard lots of horror stories about Euro cars but that is to be expected. I've also heard people telling me bad things about Japanese cars, that if they're not meticulously maintained they won't last at all. If taken care of they do. I've looked at so many cars though, that look as if they are ready to fall apart, and with only 70k miles. People don't take care of their cars.

I'm not at all saying I prefer American cars over foreign, but practically, they are much more reasonable. My biggest dislike of Euro cars is the extreme costs to fix them, although I love everything else about them. Japanese cars I love the reliability for the most part, but they're just not that fast and they're almost all 4 cylinders and small. Corollas are great because there is nothing on them to break. They have spartan interiors, cheap plastic EVERYWHERE, and the wimpiest plastic bumpers I've seen. I leaned against a late model Camry (2004ish) and I put a permanent dent in the back passenger quarter panel. I don't call that a very sturdy car.

Nah, I'll stick with GMs until the other companies get their problems worked out. I've never had major problems with any GM and I hope to never have any.

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

LOL I think you need to get out of your town j/j ;-)

Having worked on many different brands, I find Jap cars to be easy to work on and have BETTER quality parts, inside and out, than those of american cars, in particular Dodge and Pontiac (speaking from personal experience). Also, my mother had a 1984 Honda Civic hatchback that never had an oil change to my knowledge and lasted 280k miles. She never took care of it. My g/f's 1996 honda civic is almost 190k miles and all I do is change the oil, filter, and air filter. Japanese cars have a tremendous reliability rating and a low maintenance rating (very recently I changed O2 sensors on my truck at nearly 50 dollars a pop for Bosch. My g/f's O2 sensors cost HALF that for Bosch. Also, the mechanic wanted 210 dollars to fix my O2 sensors on my Ford Ranger. But, my g/f's car would have cost 70 bucks when she took it to her dealer...I'm glad I did it myself). You really need to look at third party, indipendent magazines like Consumer Reports and see what they say and read their records. Having worked in a library during my college years I read all the magazines from Car&Driver and Consumer Reports to 4x4 Weekly. Do some research on that car. Who knows, maybe it stinx :clueless: I'm a big Ford truck fan but NOT an american car fan (unless you talk classics ;-) ) but it all comes from the way I grew up and what I've experienced at work, what I read, friends cars I worked on, etc etc.

Although I will admit a Chevy truck does ride nicer :lol:

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

yeah American deisel trucks are best (and only) for now, but Toyota might take that over too in the future, Frod has reliability problems but they have the most powerfull truck now, the truck itself is also the strongest with the highest payload and towing, dodge has the most reliable motor but thats only because they didnt have a hand in making it, i wouldnt trust their trust for crap, chevy is the all around middle man, nothing realy wrong except the price tag

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

We use Ford F350-550's at work, all diesel. We have no problems with them and everything holds up pretty well: i.e. no rust, no fabrics tearing, nothing falling off inside or outside. We did just get a brandnew Chevy 3500 with Duramax Diesel and an Allison Tranny. The guy who drives it says it's slower/weaker than his old Ford F550, which had a similar size engine but heavier body. I really don't think Chevy is the middle man in this because of it's price tags and engine realiability. You have to take into account that the Duramax is really an old 350 engine converted to diesel and they had TONS of problems when that first came about. One of my classmates at college loves his chevy's and swears by them. I totally ripped into him when he had to replace a brand new engine (7k miles on it) from his 3500 Duramax.
Now, Ford doesn't have as nice of a ride as Chevy, but it's pricetags are a little bit better. I think the Ford trucks are really geared more towards industrial/commercial owners while the Chevy tailors towards individuals based on what I've seen at my job.
Dodge = horrible. They don't make the Cummins engine, thank god, but everything falls apart on their work trucks. My father's company bought a brand new Dodge Cummins truck and the interior fell apart within 3 months! The ceiling came off, the dome light didn't work, one of the handles broke, the vents broke, the radio stopped receiving FM, and the airconditioning broke after 2 months in the summer!!! I mean, COME ON. that's horrible and it didn't just happen to one truck, either! All the dodges the company bought began falling apart within a year, let alone a few months. I will never EVER buy a dodge. It just won't happen.

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

yeah the only thing i like about the Dodges is their engines and looks, well untill the 2008 Ford super duties came out that is. not to mention looks mean just about nothing when it comes to trucks. id have to agree with you about the Dodge trucks, my dad has one and right after he bought it the paint started peeling off and now its almost all peeled off the roof and hood and its covered in light surface rust and just looks like shit even though its not all that old. were about to have it repainted because it has about zero sale value when it looks like that. plus now that your talking about company trucks, you almost never see Dodges being used as company trucks, theyre almost always Fords and sometimes Chevys.

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

That old Lincoln air ride system will always give you trouble unless you replace the whole system, & still can be an ever present problem. I'd sure double check that story about the lady that had the car & then cancer got her. Sounds similar to 'the little old lady from Pasadena'. If you buy that old Lincoln count on replacing all the rubber, hoses, seals, etc. Pay close attention to the door & trunk seals; a trip to the car wash could cost you.

Japanese cars are about to take over the common market. Their quality control is better than most & they are making top quality vehicles, for the common market. The Tacoma truck was Motor Trend Mag's Truck of the Year, recently. Think about it, the US invented pick-ups & the Japanese make a better one than any US half ton series.

I have a heavy-duty 4WD extended cab Chevy Silverado with 8 foot bed. If the Japanese start making heavy duty trucks; I'll sure look before I buy another Chevy; as much as I hate to say that.

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

yeah, sorta ironic how Toyota supports America more than any US car maker simply because all cars sold by Toyota in America were made by Americans in America

my aunts old Linclon had the air ride go out on it, when moving it wouldnt inflate and lift up, but when you stop it would bounce

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

Yeah, if toyota made a heavy duty truck I would definetly be half tempted to own it over a Ford 550...although I still dream about owning the one at work: 6.4 Ltr Dual Turbo Ford 550 King Cab 4 full doors with a 10 foot bed! It's MASSIVE. The bed is actually a custom made bed with bedboxes by Reading...I wish I got to drive it but I'm not quite that high up on the pay scale LOL

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

Well, got a new car, not the Lincoln though. It's a 2001 Oldsmobile Aurora 3.5. First car I've had that is from this century, and I'm liking it. Thanks for all the suggestions, I was pretty sure Lincoln sucks and this just proved it to me.

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

Why did you even start this thread?

Any comment favorable to buy a Lincoln your waiting to preach how much Lincoln, ergo, Ford sucks.

Im amazed you even posted that you were considering a Ford product.

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

I'm amazed that anyone would consider a Ford. With all their cutbacks/layoffs, they are really going to cut quality, to help the bottom line.

F - F***ed
O - Over
R - Rebuilt
D - Dodge

Re: Advice on a Lincoln
 

Whats with all the Ford bashing? My family only buys Ford products, and not once have we had a problem with any of them.