Road Tests: Long-Term Test

This month we began to revel in the silky-smooth V8 powerplant beneath our silver hood. But just about all of its smoothness was sapped by a recalcitrant automatic transmission. Slow to downshift and abrupt when the shifts are finally performed, we were less than impressed. Let's go all the way here Lincoln...give us the V8 with a manual.

Drivers found the Alpine Audiophile sound system quite pleasing. The stereo emits crisp clean sounds. There is little perception that the sound is coming from specific points. Rather, the music envelops you. The steering wheel-mounted stereo controls were also found to be quite convenient. In fact, once you're used to having them, hopping into a car that actually makes you have to reach for them seems like a tremendous pain.

And that's about all the impressions we were able to get. The service appointment to get the Advance Trac and plastic seat-track cover fixed turned out to be an ordeal, to put it mildly.

Going into Peyton-Kramer Lincoln Mercury in Torrance, Calif., was slowww, but we finally got our car in for service at what seemed like a very disorganized place. We were then given a loaner Town Car that was absolutely filthy. They said that they could wash it, but it would take some time. We declined the offer, as we had already been there for a good 25 minutes and wanted to hit the road. So off we went in a silver Town Car with a tan coat of dirt. Inside, the car had a funny smell, but hey, we were still riding in style -- more than $40K of pure, unadulterated American luxury here.

The rest of the service experience was a nightmare. To make a VERY long story short, our Lincoln was in the shop for just under three weeks, all due to a little Advance Trac warning light. The first week they spent discovering what the problem was, although the service advisor assured us that the technician working on the car wasn't "going to school on our car." The second and part of the third week they claimed they were trying to get an Advance Trac sensor from Ford. We received voice-mails from service advisors telling us that Ford was being pokey. In one amusing message the service advisor said that he had spoken with Ford and told them: "We have the 'supposed' Motor Trend Car of the Year here. The customer's very upset, and is thinking about getting rid of it." As for what the real story was, we can only speculate. In any case, we were without our newest of Lincolns for way too long for such an insignificant problem.

We did finally get our car back, and the Advance Trac appears to be functioning properly. We'll let you know our findings next month. And regarding the seat-track cover, it seems Peyton Kramer ordered the wrong part. We think we'll go to another dealer next time, and roll the dice there.

Total Odometer Reading: 1,259
Best Fuel Economy: 14.8 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 12.6 mpg
Running Average Over Life of Vehicle: 13.6 mpg
Body Damage Repair: $0
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: None