Wedding bells rang this month for our features editor, and the LS was pressed into service to whisk the newlyweds off in style. And styling they were with the LS' good looks and comfy interior; many of the wedding guests commented that the LS was the best-looking Lincoln they'd seen in a long time.

Honeymooning in the mountains, the couple found the 3.9-liter V8 engine to pull hard and smooth up in the canyons and shifts in "D4" were sharp with hardly any rpm drop-off, but the engine would drop a cylinder at idle and occasionally stalled at stoplights. Similarly, the transmission gremlins from a couple of months back reared their ugly heads, as the tranny "hunted" for gears and freewheeled when manually shifting from third to second gear. Our editor noted in the log book, "Something is drastically wrong with this transmission. With the shifter in the SelectShift mode, upshifts were soft and vague with a three-second lag between movement of the shifter and actual gear engagement. Downshifting was worse, with the transmission freewheeling for about five seconds after selecting a lower gear, then slamming into second."

The newlyweds were surprised to find the trunk capable of holding the stash of blenders and crystal bowls that they had received, but the large inboard hinges necessitated items be moved toward the center for the trunk to shut.

Other comments revolved around the interior, particularly with its lack of cubby space, the cellular phone that took up the entire center console and the cheap-looking plastic used on the center stack. A touch of wood would be a better choice.

Returning to the daily grind, the LS was handed over to Advantage Lincoln Mercury in Duarte, California, to address the engine and transmission problems, as well as the vehicle's (missed) 6,000-mile service.

We delivered the LS to Advantage late in the afternoon on a Monday, where service advisor, Tony Bosch, took the keys, offered us a loaner vehicle (which we declined as we were off the following week on a comparison test) and sent us on our way. The following day, our LS was assigned to service advisor Steve McLaughlin, who called us to say that our concerns were covered by a few TSBs, which they had performed. However, there was one problem with the transmission. After reprogramming the flash memory, the problem was worse than when we delivered the vehicle to the service bay. A call to Ford's transmission plant in Detroit would be made the following day.

On Tuesday, McLaughlin called to inform us that Ford was sending a new valve body overnight and he hoped to have the vehicle ready for us to pick up the following day. However, that wasn't the case, as McLaughlin called the next morning and informed us that the new valve body was bad and another call was in to Ford to seek another remedy.

McLaughlin phoned us early Thursday morning, saying that Ford had decided to replace the entire transmission and to expect to be out of the vehicle for a week while the transmission was in transit from Detroit to California. McLaughlin again extended the offer for us to pick up a loaner vehicle. This time, we graciously accepted.

The following afternoon, we drove to Advantage to pick up our Lincoln loaner, but since they had overbooked loaners, we were given the choice of a Taurus or an "arrest-me red" convertible Mustang. Hmmm...a Mustang with a MACH 460 sound system or a family-man Taurus...we decided to take our chances with contracting skin cancer.

Driving home from the dealer, our editor noticed this particular Mustang had a tendency to wander all over the road and the rear suspension wallowed over freeway expansion joints. Pulling into his driveway, he noticed the left-rear tire was a little pudgy. Checking the tire's pressure, he found only 10-psi to be holding the tire up. A couple of minutes with the air compressor and 22 more pounds of pressure were added while the gentle "hsssss" of air escaping could be heard from one of the inboard tread lugs. Since the service bay had closed for the night, we decided to wait until the morning to take the vehicle back for a tire plug.

Surprisingly, the tire only lost 15 pounds of pressure overnight, so our editor refilled the tire and his wife set out for the dealership. Arriving as the gates were opened to the service department, the loaner was whisked back to the shop. Fifteen minutes and a cup of java later, we still didn't have the car back. Thirty, 45 and then 60 minutes elapsed. "Where's the vehicle?" asked our editor's better half. "They're working on it right now," was the reply. Two and a half hours later, the loaner made an appearance.

OK, let's get this straight. It takes about 14 seconds for Juan Montoya's Target/Chip Ganassi CART pit crew to change four tires, load up 35 gallons of methanol, adjust the wings and get him back out on the track. It takes 2 ½ hours to put a plug in a tire?

Go figure.

Fifteen days after initially bringing our Lincoln into service, we spoke with McLaughlin who informed us that the new transmission had arrived and that it was being installed that day. Barring any unforeseen problems (we're talking about our LS here), we would have the vehicle the following day.

As McLaughlin promised, our LS was ready at 4:00 pm Friday, freshly washed and ready to go. After replacing the defective #4 coil pack, our Lincoln runs silky smooth and the new tranny is a smooth operator. The dealer even picked up cost of the scheduled service since the vehicle was in the repair stall for an extended period of time. Total cost of the repairs: $0. Just to be sure our transmission problem was gone for good, our editor took the LS on a quickie run to Phoenix, Arizona, and back that weekend, reporting that the new transmission is operating perfectly.

With many dealers still providing service from the Jurassic period, we were pleased to see that Advantage Lincoln Mercury places its customers first. We were delighted with our service advisor, who literally called us daily to update us on the progress of our vehicle. With the exception of the 2-½ hour wait to get the loaner's punctured tire repaired, our experience with Advantage was a model for the rest of the industry.

Total Odometer Reading: 8,840 miles
Best Fuel Economy: 22.3 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 14.0 mpg
Running Average Over Life of Vehicle: 16.5 mpg
Body Damage Costs: $0
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: Rough idle. Hard downshifts. Freewheeling SelectShift system.