Replacing Mark VIII

[OldRelayer]

We have had 5 Mark's 84,88,93,95,98. Well as you all know this vehicle has gone bye-bye. We are pretty frustrated in our attempt to find something with decent performance, handling and comfort to replace it. Without 4 studded snows the car is useless in the winter and right now it is just parked and we have a winter car. I have found a couple of posts about the LS with snows is decent in the snow, I called my local tire dealer and they don't even list a tire for the car, 235/50/17 , do I have that right? Where would be the best place to get some winter tires and not spend $1000. We barely need one car now a days, I really hate to have two just because one won't go in the snow. We have had the same coil issue with our 98 never before, last year I just replaced them all and now have 6 spares(wonder if they fit the LS?). The performance of the LS-V8 was quite nice but at the time they didn't offer a decent power seat on the passenger side(what a blunder by Ford, they did the same thing in the Thunderbird). But I understand in 2003 they rectified that and now offer an 8 way with heat and cool. The car is a bit narrower than we are use to and it is a 4 door, we would really prefer a 2 door, not only for the looks but it is amazing how much you can get through that big door that you can't get into a 4 door, my wife likes it because she can easily slide things into the back seat. So unless we win megabucks and buy that 850 beemer, I guess our next vehicle will be a 4 door.

We did recently drive the new Chrysler 300C and it is a surprisingly nice car, my wife liked the looks of it and I was prepared to hate it but I couldn't find much wrong with it. But for the seating, the seats are very low and even with the 8 way power it is still impossible to get comfortable. Even with the stock tires it handled remarkably well in the snow. Unlike the Lexus, Infinity and even the Mercedes that all look like a Hyandia the Chrysler does have its own distinctive look (love it or hate it). The LS does look better than the aforementioned non discript vehicles, but not much.

So after considering every vehilce in our price range, we are back to the Lincoln LS once again. Reliability is always an issue with any car, but frankly for all the complaining about reliability of the Mark we have always found it to be very economical, both in fuel economy and in repairs, so I might take the reliability thing with a grain of salt and I guess 2003 had some major improvements.


We welcome any help you can offer to make a plight less stressful.

Thanks
Barry

[el es]

well you can rest assured of one thing... If you buy an LS you will always be able to count on the users in forums like this to help you out of any jam. I have never experienced a more resolved group of people in my life short of my shipmate in the US Navy.

Like every car it has its short comings but in my humble opinion they are predictable and can be over come. I have owned other vehicles that cost less and have taken me a long way but none was cut from the same cloth as this one and no where near the calibure.

We always get excited about new owners and always leave the door open for those with questions and/or seeking aid.

Buy the LS and you will have a great time and along the way you will learn that there are some great folks in this country and around the world that would do anything to help you over come the problem at hand.

I keep my car today, that has been problematic throught my ownership, because of the folks here and elsewhere that have helped me see through the fog when I was in need of direction.

I vote that you buy the car; you won't be sorry. As long as you have realistic expectations yo will be happy.

Or you could wait for the Mark X if it ever is produced. I have always wanted one but have never been able to find my way to them. Maybe the Mark X will be the one for me.

[el es]

One bit of advice though buy a used one and stick it to them onthe price. The resell market is crap for this car. The LS has been victimized by its maker. Get an 03 04 maybe even an 02 if you can find one with low mile and some warranty. I did find that the extended warranty benefited me greatly during my 5 years of owning the car.

Consider shopping ebay motors or shopping in the trader. If you find one you like you can go to www.flatratetech.com and post the vin and request an oasis lookup... the folks there will gladly tell what the car has had done to it.

Carfax.com is a great resource for background checking for accidents.

If you buy new drive a hard bargin because you can an equivilent low mile used one for much less.

[OldRelayer]

Thank your for the reply. The one we are considering is a 2003, it is a good distance from here, so I want to know what I am doing before we make the trip. We don't buy new vehicles any more, like throwing money out the window. Thanks, I didn't realize you could get an Oasis on line.

Having said that, you really scare me, having to have a support group for a car is not really what I want. It sounds like they got most of the kinks out of this vehicle by 2003, but I could be wrong. This is from someone that was stupid enough to buy a 1988 Continental, which we had 6 months and lost a ton. We had an 84 Mark bought an 88 Continental and traded it for an 88 Mark 6 months later. The 88 Mark was the best car we ever owned, we never did one thing to this car beyond regular maintenance and wear items like wipers and tires, not even a set of brakes, turned them I think once. The new brakes are much lighter and warp very easily and can only be turned once if your lucky.

We haven’t really decided what we are going to do yet. I may just take what it would have cost for Excise tax and Sales tax and dump that into the Mark and drive it another 100K and just keep our winter car. Actually the couple of things that are needed are cosmetic, the car runs and drives like a dream and I am probably dumb as a stump for considering a new vehicle.

Thanks
Barry

[el es]

well you cant really go wrong with keeping what you have as you know what to expect from it. I considered trading my LS and started searching the web forums of other cars we considered. I quickly discovered that most them have had their share of issues and the user communities did not measure up to the one for the LS.

So I have decided to stay with what I know. The 03 model has had little or no trouble to my knowledge seems there are few 03 owners using these forums.

It is a tough decision but going with a used 03 would be a safe place to spend your money. Just stick em really ahrd on the price and you should come out on top.

[OldRelayer]

As far as price, I know that it varies a bit according to geographical area. The 2003 I had my eye on has now has vanished, will need to find out Monday if it is still available. It was a V8 loaded, including navigation system, which is what I am looking for, not necessarily the Navigation system. This one had 20kmiles and I don't really want to go much above that. They were asking $24,900, I don't know if that is good or bad, but it is a bit less than most of the others listed on Autotrader. I am not planning on trading anything, what would you expect to pay for a vehicle with this mileage and equipment level (take the Navigation out of your calculate, which I will take but don't really want to pay for it for we will never use it. Also if they are like most systems you need to buy discs to use it.). I understand all about the rapid depreciation of this kind of vehicle, the Mark always dropped like a rock, which is fine when you buy them used.

[el es]

I would go to kbb.com the kelly blue book website and plug in the build information and check the diiference between three values and work the dealers from there.

If they took it on trade chance are they did not pay FMV. I seriously doubt they would have had to do anything other than wash and inspect it so put em' on the ropes after all they will have thousands less than FMV.

This is the trick of the trade they use.
It isn't how much you give it is how many times you give. Basically if they want to give you 2000 off and you wanted 4000 off and they know they could give you the 4000 what they will do it target 2000 but only give it in increments hoping that you will tire of the process of them going back and forth to the sales manager.

I sold cars for about 2 years and that was the first lesson they taught me. 10 dollars to a doughnut they still use it today.

Always be prepared to walk away from a car deal. Do not get emotionally attached to it before you buy it.

That price doesn't sound bad though if it has the Nav system and such.

[CGGorman]

I can't add anything... Good Luck. Obviously, I'm a bit biased toward the LS V8... I know several folks with two LS's. There is just something about the car. It has more personality than most cars and draws the owner in.