spliteye
New LVC Member
Hey everyone, first post here. I can be a bit long winded, so sorry if this post is long. If you don't feel like reading my spiel, feel free to read a couple paragraphs down :lol: .
I'm considering finding a good, clean, well kept 1998-2002 Continental in the nearish future. I've always been a fan of the styling, even though I'm 22. I've always loved luxury cars. While other 12 year olds wanted a Mustang, I wanted a Continental. I've always loved large, soft-riding cars. This one in particular.
I figured this was the perfect site to join and make this post, as 8 months or so ago, I owned another dream car of mine, a 2003 Cadillac Seville STS, for just a year prior. I loved this car, however the romance ended shortly after the car was just about constantly falling apart. It had 85,500 miles on it when purchased and I sold it at 103,500. During that time I invested about $2,500 in repairs (too many to list, and keep in mind that that price reflects parts prices, as I did 90% of my own work). The car was cherry when I purchased it, other than a front motor mount that was on it's way out. I found that all four of the magneride struts were leaking (roughly $1,000 per corner and there's no way to trick the computer on F55 cars, only CVRSS equipped vehicles). Like a fool, I was about to scavenge up the money for it, but I decided to test for head gasket leaks before hand. Low and behold, it failed. I had done the test when I purchased it and it passed then. I of course had to let it go, as the repairs would cost more than the car was to begin with and it would have taken more than my resources permitted to complete the repairs.
This experience shied me away from luxury cars, so I bought a low mile Ford F-250 with the 7.3idi diesel, thinking I could use it for it's capabilities and it would be simple and bullet proof. My dad father has a Power Stroke with a 7.3 that has been awesome, so I figured I would be safe. Even though it's in much better shape than 90% of the rest of these trucks I see running around, it has been a constant project, a bit more than I can handle on my off time. I've been missing luxury cars as well since, but I've been stumbling across some killer deals for these Continentals with low miles.
I have a few questions. Apart from normal maintenance (belts, hoses, tensioners, etc.), how reliable are these realistically? I'm a good mechanic and can fix just about anything that comes up, however I'd like a little break from serious issues. If I could drive the car for three months without a repair, it would be the first vehicle I've owned that would be able to do that. I've read that these cars are essentially stretched Ford Tauruses with V8s, air bags, and electronc gizmos. My father has a 2002 Taurus that he bought with 14K miles in 03, and it now has over 170K and has required little over normal maintenance.
This car uses the same transmission as said Taurus, correct? This means that it's overstressed? Is this an every 100K mile replacement, or does it more or less depend on the previous owners driving and maintenance habits?
Anything I should look for upon test drive, other than dark, burned smelling transmission fluid?
What is the overall quality compared to the Seville? I was deeply disappointed when I found things like the coatings on the various leather and plastic surfaces on the door panels and seats were wearing off, leather ripping when it looked to be in good condition, flash left on the dash molding and a pillar covers that could be pulled off just by grabbing them and tugging gently.
Once again, I apologize for the long post, but I appreciate any help/advice you can give.
Happy New Year,
Dan
I'm considering finding a good, clean, well kept 1998-2002 Continental in the nearish future. I've always been a fan of the styling, even though I'm 22. I've always loved luxury cars. While other 12 year olds wanted a Mustang, I wanted a Continental. I've always loved large, soft-riding cars. This one in particular.
I figured this was the perfect site to join and make this post, as 8 months or so ago, I owned another dream car of mine, a 2003 Cadillac Seville STS, for just a year prior. I loved this car, however the romance ended shortly after the car was just about constantly falling apart. It had 85,500 miles on it when purchased and I sold it at 103,500. During that time I invested about $2,500 in repairs (too many to list, and keep in mind that that price reflects parts prices, as I did 90% of my own work). The car was cherry when I purchased it, other than a front motor mount that was on it's way out. I found that all four of the magneride struts were leaking (roughly $1,000 per corner and there's no way to trick the computer on F55 cars, only CVRSS equipped vehicles). Like a fool, I was about to scavenge up the money for it, but I decided to test for head gasket leaks before hand. Low and behold, it failed. I had done the test when I purchased it and it passed then. I of course had to let it go, as the repairs would cost more than the car was to begin with and it would have taken more than my resources permitted to complete the repairs.
This experience shied me away from luxury cars, so I bought a low mile Ford F-250 with the 7.3idi diesel, thinking I could use it for it's capabilities and it would be simple and bullet proof. My dad father has a Power Stroke with a 7.3 that has been awesome, so I figured I would be safe. Even though it's in much better shape than 90% of the rest of these trucks I see running around, it has been a constant project, a bit more than I can handle on my off time. I've been missing luxury cars as well since, but I've been stumbling across some killer deals for these Continentals with low miles.
I have a few questions. Apart from normal maintenance (belts, hoses, tensioners, etc.), how reliable are these realistically? I'm a good mechanic and can fix just about anything that comes up, however I'd like a little break from serious issues. If I could drive the car for three months without a repair, it would be the first vehicle I've owned that would be able to do that. I've read that these cars are essentially stretched Ford Tauruses with V8s, air bags, and electronc gizmos. My father has a 2002 Taurus that he bought with 14K miles in 03, and it now has over 170K and has required little over normal maintenance.
This car uses the same transmission as said Taurus, correct? This means that it's overstressed? Is this an every 100K mile replacement, or does it more or less depend on the previous owners driving and maintenance habits?
Anything I should look for upon test drive, other than dark, burned smelling transmission fluid?
What is the overall quality compared to the Seville? I was deeply disappointed when I found things like the coatings on the various leather and plastic surfaces on the door panels and seats were wearing off, leather ripping when it looked to be in good condition, flash left on the dash molding and a pillar covers that could be pulled off just by grabbing them and tugging gently.
Once again, I apologize for the long post, but I appreciate any help/advice you can give.
Happy New Year,
Dan