Old mark fan thinking about a ls for a dd

Don Pfau

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I've been a happy Mark owner for 20 years but I'm just starting to realize they are just getting to old to be a reliable DD. So I've been considering a LS ???? Looking for imput. :feedback Thanks, Don
 
They're fantastic. Just make sure that you have the money to replace the ignition coils at some point. They will fail.
 
It doesn't stop there.

No it does not. Our transmission does not come cheap like the marks. And the cooling system is another big ticket item. Oh and don't buy a gen I.
 
Dang, you guys are scaring the guy away. lol

Got the LS with 70,000 miles and sold it with 125,000. I spent less than $300 on the unforeseen little things that went, over the 4 years.

LS is still 5 times more reliable than a mark. Go for it, you won't be disappointed. Just stick with 03+ and you will be fine.
 
que pasa?
what happened in '03?

Actually, you would do best to get an 05 or 06.

03 - first year of new design, there were some kinks to work out.
04 - some transmissions left the factory with bad fluid and bad solenoid assemblies. There were also some electronic parking brake issues.
 
joegr, being a newbie to the LSes myself, do all of them go through coils like they are going out of style or is it a worse problem in some rather than others?
 
My understanding is they all go through coils the same. I just started to feel some slight stuttering when not fully warmed up. Ill be replacing my coils withing a month or two for sure ('06 115K)
 
My understanding is they all go through coils the same. I just started to feel some slight stuttering when not fully warmed up. Ill be replacing my coils withing a month or two for sure ('06 115K)

Yes, they're all the same. It seems like coils last about 60K to 100K miles, generally.
 
LS are great cars, thats why we are here. Consumer reports ranks the LS average for reliability in the entry level luxury market. I have had 2 of them though and I agree that coils and cooling systems will need attention at some point. Go for an 05, or 06 like mentioned previously.
 
Thanks, I have a 1998 LSC for sale and I have a 2010 Ford Fusion. I bought the Fusion brand new during cash for clunker. I turned in a Mark VIII. The Fusion has been a very good car but I miss the luxury. So I got this 1998 LSC but it seams it is always something. I test drove a couple used LS's in 2003 but decided to stick with Mark VIII's at that time. But I seem to remember you sit low in them like a Mark VIII which I like. You sit up in the Fusion and I'm assuming it would be the same in a MKZ ?? So I started thinking about LS's again I would want a newer low miles car. I want a Black interior and I like Black, White , or Burgandy for a outside color. Again thanks.
 
If you want black interior you will have to go for a black or burgundy exterior Color. The white and cashmere colors only had camel and dove as interior colors. No black :/
 
Buy this car with your eyes open and you'll be ok. Read the forums, see the common problems.

I would get an '05 or '06 as they seem to be the most refined / least problematic. I'm 6'6" and this car has great headroom and visibility. It feels sporty when you want it to and inspires confidence as you drive it.
 
Yes, they're all the same. It seems like coils last about 60K to 100K miles, generally.

57k on an 06....However I think they were helped along by some really intelligent car salesmen being quite liberal with the engine bay cleaning.

If you want black interior you will have to go for a black or burgundy exterior Color. The white and cashmere colors only had camel and dove as interior colors. No black :/

Dove is what they call that huh? Never knew.


Yeah, I recommend an 06. I had to replace my coils and bits of the cooling system already but I still do enjoy the car. It's not necessarily a fast car, but isn't slow either. It really is a great highway cruiser IMO. 80-90 mph feels like walking compared to my other cars at that speed. Also, it is rewarding in the corners. The transmission is the weak point here and will hold back the most extreme hooning attempts.

Overall, a good car.
 
My 02 has been a great car. I bought it with 32k in 05 and with 105k now I can say I've done little to it. I have yet to replace the coils and the cooling system threw it into safe mode once a while back which turned out to be just a bunch of leaves jambed up between the ac condenser and radiator nothing more. Front brakes at 66k and rears at 80k. Did plugs at 80k too. I got to 100k before the driver window dropped and clock spring needed replacing both known issues. The fuel pump went a few months ago. But around 95k it became a pleasure car and I expect more little things to go wrong when only doing 2k a year at most.

I run the car plenty hard and have 250ish 1/4mile passes.
 
The 2002 is the one to get if you're going for a gen 1, most of the issues were worked out in these cars. The window actuators for one. Don't forget the v6 was available with the manual trans. I have two of these cars and they have been good for me. Mine (a manual) was well taken care of and has been very good. The wife's (an auto) was not taken care of and was sitting for months if not years so it had a few issues that needed to be fixed when I bought it. I knew it had these issues and bought the car cheap ($1300!) but it had low miles on it (82000) and needed a few things. One wheel bearing was bad, the solenoid pack needed to be changed and the clockspring. Also the ball joint (upper) needed to be changed, I found out about that after I bought it. After fixing those items I only had one surprise issue and that was the thermostat housing was cracked. This was a surpise as it is the v6 with the metal thermostat housing.
 
So what kind of gas milage do the V6 and V8 get ?? I drive mostly highway miles.

Pretty much the same (maybe 1 MPG better for the V6). It's about 19 MPG in mixed driving for the gen II V8 (slightly aggressive driving).
 
My 01 V8 LOVES driving the interstate.....the lil lier on the message center for MPG says 30+ doing 70 all day long.
 
When's drove to Georgia a couple weeks ago we averaged ~ 400 miles to a tank v8 doing about 80-100 the whole time
 
To compare to a VIII which you are used to, I would say about 3-4mpg less. A tune did show an improvement of about 1.5-2mpg. But still not as good as the VIII.
 

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