Intrepidation

Well you just have to ask yourself how much the car means to you. Take it from me, I should know, sometimes the money that your car needs may cost more than what its worth putting into, and other people might not bother. However if the car means enough to you, then fix it, or or wait until you can fix it. :wink:

I didn't give the audio system a listen, I will when I go back again. It didn't have the optional NAV and THX sound system though. I want to give Sync a try too. The center stack is fine, IMO, as the plastic is nice quality and finish. I didn't find a single cheap piece when I poked around the interior.

You're right, made the typo, I fixed it. 3.7

There's a guy with a flat black Mustang II in there area who thinks he's the $h!. Drives like an ass and has a major attitude problem.

At the New England International Ford was having an offer to Test Drive one of their vehicles and receive a $50 MasterCard gift card. I figured: sweet, getting paid to drive a new car, its win/win. With all of the Christmas shopping and such I kind of got sidetracked, but today I finally went down to the local Lincoln-Mercury dealer to take an MKS for a spin. I got to drive a red MKS with all-black leather interior. The exterior of the car is quite handsome. It’s not gorgeous nor is it eye bold like a 300C, but the proportions are nice for a FWD based car, and the lines are pleasing to the eye. I appreciated the details of the exterior, such as the thin sliver of chrome on the door handles, and the detailing of headlights. Exterior wise, the front end was definitely my favorite element. The split grille is very nice and quite distinctive, and the slim headlights are a nice break from the recent trend of huge headlights. Out back the car is nowhere near as distinctive, however it looks fine. It would be nice if the MCE would incorporate longer tail lights like the MKZ and Navigator. The interior is where the car really shines. It is a nice place to be. Everything I touched had a sold, high quality look and feel to it. Everything was screwed together with precision. The leather was supple and high quality, and covered many surfaces. The seats were very comfortable and had a wide range of adjustments. The power tilt/telescoping steering wheel also helped make it easy to find a comfortable position. It was relatively small and thick, and felt nice in my hands. I only used the climate controls but they were intuitive and there was no learning curve. On top of that, the dials moved fluid precision as well. The interior alone makes the car worth considering. On the open road the car was pleasant to drive. Bumps and expansion joints were easily dispatched, with no harshness coming into the cabin. Yet the car doesn’t float all over the place like Lincolns of yore (or the Town Car). It road with relative firmness, and while I didn’t get to flog it at high speed around the hairpin turns, the car’s body motions felt well controlled around corns and highway ramps. It’s no BMW, but it strikes a nice balance between ride and handling. Ford’s 3.7 litre V6 provided good power for the car. It never felt like it needed more, although the upcoming EcoBoost will surely add more fun to the car. The engine was hushed most of the time, only making itself heard under throttle. I wasn’t sure what to make of what I heard though. I didn’t hate the sound but I didn’t love it either. The 6-speed automatic transmission however, felt somewhat slow to respond. It didn’t downshift when I would have liked, causing a pause before it finally gave in, downshifted, and gave me the power I requested. There was a manual mode, but I didn’t try it out. On the highway the car was very quiet and stable. At one point I felt like I was going slow, like around 60. When I glanced down at the speedometer, I realized I was going a little over 80. Whoops! The brakes registered no complaints, and the pedal had good feel and modulation. The gas pedal felt a little sensitive at initial tip-in but was otherwise progressive. The steering had nice weighting and even some feedback. Accuracy was never an issue, though I doubt it's anywhere near as sharp as the class leaders. Visibility was pretty good, although there some blind spots which made looking over my shoulder trickier than I’m used to. Overall my impression of the MKS is that it’s a very nice, wholly competitive car. That being said, I feel that it would compete more with Acura and Buick (better than any car Buick sells right now) than Cadillac, BMW, and so on. The MKS’s strength’s are its high quality interior, comfortable but not floaty ride, power, AWD, and front end. However the lack of distinctiveness of the rest of the exterior makes the car harder to stand out compared to a CTS. As for the dealership, well I’ve never been there before, but let’s just say the Mercury will be going to Wall’s Lincoln-Mercury from now on. I was impressed by the friendly atmosphere and the fact that they actually enjoyed talking with you, which is more than I can say for Clark Chrysler, and even Nassar Ford. Best of all, Ford paid me $50 to drive the car. While I was there I snagged a few photos of it before the batteries in the camera died, enjoy!

Well we're not going out, that is for sure. Supposed to get up to 8 inches of snow....tomorrow. The only exception might be to get the GM's flat fixed.

Except in Seattle they have no idea how to keep the roads clean when it snows.

The video was fine besides the guy hitting himself with a shovel...that lowered my IQ a few points. The Mustang itself was pleasant to listen to, and did look like fun.

I never got how/why no one bitched about the overhang...it's longer than a W-Body! Still, I like the way this generation looks, the Camaro more so.

Exactly.

Idiots.

Hmm, well...on the plus side... I graduated with my BFA. I landed a temp gig right after college helping small company that converts analog media into digital format finish their website. Which paid pretty well and adds to my resume I finally got to quit pizza delivery. (shortly after I got the job mentioned above). Despite the economic mess I still have a job working for a company in Lowell that was originally my internship. It's a side gig and doesn't pay loads, but it's enough to get by I finally was able to get my girlfriend of almost 4 years a ring, and on that note we'll be celebrating today. I got a nice digital camera i was able to fix my hard drive We got a RWD, BOF, V8 powered car. On a bad note: My car was hit by an idiot woman in a Mazda Protege. The Prizm was rear ended by an old fart in a beat up Town Car while delivering (that's what pushed me over the edge). Both cars were hit and damaged further by some jackasses in a stolen Integra, hope he got hit by a car or shot. The Town and Country was totaled by a retarded who ran a red light. We were supposed to move in July, and as a result I put off getting another job. That's worked out well. All but 2 of our fish died, some we had for nearly 3 years. I need $800 to replace my car's timing chains, until then I can't drive it. One of our cats became ill My grandmother has lung cancer Several of my girlfriend's relatives have passed away, and pets in her family.

stage

I'm getting cautiously excited about this car again...just wish it was called Invicta.

Zing!

Still better than the Civic f@#ktards that do FWD burnouts at 3am on our street.

Excellent writeup. Next time you do one though, there is a section for C&G test drives/writeups. :wink:

Gotcha, and that is quite a mystery.

Oh man, that's terrible dude. I hope you're able to figure something out. Where'd the sway bars go I wonder?

"better"

OMG

I hope you're being sarcastic. This article may be good press but the one about their incompetence with clearing snow is not flattering.

This year actually seemed togo by faster than last for me, go figure.

ZOMG!

That is very attractive actually, it's a shame it never made it to production.