I have the whole duel on Tape! I have the Video of Big D, battling it out with Eric, Granted its not the new M3(Its the previous model 97,98 or 99 model) but suffice it to say, the LS did very well. I will have it on hand for all to view at the Novemeber Meeting in Dallas. We might also do a rotor and brake change (Slotted or Cross-drilled and Porterfield Pads for one of the members.)
I posted this in the Intrigue forum, but thought this might be of interest with the LS group since the subject of tires has been discussed in recent postings. In the November issue of Consumer Reports, they did a test of all season and performance tires. Though not an exhaustive list, they listed Falken as their #1 performer and it was also the least expensive. Of the 19 tested, the Michelin Pilots came in 4th, Michelin MXV4 6th, Yokohama Avid 8th, Goodyear Eagle LS (original equipment on Intrigues without autobahn/PCS)9th, and Firestone Affinity LH 19th. If you're in the market for tires, this issue is worth a look.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
2 problems with the test: they only tested with FWD cars and they didn't include some of the top performers like the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. For comparison I like the tirerack.com surveys (assuming enough responses are available).
In the first results table for all-season tires they have a mix of Performance Tires and Touring tires. The Performance Tires are designated by a (1). There are ONLY 5 real performance tires in the test. Note that while the Sumitomo and Yokohama tires were ranked for 8 & 9 (tie), in reality they are tied for LAST place among the Performance Tires and were beat by several Touring tires. The 3 other performance tires finished #1, #3 & #4.
v8lincolnguy - We discussed the LS & snow a few weeks ago. The consensus was a LS with NEW all season tires performs pretty well in the snow. However once the tires get worn, driving in snow can be somewhat of a challange. If you don't have relatively new all season tires I suggest you pick up a set of 16" wheels (they can be found pretty cheap used - I've seen sets of 4 go for less than $150 on e-bay.) and get a set of snow tires. I don't recommend swapping snow tires on your 17" rims as there is to much of a risk for damage, getting them rebalanced properly is a pain and 17" snow tires are a lot more expensive than 16".
While I haven't read the CR test on tires, I have been running a set of Falken Tires on my LS and have been very pleased with them. I compete regularly in SCCA Solo II autocross in Phoenix, AZ, and have been very competitive in the Street Tire 1 category (i.e., I compete against other American V8s, Camaro, Mustang amongst other cars) and my Falken GR Beta FK-451 tires perform wonderfully on dry pavement. I have not competed in wet conditions, but I can state from experience that wet traction is excellent too. The CR comment that Falken tires perform well and at a low price is right on target IMO.
BTW, I've got more than 15K miles on these Z-rated tires and they wear pretty well too . . . I should easily get at least another 5K miles on them and they're not noisy at all in daily driving. I'll get another set when these are used up.
CR Tire Test & LS in snow by slunar, good point. It is still an informative article that will be helpful if you're in the market for tires. Combine that information with the tire tests and consumer surveys on Tire Rack, and a person can more easily make a decision on what tire to buy.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
No vibration with my Falkens. I had read an online review about the GR Beta FK-451 tires before I purchased them from someone that said these tires never made it onto his car because they couldn't be mounted and balanced to his satisfaction. Consequently, I went into the purchase with a little trepidation, but paid a few bucks extra at my local Discount Tire store to do a Hunter Road Force balance on them. Not one tire took more than 7-lbs (very low) to get them to balance, and these were 17-inch tires.
I typically run these tires at 40 psi for everyday driving, which may seem high to some people, but I went with a slightly wider tire (255/45Z17 -- not a stock size) and I liked the sharper turn-in response when inflated as such. Ride quality did NOT suffer appreciably, IMO, from inflating that high. I autocross these tires at 45-47 psi, and turn-in response gets even quicker. I realize that for some, the ride harshness may not be acceptable to them, but heck, these are Z-rated performance tires, not touring tires. I find the ride more than acceptable and certainly no worse than the OEM Firehawks, and probably better.
Just bought a used 2001 Lincoln LS Sport with the 3.9L V8 and need to know what oil to use. I just saw a TSB on another site that says to not use 5W20. I know it sounds dumb, but my "new" used car did not have an owners manual (dealer has ordered me one), so I do not know what Ford says to use.
Has anyone here installed or had a rear wing with third brake light installed on thier LS? If so where did they/you hook up the wire? Please be specific as I am very bad with wiring!
Is it normal to have a little wind noise come from the passenger rear windows/doors?
Wind noise is not normal. Dirty or defective seals, maybe, or the regulators aren't raising the windows fully. You might try cleaning the seals, then treating them with some silicone.
Just FYI, the outside temperature sensor is the small black knobby looking thing right behind the grille.
alkinard, glad to help. There are quite a few long-term LS owners hanging out here, so fire away. Getting the OM will help a lot. This is a complex machine with lots of gadgets, and the manual is ver well-written and thorough.
Just an assumption...and you what that'll make me...
I would unplug the OEM light on the deck and extend the wiring from there along the gooseneck to the spoiler. I assume there is a hole drilled in the lid to allow mounting/wiring?
I just bought an '03 V8 Prem Sport w/Alpine Audiophile CDX6. I would like to replace the 4 door speakers. What size do I need? Which are the good replacements? Where do you suggest I shop? Thanks.
Ken - they're 5x7s. Start with Crutchfield - they will show you what will fit the vehicle. I have detailed installation instructions - send me an email if you want them.
I can't speak for the 03's speakers, but I'm looking to upgrade the speakers on my 01 before long. It has the Alpine audio system, but it is that special system that 01 Sport models had.
Crutchfield said (on web site) they haven't meassured '03/04 LS yet. No doubt the speakers should be 5x7s, but I am wondering whether the installation detail have changed, due to changes to the door panels.
Know a lot of folks who have changed out OEM speakers on '00-'02 LSes but not any '03s yet. If you don't feel comfortable pulling the panels yourself, you may have to resort to an appraisal by an audio installer for advice on what size and models will fit. Please post on any info you obtain as there will undoubtedly be others interested in the results of your investigation. TIA.
Screw the appraisal... You can fit up to a 6X8 Speaker in the stock installation. You have many options. You can go with a 5X7 with the included 6X8 Adapters (Most 5X7's come with these). Also you can always create a thin masonite mount plate and drop some 6.5's or 5.25's in there. Most of the 5X7/6X8 are coaxials/triaxials, or you can go with a speaker plate made to fit the stock 6X8 mount that includes a separate 4inch Driver for lows and a .5-1 inch tweeter for highs (Clarion makes one). You could also buy a component set. If you went for the component set I would mount the tweeters higher in the cabin. Highs are directional and should also be on Axis with the ear..
Regards, Airwolf1000 P.S. Who swears we need an LS Audio Board on Edmunds so we don't have to answer the same question a thousand times!
You can either use your Accessories and Modifications discussion in your Lincoln LS Enthusiasts Club or you could ask Karen to make a separate discussion there!
I just recently bought my "new" used 2001 LS and to establish a baseline, have had several maintenance items accomplished on the vehicle. One of these items was a rotation and balance on the Firehawks.
Question: The tech rotated the right rear tire to the left front and, of course, the left front to the right rear. Otherwise, the remaining tires stayed on their respective side. Is this the preferred rotation method?
alkinard - you're fine with what the dealer did. The only difference is you're swapping sides on the front tires whereas the OM recommendation is to swap them on the rear tires. The reason is whenever you change the rolling direction of a radial tire it can change the way it feels (at least for a short period of time until it can acclimate to the new direction). If this occurs on the front tires you can feel it through the steering. If it's on the back it won't be nearly as noticeable.
Thanks for the information. I do appreciate your help.
Just took my new LS on a short (275 mile round trip) drive and was extremely pleased with it's performance. I'm still learning the vehicle, and need all the help I can get.
in looking the the article mentioned above it appears as though the '01 V8 is an exception stating that 5W-30 should be used. Wonder what the deal is with that...?
Hey, I hadn't noticed that exception. Some of you folks really get into the fine print!
Fortunately, my Lincoln LS is a 2000 model, so the TSB does apply. I wonder if the dealer puts 5W-30 in the 2001 models? I'll ask them about this fine point the next time I'm up there.
5W-20 was mandated by Ford to save a few percentage points on overall MPG for CAFE compliance. It will not protect your engine any better than 5W-30. It could arguably be less protection. My 2000 owner's manual calls for 5W-30 and that's what I'm using. Period.
Actually the primary reason why the Motorcraft 5W20 oil was developed was to extend catalytic converter life.
The EPA has new requirements that emission systems and catalytic converters last a lot longer. I no longer remember the details, but in the old days emission systems only had to last 50K mile. The new requirements may be 100K or 150K miles.
One of the changes required in motor oil is to reduced the amount of phosphorous additive, which is put in to lubricate the valves. Unfortunately phosphorous that comes out in the engine exhaust degrades the catalytic converters.
So the new 5w20 was created by Conoco to meet the new requirements for Ford (I'd imagine the other car manufacturers have had to do similar things as Honda also now uses similar, if not the same,5W20). The new 5W20 is a synthetic blend oil. The 5W30 Motorcraft oil is a conventional oil.
I'd suspect that Ford & Conoco found out that with the synthetic blend they could get away with a lighter oil weight and still provide the same or better level of engine protection. Allen is right that gas mileage may be sligthly better too, but I'd also guss that a different weight for the new recommended oil was selected to try to avoid confusion and dealers & other shops using conventional instead of synthetic blend oil.
I don't know if it is still there, but most of the above info. came from the Conoco web site. When the Motorcraft 5W20 syn blend first came out there was a lot of info on it on the Conoco web site. Some of the info appeared again when Conoco announced that is was going to sell the same 5W20 syn blend oil under the Conoco (& IIRC the Phillips 66) labels.
I really don't know why the 2001 LS V8 engine would be on the exception list for 5w20, but it could be as simple an explaination as Ford had not got around to testing that engine with 5w20 when the TSB was written. IIRC a Ford engine engineer told us out at out factory visit that the 5W20 syn. blend provided superior protection than the old 5w30 conventional oil so there doesn't appear to be a specific reason why its on the exclusion list.
With all that said, if it was my car I would use exactly what Ford recommended, just in case there was ever an engine problem during warranty it could be less hassle to get it repaired under warranty.
"With all that said, if it was my car I would use exactly what Ford recommended, just in case there was ever an engine problem during warranty it could be less hassle to get it repaired under warranty."
This statement and others like it always brings the question to my mind of "how would they know." Same would be true of avoiding things like Marvel Mystery Oil or STP. Unless they drain the oil and analyze it in a laboratory, I don't see how they would know what you have in the crank case. They would have little reason to think it was other than what was supposed to be in there particularly if you change it regularly and it looks clean. Of course if you run off at the mouth about what you've been doing...........I'm certainly not advocating doing other than what the manual says. Just curious.
Scott - I don't disagree that there might be other benefits related to sulphur but that could have been accomplished with a synthetic blend 5W-30. I still think the change to 20 weight was due strictly for fuel economy reasons. Other things may have been changed at the same time.
Those who have been on the board awhile know the wickets Lincoln in general and the LS in particular have been driven through to meet the requirements of the EPA.
I'd love to be driving a diesel version of the LS (a major pipe dream, along with the V8 manual, or even the uprated V6 with a manual), but would settle for the 1.9 or 2.5 litre versions of the Audi or the 3.0 litre BMW turbodiesels. I'm guessing that the reasons they aren't available have to do with: 1) the interminable (& expensive) drill that the U.S. government places on any new version of a vehicle sold here and 2) the amount of sulphur in diesel fuel hereabouts.
I'm thinking that #2 (so to speak) is going to be dealt with, but don't hold your breath on #1.
desert guy - I have heard of engine failure cases where samples of engine oil was sent to a laboratory for analyis before any warranty repair was authorized.
Allen, I stil think that 5w20 was chosen primarily to differentiate it from 5w30. If there were 2 kinds of 5w30 available, conventional and syn blend for 2002 and newer Fords, I'm sure that many dealers (and other service places) would use the old cheaper conventional 5w30.
Of course this doesn't stop many dealers and oil change places from putting the "wrong" oil in your car.
So the question becomes, since the window stickers just list MPG in integer #'s, when calculating a manufactur's fleet average MPG, to how many decimal places is it calculated. I doubt that 5w20 vs 5w30 is going to give more than 1/10 of a MPG improvement. So does that improvement actually get reflected in Ford's fleet average?
I'll leave it up to you to research this. =:)
Steve, until gasoline gets over $4.00 / gallon AND the sulpher is removed, I just do not see any move to diesels in the US. As much as we [non-permissible content removed] about it, gasoline is a bargain in the US and over the last 30 years has increased in price at a much lower rate than inflation. You are an exception, I (and probably most Americans) would not have the slightest interest in a car with a diesel engine until gas gets to about $10 / gallon. I also hate the smell of diesel exhuast. The bad smell of diesel exhuast is significant problem in Europen cities.
Hello, I've been lurking for sometime but now we're ready to buy a used LS for my husband. They're hard to find with low mileage here in the middle of the country. We've located 2 that fit our "cash" budget! One is a 2001 w/28600 miles and the other a 2000 w/38000---both priced at $18,900------difference; the 2000 has the sport pkg. I'd like comments from those of you more knowledgeable than myself on mileage. We plan on purchasing an extended warranty. Both are coming off leases. Thanks.
Having owned a standard 00 LS and now an 02 sport, I'd say you'd be better off with the newer non sport with fewer miles. Both cars perform well and unless you plan on competitive events, the non sport may provide you with a more compliant daily ride. Additionally the few bugs any new model launch may have were taken care of with later models. My 2 cents
kymber, I agree with chartrand, go with the newer, lower mileage 2001 LS w/o the sport package. With some good performance 16" tires you'll be able to get 95% of the sport model's handling capability without the ride harshness the 17" tires have.
The 2001 has much better cup holders, an additional 12V power outlet and several mechanical updates that the 2000 may not have.
Since your budget is a concern, when you go to get new tires for your LS you'll be real happy you got the non sport model with 16" tires as you'll find 16" tires can be as little as 1/2 the price of similar tires in 17" size.
I purchased a new LS V8 on July 27, 2003 at Biondi Lincoln Mercury in PA. While traveling in NJ the car began running and idling rough and the check engine light came on. I called the 800 # for service and was asked to bring it to the closest dealership which was Wayne Lincoln Mercury in Wayne NJ. After having the car for two days we called to check if it would be done by the weekend and was told they would have it done as soon as the bumper came in. I expressed that they had the wrong car as my was not have body damage. Too make a long story short, I no longer have a warranty on half of the exterior of the vehicle and an accident report on my vechicle because of a faulty coil from ford. I never owned a vechicle other than a ford and after this experience I will never own another one. They make you deal with a specific dealer and they will not stand behind their workmanship. If anyone can help please call (724)323-2198. Thank You.
I agree with you on the diesels. I try to avoid being behind a diesel at any cost!
kymber, I'd go with the 01. I purchased an 01 LS V8(w sport package) almost two months ago. It was a lease turn in and only had 25K. If the car is in good physical shape, the asking price you mentioned isn't bad. I paid a bit more than that for mine, but mine is also pretty much fully loaded. Have them check the original in service date of the car as with an 01, you should still have some time left on the warranty.
ryananderson, I'd be calling the BBB, Ford corporate, and my attorney. If they wrecked your car to the point that the warranty is voided on certain parts and an accident shows up under a VIN report then I think you are due something in compensation.
I don't understand - why are you blaming Ford? Did the dealership wreck your car? Dealers don't work for Ford and Ford has virtually no control over them. If they did half of them would no longer be in business and the ones that were left would be much better. But that's a different rant.
A) it should have been fixed by the dealership at no charge or inconvenience to you it should have been repaired with genuine Ford parts which means the warranty is still valid. In fact dealer installed parts have their own warranty.
If the above did not happen then you have a legitimate gripe with the DEALER, NOT FORD. Did you talk to the owner of the dealership? What exactly did they do wrong in the repair and what would it take to fix it right?
All you can ask for in this situation is they fix the damage they inflicted and restore the car to the same condition it was in before. If you feel the car's value is lower because of the accident (I don't see how if it was just the bumper cover) then take them to small claims court.
Comments
Regards,
Airwolf1000
In the November issue of Consumer Reports, they did a test of all season and performance tires. Though not an exhaustive list, they listed Falken as their #1 performer and it was also the least expensive. Of the 19 tested, the Michelin Pilots came in 4th, Michelin MXV4 6th, Yokohama Avid 8th, Goodyear Eagle LS (original equipment on Intrigues without autobahn/PCS)9th, and Firestone Affinity LH 19th. If you're in the market for tires, this issue is worth a look.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
I used to live in DFW (Las Colinas and Trophy Club), but have since moved to soCal. I'd give almost anything to get back there.
-Paul
In the first results table for all-season tires they have a mix of Performance Tires and Touring tires. The Performance Tires are designated by a (1). There are ONLY 5 real performance tires in the test. Note that while the Sumitomo and Yokohama tires were ranked for 8 & 9 (tie), in reality they are tied for LAST place among the Performance Tires and were beat by several Touring tires. The 3 other performance tires finished #1, #3 & #4.
v8lincolnguy - We discussed the LS & snow a few weeks ago. The consensus was a LS with NEW all season tires performs pretty well in the snow. However once the tires get worn, driving in snow can be somewhat of a challange. If you don't have relatively new all season tires I suggest you pick up a set of 16" wheels (they can be found pretty cheap used - I've seen sets of 4 go for less than $150 on e-bay.) and get a set of snow tires. I don't recommend swapping snow tires on your 17" rims as there is to much of a risk for damage, getting them rebalanced properly is a pain and 17" snow tires are a lot more expensive than 16".
BTW, I've got more than 15K miles on these Z-rated tires and they wear pretty well too . . . I should easily get at least another 5K miles on them and they're not noisy at all in daily driving. I'll get another set when these are used up.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
I typically run these tires at 40 psi for everyday driving, which may seem high to some people, but I went with a slightly wider tire (255/45Z17 -- not a stock size) and I liked the sharper turn-in response when inflated as such. Ride quality did NOT suffer appreciably, IMO, from inflating that high. I autocross these tires at 45-47 psi, and turn-in response gets even quicker. I realize that for some, the ride harshness may not be acceptable to them, but heck, these are Z-rated performance tires, not touring tires. I find the ride more than acceptable and certainly no worse than the OEM Firehawks, and probably better.
5W20. I know it sounds dumb, but my "new" used car did not have an owners manual (dealer has ordered me one), so I do not know what Ford says to use.
Thanks for the LS oil info. I'm new to the Lincoln LS and need all the help I can get.
Is it normal to have a little wind noise come from the passenger rear windows/doors?
Thanks.. 2001 LS8
2001 LS8 Sport
Edit - alkinard beat me to the punch with the info.
Just FYI, the outside temperature sensor is the small black knobby looking thing right behind the grille.
alkinard, glad to help. There are quite a few long-term LS owners hanging out here, so fire away. Getting the OM will help a lot. This is a complex machine with lots of gadgets, and the manual is ver well-written and thorough.
Anyone have any help with the third brake light conection??
I would unplug the OEM light on the deck and extend the wiring from there along the gooseneck to the spoiler. I assume there is a hole drilled in the lid to allow mounting/wiring?
Regards,
Airwolf1000
P.S. Who swears we need an LS Audio Board on Edmunds so we don't have to answer the same question a thousand times!
Question: The tech rotated the right rear tire to the left front and, of course, the left front to the right rear. Otherwise, the remaining tires stayed on their respective side. Is this the preferred rotation method?
Thanks for the information. I do appreciate your help.
Just took my new LS on a short (275 mile round trip) drive and was extremely pleased with it's performance. I'm still learning the vehicle, and need all the help I can get.
Thanks again!
They appear to have an *extremely* competent shop with the most impressive shop facility I've ever seen.
However, I see that my owner's manual specifies "Motorcraft SAE 5W-30 Super Premium Motor Oil, Ford Specification WSS-M2C153-G".
Explanation: I found an apparent specification change to 5W-20 oil in
http://www.thedieselstop.com/faq/9497faq/tsb/tsb/files/020109.pdf
ISSUE
Ford Motor Company now recommends SAE 5W-20 viscosity grade for servicing most gasoline and
flexible fueled vehicles.
The Lincoln LS is specifically listed among the applicable vehicles.
I'm no expert, but it appears that both the TSB you link to in your message as well as the owners manual both specify 5W30 for the 2001 LS.
Perhaps you should talk with your dealer and see where he is getting his information. You might be saving yourself (and others) a lot of headache.
Fortunately, my Lincoln LS is a 2000 model, so the TSB does apply. I wonder if the dealer puts 5W-30 in the 2001 models? I'll ask them about this fine point the next time I'm up there.
The EPA has new requirements that emission systems and catalytic converters last a lot longer. I no longer remember the details, but in the old days emission systems only had to last 50K mile. The new requirements may be 100K or 150K miles.
One of the changes required in motor oil is to reduced the amount of phosphorous additive, which is put in to lubricate the valves.
Unfortunately phosphorous that comes out in the engine exhaust degrades the catalytic converters.
So the new 5w20 was created by Conoco to meet the new requirements for Ford (I'd imagine the other car manufacturers have had to do similar things as Honda also now uses similar, if not the same,5W20). The new 5W20 is a synthetic blend oil. The 5W30 Motorcraft oil is a conventional oil.
I'd suspect that Ford & Conoco found out that with the synthetic blend they could get away with a lighter oil weight and still provide the same or better level of engine protection. Allen is right that gas mileage may be sligthly better too, but I'd also guss that a different weight for the new recommended oil was selected to try to avoid confusion and dealers & other shops using conventional instead of synthetic blend oil.
I don't know if it is still there, but most of the above info. came from the Conoco web site. When the Motorcraft 5W20 syn blend first came out there was a lot of info on it on the Conoco web site. Some of the info appeared again when Conoco announced that is was going to sell the same 5W20 syn blend oil under the Conoco (& IIRC the Phillips 66) labels.
I really don't know why the 2001 LS V8 engine would be on the exception list for 5w20, but it could be as simple an explaination as Ford had not got around to testing that engine with 5w20 when the TSB was written. IIRC a Ford engine engineer told us out at out factory visit that the 5W20 syn. blend provided superior protection than the old 5w30 conventional oil so there doesn't appear to be a specific reason why its on the exclusion list.
With all that said, if it was my car I would use exactly what Ford recommended, just in case there was ever an engine problem during warranty it could be less hassle to get it repaired under warranty.
This statement and others like it always brings the question to my mind of "how would they know." Same would be true of avoiding things like Marvel Mystery Oil or STP. Unless they drain the oil and analyze it in a laboratory, I don't see how they would know what you have in the crank case. They would have little reason to think it was other than what was supposed to be in there particularly if you change it regularly and it looks clean. Of course if you run off at the mouth about what you've been doing...........I'm certainly not advocating doing other than what the manual says. Just curious.
Those who have been on the board awhile know the wickets Lincoln in general and the LS in particular have been driven through to meet the requirements of the EPA.
I'd love to be driving a diesel version of the LS (a major pipe dream, along with the V8 manual, or even the uprated V6 with a manual), but would settle for the 1.9 or 2.5 litre versions of the Audi or the 3.0 litre BMW turbodiesels. I'm guessing that the reasons they aren't available have to do with: 1) the interminable (& expensive) drill that the U.S. government places on any new version of a vehicle sold here and 2) the amount of sulphur in diesel fuel hereabouts.
I'm thinking that #2 (so to speak) is going to be dealt with, but don't hold your breath on #1.
Allen, I stil think that 5w20 was chosen primarily to differentiate it from 5w30. If there were 2 kinds of 5w30 available, conventional and syn blend for 2002 and newer Fords, I'm sure that many dealers (and other service places) would use the old cheaper conventional 5w30.
Of course this doesn't stop many dealers and oil change places from putting the "wrong" oil in your car.
So the question becomes, since the window stickers just list MPG in integer #'s, when calculating a manufactur's fleet average MPG, to how many decimal places is it calculated. I doubt that 5w20 vs 5w30 is going to give more than 1/10 of a MPG improvement. So does that improvement actually get reflected in Ford's fleet average?
I'll leave it up to you to research this. =:)
Steve, until gasoline gets over $4.00 / gallon AND the sulpher is removed, I just do not see any move to diesels in the US. As much as we [non-permissible content removed] about it, gasoline is a bargain in the US and over the last 30 years has increased in price at a much lower rate than inflation. You are an exception, I (and probably most Americans) would not have the slightest interest in a car with a diesel engine until gas gets to about $10 / gallon. I also hate the smell of diesel exhuast. The bad smell of diesel exhuast is significant problem in Europen cities.
Both cars perform well and unless you plan on competitive events, the non sport may provide you with a more compliant daily ride. Additionally the few bugs any new model launch may have were taken care of with later models.
My 2 cents
The 2001 has much better cup holders, an additional 12V power outlet and several mechanical updates that the 2000 may not have.
Since your budget is a concern, when you go to get new tires for your LS you'll be real happy you got the non sport model with 16" tires as you'll find 16" tires can be as little as 1/2 the price of similar tires in 17" size.
kymber, I'd go with the 01. I purchased an 01 LS V8(w sport package) almost two months ago. It was a lease turn in and only had 25K. If the car is in good physical shape, the asking price you mentioned isn't bad. I paid a bit more than that for mine, but mine is also pretty much fully loaded. Have them check the original in service date of the car as with an 01, you should still have some time left on the warranty.
ryananderson, I'd be calling the BBB, Ford corporate, and my attorney. If they wrecked your car to the point that the warranty is voided on certain parts and an accident shows up under a VIN report then I think you are due something in compensation.
The backlighting for the radio/CD controls/buttons is not working.
I have tried all the fuses that, according to the owners manual, appear to be associated with the radio/CD or backlighting and cannot find any blown.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
A) it should have been fixed by the dealership at no charge or inconvenience to you
If the above did not happen then you have a legitimate gripe with the DEALER, NOT FORD. Did you talk to the owner of the dealership? What exactly did they do wrong in the repair and what would it take to fix it right?
All you can ask for in this situation is they fix the damage they inflicted and restore the car to the same condition it was in before. If you feel the car's value is lower because of the accident (I don't see how if it was just the bumper cover) then take them to small claims court.