By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
Other than that - I like it.
SO, the next gen-Navigator, will be sharing an F-150 platform, eh..... That could mean the Exp/Nav could lose some of the unique features it has, if I read the tea leaves correctly - hopefully the IRS isn't one of them.... That disappearing 3rd rear seat is one feature that will bring me back to Ford SUVs forever and ever...
The current platform of the Expy/Navi was shared with the previous F-150. The current F-150 uses a slightly altered version of the previous platform, but modified in a way that makes it pointless to migrate the other vehicles into it, when in 2008 they'll all share the same platform with less differences.
Actually the next Navi/Expy will be based on the next generation F150 platform, around 2008 (named T1 for insiders). Too early to say exactly what features it'll incorporate.
2008 now, eh...... Guess I may as well go ahead and get my 06 then - I was thinking about holding my 03 until 07 if the new one would be out then, but I don't think I want to wait past that......
Because these things are going to be sold to people who already have a German sedan or two in their garage they probably have a different aethestic than a pizzza delivery boy. Would you want to go to an antique store in it the way it is now set up? Let me list three things a contemporary Lincoln pickup SHOULDN'T have: the gobs of chrome around the door handles, the $500 optional chrome steps, and the chrome bed rails. They should all come off. Immediately. Then, they should borrow an idea from the boating industry and have pop up bed rails for when you need them.
While we're fixing Bill's luxo-truck, lets put in a pigskin colored interior, like the new Bentleys. The white oatmeal colored seats and arm rests (the same color as on most XJ Jag sedans) look like they won't last through a winter of ski trips. Rather than a bed liner, lets try some of the spray on liners. But in the same color as the body. Can we have Zenons as an option? (Like it or not, the target demographic may need help with their night driving.) In short, Lincoln should trim the truck to fit in in an upscale neighborhood of professionals and company owners with toys. Kind of like where Bill lives.
I'm struck though that at least they got the pricing right. It seems to me that if you stumble onto any Ford lot these days you can get 10K off MSRP by simply fogging a mirror. If this holds true for Lincoln (and it should) then these Lincoln pickups will be selling for 34-35K. Now, I know that it is apples and oranges, but 34K is what they get these days for a Toyota pickup! Before you add the leather.
Lincoln should be applauded for having all Marks rated at 7200 pounds right off the bat. Now if they could just tone down the exterior and make the interior less white.
I had to go to two trade shows there this past Spring and I still don't get the attraction. Watching the cars (and stretched Hummers) parade down the strip at night is a better show than anything they've got going on inside.
Nav system? HID Headlights? Wood Trimmed Steering Wheel?
Nope.
Just a painted bed, the exact same headlights as in every single F-150 out there, the cheapest, most hideous plastiwood trim ever made, tiny looking tires, ugly colors and uselessly light colored interiors.
This is a neither luxury vehicle nor much of a truck either.
Another weak, non-committal effort just like the T-Bird, Maurauder and Blackwood.
What happened to getting things right, THEN making them?
I really wanted to like this truck. Ford is just sad these days.
P.S. I still hate the name.
I wonder how those figures compare to projections?
I guess there are more Mark LT's than Blackwoods now.
P.S. I still hate the name! (and the F-150 headlights)
Of course Cadillac had the wisdom to give it a decent name and a bit of differentiation from the Chevy.
I agree, the Mark LT name is very poor, and I question the sanity of the focus group (I was in one for the Aviator naming) who suggested it. But I think it's as well differentiated from the F-150 as the Escalanche is from the Avalanche myself. It also has a Silverado interior in it, with a little more gingerbread and a lot of cladding on the outside. At least Lincoln didn't plastic up theirs like a Grand Am, they stayed with metal and chrome.
What is Mark? The odd carryout guy at the grocery store?
One of the guys from "Queer Eye for the straight guy"?
Navigator LT is infinitely better than Mark. I can not even call it that. I refer to it only as "the Lincoln truck"
As far as differentiation, couldn't they at least have made up a set of projector headlights like in the GMC Denali? I won't buy a 45k truck that has the same exact front end as my lawn guys plain white work truck.
It's such a weak effort, it's kind of sad.
The recipe works only when the justified changes require a higher sales goal, to offset the initial cost of differentiating a vehicle. Change too much, then you need to sell much more. At the cost of such vehicles, Escalade, LX470, QX54, you can't expect too many changes.
Then such vehicles who might differentiate a BIT more than their lower cousins (Landcruiser, to LX470), sales might not be high enough to make up for it, so in turn the product festers out for a few years more than normal market allows for. Hence, anything over 5-8 years, to make up for such a larger investment.
And currently, 5-8 year old models, are no longer cutting it, and unfortunately more changes are required to continue improving the market.
Next year, a 6 Speed Automatic will debut in the Mark LT...competition is still using it's 4 speed units....
Except for that brief period in the early 80s when Marks were just styled Continetals (Town Cars), the Mark was always the top-of-the-line coupe, and the Mark VII LSC brought back some peformance to the nameplate as well. Using the name on a restyled F150 seems out of place based on that history.
kcram - Pickups Host
Marauder, Monterey, Montego, Mark, and the upcoming Zephyr?
Just like that rash I get every summer, and never goes away, I'm sure the name Continental will will be back sooner or later, likely on a Focus with a vinyl top.
The Lincoln LS??? LS isn't even a name, it's just Letters Stolen from Lexus.
Navigator is the only decent name they've come up with since Cougar and Comet 40 years ago. Aviator isn't bad, but no one can spell it.
Retro is cool, but only if re-using an old name evokes some proud heritage or brings back fond memories.
I guess we should just be thankful it wasn't called the Versailles LT.
TC= Town Car
CS= Continental Sedan
Etc.
Letter's aren't an item that can be "stolen", unlessed combined with something else. At first the LS6-LS8 (depending on the engine) so Toyota had an issue with Ford over that which Ford changed to simply LS which doesn't require it to be copyrighted. Plus, LS, LX, GS (as Lexus names it's vehicles) are trim model letters used by many manufacturer's. (now Ford is opting with S, SES, SEL).
I'm amazed MB didn't have an issue with Toyota for it's SC400 since such a combination was used long ago.
The same with the 3.2, 2.8, 3.5 that other manufacturer's use. It's easier to use such "names" since it works in the world market. HENCE, the LS...
BTW, next LS loses the "LS"...
I'd say it's a little more than coincidence that out of 676 combinations, Ford chose the same one as a car they were targeting to try to compete with.
Maybe BS would have been more descriptive then LS
As far as the truck under discussion here: How about this: Merkur LT?
Anacronym: an acronym or an abbreviation so old or familiar that no one remembers what its letters stand for.
Maybe you meant acronym.
I'm glad, I think, ANT - and I suppose you can't tell us what replaces the LS moniker??? Premier? Cosmopolitan? Continental?
Ok, other than the obvious, you lost me there, scooter. Old fogies want their Continental back - name it that.
I'd love to see Lincoln come out with a tank-styled, rear drive sedan (Think Chrysler 300C) with the slab sides and mesh grille of a 1961 Continental with a Cobra engine in it and they'd finally have a vehicle that people, other than 80 year olds and rental car companies, would actually WANT to buy.
kcram - Pickups Host