So yeah, I'm getting a 1997 black/black Mark VIII LSC in a week or two. It's got 117k on it, the dealer wants $6,990 for it, I'm going to talk 'em down to $6k hopefully because I'll be putting $3,000 down, it has some fairly high mileage, the headlights are clouded up a bit, and it has those horrible chrome strips around the wheel wells. I may give them as much as they want if they remove the strips or get some new headlight covers for it. Otherwise it's in fabulous condition and appears to have been pampered, since none of the areas Mark VIII sites say to look for problems have any present.

Anyone who has owned or currently owned one? I could use some stuff to use as leverage when talking to the salesman, as well as an idea of what owning one is going to be like in terms of driving experience, reliability, and so on.

Personally, I'm jacked to have such a technological marvel (it's still ahead of 75% of today's cars). I think of it as the Corvette of the Ford family in terms of all the stuff that was thrown into it. Also, it's friggin' BLACK. It looks like a bullet, even sitting still. Had I known how great these cars were, I probably would have gotten one last summer instead of the ill-fated 2003 GT I had.

Anyways, help is appreciated.

 

I have no experience with these cars other than as a passenger. My impression was that it was great road car.

Good luck with it, and enjoy.

 

I had a 96 and it was the best car I ever owned. Power and class.

There have been issues with the bags for the air suspension.

Might want to check the tranny and make sure it doesn't skip or shutter.

Also the driveshaft can cause the car to shutter at about 70-80.

I don't know if you have visited the MarkVIII boards but if you want the links just let me know.

 

Don't want to bust your bubble but my wife bought a '97 LSC I traded for, since then we've had to replace both headlights and ballast, the compressor for the air-ride suspension, the blend door for the heater/air cond., the fan control switch, the Idle Air Control valve and replaced the driver side door handle(prone to breaking). All told, she paid $6,600 a year and a half ago for an 84K mile car and we've spent another $2,600 since, and that's with my discount at work. My advice to you would be to check the maintanence records, ballasts for the headlights will run you over $600 per side. They're great cars just expensive when it comes time for repairs. Hers is Black w/gray

 

Oh yeah, I'm aware it's going to be expensive on parts. Everything seemed to work fine for those 20 minutes of test driving though, and I did just about everything but a slalom-like run. The salesman couldn't have been older than 25, he loved seeing what a supposed old man's car Lincoln could do. There was no driveshaft shudder, the air ride suspension worked fine even over some harsh roads, the lowering and raising at speed worked fine too.

 

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Please keep and For Sale posts within the proper forums.

Thank you so much.

You are very welcome!

 

I don't know anyone with $16,000 to drop. Sorry. I'll be straight-up: Even if I had $16,000 I could spend on something, I'd still get a Mark VIII. I'm absolutely entranced by them now.

 

SVOPaul on here is pretty much an expert on those cars. Drop him a PM.

 

Congrats Kotzen!

Post some pictures!

 

I own one.

My dad owns one.

He's owned one before.

I think they're, without a doubt, the best used vehicle money can buy. I mean, come on, a Cobra engine (see my avatar) in a pimp body with pampering luxury for anywhere under $10k? Get real... the only other car in its league would be the Lexus SC400, but even those aren't as nice or distinctive as a Mark VIII. Then, try to find one under $10k that doesn't have 150,000 miles on it. Nothing can touch the Mark VIII as far as value goes. They are very dependable. Rock-solid construction coupled with great ergonomics makes the interior truly stand out. You will have problems, I'm sure, but no more than any other used car, and I'm sure much less problems, for that matter.

My dad owns a '98 LSC Collector's Edition, Pearl on beige leather, every option available, even the engine block heater (1 of 4 to have it). 35k, and it looks BRAND NEW.

His previous car was a '97 LSC, Pearl on gray leather, and he sold it with 75k. He had no problems whatsoever with it.

Mine is a '97 Toreador Red LSC on beige leather. Every option but heated seats. 72k miles. I know from the MarkVIII.org message boards that the air suspension normally goes around 90k-100k. So, a car at 117k would have those replaced already. The cloudy headlights do stink, but if you search the MarkVIII.org website, you can find a dealer who sells the headlights for WAY lower than the dealers. I'm talking $1000 lower! They are the largest headlights ever put on a production car, and you can really tell it at night. They really light up your path. The engine will last upwards of 300k with no major problems, from what I've read others say. There are several who race their Mark VIII's every week and have done so for YEARS, and the engine and tranny are still strong at 250k+.

Here's a link to the MarkVIII.org FAQ:
FAQ

It sounds like you're already sold on the Mark VIII as a car, but just let me tell you... They are a BLAST to own. Just to see the look on some snot-nosed kid driving a Bat-Civic when you smoke him at a light in your Lincoln is worth the price of admission alone. Then, there are hardly ANY cars out there in this price range with this amount of luxury and feature that have as good a high end as the Mark VIII. Nail it from 60, and you'll be doing 100 before you quit smiling from the sudden jolt. Then, all the gadgets that they have (especially the Gen 2 '97-'97) are actually useful and very advanced, even by today's standards.

The handling is unbelievable for this large a car. They pull .85g in the skidpad, and that IRS helps out a lot on bumpy roads. My favorite feature as far as customization goes is the fact that you can actually lower the car almost 2" by using not much more than a screwdriver! There is a detailed step-by-step guide to doing so on the Mark VIII site. And lowered, this thing looks drop-dead gorgeous. Very stealthy, as well.

I'm done ranting, but here's a pic of my color. I don't have a digicam, but hopefully I'll get one soon so I can post pics. This one was lowered and the wheels are someone's photoshop, so I have the 10-spoke factory chrome directionals.

Good luck with the car, and I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine. :drive:

 

Yeah, this one's got the chrome 10-spoke wheels on it (I call them 5-spoke buzzsaws, but whatever) also.

Good (but expected) to see some support here, I posted a topic asking for possible personal experience and information at the CorvetteActionCenter.com board and got a good few Ford-bashing comments, mostly about the cost of replacement parts, all while ignoring that Corvette and the GM equivalent Cadillac parts are expensive as $%&# too. A few of them gave props though, so they're not all bad. Some just refuse to admit when a rival company puts out a car as tremendous as the Mark VIII.

And of course, they always forget the same guy founded both Cadillac and Lincoln.

 

Hmmm. I've been thinking of getting a good car for long road trips. Thanks for opening my eyes. I'll start looking for more links. If you have any, let me know.

 

I'll finally have some time, so on Tuesday I'm going to try to schedule a lengthier test drive, distance-wise. I had a 20-minute one before, but that wasn't very long as far as distance went, since the dealer is on a very busy road. I'm sure that if I'm nice enough to call a day ahead of time (and remind them of how much of it I'm putting down) they'll be happy to oblige.

 

SCENE: A salesman's office at Palmetto Ford. Young PATRICK, a college student aged 20, sits across a desk from JASON, the erstwhile young salesman, about 25 himself. PATRICK is signing off on a credit application to be financed for a 1997 Mark VIII LSC.

SALESMAN #2 enters.

SALESMAN #2: Hey, Jason?

JASON: Yes?

SALESMAN #2: You can't sell that Mark VIII.

JASON: Why not?

SALESMAN #2: Well, a guy's coming in from Georgia to buy it. The deal's been closed off. That's why we couldn't bring up the information for the credit check.

JASON: Oh.

PATRICK: $%&#.

Later, PATRICK is seen at an independent used car dealer down the street, eyeing a 1993 Lexus SC400.

PATRICK: I'll take it!

(1993 Lexus SC400, forest green with tan interior, 133K, sunroof, and a heck of a lot of quickness with a buttery smooth transmission, all mated to a bulletproof and eternally lasting Toyota-crafted engine. I sign papers tomorrow, and it's MINE~)

 

Hahaha, well, good luck with the Lexus. It's definitely my second choice for a car.

Good luck also with finding somewhere to put your drinks inside that '93. They don't have cupholders.

Very nice cars, though, all-around. Dependable, too.

 

It has a cupholder, mang. It has pretty much the same setup as a Mark, just one cupholder instead of two. Cupholder directly in front of the console cubby.

 

It's a '93?

Hmmm... I was looking at buying one a few years ago, and discovered that cup holders weren't offered until at least '94, maybe '95 (can't remember). Interesting.

They're phenomenal cars, no doubt. I love 'em.

I tried to talk my girlfriend into buying one off a lot here last week. 1995, 95k, green on tan interior. $15K!! She thought I was crazy for suggesting it.

 

They wanted too much, but yeah, she shoulda gotten that.

Dump 'er, 51% of the human race is female, you'll find another one. Preferrably one that recognizes the Lexus POWAH~

It still isn't mine yet. Turns the dealer doesn't screw with financing, so I have to venture to a finance company myself. On the bright side, I get to drive it to the place so they can look at what kind of condition it's in.