I've never really understood Lincoln other than them being used as executive taxis. Don't get me wrong, they are nice. And if you can find a clean used one that is 3 to 4 years old, it will be worth 40% of it's new purchase price. You don't buy one to hold value, you but it to have a pretty nice ride until the wheels fall off.
The Lincoln towncar with the "air ride".... life span of several years before the air ride system self-destructed.
I've just never really made the connection between myself and that brand. Maybe its a Ford thing... Ford brand loyal customers retire and buy a Lincoln.
As far as VW.... It was always a love/hate relationship. My wife only had a hate relationship with my favorite past time brand.
Something was always breaking.
Had a 90' Jetta GLi 2.0 16v 134hp running around 150hp. Had basically brought it back to like new condition. This was around the year 2000. Replaced: head after timing belt jumped and all the valves self destructed, motor mounts, exhaust header, 02 sensor, cat back exhaust, wheels, wheel bearings, control arms & ball joints, struts, springs, strut mounts, plugs & plug wires, computer chip, etc etc.
Ended up parting it out on ebay after the engine would not start, locked up. Tires would skid when trying to pop-start. The last part I unbolted was the trans. Turned out a flywheel bolt had backed out all by itself all the way into the starter gear. Simple fix. Wanted to kill myself when I realized it.
Fast forward to 97' B4 Passat GLX VR6. One day the welding on the steel clutch pedal under my foot, yeah it decided to give way. The welds simply broke loose and the clutch pedal assembly gave way. Had to replace the entire foot pedal accellerator, brake and clutch pedal assembly due to failed steel welding by VW.
Window regulator went out. Check engine lamp on at all times after 20k miles due to catalytic converter being junk (using premium octane the whole time). I wired an off switch into the check engine lamp lead wire in back of the cluster to shut that thing off.
The coolant valve body was made of plastic and cracked/broke apart. (large water neck on side of engine) (CX-9 coolant valve body is made of aluminum, thank God)
Had a one piece ignition coil pack for all 6 cylinders, made of plastic. 400 dollar piece of junk would crack from heat.
After cracking, any time it was humid and misting, that sucker would mis-fire and knock like no other.
Easy fix by lathering the entire flat surface of the coilpack with J.B. Weld. Still, they manufactured the plastic too thin.
CX-9 has individual ignition coil units, not one large unit.
Motor mounts went bad.
Wheel bearings all went bad.
ABS sensors all fell apart and had to be replaced.
Water pump exploded on the interstate one day.
The list goes on and on.
The thing about VW's, their engines (water pumps & accessories not included) are dynamite and they handle great.
