Finally made a decent road trip in the LS8!

[MinisterofDOOM]

I've owned my Lincoln for almost 3 years now, but never had the chance to take anything resembling a proper road trip in it. That finally changed a couple weeks ago. For the last couple weeks I've been making the 230 mile drive from home (Layton, UT) to Rexburg ID for work. It's a pretty pleasant drive, with a 75mph speed limit most of the way. It's not a straight shot...it winds through mountains and there's lots of elevation change.

So, having racked up about 1000 miles total on the drive, I finally have an idea of how the LS fares as a long-distance cruiser.
The answer: magnificently.

The car is perfect for this kind of driving.
The biggest impression the car has made on me, though, is that the seats are AMAZING. I have NEVER gotten numb-cheek in the LS8. Even my Maxima, which formerly held the honor of Best Car Seats My Butt Has Occupied, couldn't make that claim. In most cars, my wallet starts to dig in uncomfortably after a couple hours at most, and then my right leg starts getting sore as a result. Not so in the LS. The seats are amazing. Supportive, perfectly adjustable...just fantastic. Thigh support is great. Shoulder support is right where I need it (and I'm tall, so that's a feat). Headrest is perfect. Not one bit of fatigue from the seats.

The car's powertrain combo is perfect for cruising, too, though. Cruise control is intelligent and holds onto speed settings and does not let go. It makes use of engine braking when going downhill, which means you just press "set" and go. The needle never moves. It'll downshift if needed but it's never needed. Why not? Torque, that's why.
At 80mph, revs sit at 2600. At 60, they're right at 2k. On my first trip to Idaho, I averaged 28mph. Every trip since, I've averaged 27. The weird part is that the ONLY difference I can think of is that I had the windows down and sunroof open on that first trip, because it was 95 degrees outside and my AC is bork'd. I don't see how driving with the windows down would IMPROVE fuel economy, so I'm at a loss. Either way, I'm quite happy with 27mpg out of this car. I'd like to see an economy car pull that off at 80mph.

The car rides smooth, but also handles sharply. So it's comfortable to cruise in AND fun in the twisties. This (and I've said this before) is the biggest thing separating European cars from American and Japanese cars. The Europeans do both well. The Japanese and Americans manage one at the expense of the other. Idaho's roads are TERRIBLE (the highways are HEAVILY rutted in the right lane, and the asphalt is often old and heat and wear have developed a wavy surface) but the LS makes them bearable. In Utah, where the roads are well-kept asphalt or smooth concrete, the ride is like silk. Not floaty, never Lexus- or Buick- or Lincoln-like. Silky, but firm and controlled.

I don't have HIDs (one of the few options my car lacks) but the halogens provide more than adequate illumination at night (which is when I've been making the drive). The fog/driving lights add valuable low-level shoulder illumination when it's not safe to use the high-beams (there's a surprising amount of traffic on middle-of-nowhere-Idaho I15 at 10pm). Visibility out of the car is fantastic (thanks in part to the very high roof) and the mirrors are FAR more useful than the mirrors on the Q, which narrow so much at the outside that they become nearly useless.

The steering wheel is comfortable, with my ideal 4-spoke layout, though I do wish it had fattened grips at 10 and 2 like my dad's Maxima. The wheel/armrest/shifter/seat ratio is PERFECT, and my arms never got tired. If I had to make this drive in my sister's C-class, the bassackward ergonomics would leave both arms tired and my knees cramped.

The only complaint I have about the car is one it shares with the Q:
The driver's footwell lacks space on the right side. The transmission cuts into the footwell space--not only horizontally but vertically. The real problem this causes is that with the wheel adjusted low (as I prefer) there's no comfortable way to rest your foot OFF the accelerator. So with cruise control enabled I have to rethink my seating position to keep my right knee from going numb. That'd be easier and far more convenient if the stupid safety features didn't disable switching between driver presets while in motion.

The company offered me a rental car for my second trip, but I declined. I'd much rather drive this car on this drive than a Cruze or Equinox.

[szh]

I posted quite a long time back about an LS8 that I rented and found to be a surprisingly good car. Compared quite favorably to my M45 ...

Z

[szh]

Found my old post: i-just-drove-a-surprisingly-good-car-t87589.html

Z