1998 Lincoln Continental from North America - Comments

Just normal maintenance items so far...

New brake pads - turned the rotors; replaced transmission fluid, power steering fluid, fuel filter, and did a coolant flush.

Prior to my purchase, the previous owner had the power steering pump replaced at the dealership, and new tires at 60k miles.

I've seen numerous postings from people who have racked up 100-200k+ miles on 98 Continentals without major problems!

WOW, what a great car! I was looking for a used car replacement for my failing Taurus, and wanted to spend under $10k. Bought this '98 Continental for $8k, and couldn't be happier. It has tremendous power and smoothness, plus full power features including moonroof, CD-changer, and heated seats. You have to be very careful driving it, because it handles so well at high speeds that you wind up breaking the speed limits without even realizing it.

The best part is, the '98 Continentals look identical to the '02 models, so people can't tell you are driving a 5-year old car! It seems almost too good to be true to find so much value for $8k, but Lincolns are notorious for their steep depreciation.

Bottom line, buying a late '90's Continental is the used car bargain of the decade!

Update to this review... the odometer just turned 110,000 miles with no mechanical problems since the last report. Only maintenance required (other than oil changes and tire rotations) was new spark plugs at 100k, and a new serpentine belt. The car still looks and runs great and gets 26mpg on the freeway!

I'm considering buying a '98 - '02 Continental, I agree it's a great car at a great price. Just one thing... I'd appreciate comments on gas mileage. When I read claims of 25, 26, even 28 mpg, I wonder if this is from the dash display, or if it has been checked the old fashioned way of tracking miles driven vs gallons at the pump. I have much more confidence in the gas pump. Calibration of the sensor for the dash display is likely no better than +-10%.

Any comments appreciated.

Thanks.

Another update to my original post. The odometer just turned 124,000 miles, and the car still runs great! There have been no mechanical issues since my last update, and the highway mileage using regular unleaded is still good at 24-25mpg.

For the previous poster, yes this mileage figure is using the computer. I did check the computer against hand calculations when I first bought the car and it was dead-on accurate. I have no reason to doubt that the computer is giving me accurate readings within 1-MPG.

I will need to put new tires on before long as my Michelins X-ones have about 63k on them, but they still drive and handle just fine. Other than that, regular oil changes every 4k miles and transmission fluid/coolant changes every 50k miles. I'm probably going to keep the car another 2-3 years and run it up to 175k-200k miles. When that time comes I'm tempted to replace it with a used '02 Continental, but I really like the Lincoln LS as well!

My 98 Continental has 70k miles on it. The car is reliable, powerful and luxurious. Very minor repair history and tires as needed. Truly a great car for the money. Best of all it's American made!

I have a 98' continental and I love it! what surprised me the most is it's power and it roars on takeoff. it handles very well at high speeds. it is very luxurious with leather, heated seats, climate control, and power everything. it has excellent trunk space. I bought it for 8,500$ with 85,000 miles unbelievable inside and out. I was wondering if I should keep it or sell it befor it messes up?

To the guys wondering about gas mileage, my 97' gets 23.5 on the highway and 15 ish in the city. And that's with a faulty O2 sensor. But I doubt it would improve it much. It's a heavy car with a V8, crappy gas mileage is a given.

1998 Lincoln Continental. Replaced fuel pump at 140k kilometers (about 80k miles), ($850.00) due to dirty fuel filter. My fault, should be changed every 50k miles!

Car has 140k kilometers (85k miles) and runs like new. Good gas mileage for what it is. 33 highway miles per gallon Canadian, (we have bigger gallons than Americans).

I like the car, only one problem. Car alarm goes off whenever it feels like it. Damned annoying at 3 A.M., but only if parked in the driveway or on the street, not in the garage. I am trying to track this problem down.

5th Lincoln I have had, not the best one, but better than most other cars on the road. Great dollar value, for what I paid.