MyFirstAbraham

There's a few small but visible scratches in the black shiny plastic trim on the edge of door windows. Is there a good way to mask / hide them ? I've used Plastix in the past, but it behaves differently on different surfaces, and with the door trim plastic being shiny I'm afraid to alter the appearance to where it's more obvious than before. Is there some wax / resin type stuff that is more permanent than the regular wax and can mask these scratches ? Also, what's the proper term for these parts ? If they are relatively cheap perhaps I can just replace them. TIA

I just bought a 2017 MKZ and while it's a clean car overall, there are a couple paint chips - one on the hood and one on the roof just above front pass door. Neither go past the primer. There's likely more that I haven' t noticed yet, and certainly more to come. I know that OEMs sell paint pens, but in my experience the end result usually doesn't look good. There's been some kind of color matched poly resin that someone I used to work with swore by, that you supposedly just rub on and it blends; don't recall what it was and lost contact with him. The car is magnetic gray metalliic. Any advice much appreciated.

I like to buy nicer cars in good shape, new or slightly used, and drive them until they fall apart. Obviously, prefer them to not fall apart too soon. My last car was bought new in 2008, has been heavily used over the years, and is probably going to last a few more years if the kids don't total it. What is your expectation of the long term reliability of MKZ and the Lincoln brand in particular ? (Yes I looked at all the charts etc but hearing from real people is always a plus.)

Ditto. Jeep Cherokee or Wrangler, RAM, I'd trust. Mostly. Chrysler / Dodge have a history of making cool, bold, unconventional designs held together with spit and chewing gum.

Mostly city driving (only had it for a week), some freeway and too much road construction stop&go... 2.0 AWD, don't have a lead foot but like to accelerate fast, so I keep it in S mode. So far the average MPG fluctuated between 20.5 and 21.3, which is sort of what I expected. Driving a Saab 9-3 2.0T for the past several years I've been about 24-27 with more highway driving, and I expect to end up in that range with time.

Yep. I'm with you on this one. I'd love to upgrade from my 9-3 to a 9-5 but I tend to keep cars long term and it was going to be problematic maintaining a discontinued model built by a company that's no longer on the US market. Saab was a great car, not without its issues but very well executed, comfortable, sporty, reliable, nimble, excellent use of cabin space, great in snow despite even not being an AWD (well, great once you turn the traction control off...), and overall just a fun car to have. But, it's time to move on... at 10 years and 135k miles things like window regulators and fuel sending sensor started to break and every time the repair was $200-250... couldn't even save money by doing it myself because getting the correct aftermarket part was a PITA, and the dealership charged so much for OEM, I could just as well be paying them for the labor as well. I'm sure that the car will drive for another 50-70k miles, unless the kids total it. Anyway, this is my first ever Lincoln and just a second Ford (after a long time) and so far I like the car a lot. As you said, let's hope Ford continues building them... I am one of the strange people who prefer sedans over SUVs.

Hello from the sunny Michigan. I’ve been a big fan of Saabs for years but now that GM all but killed them off, and my old ride started showing its age, I have bought my first Lincoln - a 2017 MKZ Select AWD. Was at first thinking of getting a Regal, but was told by a couple people that they could be problematic. Next looked at LaCrosse but it was not very enticing, the interior felt a bit cheap given the price, and the handling was pretty unimpressive. Also to be honest while I love the new exterior design of Buicks, the last generation looks a bit boring now. Finally drove an MKZ and loved the interior and the ride quality, also to my surprise it didn’t feel too underpowered compared to the v6 LaCrosse that we test drove. Hope to stick with it for years.