A sport-tuned performance sedan and two luxury-tipped sport-utility wagons join the elegant Town Car sedan to represent model-year 2004 products by the Lincoln line from the Lincoln-Mercury Division of Ford Motor Company.

The sporty Lincoln sedan takes the label of LS, as in Luxury Sport. Consider it a spry touring car that challenges the brand's traditional image...it's agile and athletic. Enhancements work on 2004 models with trim designations changing, transmission performance climbing and suspension improving to reduce noise, vibration and harshness (NVH).

Lincoln's full-size flagship Town Car series earned a stiff new platform with revised suspension and responsive steering mechanism last year and returns in 2004 packing a transmission with higher torque capacity and new color schemes inside and out.

The two Lincoln SUV models, full-size Navigator and mid-size Aviator, also repeat with a new palette of colors. Navigator has a seven-person cabin laced with plush fixtures included leather-clad seats, optional second-row buckets and a third-row bench that folds flat to the floor via push-button power.

Aviator, which debuted last year based on Ford's best-selling Explorer but with exterior styling cues similar to Navigator, gains an upgraded DVD-based navigation system this year with touch screen in the dash and controls via voice activation.

This is the athletic American car tinged by the flavor of responsive European sports sedans. With four doors and mid-size dimensions in a cabin for five, the tightly tuned sports machine from Lincoln rides on a rigid unibody structure and features liberal applications of light-weight aluminum for body panels and suspension elements.

The LS also sports a German-built ZF Servotronic rack-and-pinion steering apparatus, electronic brake assist (BA) and options like high intensity discharge (HID) headlamps and a curtain-style air bag system in the headliner. In addition, Lincoln's AdvanceTrac dynamic stability control system - which adjusts brake and throttle automatically to correct potentially dangerous lateral skidding behavior - is available.

Engines for the LS contain either six or eight cylinders and employ a drive-by-wire electronic throttle control (ETC). The entry model LS stocks a 3.0-liter V6 good for 232 hp. The 3.9-liter aluminum V8 produces 280 hp. Either engine links to a quiet five-speed electronic automatic transmission, with H-gate SelectShift controls added to the V8 version for clutch-less manual shifting.

The external design seems like an elegant understatement of classic proportions with brief overhangs, an exaggerated wheelbase length and broad track. Forceful body forms, accented by wide wheel openings and a graceful arch over the cabin, shape the athletic stance.

Inside, a tailored passenger compartment exhibits an international flair in a leather-lined layout with two bucket seats up front and a rear bench with twin sculptured spaces and the seatback foldable with 60/40 split. American burl walnut wood trims the cockpit with satin nickel accents also used in an optional decor package, as classic analog gauges decorate the instrument panel.

Another option on the LS top model is an audiophile-quality Soundmark THX-certified CDX6 audio system available with Lincoln's DVD-based navigation kit. The LS appears in three trims for V6 -- Base, Convenience and Premium, and two for the V8 with Sport and Ultimate. (CONTINUED...)