Overview

What Changed for 2009:

• The Lincoln Town Car is carryover for 2009

Overview
The 2009 Lincoln Town Car is a full-size, rear-wheel-drive luxury sedan. The traditional platform is a throwback to simpler times, when luxury in a sedan meant tons of interior room, a big V-8 powerplant and a rear-drive body-on-frame platform. All of these elements still embody what the Town Car is all about. No wonder it's been the choice of limousine and livery companies for decades. With Lincoln in the midst of reinventing itself, there has been a move away from nameplates with brand equity toward alphanumeric-branded vehicles like MKZ, MKS and MKX. The Town Car, riding atop its decade-old third-generation platform, soldiers through this uncertain market unchanged for 2009.

Model Lineup
The 2009 Lincoln Town Car comes in two trim series: Signature Limited and Signature L. (The livery and limo market gets three other unique series.) The Signature L receives a 6-inch-longer wheelbase for more second-row leg room, befitting its limousine role. The Town Car is one of the last remaining models with a stand-up hood ornament, which has always represented class and stature. All trim levels share the same powerplant, transmission and rear-wheel-drive configuration.

Befitting its status as a luxury vehicle, all Town Car models are equipped with a long list of standard amenities including automatic climate control, memory seats and premium leather seating surfaces. Major options include heated rear seats, high-intensity-discharge headlamps, and a limousine-like rear-seat amenities package including heated rear seats, rear-seat visors, secondary climate controls, cigar lighters and more.

Powertrain
All 2009 Lincoln Town Cars feature a 239-hp, 4.6-liter V-8 engine mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission. The engine is certified to run on unleaded fuel or E85. Power is sent to the rear wheels through a live axle. The independent front suspension features gas-pressurized shocks. Power 4-wheel disc brakes, with anti-lock control (ABS), are standard. The steering is power-assisted rack-and-pinion. The 2009 EPA fuel-economy estimates are 16 mpg city/24 mpg highway while running on gasoline, and 12 mpg city/17 mpg highway on E85.

Safety
Standard safety features on all 2009 Lincoln Town cars includes dual-stage driver and front passenger air bags; front-seat side air bags with head/chest protection designs; all-speed traction control; anti-lock brakes; and a tire-pressure-monitoring system.

The 2003-2009 Lincoln Town Car has been crash tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). It received "Good" ratings (the agency's highest) for frontal offset tests. No side-impact or roof-strength tests have been conducted as of this writing. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has also tested the Town Car. During testing, the sedan earned 5-star ratings (the agency's highest) in both frontal and side crash tests.

Technology
The 2009 Lincoln Town Car is a flex-fuel-capable vehicle. In simple terms, this means the engine is designed to burn either unleaded gasoline, E85 (85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline), or any combination thereof. While not as widely available as gasoline, E85 is a bio-fuel alternative to traditional petroleum-based fuel. Benefitting the planet, the only downside to E85 is that ethanol contains approximately 34 percent less energy than gasoline, resulting in a slight drop in overall fuel economy.