I own an 03 Lincoln Town Car, and being an engineering student I couldn't help but do a bit of aero minded observing on Ford's updated design. In 02 for the 03 model year, Ford redesigned the entire chassis of these cars and made significant improvements across the board, aero included.
If you take a look under the car you will see an air dam, tire spats front and rear, sealed gaps, and an internal antenna, among other things. Ford switched to a factory E-Fan as well. No, these boats really aren't that bad aerodynamically anymore.
Ford also went heavy on the use of aluminum and composites in trying to reduce vehicle curb weight. The hood, trunk, and front crossmember are aluminum, as are all four calipers and the associated brake dust plates.
The throttle and emergency brake pedals are both a plastic composite.
Anecdotally speaking here, I have managed 25 city around town with a full out hypermiler run, and was pulling a city average of 20 over most of the summer. I drive very little on the highway, though when I did take an occasional trip I was in the ~24-26MPG range, which is about what the car was rated for by the EPA. The only effective highway driving style for better FE I have found was driving slower. DWL and P&G didn't help at all.
Just my 2 cents on the car. It really is an incredible platform from an engineering standpoint.
