My personal opinion on each:
Lincoln LS: Nice car, good ride, but you're in the wrong ballpark for power. The LS only has ~300 HP, and as someone said, is a good second away from your target 0-60 time. That said, if I was looking for a reasonably priced comfortable luxury car with a bit of performance, the LS would be right up there on my list. Nicest interior of the three.
Cadillac CTS-V: My favorite of the three you put forth. The Corvette-sourced LS6 has plenty of easily accessible aftermarket, and has proven to be a solid performer. Handling is pretty good, and is a sharp looker without being over the top. Only one available with a manual transmission.
Chrysler 300C SRT-8: The most powerful, and funnily enough, my least favorite. The power is pretty savage and impresses in a straight line, but put a corner in front of it and things get pretty mediocre. I've driven them numerous times, and they just don't seem to have the special something to really make driving it fun. And a stock 425 HP and all you give us is a 5 speed automatic? Bitch please.
Other suggestions:
Audi S4: Very nice cars, the handling is great thanks to the Quattro AWD (though it does tend to understeer at the limits, being FWD bias). Great interior, available manual transmission. The TT motor is easily coaxed into making more power (hooray turbochargers!), and the 4.2L V8 versions have excellent grunt throughout the rev band.
Mercedes C-Class AMG: Good power, very nice interior appointments, classy appearance... but it still handles like a Mercedes. Not sure if these were available with a good ol' fashioned manual.
And now the part everyone knew was coming....
BMW M5 E39: Bite your tongues until the end, I'm going to be harshly critical of my own car here. I don't see many of these around, and I don't mind giving a neutral review on it, and with prices coming down, now wouldn't be a bad time to start considering one.
The good: It's got great power, makes a fantastic noise, has a nicely appointed interior, handles very nicely when you've got the Sport mode turned on, rides very comfortably and relaxed with you don't, the Active Seats are great for long trips, great throttle response, pretty decent reliability, very safe (front/rear head & side airbags, and front airbags) and it doesn't jump out and say "LOOK AT MEEEEE!" like the current generation M-series. Very 'under the radar', which is what made it a more attractive choice for me.
... However: The clutch is sourced from the 282 HP 540i and is considered an achilles heel, so expect to be replacing it with a better unit if you aren't very nice to your clutches, maintenance isn't cheap, the fuel economy rivals most half-ton trucks (my current HWY/CITY average is 17.1 MPG), the steering is recirculating-ball like the 540i so the feedback isn't as precise as most would like, mine has a strange rattle in the rear interior deck that can only be corrected by tearing the bloody thing apart, there's no center console space beyond a 3"x3"x3" cubbyhole for an oddly square-shaped pack of gum, the German-engineered cupholders are useless, the 6-disc magazine is in the trunk, the navigation system can be finicky (and if you've got the CD-based Nav, the display is fairly primitive), the display for the OBC in the dash have been known to have dead pixels from time to time, the factory audio systems (save for the M-Audio) are rubbish, even the M-Audio isn't GREAT, the engine will normally use up about a quart of oil between services, and lastly, buying one will cause all the sheep on Beyond to regard you as a douche, even if you're not.
Having said all those negatives, it's rather easy to look past those things once you're in it. I will say that it is one of the most well balanced cars I've ever driven. I can take it on a road-trip in a heart-beat, it feels very confident at incredibly illegal speeds on the highway, and it's very easy to drive around town. Put your foot down, and you feel like you're driving an M3, but without the popped collar or the shaved head (Sorry rage. 
). Overall, it's a very relaxing car to drive, and in my opinion, while they're not for everyone, you're cheating yourself if you don't at least take a test drive in one.
Last edited by TorqueDog; 05-21-2008 at 11:27 AM.
-James
Current beast: E550 Coupe (M278)
Previous beasts: AM Vantage, E90 335i (modded + JB4 Map2), E39 M5
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