2009 Lincoln MKS
Driving first class
Crammed into the rotten little flying death-tube that serves a certain Yankee airline as a short-haul plane, it is somewhere over Colorado (en route to the media preview of the snappy new VW Passat CC) that I realize I really miss the Lincoln tester I had last week.
As the hairy-armed gentleman to my right merges into a sort of parasitic twin, due to the claustrophobic closeness of the pinched and narrow airliner’s nasty little revenue-generating seating scheme, I look back fondly on the MKS test car with its roomy leather seats.
I miss the comfort of the new marque from Ford’s luxury division, and I miss the climate control of the MKS as well; as the overhead air jets of my aircraft spit their ice-cold mixture of recycled air/sweat/spittle that passes for atmosphere at 33,000 feet.
The MKS is new for 2009, and has already replaced the Town Car as Lincoln’s big passenger sedan on the Canadian website (I do still see the ’09 TC on the Yankee webspace, however)
The MKS is a new expression for the venerable brand, sporting updated, modern styling and a full array of tech features; and a better powerplant under the hood to reflect the changing attitudes of our times.
The new lux-sedan (it made its first appearance at the LA auto show last year) stands shoulder to shoulder with competing big cars from either Japan or Europe’s big names, and brings enough of the desirable “American” characteristics to the vehicle to make a case for reclaiming some market share.
To whit: the aforementioned roominess. It’s a large car inside, and the seats and cabin are tailored for full-size people. I bring this up not only because I am slowly metamorphosing into a Chubbo, but because so are a lot of other people. Me and hairy-arms from the first paragraph there, we could sit side by side in the MKS and never once feel like we were about to be joined in a civil union.
The leather-surfaced seats are comfortable in the extreme, and the driver’s chair in my tester boasted excellent adjustable lumbar support in addition to the upscale addition of electrically cooled (as well as heated, of course) seats. Rear passengers must cope with only heated seats, and slightly less room. Though the rear is still spacious (certainly it compares well against, say a Lexus GS or an M sedan from Infiniti), it feels a little less so than a Town Car’s back row.
I’ll tell ya another “American” design touch I like: easy and intuitive controls. All the gauges are large, well illuminated, easy-to-read and placed exactly where they should be. Onboard system controls are intuitive, via the center-mounted, multi-function touchscreen; and the dash’s knobs and buttons are straightforward and tastefully applied, never seeming generic or random.
The MKS packs a full array of technology, probably the most state-of-the-art to come from FoMoCo in quite a while. The push-button keyless start is a must-have in anything that wants to call itself a luxury car, as far as I’m concerned, and the company’s Sync media package (a joint venture with Microsoft) makes it ready to connect to Bluetooth devices for a hands-free good time.
My tester, an AWD trim (the car can also in front-wheel drive, as well) upped the ante with an optional “vision package”, which lent the tester adaptive cruise control (that is, cruise that maintains a constant, user-definable distance between the MKS and the vehicle in front of it at highway speeds) a voice-activated navigation system, and a killer THX certified surround sound system. It also added five grand to the sticker price.
The driving experience in the latest Lincoln is sublime. The cabin is near silent, and the suspension absorbs road vibration expertly. The big-bodied car (its dimensions are only a few centimetres short of the Town Car) holds itself together well in corners, and the large tires (19 inch on my test vehicle, with 20 inchers available soon) helped smooth out the road surface as well.
The power, all 273 horses of it (and 270 lb.-ft. of torque, peaking in the low-4000 rpm range) derive from a 3.7 litre V6, delivered smoothly and effortlessly to move the big sedan around, whether on the highway or in the suburbs. A six-speed autobox (with manual-shift capability) channels the ponies very well, with a bias toward upshifting (in order to keep the revs low, I presume, and maximize mileage)
Now ordinarily when listing the shortcomings of a car like this, I like to gripe about the price; and at $55,180 for my loaded tester, the MKS certainly doesn’t come cheap. However, compare a similarly equipped lux-brand large sedan from virtually any of the major brands dominating the segment, and the Lincoln stacks up well.
So instead, I will gripe about the mileage (I got 14.1L/ 100 m in city driving, so it doesn’t run cheap; and also I must say I am not fond of Ford’s “Easyfuel” capless filling system. I first saw one of these things on the Flex a couple of months back, and what is up with this system?
The fuel hole is, as you may have guessed, capless, with just a seal that opens for filling when the gas-lid is opened. And the gas lid does not lock, meaning anyone can open it. Ford/Lincoln, I beg you: stop doing this.
To summarize, the MKS is a hot new contender for the brand. The fit and finish I observed is very good; the ride is quiet and the overall package brings a welcome update to Lincoln’s big-sedan line.
And speaking as a full-sized adult, I would definitely rather drive the MKS than fly, given a choice.
Summary:
Strong Points
Weak Points
- - comfortable ride
- - quiet engine
- - handsome exterior
- - all onboard controls well displayed and laid out
- - no locking fuel door (or gas tank cap)
- - pricey
- - fuel hungry
Editors Rating:
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