But anyway, still a nice car but it needs to be RWD. I think this car is overall a nice offering for less performance oriented drivers who just want a nice car with plenty of options. It’s priced similar to the Hyundai Genesis, but you won’t have to be getting a new transmission with every oil change on the Lincoln.

As much as I dislike how FWD handles, if I could just change one thing about this car, it would actually be the exterior look of the car. While it’s not the ugliest car on the road, the MKS looks like a Taurus with a fancy grill on the exterior (and more options and a better interior, but to the average car passing by they wouldn’t even know thhat). Itwould be a much more appealing car if it had a unique look to it. When you see a Cadillac passing by you, you don’t need to look at the logo on the front to tell it’s a Cadillac and not a Buick or Chevrolet. Likewise, when you see an Audi, you would have to be on a lot of crack to mistake it for a Volkswagen, and you’d have to be downright retarded to mistake a Mercedes for a Smart Car. But if someone sees a MKS from the side and mistakes it for a Taurus, that’s completely understandable.

Can you get adaptive cruise/headlamps/highbeams and rain sensing wipers in the competition? Yes.

Can you get shiny plastichrome on the HVAC vents that reflects into your eyes? The navigation screen that washes out in sunlight? The Ford Focus gauge cluster? The cheesy donkey-kong warning chimes? No storage, just acres of hard plastic in the centerstack? The infinitesimal trunk opening?

Nope.

Not trying to belittle the purchase you made with your hard-earned bucks. I’m glad you like it. I just personally don’t see it.

Don’t reject the Lincoln MKS because of what you read from people’s comments since in most cases they have never even sat in one much less driven it. As for the test drive articles in many magazines the main complaint appears to be the fact that the MKS falls short on horsepower and lacks the firmness at high speeds on closed circuit winding roads. Although it may fall a bit short in horsepower against some of its European and Japanese luxury competitors it has, in most cases, more torque. This fact comes into play when you want to pass on rural roads or enter a freeway. To me this is more significant then pickup from a stop light and although it might lean more at 70mph on winding rural roads you can’t complain about its ride at sensible speeds on all types of roads.

Check out the bang you get for your buck. Compare this fully loaded luxury sedan to the other manufactures comparable models that offer similar space, most cases less features and then compare the price of ownership considering they all run on premium fuel and have higher insurance cost. (Examples of retail prices: MB E350 – $66,000+, BMW 535i – $67,000+, Caddy STS V6 – $56,000+, Infinity M35 – $56,000+ and the Lexus LS460 – $70,000+). Next drive them before you make up your mind. You might be surprised at the one you decide to purchase or lease.

Our list of requirements at price around 35 to 43K:

1) Size.
2) MPG.
3) Reliability.
4) Performance (handling…not speed)
5) FWD (or Great mpg awd, if possible)
6) Luxury.
7) Silence.

So….

Lexus. 42K
2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Outstanding in silence (best of three) and luxury and reliability and mpg.

MKS 43K
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Outstanding in room and both luxury and performance best( of these 3).

Avalon 38K
1, 2, 3, 5, 7.
Outstanding in size, relibility and MPG best of these 3.

Next up, 2009 Acura TL next week when it arrives in showrooms.

Did we do well so far with our evaluations?
Please email at ppellico@aol.com.
I am hoping you can add your personal feelings to these.
Thanks so very much, indeed.

From what you describe it sounds like we are actually in agreement a lot. Only different view is the handling. I didn’t think it was especially tight, but it was fine, good enough for what it is. I agree with you – it’s a very comfortable car. That’s the MKS’s best asset. As a result handling, sportiness etc were not crucial.

Were you able to check out the THX sound system? My goodness it’s great.

But hell, for road trips, this car was/is all good.
The rear seat was a true living room, couch and all.
I thought it handled very well, much like the Genesis. Cornered really well and the stearing was nice and tight.

Bothered by the 24 hwy.

They’ve definitely come a long way but it’s a case of too little, too late. These days, Toyota can afford to produce vehicles that are merely adequate. GM, Ford and Chrysler can not. The MKS needs to be spectacular in order to revitalize the brand. Being as good as, or slightly better than an ES350 simply doesn’t cut it when you’re in Ford’s shoes.

And I agree with comments above that there’s a lot of uglyfied Jaguar XF in there as well.

And the front end looks bad too.

My neighbor just got the Taurus X (freestle) which is based on the XC 90/S80. I had a chance to drive it last week and found it cumbersome, front heavy with vague steering.

Also drove an Edge last weekend which is based on the Mazda 6. I found the handle crisp and competitive with anything in its class.

Seems the Mazda based Ford’s are nice vehicles and the Volvo’s seem from yesteryear

Funny that Ford thinks it’s ok to have the same gauge cluster in a 14,000 compact car as well as a 50K near-luxury car.

This could be why there is already a minor refresh underway for the 2010 model year(!). Mulally, apparently, did not think this was OK.

I guess Lincoln apparently built a highway cruiser(which is where ALL of these cars in the class end up regardless of the commercials, I’ve never gotten into a race with an ES before and rarely see a RL do 0-60 faster then 45 sec if ever) that’s TOO quiet and TOO smooth, go figure. No comments on rear seat room or ride on a sedan review either? Brakes and steering feel? 5 paragraphs focused on what two sentences could say. Toyota has also had about 20 reprogram TSB’s for their newest 6-speed auto and still gets complaints, so maybe a flash will fix the trans a bit from a first-off-the-line MKS. We will see what happens when the 380hp TT appears in the fall I guess…

Lots of inaccurate ‘facts’ in the (user)comments section as well, roughly 80% of them. And I’m not even really a fan of the car in the first place(or any in its class).

Also, call me a nit-picker, but shouldn’t the MKS be the MKZ and vise versa. If Lincoln “insists” on using a mish-mash of numbers (that noboby can remember) shouldn’t the “flagship” car have the last letter available. That would be a Z, not an S. Instead, the entry level car gets the Z.

Just seems ass backwords.

DT

I knew the ‘77 LTD Landau, and this is no ‘77 LTD Landau! The old car had more-convincing plastichrome and lots of not-half-bad plastiwood.
It was also color-coordinated to the exterior, not funeral-limo black on top, and that awful color down below that always reminds me of vomited baby formula on a “barf rag”.

The heater/AC controls on the old one could be readily distinguished from the radio controls,too.

And steering wheel buttons for more than the horn and cruise will only confuse the old ducks.

And why offer AWD in a car that Granny and Gramps won’t take out of the garage if there’s more than 0.1″ of snow on the ground, anyway?

I’m totally unconvinced that AWD is worth the premium over FWD, having owned both and seen that the FWD Voyager could climb the same snowy hills as the AWD Caravan and do it without the year-round 3-5 mpg penalty.

AWD does completely eliminate torque steer on slick surfaces, but so does a lighter touch on the accelerator.

Funny that Ford thinks it’s ok to have the same gauge cluster in a 14,000 compact car as well as a 50K near-luxury car.