What became of the ninth-generation Lincoln Mark series? Somewhere in the Lincoln brand's twisted nomenclature there is a missing link: a connection between the rip-snorting Mark VIII and Lincoln’s cute-ute Mark X. I mean MKX. While no one at Lincoln's brand-awareness roadshow bought this Houstonian's sly attempt to realign the disjointed Mark series, they still handed me a set of keys to their latest crossover vehicle and told me to go play. Well fair enough.
I came, I saw and I found the irony: the MKX’ waffle-iron grille harkens back to the much-loved suicide door Continentals; cars that transported Presidents with three-letter titles of their own. Just in case you missed the history lesson, Lincoln’s placed a gigantic star front and center. It reminds all and sundry that this luxo-crossover isn't a wannabe Lexus– it’s a rebadged Ford. Other than the tasteful front schnoz and LED lamps out back, there's little to differentiate the Lincoln MKX from its stable mate, the Ford Edge.
If the Edge didn't exist, the MKX's sheetmetal would portend a strong future for the Lincoln brand. But there is a Ford Edge, and it’s ready to overpopulate a dealership near you. Which leaves the newborn MKX wishing Toyota was more like Ford: give the mundane Highlander a nose job, slap on some "RX" badges and call it a day. And Lincolnians wishing Ford was more like Toyota: give me some new, distinctive sheetmetal, please.
If there is an upside to badge engineering, the MKX's interior is it. Lincoln’s added megadoses of near-luxury spizzarkle to the Edge’s elegant, capable and comfortable living space. Door panels blend soft vinyl, lustrous wood and chrome. An armrest crafted with genuine triple-stitched decadence encourages limb relaxation. The somewhat supportive seats are well padded for touring duty, aided by a posterior cooling system that's strong enough to give you the impression you’ve wet your pants.
The MKX’ dash gets the Lincoln brand's trademark combination of satin-nickel bling, blonde wood and delightful chrome accents. Aside from the less-than-Lexian leather on the steering wheel, the cabin looks and feels suitably posh. In true crossover style, the MKX’ mad quick D-pillar reduces storage space to traditional car standards (genuine SUV’s breathe easy). You could fold down the rear seats or… get someone else to drive, hop in back, open the panoramic sunroof shades, plug in the iPod, crank up the fourteen-speaker THX audio, and bliss out on soaring highs and full-bodied bass, as inclement weather passes you by.
Combining a high and mighty stance, 18" wheels, adaptive headlight aimers, all-wheel drive and a 265hp V6, the MKX boldly goes wherever the Hell quasi-SUV’s are supposed to go– or not go. Although building a Lincoln without a proper V8 underhood remains an indictable offense in many southern states, Ford's latest Duratec dynamo makes respectable torque from idle to 4000rpm. Lashed to a six-cog automatic, the MKX is quick enough for government work (you can file your taxes in the time it takes to get from zero to sixty). While the MKX’ “luxury tuned” chassis and suspension err on safety's side, the CUV’s unitary construction allows a surprising measure of poise through the turns– you know, for a vehicle that weighs 4420 pounds with 60% of its weight over its nose.
Even better, the more-than-merely adequate driving dynamics don’t degrade the Lincoln’s luxury ride quality. The MKX is no Town Car, but its McPherson struts (front) and new four-link independent suspension (rear) murder most road imperfections with silent ease. The stoppers are equally impressive: willing disc brakes attached to a linear pedal pull the cute Lincoln down from speed with ample reserves of whoa Nellie. Aside from a smattering of road noise from the cargo area, the MKX does indeed feel like a proper luxury car. I mean, SUV. Er, CUV.
And you pay a proper price for the privilege. Lincoln’s MKX is roughly $4500 harder on your wallet than a comparable Ford Edge, which has the same powertrain, chassis and moonroof, and can be ordered with the same navigation system, up-rated audio and a fine leather interior of its own. So what's to love about the MKX? A retro grille, better warranty, woodgrain accents, A/C seats and luxury tuned (i.e. less sporting) dynamics. Yup, it’s the Lincoln Zephyr all over again.
Overlook the neglected Town Car (since it's still the top breadwinner even without promotion) and there isn't a single Lincoln that wears unique sheetmetal. After a few months’ fleet sales, profit-killing rebates and sweetheart lease terms, corporate spinmeisters will proclaim MKX's sales "increased market share and conquest sales by such-and-such percent.” But Lincoln's progression from absolutely nothing to almost nothing will hardly be a triumph. Lexus-style profit margins require plenty of masquerading metal and a bit of one-offsmanship. Anything less just ain’t gonna cut it. Anything more from Lincoln would be a surprise, and a long-overdue one at that.
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Why does Ford absolutely refuse to spend money on new sheet metal? I’m baffled.
Zephyr all over again, indeed. Shouldn’t “luxury” mean at least a powertrain upgrade? C’mon. Throw us a bone.
Who buys this stuff?
Remember the days when FoMoCo did have different sheet metal for their platform-mates? 1995 Continental, 1996 Taurus & Sable come to mind. The MKX’s interior look less differentiated from the Edge’s than the Zephyr’s vs. Fusion, looking at the pictures.
This badge engineering is not a Bold Move by any means. It does make Toyota look good by comparison, as they have enough money to crank out different sheet metal and interiors for their 3 different US divisions.
The following pretty well summarizes the entire state of Ford:
If the Edge didn’t exist, the MKX’s sheetmetal would portend a strong future for the Lincoln brand.
Looks like another case of giving 90% when the market is demanding 110%. I’m especially appalled at Ford’s relative shortcomings in the US, since they have a pretty robust and competitive European lineup to compare to.
From my understanding, this problem has finally been acknowledged and will be fixed . . . hopefully this will be the last ‘badge engineered’ Lincoln you see.
It’s just sad…
I’ll believe that when I don’t see it.
Nice review, very accurate.
For a while there, I thought FoMoCo had a good strategy of using Mercury as the “Ford with Chrome” division and giving unique product to Lincon. Well, unique in the sense of being based on European platforms, but still having unique styling and performance characteristics.
But with the Mark-MDX, Mark-Zephyr and Aviator, Lincoln appears to be going backwards.
I think you can make a credible argument that there is hope for Cadillac. I’m not sure you can for Lincoln.
The problem is that the Lincoln should have had the Mazda CX-7 styling. Those things are selling like crazy in Nowheresville, Canada where I reside, and I have to admit look good on the road.
The Edge and the MKX look like squat, brickish uglies by comparison, and the equally strange-looking Acura RDX is simply doomed by the CX-7’s lower price and much better looks.
They've acknowledged the problem and claimed to have a plan to fix it many times. Problem is, plans don't happen by themselves. Time for bold actions to go with the bold words.
It’s bad enough that there doesn’t appear to be $4,500 in extras over the Ford. But how about some real tough sledding: MKX vs. MDX (the vehicles, not the Acura lawsuit over the name). Equip the Lincoln up to the Acura (heated seats, sunroof, satellite radio), and the difference is about $1,835. Adjust for the Acura's extra features, including the third row seat, and the difference drops to $165 based on my site's current calculations. Easy call between these two. Let's just say that with three kids I'd like a third row, and that SH-AWD works.
My review of the Acura: http://www.epinions.com/content_268543299204
My price comparison site, used to generate the above comparisons:
http://www.truedelta.com/prices.php
I disagree that this is the Zephyr all over again. This vehicle is less differentiated from its sibling and justifies its extra money even more poorly than the Zephyr did.
Great review, you managed to admit it was a good vehicle but still pointed out the shortcomings of the Lincoln stewardship. "willing disc brakes attached to a linear pedal pull the cute Lincoln down from speed with ample reserves of whoa Nellie." Great phrase, worthy of Sherman T. Potter!
I need to drive them both before deciding, but suspect, like guyincognito, that there is less difference here than between the Zephyr/MKX and Fusion. I’ve driven the Zephyr and Mercury Milan back-to-back, and they feel very little alike. On the exterior, they have unique front and rear fenders.
The interior seems to be the largest point of differentiation with the SUVs. The Lincoln’s better be super nice.
Would I pay an extra 4.5k over the Ford version? Maybe not, but if it gets down to 3k, it will be worth the extra $ for the added luxury and cachet.
Too bad about the lack of external differentiation though.
What’s the purpose of 3 brands when 2 out of the 3 brands have nothing unique? There isn’t a single Mercury that isn’t a Ford with a different grill. And more or less the same for Lincoln. And how could this not be acknowledged 20 years ago and dealt with then? Just now in 2006 they say “Oh, yah know, almost exact copies of cars are not fooling anyone anymore so maybe we should not do it.†How stupid do you need to be?
Lincoln needs to be bold American luxury and Mercury needs to be European styling with premium interiors above Honda but below Audi. Or what would really be Bold is go Italian styling with Mercury and make it really sexy with design cues from Alfa, Ferrari. Or even easier make Mercury the Aston Martin and Jaguar styling on the cheap. A pretty package will sell cars, a pretty package and quality will sell more cars.
Ford: The every man vehicle.
Mercury: Entry level luxury vehicle with style (on par with Acura and Infiniti).
Lincoln: Bold American luxury vehicle on par with Benz but cheaper.
Volvo: Fine as it is, leave them be.
Mazda: Give them some more money and make them even more the BMW on the cheap than they are now.
Wouldn’t you need a feature-for-feature comparison to really get an idea if one was worth more than the other? Or is $4500 the difference when similarly equipped?
…Based on what Sajeev described. I’m assuming the loaded Ford is about equal to the Lincoln + the Linc has cooled seats and nicer interior. That’s worth about 3k to me.
Michael: why’s that review of the MDX hiding on Epinions?
How/why did someone come up with the name MKX?? What moron decided that rolling “em-kay-ex” off the tongue was cooler or easier than “mark ten”?
Boggles the mind.
M
It would be interesting to know the backstory to Lincoln’s recent binge of badge engineering. This is out of character for the brand (last occurring in the early 1950s). Was the product pipeline that empty that Ford felt the need to stoop to badge engineering as a stop-gap measure? Or was this a consciously planned Lincoln downsizing?
If latter, was it linked to plans to either phase out Mercury and/or Lincoln? For example, a badge-engineered line of Lincolns sans any V8s might make more sense if Mercury went away and Lincoln were shifted down to a near-luxury brand, with the Ford’s European brands picking up most of the slack.
Of course, the badge engineering could reflect both strategies. The most disturbing aspect of Ford’s management has been its lack of a steady hand. Whatever else you can say about Lutz, he doesn’t appear to be easily spooked.
I have always liked Lincoln. They always epitomized a bit more exclusivity than Caddy, a bit more understated style, maybe. At any rate, I sat in a two year old LS the other day being used as a loaner by a friend whose excellent Mazda 6 was in the shop, I was quite frankly amazed at how crappy it was. If it was not for the copious Lincoln badges all over everything, I would have never guessed it was one. I hope it was the dealership beater.
A few years ago at the Greenwich CT Concours, I saw a brilliant slab sided Lincoln design study. It was a magnificent rendition of the suicide door Continentals; I was stunned at how beautiful it was.
Of course Ford did not pursue it.
That’s what Lincoln needs, in my humble opinion. But since everyone supposed to want truck wanna be’s, I suppose we won’t be seeing it. Damn.
4400+ lb
that car needs a diet
The Google ads for this review say it all: “Deep discounted Lincoln deals”
Thank you all for reading, and your insightful comments.
“Remember the days when FoMoCo did have different sheet metal for their platform-mates? 1995 Continental, 1996 Taurus & Sable come to mind. “
starlightmica: The ‘96 Taurus and Sable shared a lot of sheetmetal, not to mention the same interior. And, they didn’t do so hot. If Ford really wants to survive they need something like the 1988 Taurus, Sable, and Continental. The Sable shared nothing except the doors (and it destroyed its competition from Buick, Oldsmobile, Chrysler) with the Taurus and the Continental was so frickin’ different it was almost a unique platform in itself.
From my understanding, this problem has finally been acknowledged and will be fixed . . . hopefully this will be the last ‘badge engineered’ Lincoln you see.
Ar-Pharazon: I hope you are right. Dearborn’s reputation is less than stellar, I really thought they’d learn from the Versailles and never look back. But its the late 1970s all over again.
Hey, someone who knows how to spell “cachet.” You don’t see that often in internet forums.
I have to quibble with your use of the word, though. How long has it been since Lincoln had any cachet? I suppose the Navigator might have gained it some gangsta’ cachet…
Roots of the problem:
Ford refuses to spend the amount of money it takes and -
“Let’s kill Mercury”
“No – Wait. Keep it”
“Let’s try to make Lincoln like BMW”
“No – Wait. Let’s redefine ‘American Luxury’”.
Ford can’t make a decision and stick with it. So I think that someone in charge decides to kill a brand, then he gets sacked, and then the next guy decides they want to keep the brand, then they have to come up with vehicles fast and cheap. Hence the badge engineering.
Half-assed is worse than not at all. Maybe – just maybe – the recent awakening is enough. But the question is will they have enough time and money to pull it off.
dean: The ‘Gator has plenty of cachet, and the long wheelbase one has plenty of cache too. (rim-shot, cymbal crash)
I don’t believe Lincoln has any luxury cachet to people under 30. In my mind as a kid, it was for people who couldn’t afford a Ford (they say that kids’ opinions are often the purest)…otherwise, why would all these dealers be called “Ford-Lincoln-Mercury”?!
I’m sure the Navigator helped their case, but I’ve always had a lot more respect for a fully-loaded Expedition at around $15k less(?). The Navi is just too stereotyped, IMO: it’s either gangster or…gangster. The exact flavor just depends on whether you’re in suburban New Jersey or here in Birmingham, Alabama.
The more I look at it, it’s the Lincoln’s take on an RX330 – it’s based on a sedan platform, has only adequate power, it has little cargo room because of the steeply raked (allegedly stylish) D-pillar, has plenty of content (NAV, leather, cooled seats, etc.) and has no pretentions of being a 3rd row mommy-mobile.
I don’t think I’ll be trading in our RX330 on it anytime soon, though. But I do know people who LOVE our RX but couldn’t possibly own anything other than a domestic who will snatch this up, though.
This would’ve made a great Mercury.
Mercury as it is today needs to go away. Lincoln should turn into Mercury. Mercury MKZ, Mercury MKX, etc…but change the crap alphanumeric names into storied Mercury names like Marauder or whatever the hell else Mercury had. I do like the idea of giving them Italian styling that Steve S had.
Lincoln should be a start from scratch effort targeting Audi or Mercedes.
You’re right, this would make a great Mercury. Ditto the Zephyr/MKZ.
Jaguar (and maybe Volvo ) has gotta go before Mercury and Lincoln will ever get decent product. And selling off PAG will net more cash than killing off Lincoln and Mercury.
This would’ve made a great Mercury.
GREAT point Cory.
I agree with you Sajeev….PAG’s gotta go. Ford raped them of all the tech and know how that they need, so let them go and let your founding companies flourish again.
Has PAG made profit yet, Volvo aside?
I calculated the $4,500 using my site. Works out like this…
Base to base is $8,800. But to get the 18s and features that are standard on the Lincoln you need the SEL trim, 18-inch wheels ($395), and Premium Package ($1,555). This yields an MSRP difference of $4,855. Still a few features on one but not the other, like heated seats with driver memory on the Ford and a power passenger seat and wood trim on the Lincoln. Adjusting for these narrows the gap to $4,530.
This is the number my site yields after adjusting for feature differences, it’s as apples-to-apples a number as I’ve been able to come up with. Essentially, you’re paying about $4,500 for the non-quantifiable differences (i.e. styling, suspension tuning, interior materials other than the wood).
I haven’t seen a complete features list for either vehicle yet. The Ford likely has the exterior temp gauge and tire pressure monitor that I list as standard on the Lincoln. So these numbers might be off by $125 or so.
Including different features in the comparison will yield different results, but usually the final difference calculation remains in the same ballpark. I did a little playing around, and got results from $4,250 to $4,800. Best thing is to do your own comparisons, with the other vehicle of your choosing (I checked out the MDX earlier in the thread):
http://www.truedelta.com/prices.php
Regretably, I’ve been noticing Lincoln slipping for a while now. I’ve got a 1997 Mark VIII and a 1986 Town Car, and I love them both dearly. Owning these cars nearly 10 years apart gives me a unique oppurtunity to see where Lincoln started to stray.
The Mark VIII is a work of art in my opinion, but once you start to drive it, you’ll realise that it doesn’t quite have the same class as the “old school” lincolns. it’s little things you notice. like the harsh sounds of the turn signal flasher and electronic chime, (Tell me, why do you need a “key-in-ignition chime” when you’ve got a keypad on the door?) less-than-exciting instrument cluster, and easily broken plastic window controls.
In other places they’ve nailed it. the leather seats are as supportive as anything else out there. I have friends with Accords and Passats who want to find a way to put them in their own cars. The DOHC V8 has plenty of power, and the LED interior lighting, and Neon tail lamp attract further compliments. It’s a shame they don’t still make these cars.
What I’d really like to see are all of these good features stressed and improved in the new versions, but bring back the cushy “American Class” of the old Lincolns. Can you still get the “flying sofa” embroidered plush seats in the Town Car? How ’bout my fingertip steering? I wouldn’t anything else in my cross-country cruiser. THX Audio is great. Hang on to that. LED lighting looks fantastic, and doesn’t burn out (often.) Make every bulb an LED. Air suspension across the line. Advertise High-tech, American luxury.
Please, Lincoln. I’ve seen one amazing concept car after another. I know you can do it.
They did give us a few amazing concept cars a couple of years ago. Producing that Continental would have put them back on the map, it was beautiful, contemporary, and Lincoln, all at once. The upcoming MKS looks nice, but nothing about it is distinctive.
Base to base is $8,800. But to get the 18s and features that are standard on the Lincoln you need the SEL trim, 18-inch wheels ($395), and Premium Package ($1,555). This yields an MSRP difference of $4,855.
Michael, there was no window sticker on my tester, but I’ve spec’d it on Lincolns website (Elite package, AWD, fully loaded) and it was right under $45,000. A similar Edge SEL AWD is $37,500 or about $7500 less. I verified this on Edmunds too.
Roughly eight grand is a BIG difference for the same basic product.
Has PAG made profit yet, Volvo aside?
I think Aston did for a couple of quarters. But its been a losing venture ever since its inception. If it was any other industry, such a dog of an undertaking would have been canned years ago.
Has PAG made profit yet, Volvo aside?
PAG third quarter loss as reported in yesterday’s Detroit Free Press:
Pretax loss of $593 million. That compares with a pretax loss of $108 million a year ago. Sales dipped to $6.5 billion from $6.8 billion a year ago.
First, you’re not comparing the same basic product, as the Lincoln you spec’d out had many features on it that you cannot get on the Ford. The THX audio is a grand of that. Don’t think it’s worth a grand? Then don’t get the Elite package.
Second, I suspect you priced both vehicles with the sunroof and the ceiling-mounted entertainment system, as it’s not possible to get the Lincoln to just under 45 otherwise. But you cannot get both together, for obvious reasons. The perils of using Edmunds without reading the fine print. Takes much longer that way, too.
Finally, there are plenty of cars with at least an $8,000 spread. How about an Escalade compared to a Tahoe ($18,000 base to base)? A Camry LE V6 compared to a Lexus ES ($9,900)?
Price comparisons are fairly meaningless unless you equate the content. Otherwise, you’d have to conclude that options are never worth the money.
I created my site to enable quicker, more accurate price comparisons. And that’s what it delivers.
I personally think Lincoln was started down the extreme badge-engineered path due to it’s association with the PAG group. Lincoln became the red-headed stepchild in PAG instead of the company’s real ‘premier’ brand. In comparison to Jag, Aston, or Volvo, Lincoln just seemed so . . . ordinary. The others were much ’sexier’ to the muckety-muck corporate types . . . they’re all European, after all! So poor old Lincoln was left to make due, and wither.
I stand by my statement that this has stopped. Wait and see.
Of course for some of you unless you’re personally consulted on every detail of what an upcoming Lincoln should be you’ll still holler ‘badged’. But that’s to be expected . . . nonetheless, the egregious badging will stop.
If you read my review of the Zephyr/MKZ you’d know I’m not one to just scream “badge engineering!”
The problem is that too often GM and Ford have claimed they were going to stop doing it, then fell back into their old habits. Until the tooling is bought, nothing is set in steel. I do hope you’re right about the future, but I’m not counting on it.
The real irony is that I believe that the Edge may actually be a badge-engineered Lincoln . . . cobbled up rather quickly to address the impending Explorer fiasco. Originally supposed to be the Aviator . . .
Micheal, yes I mistakenly selected the rearseat DVD on both models when you can have that with the big roof.
I guess my problem is that the Edge is pretty damn nice for $35k. Maybe too nice. That’s a lot of “Edge” for Lincoln to build on, even if its lacking 5 extra speakers, A/C seats, woodgrain, free loaner cars, etc.
While the badge-engineering that is now Lincoln is pathetic, it is not too hard to understand. Take a look at the financial results announced yesterday. FMC simply does not have the resources to make Lincoln into the marque it should and could be, especially given the money required to prop up Jaguar and Land Rover. In addition, Ford has never seen Lincoln success as a strategic requirement, unlike GM which sees Cadillac as critical. Thus even in the good times Lincoln never had the resources it needed, and there is little chance this will change in the forseeable future.
And that’s precisely why PAG’s gotta go. Its never worked and it makes everyone else suffer.
PAG was supposed to carry its own weight, and then some. The goal was $1.5b in profits per year.
Volvo is still doing well, and Land Rover isn’t doing badly. The big mis-step was with Jaguar. They weren’t able to sufficiently reduce manufacturing costs, and the styling of the new XJ is too bland. People blame the X-Type, but that’s just part of the problem with Jag. The largest problem is that very few people even consider a Jag.
On Lincoln, Ford simply made to many bad plays. They spent a lot of money on the last Continental, yet few people wanted it. They spent even more on the LS, but it was too generic for people to notice it. The Mark VIII wasn’t as attractive as the Mark VII (one of my favorites back in the 1980s). And they bet too heavily on the Navigator.
The biggest mistake of all: changing directions every couple of years. As I’ve said often before, I’d expect a family-controlled firm to have a longer-term perspective and be more stable. The Toyota family has served Toyota this way, even though it does not control the company. But the opposite has been the case with Ford.
@ McAllister
I believe the MKX was an ATAT type vehicle from the Command and Conquer PC game series.
It certainly has the look.
So the cheapest MKX starts at about $35K MSRP, and the cheapest Infiniti FX35 starts at $38K. That extra $3 grand for the FX will buy you more horsepower, much better styling, better resale value, RWD (versus Lincoln/Edge’s FWD), and better reliability (at least when comparing brand averages).
The Infiniti starts $3,655 higher. But it also includes a number of extra standard features:
–power liftgate
–roof rails
–rearview monitor
–power tilt/tele wheel
–xenon lights
–heated seats
–memory seat
–and so on…
The Lincoln has a few extras, but not nearly as many. Adjust for these differences, and the Infiniti is only abuot $1,900 more.
OUCH.
Anyone else think incentives are baked into the pricing of the MKX?
Maybe you don’t agree with the values I assign to features. Well, my site lets members assign their own in this case, to get a personalized comparison based on how much these features are worth to you.
And the Infiniti has no direct counterpart at Nissan Dealers.
Sajeev -
Thanks for pointing out the even greater differentiation with the 1st gen Taurus/Sable/Continental – I’m not sure anyone else would remember, so I chose the more recent revision. The 1st gen cars all had different dashboards, as you pointed out, instead of the hideous oval bulge in the center of the dash about to burst like a baby Alien in the 2nd gen.
Ford was making money hand over fist just 8 or so years ago. Sad to see how far they’ve fallen, and how if they paid more attention to the worst case scenario that this sorry state of affairs could have been prevented.
I’ll admit I have a soft spot for FoMoCo, an eggplant hued 1971 Torino Brougham sedan being our first car when we came to the ‘States. Of course, the AC didn’t work, the roll-down windows broke, the radio got no reception, Dad called it a lemon, but I was an impressionable kid back then. I even thought the Mustang II was the greatest thing on wheels, and fondly recall the factory tour in the mid-seventies.