Review: 2010 Lincoln MKZ

Recently Ford Fusion has undergone a refresh and has since received a ton of accolades. I have not driven either the first or the second generation Fusion, but after Motor Trend named the Fusion its “Car of the Year”, my interests were piqued. The Lincoln MKZ is based on the Ford Fusion but is fancied up with leather this and electric that, so it could only be better, right?

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The Car:

2010 Lincoln MKZ AWD. 3.5-liter 24-valve engine with a 6-speed automatic transmission. 263 horsepower at 6250 RPM and 249 lb.-ft. at 4,500 rpm. Options include Ultimate Package which has THX Certified sound system, sunroof, technology package, navigation package. Added on was the Sports Appearance Package which consisted of shiny wheels and some shiny trim. Total price for all these packages is $43,740. Yikes.

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Design:

The Lexus ES is a re-branded Toyota Camry, and no one makes that a secret. Going on the success of the Lexus, Ford has taken the same approach with the MKZ. Sunroof, fancy navigation system, better audio, power leather heated and cooled seats, additional sound insulation and some overall bling. That is all sounds good, but unfortunately it lacks some substance.

The exterior is rather bland; it is not too attractive nor will anyone call it ugly. Headlights, taillights and grill follow the Lincoln theme and all appear to be too big for the car, making the middle of it look undersized. Overall the MKZ seems to be the kind of car that no one will notice as it goes by, for better or worse. Personally, I think the Fusion is a better looking vehicle.

Inside is the same Fusion dashboard but some fancier font and chrome trim. The center stack is typical Ford with a bunch of tiny, similar looking buttons (more on that later). Other controls, such as the headlight switch, are positioned low on dash and out of view. The seats look nice but the leather is hard and not of high quality. The seats themselves are fine but lacking the support and comfort typically found in cars of this price. The headrest is the worst part of it as it is permanently tilted forward pushing against the back of your head.

An exclusive feature is interior mood lighting; a number of light tubes and LEDs placed throughout the interior adjustable in color and brightness. The colors vary in pastel shades but of all the color choices I couldn’t find the one I loved. BMW has dark orange illumination lights and Acura has cool blue ones, but the Lincoln did not have any of those in its gamut. Similar lighting is offered throughout the Ford range; it’s cool, it’s something different, but in the end it won’t sell any more cars; it is a gimmick. I would rather have seen the money spent elsewhere.

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Drive:

The combination of the V6 engine, six-speed transmission and the AWD system is pretty good, absolutely nothing to complain about here. At no point is the power lacking, highway cruising is nice and smooth. The transmission seems to be always in the right gear and gear changes are quick and drama free. Having said that, no one will be amazed by this power-train either.

Chassis dynamics are good with a hint of predictable understeer. Body roll and yaw are really minimal, which I really did not expect from this car. With these good chassis dynamics the ride remains comfortable, even over the worst of pothole ridden city streets. Good job Ford! On the downside, steering feel is a bit lacking which takes away from an otherwise good set up.

One feature stood out in the MKZ, and that is the blind-spot detection. An LED located in the upper corner of the mirror illuminates when a vehicle is present in your blind-spot. The feature works brilliantly and I’m sure of was cheap to develop and manufacture. All cars should have this, especially the Camaro.

Radio, Nav, Sync, etc:

When I picked this car up I presented a challenge to myself: don’t read the owner’s manual. Usually I skim the owner’s manual, if for no other reasons to see what options the car is lacking but this time I just threw in the trunk. I really wanted to see if I could get in the car and use Ford’s highly publicized Sync infotainment system without spending a night cramming as if I were taking physics final the next morning.

First off, Sync system is designed to be predominately used with voice commands. Unfortunately without reading the manual I gave up on trying to establish voice communication after about three minutes; ADD, impatience, whatever, ninety percent of population would have given up by that time too. I was stuck using the touch-screen, steering wheel controls and the array of tiny similar buttons on the center stack.

Inputting navigation destination was simple enough. I have seen easier systems, requiring fewer buttons to press. The map display was clear and directions were easy enough to follow. After connected my iPod Nano via USB, the system did not find it until the second try. The controls were intuitive to use and the text display worked fine. Same for satellite radio and streaming music from Bluetooth-connected phone.

There are a few issues however.The infotainment system controls everything; music, nav, phone and heat/air-conditioning. The problem comes when you’re trying to switch between all these functions. Audio and climate controls have manual over-rides but the buttons and knobs are placed low on the dash. All the knobs and button look and feel exactly the same and they are directly below each other. I often had to take my eyes off the road and look down to see where the button I wanted was; that is not a good thing.

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Overall Impression:

There is nothing really wrong with the MKZ. One can learn to live with the shortcomings I have listed. The trouble with the MKZ is that there is nothing really outstanding about it. It does everything it should, the AWD, the infotainment, the gadgets, but it does not do one thing exceptionally well. The MKZ is a dressed up middle class compact sedan and it feels like it.

And then, there is the issue of price and the competition. The fully-loaded model I drove had a MSRP of almost forty four thousand dollars which to me seems almost absurd, especially considering that identically equipped Fusion has MSRP of thirty two thousand dollars. Let’s look what else $44,000 buys these days (all premium sedans with all-wheel drive):

• Acura TL AWD, fully loaded, with your choice of manual or automatic transmissions.
• Audi A4, loaded. The awesome S4 starts at $46,000.
• BMW 328i xDrive, with M Sport, premium, and convenience packages. It can be configured in so many ways.
• Infiniti G37x, with Premium, Sport and navigation packages.
• Lexus IS250 AWD, with Option Package C (fully loaded).
• Mercedes C300 4MATIC with Premium Package 2 and Multimedia Package.
• Volvo S60, just introduced at NYIAS should be within this price range as well.

Looking at the above list of cars I would pick just about any of them over the MKZ. However, the thing with cars of this price range is that most of them are not bought – they are leased. A lease is based on two major things: interest rate and residual value. To Ford’s advantage is the fact that they can offer very low interest rates as they own the financial institution that leases their vehicles. They are at a disadvantage however when it comes to the residual value. In the past, many companies have over-estimated the residual values of their vehicles in order to keep the monthly lease payments low and move cars off the dealer lots. In turn, they have shot themselves in the foot when time came to sell the used cars that no one wanted.

Summary:

If you want all the features of the MKZ and an extra ten grand, get the Fusion. If you have forty grand burning a hole in your pocket and you want to blow it on a premium new car, get something from the above list.