By Frank S. Washington
DETROIT, MI — I just spent a week test driving the Lincoln MKS EcoBoost sedan and I was duly impressed.
I had a couple of quibbles but overall the MKS is the latest example that Lincoln now understands that long term reputations in the luxury market are built on car platforms and not on utility vehicles.
First, the MKS EcoBoost is Lincoln’s new flagship. It is powered by a 3.5-liter V6 that makes 355 horsepower and 350 pounds-feet of torque. The engine is mated to six-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel-drive is standard.
The key to that power is twin turbochargers. And the EcoBoost moniker is a family of engines that will be optional on most future Lincolns and Fords. The pitch is that the engines provide the performance of bigger power plants while using the same amount of fuel as smaller ones.
For instance, the MKS EcoBoost gets 17 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the hwy. Now, that’s not earth shattering stuff but when you factor in 355 horsepower, that’s not bad; it’s not bad at all.
But there’s more to talk about than the MKS’ EcoBoost engine. Turbochargers or no turbochargers, Lincoln is beginning to stir in terms of real luxury offerings. Interior fit and finish used to be, well, awful. But on the MKS it borders on world class.
The dash board of the MKS was horizontal which gave the car a wide and roomy feel. There were clean lines, no gaps, few curves and the dash was black with silver satin outlining the vents and bordering the center stack. What’s more, there weren’t a lot of buttons all over the place. The car was well equipped but the controls were nicely thought out.
This is not enough space to write about the options but adaptive cruise control, adaptive headlights, crash avoidance with brake assist and automatic parking (the MKS can park itself) stood out. Of course, there was premium sound, satellite radio, auxiliary and USB jacks. My test car had Bluetooth, a CD player and a navigation system with rearview camera. It was also equipped with a hard drive which asked me did I want to show my photos on the navigation screen. I declined.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this color combination but my test car was black on black in black. Twenty-inch polished aluminum wheels set it off nicely. My test vehicle had a glass roof; the front half retracted. There was also a retractable privacy screen for the back window.
The perforated black leather seats were heated and cooled, the back set were heated, too. I found plenty of head and leg room back there. But more importantly, from any seat my MKS EcoBoost had an ambience that resonated class. However, it was hard for me to grasp the car’s character. But that, too, is a big improvement. At least it had a character.
Paddle shifters are standard on the MKS EcoBoost. And that may have been where I found it difficult to grasp its character. The MKS is the flagship, it is not full-sized, but still it was a good sized sedan. Those paddle shifters may have suited the car’s power output but for my money they were out of place. What’s more, they were attached to the steering wheel which means paddle shifting gets tricky in the turns, if you’re into that sort of thing. I’d advise Lincoln to make them optional on the MKS EcoBoost.
The car was really easy to drive, it rode well and Lincoln engineers found that gap between a harsh and soft ride that was firm without beating me up and comfortable without being bouncy.
My only other quibble was that the MKS did not have a lane change signal, nor did the side view mirrors tilt down to aid backing up or parallel parking, in case you want to park it yourself. These days, some models that cost less than half of my test car’s $54,810 sticker have that feature. But that’s an easy fix. The new Lincoln MKS EcoBoost clearly is comparable with today’s top flight luxury cars
Frank S. Washington is managing partner/editor of AboutThatCar.com and AboutThatCarBlog.com.
