 2010 Lincoln MKT EcoBoost. Click image to enlarge |
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2010 Lincoln MKT
For an automotive brand to be profitable, it has to go where the money is. For upscale manufacturers, it used to be enough to build sedans and the occasional station wagon, but these days, much of the money for a luxury brand is in crossovers. While many of its competitors have been in the crossover game for close to a decade, Lincoln was a late bloomer, introducing the MKX in 2007, and its newest addition, the MKT, for 2010.
The MKT builds on Lincoln’s latest styling direction, which is a good one, in that sense that it’s distinctive – even if you don’t like the look of the MKT, chances are you’ll notice it, from the prominent, twin-port grille to the raked rear end. Getting noticed is key with luxury vehicles, where part of the attraction for many buyers is that the car not only feels and drives like it’s worth more than $50,000, but looks like it, too.
So, Lincoln finally has the visuals down, and is taking care of the touchy-feely stuff through some wise platform-sharing with Ford. All of Lincoln’s latest models are directly based on Ford products: the MKS and MKZ sedans on the Taurus and Fusion, the MKX on the Edge and the three-row MKT on the excellent Flex.
 2010 Lincoln MKT EcoBoost. Click image to enlarge |
Standard power in the MKT comes from a 3.7-litre V6 with 268 horsepower and 267 lb-ft of torque, while a 3.5-litre “EcoBoost” twin-turbocharged V6 with 355 hp and 350 lb-ft is the option. A six-speed automatic with steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters is standard. All-wheel drive is standard in EcoBoost models, and optional with the non-turbo engine.
My tester was an EcoBoost model, with a starting price of $53,350 (the base MKT is priced at $49,950). To that price, Lincoln added White Platinum Tri-coat paint for $500, charcoal black leather seats for $500, the $5,000 Elite Package (voice-activated navigation, THX surround-sound stereo, BLIS blind spot monitoring, and power panoramic vista roof), Active Park Assist (APA, $700), engine block heater ($80), a Class-III trailer hitch for $500 (the MKT is rated to tow 4,500 pounds/2,041 kg) and a $1,300 adaptive cruise control system. All in, it added up to a $62,980 vehicle, including $1,450 freight.
All MKTs are seven-seaters, with standard heat and cooling for the front seats, and standard heat in the second row. Power-folding second-row bucket seats with cooling are an option, as is a power-folding third row.
    2010 Lincoln MKT EcoBoost. Click image to enlarge |
As tends to be the case in recent Ford-built vehicles, the MKT’s front seats are terrific, with just the right amount of give in the padding but enough lateral support to keep the butt planted in corners. Space is good up front and is more like great in the second row, where head and legroom are generous despite the large, dual-pane sunroof. The third row should be usable in a truck this large, but here, it isn’t, thanks to the sloping roofline that renders the very back seat useless by anyone much taller than five feet. Also, a little fabric loop that serves as the second-row seat release for third-row riders to let themselves out is hard to find, buried as it is below knee level.
The big sunroof creates an airy, bright cabin (note that all MKTs get a fixed glass roof, with the power-opening front panel being an option, though all models get power sunshades for both panes). In my tester, it rattled over bumps whenever the car had sat overnight in cold weather. To the MKT’s credit, so did the all-glass roof in the Porsche 911 Targa I drove a few years ago; that’s just how the cold affects a car.
The too-small buttons for the radio and climate controls are my only complaint about the centre stack. Mitigating this are the automatic climate control and redundant climate and sound system controls in the navigation touch screen, both of which eliminate the need to use the hard buttons at all.
Two other ergonomic quibbles include the steering wheel-mounted shift paddles for the six-speed transmission: the left-side paddle is too close to the turn signal/wiper control stalk, and the two interfere with each other when the steering wheel is in just the right (or wrong) spot. Unrelated but equally annoying is the poor rearward visibility afforded by the small rear three-quarter windows and backlight, and the bulky C- and D-pillars.
The view in from the open tailgate is almost identical to that in the Flex: there’s a deep well behind the third-row seats that can swallow 507 litres (17.9 cu.ft.) of your stuff. Behind the second row, there’s 1,121 litres (39.6 cu.ft) and 2,149 litres (75.9 cu.ft.) with the third and second rows stowed respectively. The curves that earn the MKT its style points take away from its practicality, as those cargo numbers are all a little smaller than those of the squared-off Flex.
 2010 Lincoln MKT EcoBoost. Click image to enlarge |
This is the second vehicle I’ve driven with Ford’s EcoBoost 3.5-litre turbocharged V6 engine. Its 355 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque rivals many V8 truck engines; in fact, Ford’s own 5.4-litre V8 is rated at 300 horsepower and 365 lb-ft. Ford’s rationale behind forced induction is that it allows big power without the big fuel consumption generally associated with it. In the MKT, the EcoBoost motor’s fuel consumption ratings are 13.1/9.2 L/100 km (city/highway), compared to 13.0/9.2 for the base model’s 3.7-litre V6. In my week with it, the MKT averaged 17.1 L/100 km in mostly city driving. That’s about what the Flex tester I had for a month last winter managed with its non-turbo 3.5-litre engine.
At 2,276 kg (5,018 pounds), the MKT is no lightweight, weighing in at about 175 kg (almost 400 lb) more than an all-wheel drive Flex. The interesting thing is that the MKT felt quicker than the EcoBoost-powered Ford Taurus SHO I drove a few weeks previous. A quick look at the drivetrain specs for the two vehicles revealed the reason: while the transmission gear ratios are the same in both, the MKT gets a shorter differential gear (3.16:1 in the MKT, against 2.77:1 in the SHO). This results in higher engine speeds at a given road speed which, in turn, translates into quicker acceleration. Test data from the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) shows that the SHO is indeed faster – taking 6.3 seconds to accelerate from zero to 100 km/h compared to seven seconds for the MKT – but the MKT’s shorter gearing simply makes it feel faster off the line, relative to its weight.
 2010 Lincoln MKT EcoBoost. Click image to enlarge |
This is a very quiet vehicle at speed, with little road or engine noise getting into the cabin. A nicely-tuned exhaust makes sure that the full-throttle mechanical sounds that do make it past the sound insulation are pleasing to the ear of the enthusiast.
Most surprising about the MKT is its affinity for the twisties, with agile handling that belies its heft, both literal and visual. There are few vehicles this large I’d so readily refer to as tossable, one of those few being the Ford Flex, which likewise surprised me the first time I drove it. This MKT’s suspension was notably firmer than I remember from the last Flex I drove, and I prefer the Flex’s softer springs. The major controls work just fine, but I’d prefer a firmer brake pedal and a thicker steering wheel rim.
The six-speed transmission and EcoBoost V6 make for a nice power team. The MKT never feels underpowered, and the transmission provides downshifts exactly when the driver’s right foot calls for them.
    2010 Lincoln MKT EcoBoost. Click image to enlarge |
A single, lonely button at the bottom of the centre activates Lincoln’s Active Park Assist, this company’s answer to similar technology first seen on production Toyota and Lexus models. I’ve never tried the Lexus/Toyota system myself, but based on what I’ve heard of it from other journalists, Lincoln’s version of Parking for Dummies is far easier to use. Note that the Lincoln version only works for parallel parking (on both the right and left sides of the road), while Toyota’s can also be used in parking lots, but parallel parking is where technology like this would be most appreciated, I think.
To get the MKT to park itself, press the park assist button and then drive slowly (under 30 km/h) parallel to a row of parked cars. The system uses sonar to find a space long enough for the car and when it “sees” one, it tells you to stop and shift to reverse. Unlike in a self-parking Toyota or Lexus, the Lincoln setup only works the steering, leaving the driver to handle the gas and brakes. Take your foot off the brake, and as the car moves back, the car steers itself into the spot. I tried it twice, and it worked very well both times, positioning the curbside wheels about parallel with, in this case, the snow at the side of the road. The system leaves it to you to decide how far back the car needs to be.
Active Park Assist is a $700 stand-alone option, but I’d rather see the BLIS blind spot monitor and cross-traffic alert system offered this way, instead of being bundled into the pricey Elite package. It’s a more practical extra than one that helps you do something you learned in driver’s ed, especially in a big vehicle like this with such poor rear sightlines. A package like the $1,400 Driver’s Vision Group offered in the Ford Fusion – it bundles rear park assist, BLIS/cross traffic alert and rear-view video camera – would be a better value.
Creating a luxury vehicle out of a mainstream model isn’t an easy task, and while the MKT shares much of its driving experience with the lesser Flex, that’s not a bad thing; that car was for good reason named Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year in 2009. Lincoln has done a terrific job with the MKT’s styling, and that’s much of the battle that car companies face in developing an upscale vehicle. If you’re in the market for a large, luxurious crossover, this one should definitely be on your list.
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Pricing: 2010 Lincoln MKT AWD EcoBoost
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