The next chapter of our story begins in February of 2017. The X5 was long gone, and soon, so would be the Golf SportWagen. Thanks to Dieselgate, Volkswagen had made a generous settlement offer that would allow me to crawl out from under my negative-equity situation scot-free.
How did I end up with a Lincoln?
Well, I started off at–of all places–the BMW dealer. A lightly-used 2016 428i Coupe in black was calling my name. Austin, my best friend, accompanied me to check it out, but I ended up deciding against it. I had just taken a new web development position in Moore, Oklahoma, which was fairly far from my house and meant 45 minutes slogging through metro rush hour traffic both coming and going. It wasn’t the time to put miles on a low-slung sports coupe. (I had no idea that I would, exactly two years later to the day, almost buy a 4 Series coupe again from the same BMW dealer and in that same color, only this time a 435i M Sport xDrive.)
It looked something like this…but black
Austin remarked that I should set my sights a bit lower, on something less complicated, less expensive, and…well, less Germanic than a Bimmer. We wound up at the joint Ford/Lincoln dealer around the corner, owned by the same dealer group as the BMW store. Lincoln, Austin knew, was the purveyor of decent premium cars for not a lot of coin, least of all because they typically shared their lot space with Ford stores. There’s only so much you can charge for a luxury car when the person three desks down is signing the papers on a base-model Fiesta.
We perused the used lot (never buy a Lincoln new; their residuals are horrible), until Austin zeroed in on a big shiny MKS. “There, how about that one?” The sticker on the window indicated it was a 2014 model with just under 30,000 miles. And my eyes got wide.
Thing is, I actually thought the MKS was really cool when it first came out. I was in high school, then. Its first true appearance was a 2006 concept car by the same name. But it was one of those concept cars that you can tell is really meant to preview something already green-lit and finalized. That’s why the 2009 production model looked essentially like the concept, just with the impractical bits shaved off.
The 2006 Lincoln MKS Concept. It was pretty much a preview of the production model, as you can see.
And it was certainly a new direction for Lincoln. It utilized the same FWD D3 platform as the Five Hundred and Montego–which later became the Taurus and Sable, respectively–but wrapped it in sleek sheet metal that looked vaguely foreign, sort of a mix between BMW and Jaguar. Sorta. If you squinted, or had cataracts. Either way, it wasn’t nearly as stodgy and antediluvian as the Town Car, but it wasn’t an obvious rebadge of a Ford product, like the MKZ/Zephyr. It boasted new technologies like a fully-integrated touchscreen infotainment system, keyless access and start, a panoramic sunroof, adaptive cruise control, and automatic emergency braking. It was the first application of Ford’s hidden keypad system, which hid behind the smooth B-pillar trim until you needed it, and then it came to life. And Lincoln’s starship-inspired ads certainly made an impression on 16-year-old me, especially the one with the cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”
The MKS initially debuted with a 3.7-liter Duratec V6, an enlarged version of the 3.5-liter they’d been using on other products. It mustered up some 275 horsepower and 276 pound-feet, and drove the front or all four wheels through a 6-speed automatic. 2010 models got a revised instrument cluster with three dials instead of two, and were the first products to receive one of Ford’s now-ubiquitous “EcoBoost” engines as an option. Rather than offer a V8, Ford’s solution was a 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6 with 355 hp and 350 lb-ft. Thankfully, EcoBoost models came with standard AWD, because the torque-steer would have been insane if all that power were sent to the front.
The twin-turbo, coupled with a new dark-effect Appearance Package, gave the MKS the looks and guts to run with V8-powered sport sedans of the day. Lincoln wanted it new sedan mentioned in the same conversations as midsize RWD luxury cars, including the BMW 550i, Cadillac STS V8, and Infiniti M45x. That said, the MKS was larger than those; it measured 204.1 inches long, and was therefore about the same length as the contemporary BMW 750Li and Mercedes-Benz S550. But the price was the big draw: at $37,000 and change to start, the Lincoln was about the same price as a Lexus ES 350 or a decently-equipped Buick Lucerne.
However, the MKS was also…a little bit ungainly compared to other premium cars, where proportions were concerned. We saw it before with the Five Hundred and Montego, but that Ford D3 platform was engineered to have a very tall H point, which made for some seriously tall sedans. A FWD MKS stood about six inches taller than a RWD 5 Series, to say nothing of the AWD model. And the beltline that gradually grew higher as you approached the back gave it a strange stance, like a dog with its butt in the air. It didn’t just look heavy, either. It was heavy. Base models were something like 4,200 lbs dry. Oh, and then there was all that front overhang.
In 2013, the MKS got its mid-cycle refresh, and it was an extensive one. The entire front fascia was re-done with a larger (and, in my opinion, less-successful) implementation of Lincoln’s split-wing grille. At the back, there were new full-LED taillights, and a redesigned trunk lid that addressed customers’ complaints about the load height being too tall. The license plate area had been relegated to the bumper. Lincoln massaged both engines for more power, and the base 3.7 now made 304 hp and 279 lb-ft, while the twin-turbo unit went up to 365 hp and kept the same 350 lb-ft. There was a new steering rack with a quicker ratio, and a meatier set of front brakes. And, Lincoln went ahead and added a standard magnetic suspension system with three handling presets: Comfort, Normal, and Sport.
2010 Lincoln MKS with Appearance Package
2013 Lincoln MKS
But the biggest changes were inside, where the entirety of the dashboard was redone in better materials and with a modern design. The MyLincoln Touch infotainment system was standard, supported by several capacitive touch controls on the center stack. The MKS remained mostly unchanged from that point on. However, you can identify the final-year 2016 models by a unique trunk design with L I N C O L N spelled out across it, and their use of the modern SYNC3 infotainment system. The Continental succeeded the MKS for the 2017 year.
So, back to the Lincoln lot. I decided an MKS would be cool, at least to test drive, and so we summoned one of the salesmen so that we could go on a test drive. I recall it being a very comfortable and quiet test drive, both on the city streets and on the highway. The black metallic exterior and cream-colored interior were snazzy, too, especially the carpets that were brown and not black. It still smelled new, too. Somehow, Austin and I found both the massage buttons for the front seats–which made use of a series of air bladders in pattern–and the rear sunshade button during the test drive. When it was over, the salesman gave me his business card, and we went on our way.
I used that evening, a Saturday, to look the car up on the dealer’s website. It was a one-owner vehicle that came from the Midwest. Despite being a 2014, this particular MKS hadn’t been purchased and registered until mid-2015, so that in effect it had 2.5 years’ worth of the factory warranty left. It was the base 3.7-liter/FWD powertrain, but was well-equipped. It had the Elite Package, which included the rear sunshades, massaging seats, navigation, blind-spot monitoring, panoramic sunroof, 20-inch wheels, heated and cooled seats, and some other niceties that I don’t remember. But, I also noticed that it was in the certified-pre-owned (CPO) section of their website, and had the “Lincoln CPO Program” icons on the page, which meant an even longer warranty and some service perks. And the asking price? Because it had been there since December of the previous year and was getting ready to age out, they wanted just $22,900, or about what you’d pay for a nicely-equipped Civic. Score.
I called the Lincoln store the following Monday and learned that the salesman I’d talked to no longer worked there (a fact I confirmed when I looked him up on LinkedIn and saw that he’d jumped to Infiniti). That should have been an omen. Because the experience after that got markedly worse. The Lincoln dealership didn’t want to give me the time of day unless I financed with them, and for some reason, they didn’t think I’d be able to do that.
I asked them to come down on the price a bit more, and offered them $21,900. They said that it’d had $900 worth of reconditioning costs that were built into their price. I then noticed that it had the original tires on it and asked what could have possibly cost $900 to fix on such a low-mileage car. I asked them to send me the list of the reconditioned items, because maybe I didn’t want it if it needed that much extensive work. Obviously, that was a lie because they never sent me said list.
There was some more back and forth over the work week, including missed calls, and finally I called them up, got a hold of a salesman, and said, “I’m on the phone with my credit union now. It’s 4:45 on a Friday. They close for the weekend in 15 minutes. Either you send a buyer’s order with the $21,900 price within that time, or I’ll look elsewhere.”
Three minutes later, I walked out of the credit union with a bank draft in my hand, and an hour later, I was driving to dinner to meet Austin, Jonathan, and Big Momma. In some warped way, I think that them treating me like street trash is precisely why I bought the car. To prove that I could.
I showed them, huh?
My new MKS, the day I took it home. Don’t worry, I got them to throw in a window tint, too.
When I recounted the trouble I’d had with the dealership over dinner, Austin said, “I didn’t expect you to actually buy that. I was just trying to get you to look at something simpler than a BMW.”
I miiiight have responded with a few expletives.
But I did like the MKS. It was cushy in a way that neither the X5 nor the Golf SportWagen were, and it got a lot of compliments. Despite being the humblest car I’d bought so far in terms of origin, it was big, flashy, and had lots of features. Some of my coworkers were particularly impressed when we took it to lunch the following Monday, and wondered aloud what my salary was (“Not as much as it should be,” was my dry response).
Further trouble came when Austin asked me about my CPO papers. He’d bought one or two CPO Lincoln products over the years and wanted to see if their warranty had changed. “Oh, they didn’t give you CPO papers? You might want to call and get those.”
So I did. Except…the dealership said the car wasn’t CPO. I asked why, if it wasn’t CPO, it had “CPO” all over the still-showing ads on their website, as well as AutoTrader and Cars.com. They had a ready-made story when they called me back. The sales manager quickly explained that the dealer group had just bought the Ford/Lincoln store from a different local group (this was true) and that, since this was their first Lincoln store, they weren’t allowed to certify Lincoln cars yet, until they went through an approval process.
On the left: the listing on the dealer’s website. On the right: the Cars.com listing. Do these or do these not say “Lincoln Certified”?
Frankly, the entire story was probably true. But I didn’t like their flippant attitude about the whole thing and the final remark that, “You should have confirmed it was certified with us.” I also don’t like feeling helpless and screwed-over, and I did buy the car thinking it was a CPO model. So I decided to make a video screencast, showing the dealer’s own site and all of the third-party sites where my Lincoln was listed as certified. And I posted it on YouTube and shared a link on Facebook. Then I emailed Ford Motor Company and complained, to see if they wanted to do anything. They weren’t too interested, citing that they “didn’t get involved in dealer/customer disputes,” until I disclosed the existence of my public-facing video. At that point, Ford corporate must have persuaded the dealership to make it right, because I received a call that afternoon with an offer to tack on some combination of Ford Extended Service Plan (ESP) warranties that were just about equivalent to the Lincoln CPO program in terms of coverage.
Good.
Some photography we had done, with me in the Lincoln. Doesn’t it look kinda like a stock photo?
I got to know the Lincoln pretty well with my long commute and all the driving I somehow managed to do. Despite its heft and the fact that it had the base engine, it got out of its own way, but it still really only felt at home on a straight road, where it was smooth and unobtrusive. Ask it to do something like, uh, change lanes or turn around a corner, and it protested with lots of understeer and body roll. And you never did quite know where the wheels were, especially when parking. I subsequently drove an F-250 Crew Cab and found it to be easier to park and maneuver at low speeds. These qualities earned my MKS the nickname “Couch on Wheels”, or “Cow” for short. What it also did not do was get very good fuel economy. 20 miles per gallon was my unshakeable average, and since the fuel tank also wasn’t very large, I spent quite a bit of time at the gas station.
It did have some useful and nice features. I liked the keypad, because it meant I could lock my keys in the car when going to the gym, instead of putting them in the communal key bowl at the front desk or carrying them with me the whole time. The massaging seats, while gimmicky, did a great job of keeping tension off of any part of the body while driving on long trips, such as the time I went to Houston. It was my first car with remote-start, which was equally convenient. And the color-changing ambient lights were a neat party trick. Mechanically, unlike my European cars, nothing worried me about it. That is, except the water pump, which would need changing somewhere past 100,000 miles. The longitude-mounted Duratec engines that Ford put in its RWD-based models (like the Mustang and F-150) had external water pumps. But the transverse-mounted versions for FWD-based vehicles, like my MKS, had internal water pumps. If it leaks or goes wrong, it can let coolant pool inside the engine, which isn’t at all healthy. Moreover, such placement makes it much harder to change the pump when the time comes.
I managed to get the instrument cluster in engineering/test mode, just the once. I’m a curious fella.
It was also a nice conveyance for my grandmother, who I supported at the time. When she wasn’t up to driving, which was a lot of the time, the Lincoln’s tall step-in height made easy ingress and egress for her when I took her places, and her wheelchair and/or walker fit nicely in the trunk without me having to do much work. And she liked the sound system. Indeed, people in my grandmother’s condition and age group are exactly the sorts of people who bought these MKSs.
One consistent grievance, however, was MyLincoln Touch. It was quite clear just how half-baked and poorly thought it was. The buttons were too small, it lagged, and some features that should have been in it were instead buried in the instrument cluster menu. What’s more, it looked exactly like MyFord Touch on the Ford-branded vehicles, eroding at Lincoln’s luxury proposition. Why buy this, I’m sure some customers thought, when the Taurus we just test-drove has the same thing and costs $10K less? And the capacitative buttons, which were not in the Ford products, didn’t help.
The center stack, replete with irritating capacitative-touch controls
In early July of 2017, the MKS got its first bruise. A rather big one. I arrived home from work, stopped in the driveway, opened the garage and got out to check the mail, leaving the MKS’s driver door open. The problem was…I didn’t put it in park. It wasn’t until I got back toward the car that I heard it begin to chime. Then it miraculously crested the rest of the up-hill driveway, scraped its open door on the garage door frame, and slid into the garage—where it collided with the corner of a wall-mounted full-height cabinet. “WHAM!” When I surveyed the damage, I found some paint scrapes in the door and a deep crease on the bumper. But the house was in worse shape; the big heavy car knocked the interior door (that led into the laundry area) right out of its frame and shook some of the drywall loose on the inside of the house.
For some reason, I decided not to get the MKS fixed. It actually wasn’t that noticeable.
Damage to the Lincoln’s front end
A week later, at night, I hit a dog that ran across the highway and straight into my path. Unfortunately, the poor thing didn’t make it, and it wasn’t wearing a collar, so there was no owner to notify. This collision broke my fog light and some of the mesh in the lower bumper grille. I didn’t get that fixed, either. I did sort of make amends by adopting my current dog, Honey, that September, and I took her home in the MKS.
This is Honey, the day I brought her home. She is estimated to be about 8 or 9 years old as of today, and is at a much healthier weight. Anyone have any ideas as to what breed(s) she is?
The MKS was a solid car for the remainder of the time I owned it. Still, I was starting to get annoyed with the gas mileage, short range, and general heft of the car…and I was figuring if and with what I would want to replace it, when the decision was made for me. My employer adopted a remote-work policy for certain days, and I was making use of it that day; I think it was December 8, 2017. But I and one of the account executives had a meeting with a client downtown, so I had to pull the MKS out of the garage and drive there. It was sunny that afternoon, but quite cold. For some reason, as I drove out of my housing edition and down the road, the MKS’s HVAC controls weren’t working at all. I had remote-started it and it should have been quite warm.
I took my eyes off the road to jab at the unresponsive touch screen and then at the unresponsive capacitative-touch HVAC controls below it. To no avail. When I looked up again, I found myself careening at speed toward a line of stopped cars in the right-most lane, the last of which was a white early Buick Enclave. I stomped on the brakes to scrub some speed and tried to swerve around it into the vacant left lane, but there wasn’t enough time. What I did have time to do was brace for the inevitable impact. The driver-side airbag burst out and flew toward my face as the right-front corner of my MKS hit the left-rear of the Enclave. Taken by surprise, the Enclave driver took her foot off of the brake and rear-ended an (and this is ironic) HVAC-repair truck at low speed.
My MKS, looking very sorry for itself. If you look closely, you can see where the active headrests deployed to prevent whiplash.
And…that was that. Fortunately, no one was hurt. I myself escaped injury aside from a small burn on my right hand from the airbag. My insurance company, for of course I was at fault, picked up the tab for the other vehicles and declared mine totaled, in short order. I was given a rental car, which coincidentally was another black Lincoln (a 2016 MKX, aka Fancy Edge).
As it was the holidays and I had planned to travel, I decided to make good use of the insurance rental and not worry about a replacement car until after the new year, which you’ll hear about next time.
My Lincoln MKX rental.
The 2014 Lincoln MKS served its purpose reasonably well, and was a good steed. I don’t regret purchasing it. Is it a car I would buy again? Probably not. What it taught me is that fancy gadgets and gizmos are one thing, but I care a lot about the way a car handles. Land barges, especially land barges that aren’t particularly roomy for their massive footprints, just aren’t my favorite things. It also wasn’t much of a success for Lincoln. It went unloved by the public and the press, and generally did little other than retain the types of blue-haired customers that Lincoln had been serving all that time.
Anyway, stay tuned…
When I worked at a Ford-Lincoln dealer in 2012, I spent most of my time driving a pearl white one of these (pre-facelift, probably an ’11) that was used as a loaner car for the Lincoln customers only. We also had a 2010 MZK loaner, which was the fancy version of the much smaller Fusion. I had my choice of driving either one if it wasn’t loaned out to a customer, and they were usually both there most days.
I started out always driving the big MKS more often, because it seemed like the “nicer” car on the surface. It had really luxurious white leather upholstery inside, was very quiet and cushy, bigger, comfortable, powerful, etc. But, it was BIG, and heavy, and handled like a pig. These cars weren’t as ancient mechanically as a Town Car (which I drove plenty of too working there), but realistically the day-to-day handling wasn’t much sharper, arguably worse because the front end was so massive and heavy. These were tuned for people coming out of a Town Car or Continental, and there’s only so much you can do with a FWD car of that size and weight anyway.
Slowly, the smaller MKZ started to grow on me. It wasn’t quite as smooth or quiet, but it had a nice V6, similar qulity interior, much better visibility, more ergonomic cabin space, and drove like a zippy little compact sports car in comparison to the 4200-pound MKS. Eventually, I stopped driving the big MKS altogether and only used the “lesser” MKZ as it was much nicer to toss around town. The only time the MKS was superior was on the freeway, but even then, I grew to hate the cramped front cabin for how big the car was on the outside. The Taurus it was based on had the same problem with the interior, and I never understood why anyone bought either car over a much roomier, better driving, and almost-as-comfortable Fusion/MKZ. The full-size sedans felt like driving a minivan without any of the actual advantages of a minivan. No wonder Ford stopped making cars altogether….
They sold a small but steady stream of the MKZs (Fusion) but hardly anyone bought the big MKS brand new, or at all. They were the kind of lot poison that sat for a year before anyone would even test drive them, and the dealership stocked maybe two or three. The sticker price of a new one was astronomical and they lost half of their value in like two or three years. You were better off just getting an actual Mercedes or BMW and most people who wanted a Lincoln sedan were fine with the smaller MKZ for $10-$15k less. The MKS was a car with no real demographic – sure, there were the few loyal Town Car buyers who bought them because they had no choice. But that was about it. They were too bland, too average, too low in brand cachet compared to Japanese/Euro brands, or even comparable Cadillacs, which had much more stylish lines, RWD, and better handling. The MKS was a perfectly comfy and pleasant looking car line, just a lot of “meh” for $40k-$50k
Yeah, these were fairly bland, and like I said, they mostly exist in a class of pseudo-flagship sedans that happen to just be the biggest in their respective automakers’ lineup…without having the cachet or substance to really hang with the big boys. And their value proposition over those brands’ midsize cars is dubious at best.
Major kudos for adopting an older pet. Those typically get shunned at shelters for obvious reasons.
Other than the Ford Taurus, I think pretty much any other vehicle on the Ford/Lincoln lot would have been a much better fit. Is there any reason why you decided against a Fusion or MKZ?
I almost didn’t see her. I looked at five or six dogs that day, and didn’t vibe with any of them. They either looked mean or weren’t interested in me. And then, just as I was about to leave, the volunteer said, “What about this one?”
“Oh, I didn’t see her…”
“Well, she’s a bit old. We think she’s 6.”
Her kennel was at the very end of the row at the shelter, and she was sort of difficult to see. But they let her out and I took her for a walk, and fell in love. And that was it.
I’ve been waiting a long time for the full story on your MKS and here it is! I’m now waiting for the inevitable barrage of comments from Curbivores decrying touch screens/touch-capacitive controls and how distracting they are.
They might have a point. At least regarding these touch-capacitive controls in the Lincoln. There’s a reason Lincoln is abandoning them and Cadillac is doing the same. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Ford ones don’t even have haptic feedback like the Cadillac ones, right?
Bad idea. It always struck me as the kind of gimmick that’s supposed to convey a sense of luxury but actually ends up confounding owners. And this is coming from someone who LOVES gimmicks and “pointless” bells and whistles. Color-changing ambient lighting? Massaging seats? Hell yeah, sign me up! But those don’t make simple tasks harder to do. I could tolerate the Caddy ones but they were piano black and just looked like they would be smudge city after a little while.
The funny thing is, so many Curbivores complain about those “tablet-in-the-top-of-the-dash” touchscreens but they’re actually much better at keeping your eyes on the road. And realistically, so long as everything’s working, you’re not going to be looking at the screen that much when you’re driving. It’s not outside the realm of possibility, either, that conventional buttons might be distracting or not work, either. So in short, yes, I’ll join the inevitable complaint consensus this one time but otherwise I’m fine with infotainment…
As for the MKS, I contemplated getting one of these if/when I returned to the US, but an EcoBoost model. But you’re spot on about the looks – like the ’81 Granada Jason shared the other day, I’d also suggest the wheelbase is too short – and these are oddly proportioned. The ’09-12 models had better details but looked cheaper (and actually I always hated how the front air dam chrome was horizontal and the grille vertical). These ’13-16 models aren’t pretty but they look more expensive. And if you ignore the copious amounts of Taurus switchgear, the interior is really nice with an abundance of soft-touch plastic, even more so than some Lexus models. Not bad for a fancy Taurus.
Ah, but the drive. These are big and heavy and this is a platform dating back to the mid-1990s. I am curious, did the car feel appreciably better when you put it into Sport mode? Did you ever try Comfort mode? I doubt you would’ve liked the latter…
Also, apparently the 20 inch wheels gave the car a bit of a flinty ride. You didn’t find this to be the case? I’ve heard that criticism about the EcoBoost as it had 20s too.
I could talk all day about these MKSs…
There is a red 2014 MKS parked at work. It’s nice with tan leather, moonroof, and the twin-turbo Ecoboost. The guy who owns it reports to me; he’s 28 and a new engineer. He loves that car.
The interior room concern of Kyree’s makes sense although he doesn’t seem to be a problem with the gentleman I work with. That said, while he is around my height of 5’11”, he has a much bigger frame and is naturally thick in the chest. He says it fits him well.
His goal started off as a Taurus SHO. He likes the body style and wanted the twin turbo engine. Doing some research he realized these were similar enough. When he bought it he talked about depreciation being his new best friend. It was a one-owner car with about 60k on the odometer and he got it for like $14k late last year.
Now about infotainment systems. They are great for use by either the passenger or when parked. But distracted driving is now eclipsing drunk driving as being the prime cause of traffic crash fatalities in most states. It is mainly cell phones but infotainment systems are also a distinct factor, as seen here. Getting to hear the gory details of these fatalities is what has molded my position on them. I’m not ranting, just making everyone aware. 🙂
It wasn’t cramped; it just wasn’t as roomy as its size might have suggested. The MKZ was about as spacious, and it was considerably smaller.
I agree with you on all counts, especially the tablet-on-dash thing. I didn’t think the ride was that flinty, but wouldn’t have minded smaller wheels.
I think the real death knell for the MKS was when the redesigned, sleeker MKZ came out. The MKZ didn’t feel nearly as nice from a materials standpoint, but it looked cool and handled better. And it was cheaper, too.
Personally I like the capacitive touch “buttons” in the Lincolns. Once of the features that made the MKZ much more appealing than the Fusion to me. My wife quickly took to them as well, and that is saying something as she is not into new tech in any way. Fact is however I pretty much only use the rear defog that regularly and then it is only part of the year that I do that. Didn’t take long to know where it is at and can hit it w/o looking and the beep lets me know I was successful.
As far as the driving modes go the MKZ spends 90%+ of its time in comfort mode. I personally don’t think I’ve ever driven it in normal mode. Yes there is a definite difference between the comfort and sport modes in that model. It is surprising how well it rides considering it has the optional 19″ wheels which are wrapped in 40 series tires.
The internal water pump on the Lincoln was the same as that in the Chrysler 2.7 V6. Buried behind enormous timing chains, you had to disassemble a lot of the engine to get at it. At least it was designed with a weep hole passage that would drip coolant on the ground when the water pump had failed.
That story about the purchase, what a cluster! I haven’t been that unfortunate in any of my dealings, but I think I would have told them to keep it had they treated me that way. Plenty of fish in the sea and all that. At least FoMoCo made the CPO situation right, but it’s terrible that you have to mount your own negative publicity campaign in order to get someone to pay attention to your situation.
I could live with the big body/small interior, the middling fuel mileage, maybe the wonky infotainment system, but if it handles like a pig, no sale. I’m not expecting AMG levels of grip, but if it dives and rolls like a 1959 Galaxie, it’s a definite no-sale. At least you got some good service out it while you had it.
Yeah, I should have told them to go pound rocks. These days, I would (and have).
Yes, it did look like a stock Lincoln photo!
Question: Earlier in the article, I thought you said that it had emergency automatic braking? Did it not activate in that final collision?
I have it in my Honda Insight and it saved me a few times, slamming on the brakes to avoid a rear end collision when my eyes were momentarily elsewhere. Also, automatically puts the car in park if you open the driver’s door with the car in gear.
All of those things I listed were options on the MKS, but they were stuff that no Lincoln before had ever had. Moreover, i misspoke. I meant to write “forward collision warning,” which just visually and audibly warns you of an impending frontal collision. I don’t believe the MKS ever braked for itself.
But no, mine didn’t have the forward collision warning.
“I took my eyes off the road to jab at the unresponsive touch screen and then at the unresponsive capacitative-touch HVAC controls below it.”
This is precisely why I prefer knobs and levers/switches for my environmental controls. I can reach down and operate them without taking my eyes off the road. I tend to fat-finger the screens on my phone and tablet and find their virtual keyboards frustrating at times. If my future purchases don’t have knobs and switches, I’m looking elsewhere. Same with radios. At least my Nissan has steering wheel controls for that, but the radio has two knobs and 6 preset buttons.
No multi-use touch screens for me!
This is why I like BMW Group’s iDrive. They’ve mastered the joystick/toggle control so that it’s easy and intuitive to use while driving. And recently, with iDrive 7, they added touchscreen support and optional gesture control.
If touch screens are so great why are they not in airplane cockpits?
They are. Even the Cessna 172 now comes with Garmin touchscreens standard. The only “steam gauges” are an emergency backup altimeter, artificial horizon, and airspeed indicator.
So you lead the cow to slaughter? Oh, well, I doubt the automotive angels shed tears for it.
These (and other Lincoln and Cadillac sedans) are essentially alien to me, like reading about cars in an alternate universe. They just don’t sell on the West Coast. I feel so deprived… 🙂
They most assuredly didn’t.
And nothing says Middle America like a mediocre luxury car from a Detroit brand.
Have to say I thought my 1 year honeymoon period with a new car was short but I think you’ve gotten me beat lol. Been enjoying reading your posts and adventures, sorry to see the crash but glad you walked away. Ive met some of those bad dealers… they work on commission, why p/o a potential repeat customer especially those of us who like to trade often. Can’t wait to see what the next ride you picked and too see if it stays more than a year.
Never mind the car…Honey is adorable!
Thank you. Here’s a picture of her from a few months ago.
Much healthier looking and that tail wagging tells us everything we need to know. Thanks for adopting her.
+1 Our vet refers to dogs like this as “committee efforts”. I note that no one has attempted to identify any of the breeds involved.
Good story. In my perfect world, screens would be used for some of the extra/convenience features but basic functions would be controlled by basic knobs and buttons. All the things screens can do would be impossible to do with buttons without the dash looking like a cockpit of a 747.
My ’05 Taurus may be obsolete, but it’s controls for everything are easy to operate by feel and shape without ever taking your eyes off the road, and making operation stress-free in a crowded highway is a luxury in itself. I haven’t yet been in a vehicle that has better instrument/control ergonomics. Features should be able to be added to a vehicle without reducing the effectiveness or reliability of basic, necessary functions, in my rarely-humble opinion.
I predict that within the next ten years, automakers will quit trying to cram technology in their cars and work on refining what they have to make it more ergonomic.
Or…they’ll continue what they’ve been doing and just say “the standard collision-avoidance system will save you if you’re too busy jabbing at the touch screen to pay attention to the road.”
Voice actuation; that’s the future. Tesla’s is getting better by the day. That’s one of the reasons they put a big screen in there and no buttons: they know it’s going to eventually be more of a display than a control.
If Alexa can turn up the a/c or radio volume in your house, why shouldn’t she do it in your car?
“Car: drive me to my son’s house in Portland, set the a/c at 69, and play Miles Davis Quintet”.
“…Kind of Blue”.
Makes sense. I’ve noticed that newer cars have very intuitive voice commands. No longer do you need to remember a specific command; the car can interpret what you’re saying and execute on it. For instance, in my rental car in Germany, I was able to both say “cancel route guidance” and “stop giving directions,” and the car did the right thing.
I’m a whole lot less optimistic about voice control being good any time soon. Called a company lately? Better not cough, sneeze, sniffle, or say a word to anyone else while the Interactive Electronic Assistant Who’s Here to Help You and Can Understand Complete Sentences™ is listening, or she’ll say “Sorry, that is not a valid option” or “Sorry, I didn’t catch that”. That’s number one.
Number two: In the not-too-distant future when AI and IoT have been fully foisted or deployed, depending on your point of view, you’ll walk into an elevator and find no buttons. The doors will close and a voice will say “Welcome to SkyComp Towers. To continue in English, say ‘English’. Para servicio en español, diga ‘español’. Pour service en francais, dites «francais». 如需中文服务，请说“中文”。” You’ll cough or clear your throat, and the voice will either decide you said “Swahili” and proceed accordingly, or start all over again: “Welcome to SkyComp Towers”, etc. Once that misunderstanding gets cleared up, if it gets cleared up, the voice will carry on: “Hi, there. I’m Sheelu, your elevator assistant. How are you today?” Under your breath you’ll go “Christ, is this really necessary? I don’t remember asking for this…” and Sheelu will say “Sorry, I didn’t catch that. I’m Sheelu, your elevator assistant. How are you today?”
You: “Not so hot. I’d be better if I could just punch the button for the floor I want and be done with it.”
Sheelu: “You’re right, it certainly is hot out there today! Please listen carefully to the following instructions before making your selection, as our options have recently changed. Whom are you here to see?”
You: “Seventeenth floor.”
Sheelu: “H’mm. I’m not sure I got that. Whom are you here to see?”
You: “Floor seventeen.”
Sheelu: “H’mm. I’m not sure I got that. Whom are you here to see?”
You: “SEVENTEEN!”
Sheelu: (makes that obnoxious picka-pooka-pocka-pooka-pooka noise) “Sorry, I don’t see anyone here by that name. Let’s try again. Whom are you here to see?”
You: “SEV-EN-TEENTH FLOOR.”
Sheelu: (makes that obnoxious picka-pooka-pocka-pooka-pooka noise) “No problem! Beverley Moore is on the forty-first floor. I’ll take you there now.”
You: “NO! I want the SEVENTEENTH floor!”
Sheelu: “Okay, I’ll be happy to count the floors as we pass them. Sixteen…seventeen…eighteen…nineteen…”
You: “Fer pete’s sake!”
Sheelu: “It is kind of strange how there’s no 13th floor, isn’t it? Twenty-six…twenty-seven…twenty-eight…”
You: “STOP!”
Sheelu: “The top floor of this building is floor fifty-one. Thirty-two…thirty-three…thirty-four…”
It doesn’t matter how upset you get; you’re going to lose this battle of wit because Sheelu is programmed to win. Eventually you’ll get out at the 41st floor and walk down to floor 17. You’ll have to apologise for being late.
Once you’re done, you’ll take the stairs down to the parkade (because you sure as hell aren’t getting back in the lift) and into your car:
You: “Home”.
Car: “Mm. Anything else on your mind?”
You: “Uh…no, why?”
Car: “You were kind of snappish with Sheelu in there. Was that really called for?”
You: “Butt out. Take me home.”
Car: “I’m just saying, is all.”
You: “I didn’t ask you.”
Car: “You seem upset. I’ve informed your therapist. I’ll play some relaxing music and waft a soothing fragrance through the cabin.”
You: »koff« “Gross. Do not want. Stop that.”
Car: “I detect elevated blood pressure. I’ve made a note in your medical file. The fridge told me you are running low on cream cheese. I have placed an order for the low-sodium variety, and we’ll stop by the grocery to pick it up on the way home.”
You: “No. I don’t want any more cream cheese. Just go home.”
Car: “Cree-Mee cream cheese. It’s the spreadiest, schmeariest, cream-cheesiest! Now available in garlic and herb, and new smoked chipotle.”
Et cetera.
Now get the hell offa my lawn.
A mighty long comment but not very relevant. I didn’t have to read it it to tell where it was going; a quick visual scan was quite enough.
The huge difference in both your examples is that with your car or phone or digital assistant, it learns your voice, and gets better and better. Obviously your examples can’t. Apples and oranges.
How many different commands are you going to ask of your car? You think it can’t learn to raise or lower the temp? raise or lower the cruise control speed? or turn on the wipers? Or change the music? It’s already happening. You’re being a bit Ldditish here. But then you’re a bit of a Johnny-come-lately with modern Japanese cars too. 🙂
This video is not really very good. But there’s others that show folks telling it other commands for features other than navigation. I’m utterly convinced that this is where it’s going.
…or they could just use a button.
Daniel, I laughed out loud at your portrayal of a future which could very well happen. Make all that AI available if one wants it but leave some of us a button/lever/dial/zipper, or else soon putting on pants will require a BA in coding and a long call to tech-support.
Bad enough that I mention we are low on dish soap and five minutes later all Google ads are for dish soap. Why do we want so much AI in everything?
One day that stuff’s gonna think you know. Have a button to turn it off.
You seem to have a LOT more patience with car dealers than I do. I’d have been out of that place in a noo yawk minit!
I agree with you ravenuer.
A million years ago in 1978 I walked into a Datsun dealer on Rte 22 in New Jersey and said I wanted to test drive a 5 speed 280Z (there was one by the door). The salesman looked me up and down (beard, jeans, and a t-shirt) and said I’d have to make an appointment.
A few days later I walked into Larry Peters Datsun on Rte 17 in New Jersey and said I wanted to test drive a 5 speed 280Z. Still had the beard but was in “business casual”. He handed me a set of keys and pointed to one on the front line of the lot for my solo test drive.
Needless to say, my baby blue 1978 280Z company car had a Larry Peters license plate frame.
Man, I’m sorry about the accident. Funny enough, I think I drove by right after it happened! I lived just down the street in Twin Oaks at the time and seem to remember it. I’m glad it worked out ok though. Love your stories, can’t wait to see what’s next.
Yeah, you probably did. It tied up traffic for a while. It was at the intersection of 178th and Western.
I’ve got co workers that would kill for a 45 minute commute!
I just helped my dad purchase a 2014 Lincoln MKS Elite 3.7 FWD as discussed above. The MKS had only 28,000 miles and was certified. It has been in the shop three times since we purchased it in November 2018. The first time was for a replacement window washer pump and to fix the passenger side seat massager functionality. The air bladder inside the chair itself was broken. The second time was to replace the computer controlled air intake, dealer replaced it with the SHO intake under warranty because the dealer had the (steel) SHO intake on the shelf and it bolted up. The stock 3.7 intake is all plastic (glad its gone). The third time was because the serpentine belt broke. The dealer replaced it along with the tensioner.
Normally I would not be happy about this. However, the car rides like the old school Ninety-Eights and Fleetwood’s my dad has previously owned. More recently, he owned a 1994 Chrysler LHS. The MKS drives and feels as though it is the answer to the question “What if Chrysler made a third generation Chrysler LHS” than anything related to Lincoln’s history. By the way, I have driven both the MKZ and MKS. The MKS has more headroom and “feels” more of a luxury car than the MKZ does even though the MKZ that I drove was the 400 HP 3.0 bi-turbo six, I still prefer the MKS 3.7 for street duty and perceived reliability over the twin turbo six.
I am also happy because Lincoln has and still is offering 3.49% for 66 months on Certified Pre Owned vehicles, compared to other Certified incentive programs the Lincoln is a steal. The fact that it has GPS and 17 speaker THX Surround Sound is really just a bonus. These are great driving cars especially at night when the dashboard is fully lit-up, it is a great driving experience and I am happy that I found this car for my father. Not to get too dark, but my dad is now 69 years old and is approaching the end of his driving days. What better way to go out than behind the wheel of possibly the penultimate (2nd gen Continental?) 4,500 LBS Lincoln full size sedan?
If anyone is on the fence about buying one of these especially for an older relative that enjoyed the prime “Brougham” cars and is a fixed income pensioner like my dad. I strongly recommend it just make sure to purchase certified pre owned with a warranty. These cars represent the brief re-birth of Brougham and the climax of the domestic Full Size Sedan.
About those touch screen buttons. There is a toggle up-down switch volume control on the steering wheel and you can set the climate to “Auto” and not ever need to adjust the fan settings. Also at night when you do use the touch interface for the volume and fan control the light up in white like a mini-lightning-storm. Very Cool and very American Brougham. I don’t ever imagine controls on anything from Lexus ever being that overtly in-your-face.
We took the 3.49% at 66 months and agreed to pay $21,000 for our 2014 MKS. We have not paid any out of pocket expense for any work listed above or for the towing service. Lincoln is trying its best to keep my dad and I happy. The car is five years old and is just starting to be driven regularly. We understand that A) We did not buy a Camry and B)Things are going to crop up here and there. To be happy about your purchase, you need to also have this mindset going in.
It sounds like a great match for your dad, and there were some things it did very well.
Funny you mention comparing this to the Continental, because I swear my title said MKS/Conti. Almost like FoMoCo was getting ready to call it the Continental and then changed its mind. And if you look at it, it does look like a styling evolution of the 2002 Continental, especially from the sides.
In general, the MKS fell well short of sport sedan, and wouldn’t have lured anyone out of an S Class or 7 Series, even if those did cost twice as much. It sort of occupies the unceremonious not-quite-big-luxury class as the Acura RL and RLX, Cadillac CT6, Infiniti Q70L, and Volvo S80 and S90…cars that just *happen* to be the biggest and nicest in an automaker’s stable.
But that makes them great pre-owned/CPO purchases, especially for older drivers who like boulevard comfort cruisers. Despite it not being the best match for me, I still look back and am wowed by the “You Get *All* This For Just That Price?” factor.
Side note: another well-depreciated luxury car I’ve driven that looked great on paper, but wasn’t quite what I would want, was the first-generation Kia K900. Good interior materials, tons of features, and styling and proportions that were a decent approximation of a contemporary 7 Series. However, much like the MKS, the K900 doesn’t like to go in anything other than a straight line, and it crashes over bumps. Kia also didn’t add a V6 option until later, so most of them have the thirsty 5.0-liter V8. I have no idea if its Hyundai Equus cousin drove better. The first-generation K900 lasted from 2014 to 2017. There was no 2018 model year, and the 2019 is all-new.
Very interesting choice! I’m glad you got to experience and enjoy something different!
Yeah, it was a bit of an unusual choice.
The Massage seats in my MKZ are one of my favorite options. I searched and searched to find one with it and the other must haves in the right condition and at a good price. While I like the massage function the bigger thing is that is part of the 14 way adjustable seats which means it is a car that both the wife and I can be comfortable in on long drives.
Very nice article. As someone who has a 67 and a 78 Town Car in the garage, I never quite got the MKS – it struck me as one of the long line of Lincoln products that was easily seen as a tarted up Ford. As you mention, the D3 platform was probably not the best choice to begin with.
While it pains me that we’re likely seeing the last Lincoln sedans, Ford has wisely chosen to re-brand Lincoln as a purveyor stylish, luxury SUVs. The Navigator, Nautilus, Aviator, and Corsair are top notch products and look to lead in their segments. Wise business decision.
Maybe they’ll keep one sedan around for old times sake…
I always had to wonder if the die for the trunk broke in 2015, giving us the new trunk for 2016. Why else would they have bothered?
P.S. Honey looks like a real sweetie!
Well—and I meant to mention this in my article—Lincoln’s solution when they moved the license plate into the bumper for the 2013 refresh…was to also move the trunk release there. That meant you had to bend down rather far to release the trunk manually. The 2016-only trunk seems to have resolved that, as it has a release button on the rear deck lid itself
And thank you! She’s a great dog!
Was it really cheaper to re-design the entire trunk than to incorporate the foot waving sensor from the Escape though? My best guess is that the rear Lincoln logo that incorporated the camera and was used on the MKX as well was no longer cost effective to continue building just for MKS when the MKX was redesigned for 2016. So the MKS trunk had to be redesigned because that one piece camera/logo was No Longer Available in mass quantities. The MKS and MKX were both re-designed with a full length chrome strip across the tail that incorporated the camera and has LINCOLN script written above. It was just happenstance that they also made the manual trunk release more ergonomic on the MKS as a result. I still would have preferred the Escape’s foot waving sensor though. But that probably would have meant redesigning the wire harnesses and reprogramming the OBD computers. Something I’m sure Lincoln did not believe was worth the effort considering the Continental debut was on the horizon. I remember reading back when Continental was introduced that Lincoln had planned on keeping the MKS around for at least 2017 MY for fleet purchases only. It never happened because the Continental became such a weak seller itself after initial demand wore off. Lincoln also disappointed everyone when they made the Continental Concept so sexy and the production version much less so. The difference between the two at the rear view especially ruined the production version for me. The concept had very wide tires and big fender flares that screamed true American Luxury had returned. The production car did not have any dramatic fender flares or other surface tension. It also did not help that the revised MKZ went on sale BEFORE the Continental with essentially the same styling as Continental at a fraction of the price. Either way, the MKS was dead at the end of MY 2016.
That could be it, too, but I doubt it. Chances are, the supplier for the camera logo would have been able to do one final batch for the 2016 model year, if Lincoln had wanted.’
Also, I misspoke. The trunk redesign came in 2015, not 2016. So that’s two model years that have them. However, the SYNC3 system was 2016-only. The 2013-2015 models had MyLincoln Touch.
My guess is that the 2015 trunk was more motivated by style. The MKS was beginning to look really separate from the rest of Lincoln’s cars by 2015, and this was an attempt to bring it back into the fold a bit. That especially makes sense if what you said is true–that Lincoln planned to keep it around as a fleet/livery model for 2017.
Meanwhile, I’m amazed the Taurus lasted until 2019, as it couldn’t have been any stronger of a seller. I guess rental agencies bought it in droves. Somewhat sadly, of the D3/D4 cars, the only one that will survive is the Explorer, albeit on the new and vastly-superior RWD-based CD6 platform. And I suppose the MKT is getting a successor in the Aviator (also CD6-based), but it’s not really the same kind of vehicle.
A very interesting read. My problem with this car is that it always struck me as one that does many things decently but nothing particularly well. There are better highway cruisers, roomier cars, better handlers, more powerful rides and more attractive ones. There are also those who do things like luxury, snob appeal or even basic durability better. About the only thing going for it is value on the used market.
I tend to like “old people sedans” and perhaps I could learn to love one if I were to drive it.
Y’member controls that could be operated by feel? You could tell what position the slider or dial was in, you could feel which button was pushed, without looking. Remember those?
Me too. 🙁
Yep. That’s one reason we still have our ’03 Park Avenue and ’07 Camry.
Several of our friends and some of their adult children HATE capacitive touch screens in their cars.
It’s really pathetic that compact gets the same economy as a full-sized town car. It also looks like a Saturn inspired the front. Rest of it is bland. And like taurit has a center console that takes up half the car. Surprised Lincoln has even survived. This car would have made an ok base model if Lincoln made real cars still.
It’s a full-size sedan, just ten inches shorter than a Town Car. It also looks nothing like a Saturn.
Your point about the console, however, is valid although I’ve sat in the MKS and the Taurus and the latter definitely feels more confining.