Up Close With the 2009 Lincoln MKS
- The MKS looks and feels swank, especially the leather seats. I wasn't wowed by the controls in the center console, but Sirius' new system, which offers real-time traffic, weather, gas prices and even movie times, was pretty impressive. What I particularly liked was being able to select from several theaters, then being able to look at all the available movie times there. Since my family members often have very different tastes in movies, being able to go through multiple times at multiple locations would be a blessing.
You can search gas prices by location (is there one close enough so I won't run out of gas?) or by price (I'll go another four blocks if it'll save me 10 cents a gallon). What's really interesting, though, is that the Sirius system doesn't (yet?) work with Ford and Microsoft's Sync system, of which we at Cars.com are big fans. — Patrick Olsen, 2:10 p.m.
This is the first in a series of posts in which Cars.com staff will check out the just-introduced cars at the L.A. Auto Show and report back. We’ll update each one as soon as we can with different impressions, snapshots from the floor and other ramblings. If there’s anything you want to know or see about the cars, let us know in the comments.
- The MKS' grille looks bolder than the Pontiac-esque
manufacturer photos suggest. Inside are plenty of soft-touch surfaces,
and the knobs for the radio and air conditioning controls have
cushioned movements, as any luxury car's controls should. The leather
wrapping on top of the dashboard looks more upscale than it feels. I
found the seats a bit narrower, with larger side bolsters, than a
typical Town Car buyer would want, but Lincoln says it wants some 60
percent of MKS sales to come from outside the brand (compare that to
the MKX crossover's 40 percent), so perhaps sporty is good.
The MKS is based on Ford's D3 platform, which underpins the Taurus and Mercury Sable. Besides a few switches here and there — the turn signals, headlight controls and power mirror and door-lock buttons — I noticed few shared pieces. That sets it apart from the smaller MKZ, which seems too similar to a Ford Fusion inside. — Kelsey Mays, 12:28 p.m.
- The grille works for me — though bold grilles are getting so common I wonder how long it will be before someone has to go subtle just to stand out. The rear end, on the other hand, looks weird. What's with those little vertical taillights and white backup lenses? The interior is pretty nice. Lincoln says the leather is made with the same process used on infant shoes — and you know how discerning infants are about such things. The materials are good overall.
The dash looks elegant but isn't very soft to the touch. (What would the infants think?) What concerns me is the dashboard's center control panel, aka the center stack: This is something Lincoln has never gotten quite right. A good design, layout and materials are important in this focal point of a luxury car. The MKS' is decent, but it doesn't scream luxury. — Joe Wiesenfelder, 10:16 a.m.
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2007 L.A. Auto Show: 2009 Lincoln MKS
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Wow up close it's especially cheap looking, IMO not much better than the new Focus or Escape! The CTS is much better looking!
I agree, the CTS is better. Large tourer sedans are out I think: other than a few 40+ CEOs who roll around a 7 series or S-Class, anyone who goes for a car like this will probably buy an SUV now instead. Those who would still buy it in their 30s (or the 30 year olds who will be forty and would buy one) are more likely to go for the nicer Mercedes or BMW products. This car is somewhat of what I'd expect a spruced-down Volkswagen to look like.
everyone put your hate on ford again, again and again. nobody wants to give them credit for anything, even this beautiful car. then factor the quality and increasing reliability for Ford products and I think this is definitely a game changer for Lincoln-- and Ford.
Are you guys crazy? The CTS is a bunch of film clad plastic junk - the MKS is sleek, sophisticated, draped in leather and vinyl and beautiful metallic paint. Not film that you'd probably find on your bedside alarm clock.