Up Close: 2010 Lincoln MKZ

The new MKZ makes larger leaps on the inside than its Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan siblings did, in part because the previous Zephyr/MKZ had, to put it charitably, a pretty lackluster cabin. Gone are the shaded plastic buttons, boxy shapes and grainy dash materials. Now the cabin resembles the MKS', complete with a first-rate navigation system and cleverly stacked wood and aluminum trim.

The show car had Lincoln’s Bridge of Weir leather. It’s rich and inviting, but not dramatically better than the cowhide in a Lexus ES or Cadillac CTS. As long as we’re comparing cars, Lincoln’s center controls aren’t terribly attractive; they’re too small in an arbitrary sort of way, as there seems to be plenty of real estate for them to spread out a bit.

I’d like to see Lincoln do a bit more with the car’s rear styling. The front looks like the MKS — opine on that as you will — but the rear perpetuates the outgoing car’s robotic look. I find the MKS’ rear quite attractive, actually, so it’s a shame Lincoln didn’t translate some of that look to the smaller canvas here. More photos below.

Cars.com Lifestyle Award Winners

Today is the day. After reading about the nominees and the debate over which car should come out on top, Cars.com has officially announced its Lifestyle Award winners. No, we can’t give it away here. Just check out the full list.

Related:
Family Car of the Year Runners-Up
Play Car of the Year Runners-Up
Work Car of the Year Runners-Up
Eco-Friendly Car of the Year Runners-Up

Eco-Friendly Car of the Year Runners-Up

You can’t talk cars these days without talking about hybrids and alternative fuels. This year we had so many new or significant ones that this category was one of the toughest to call in our Lifestyle Awards.

• Green Cars of the Year: 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid and 2007 Toyota Prius

Runners-Up: Chevrolet Avalanche E85, Chevrolet Suburban E85, Ford Escape Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid, Mercury Mariner Hybrid, Saturn Vue Green Line

The Debate: It came down to extreme mileage versus a mix of value, fuel economy and clean emissions. This was a tough one, with the Honda Civic Hybrid touted by some as superior to the Prius. The Vue Green Line also impressed us with its inexpensive price of entry, but none were better-executed than the Camry Hybrid, and none win the mileage battle like the Prius. Case closed … this year.

Related:
Family Car of the Year Runners-Up

Work Car of the Year Runners-Up

We only had two categories for the Work Car of the Year: Commuters and Hard Workers. One obviously seeks out the best daily drivers we could find, while the other is for people who need their cars during their 9 - 5 shift.

• Best New Car for Commuters: 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid 

Runners-Up: Acura TSX, Ford Escape Hybrid, Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Mazda3, Toyota Camry, Toyota Prius, Toyota RAV4

The Debate: Because the nature of a good commuter has as much to do with fuel economy as with a good ride, the Civic Hybrid came out on top without much argument in our war room. The Prius doesn’t ride as smoothly, and the others don’t come close on the mileage front. Still, all the cars in this group would serve as solid workday companions.

Play Car of the Year Runners-Up

This is part two of our series where we let you – the readers – inside our decision-making process for our first annual Lifestyle Awards. Today we take on our Play Car of the Year winners and runners-up. We’ll tackle the two remaining Lifestyle categories as we get closer to the final awards on Jan. 3.

• Best New Car for Off-Roaders: 2007 Land Rover Range Rover

Runners-Up: Hummer H2, Hummer H3, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Wrangler, Land Rover LR3, Mercedes-Benz G500, Nissan Xterra, Subaru Outback, Toyota FJ Cruiser

The Debate: Our selections were made before a new Jeep Wrangler was available for testing, otherwise the outcome may have been different. There’s always next year, Jeep. Otherwise there wasn’t much debate because not only is the Range Rover a tremendous off-road machine, it’s also ultra-luxurious.

Family Car of the Year Runners-Up

Before we named the four finalists for Family Car of the Year in our first annual Lifestyle Awards, we considered all the 2006- and 2007-model-year vehicles we’ve tested and narrowed them down to a select group. We’ll tackle the other Lifestyle categories as we get closer to the final awards Jan. 3, but for now see what other cars we recommend for families and how staffers Mike Hanley, Kelsey Mays, Patrick Olsen, David Thomas and Joe Wiesenfelder debated the winners.

• Best New Car for Small Families: 2007 Honda Accord

Runners-Up: BMW 328, Ford Five Hundred, Honda Civic, Hyundai Sonata, Infiniti G35, Mazda5, Mazda6, Subaru Legacy, Toyota Camry

The Debate: We were looking for cars for families with up to two kids. There wasn’t much debate here, though a few of us thought the honor could have gone just as easily to the Legacy, Sonata or Camry.