2010 Lincoln MKT. Click image to enlarge

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Review and photos by Jil McIntosh

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2010 Lincoln MKT

Oakville, Ontario – Lincoln’s on a roll. After too many years of mostly selling gussied-up versions of Ford vehicles, the company’s luxury brand has found its footing again. It started with the MKS sedan, and now moves forward with the all-new MKT six- or seven-passenger crossover.

It’s built on the Ford Flex platform, and you’ll find a few familiar items from that model inside, including the available rear-seat refrigerator. (Both are built exclusively in Ford’s plant in Oakville, Ontario.) But there’s little else to tie the boxier Ford to this slinky new Lincoln, which has to be one of the prettiest of its species on the road. The problem, of course, is that you might not see all that many: these are tough times for luxury vehicles, especially full-size ones like the MKT.

2010 Lincoln MKT. Click image to enlarge

This new model’s big selling point is a new engine configuration, called EcoBoost, which Ford will gradually roll out across most of its lineup. The base MKT uses a 3.7-litre V6 engine that produces 267 horsepower and 268 lb-ft of torque; thusly-equipped MKTs will start at $49,950. But my weekend ride was equipped with the 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 engine, which starts it at $53,350.

The idea behind EcoBoost is simple: take a smaller engine, add twin turbochargers and direct injection, and get more power out of smaller displacement while using less fuel than the larger engine would need. In the MKT’s case, the 3.5-litre EcoBoost produces 355 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque. That second number, always the more important one, peaks at an astonishingly low 1,500 r.p.m., which gives the MKT acceleration that you’d expect from a much smaller sporty sedan. Those figures are also more in V8 range than your average V6. Among its competitors, you’ll have to move up to the Audi A7’s 4.2-litre V8 to get 350/325 numbers, while the Lexus GX 470 produces 263/323 out of its 4.7-litre V8. And while 91-octane will produce the MKT’s best performance and fuel figures, the engine can run on an 87 rating if necessary.

The company’s rating for the engine’s fuel efficiency isn’t really stop-the-presses, at 14.7 L/100 km in the city, and 10.7 L/100 on the highway; in a weekend with the MKT, spent mostly on the highway, I averaged 10.8 L/100 km. But for those who want the extra power, the numbers look very good against the alternatives: Audi’s V8 returns 16.1 L/100 km in the city, while the GX 470 uses 15.3 L/100 km.

2010 Lincoln MKT. Click image to enlarge

Ford plans to eventually put half a million EcoBoost engines each year into vehicles sold in North America. The MKT’s 3.5-litre is also used in the MKS, Flex and Taurus SHO. “Ecoboosted” engines are scheduled to appear just about everywhere in Ford’s lineup, and also in four-cylinder versions that are expected to return the power and economy of a six-cylinder. Some critics have jumped on Ford for not starting at the low end of the scale, but to me, it makes sense: it’s easier to trickle down than it is to swim upstream. Start with a V6 that provides the power of a V8, and you can more easily convince skeptics that your four-cylinder will keep up with a V6.

The MKT uses a six-speed automatic transmission; all-wheel drive is standard. There’s a manual shift mode with wheel-mounted paddles, but I don’t care for them. They’re redundant, requiring that you push or pull them to shift up for down. I prefer pushing or pulling both, one hand for up, one for down.

In short, this puffered engine works really well. It’ll take off like a scared rabbit if you’re heavy on the throttle; ease up, and it smoothly gains speed, with steady throttle tip-in and silky shifts. For all its size, the MKT doesn’t feel wallowy, and it handles rough roads – even a rutted gravel one – calmly and composed. It does suffer from a lack of steering feel, which may draw in traditional Lincoln drivers but turn off those who’ve become accustomed to sharper German feedback. It’s also extremely quiet, bordering on bank vault, with passengers insulated from both road and engine noise.

2010 Lincoln MKT. Click image to enlarge

On the outside, the MKT carries the new signature Lincoln “split-wing” grille, first seen on the MKS, but a bit too big and toothy here. The side profile includes an interesting kick-up over the rear wheels, while the tail carries a wraparound light that looks like it would illuminate all the way across, but only has tail and brake bulbs behind the lenses on the body. If there’s a fault to the styling, it’s that the curvaceous rear steals headroom in the third row; unlike the boxy Flex, which maintains a flat ceiling all the way back, the MKT left only about an inch of headroom above a 170-cm (5-ft. 7-in.) passenger settled into the third row. The narrow rear window also means that little is visible, so be sure to check the rearview camera before backing up. When I stopped at a light, any midsize cars sitting close on my bumper completely disappeared from my rearview mirror.

2010 Lincoln MKT. Click image to enlarge

Inside, the MKT is stunning. (My tester was a very early pre-production model – used to determine which parts need to be adjusted for volume assembly – which accounts for any fit-and-finish issues visible in my photographs.) With the six-passenger configuration, the centre console runs from the dash to the second row, with covered cupholders and storage. The refrigerator, which sits between the two second-row seats, is a true refrigeration unit with freezing capability, not just a cool box, and will hold seven drink cans. Second-row passengers get considerable room, especially since the chairs will slide back if there are no people needing room for the third row. The second-row seats tumble forward electrically to provide access to the third row, which can be folded to form a flat cargo floor.

Up front, the MKT uses a centre console that flows down from the dash, similar to Volvo’s “floating” stack, but with open cargo cubbies below it. Small items can also go into the console box, which contains two separate armrests that can be independently slid ahead or back. Navigation, stereo and climate control functions are controlled by rows of identical buttons; controls on either side of the navigation screen look after the power-adjustable pedals and the screen brightness. The simple but elegant instrument dials are housed in three chrome-ringed pods.

I was in the MKT for long stretches at a time, and found that the seats – clad in perforated leather, with heating and cooling functions – got hard after about five hours. I drove the Ford Flex on a nine-hour trek to Pennsylvania last year, cementing my appreciation for the boxy machine, and when I checked my notes, I discovered that’s exactly the same time that its chairs got tough on the tush, as well.

Due to its price and size, and the general state of the economy, the MKT isn’t going to be a volume leader. Instead, what it marks for Ford is a further separation of the Lincoln brand, a considerable leap forward in quality, and most importantly, part of the EcoBoost’s introduction. Drivers want fuel economy, but most are unwilling to give up performance. This could go a long way toward bridging that gap.

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