2013 Lincoln MKS FWD Sedan Ride Report/Review
 

http://carrentingreviews.com/2012/04...ncoln-mks-fwd/


PROS:

- Very well equipped with many standard features, quiet cabin
- Improved base engine, handles better in sport mode
- Improved differentiation from its Taurus sibling
- Ultrasonic front parking sensors use a different sounding beep than rear sensors

CONS:

- Plain looking plastic on dashboard and console
- Still bears slight resemblance to Taurus
- 2013 exterior refresh may be polarizing to some
- BLIS not foolproof, still need to check blindspots when changing lanes.

CONCLUSION: If you liked the 2013 Taurus, you’ll love the 2013 MKS.

Do the Lincoln's have the new turn signal off the steering wheel that you just bump to turn on? I experienced it in the Ford Explorer and it freaked me out at first.

You mean the Euro styled tap to signal ones? Yes it does. Ford/Lincoln is installing them across their lineup.

Yeah, that really tripped me out at first. I was not a fan.

MKS
 

I'm in an MKS out of FLL at the moment ... first time in this car. Wife and I each drive a Caddy CTS sedan at our NJ home ... and our experience in the MKS compares very favorably with the CTS in all respects ... soft ride, relatively acceptable side/rear visibility, quick acceleration response, very gentle braking action. We've been looking for a CTS alternative for our very frequent back and forth (EWR/FLL) and other trips around the US ... now that AVIS stopped supplying Cadillacs. Tried the Town Car and Hundai Genesis (not by choice) and disliked them both immensely for different reasons. We actually returned each of these to the airport location the following day of each rental to get alternative vehicles.

Historically, we avoid Chrysler all products. We recently enjoyed a BMW X5 but found the interior instruments, panel and shift placements and function to be confusing ... almost "eerie".

Now that we've "found" the MKS, we'll be requesting this model for all of our upcoming rentals (including end of this month trip to LAX).

I thought the '13 MKS in Sport Mode drove better than the CTS. Also, despite the CTS being a large vehicle, it seemed to suffer from a lack of interior space.

I've not driven an Avis purchased CTS, but the National/Hertz ones are Premium Trim and aren't equipped with the sliding LCD screen. At least the MKSes come with the 8" color touchscreen.

Not all, the one in MRY last week didn't have the screen. So I took a G37 instead.

I should amend that with, "the ones that I've seen..." :)

I've rented a few MKS and like the car quite a bit as well, much much better than the typical Town cars. However, I prefer the no longer available Caddy STS (occasionally they were the V8 version which is a blast) or Infiniti M37(x).

Biggest reason is the RWD layout versus the MKS's FWD layout (talk about spin city gunning it from a stop not to mention major torque steer).

I've noticed the two different 2013 facelifted MKS I rented at DTW (and 2-3 other MKSs on the lot) all being equipped with the premium pack including the 16speaker THX sound/nav/heated steering wheel/air conditioned seats versus the 2012 older version MKS at DEN which was a base model.

Too bad the 2013 interior's MyFord (MyLincoln?) touch UI is a huge step back from the 12's physical buttons.

Glad I am not the only one that dislikes the MKS. I dont care for the exterior styling and with the FWD torque steer and sloppy handling characteristics feels out of control. I also dont care for the shape of the dash. I will say the stereo and navigation system are quite nice though but Id prefer not to have to drive this one.

Are you referring to the 2012 or 2013 model? The 2013 MY adds a brake-powered torque vectoring control system which mitigates torque steer. Torque steer wasn't noticeably intrusive on my drive. The '13 MKS is a much different vehicle from the '12 MKS when it is driven in Sport mode with adjusted sport suspension.

Motor Trend noted in their review that "its body was more tightly controlled than either of [the Audi A6 3.0T or the Mercedes E350]". Granted, this was for the AWD Ecoboost equipped model, but it still quite an improvement for the MKS to supersede the German big boys at least in one regard.

FYI for those who get a Lincoln MKS with Navigation but the display says it is missing the memory card; check the trunk in the spare tire well. Often the new vehicle manuals and more importantly the card is stored there, unopened. The memory card is in a little booklet all its own inside the manual case.