With Ford no longer owning Jaguar, Range Rover, or Aston Martin, its only luxury brands to concentrate on are Volvo and Lincoln. They still make Lincolns? That’s what I thought, until I had the opportunity to get a few minutes with the 2009 MKS at Ford’s upcoming model event back in August.  I was impressed enough with the car there that I decided to get one into the garage for a full fledged review.

Ford sent over an essentially fully loaded all wheel drive model that had a sticker price around $47,000.  For reference, the AWD model starts at $39,590.  Optional equipment which was about $6,700 sticker price included the following:

• Technology package
• Navigation Package
• 19″ wheels
• Rain sensitive windshield wipers
• Dual panel moonroof
• Adaptive headlamps with auto high beam
• Forward sensing system
• Voice activated nav system
• Intelligent access key with push button start
• Rear view camera
• THX-II certified audio system with 5.1 surround sound
• Ultimate leather seating
• Adaptive cruise control

The 09 version of the MKS is built on the same platform as the Taurus/Sable/Taurus X and Flex, so you can kind of call it a pimped out Taurus.  Under the hood you’ll find a 3.7-liter V6 that provides a decent 270hp and 256 ft-lbs of torque.  The MKS is a bit of a fatty, weighing in at 4,127lbs, so it wouldn’t hurt to have slightly more power.  With the bigger V6 making all that weight move, I was averaging about 19mpg…one of my only bigger complaints about the car.  Then again, gas prices are down, and if you’re spending almost $50,000 on a luxury vehicle, how much do you care about spending a little more money on gas.  The MKS does allow you to use a lower-grade gas in the car if you don’t mind it not performing optimally.

One big thing to keep in mind is that Lincoln is working on an EcoBoost version of the MKS which will supposedly feature a twin-turbo V6 with some of the hp estimates coming in around 350.  While the car does move, enough to not really complain, it will really move with the additional ponies…and maybe even have better gas mileage.  Even a 4-cylinder EcoBoost motor that makes similar power to the current model, but increases the gas mileage would be a welcome option.

Now that we’ve looked under the hood, lets talk about how the car is dressed.  My personal opinion is that Lincoln did a fantastic job at designing this car.  The split grille, which is the new Lincoln “look” is elegant and along with the nicely shaped headlights, give the Lincoln a very classy yet sporty/aggressive look.  It screams luxury, but with a little muscle.

What I like best though is the rear of the car.  The new vertical LED taillights and generally shape remind me of the Maserati Quattroporte…but better looking.  While the overall design is not revolutionary, it does stand out as a handsome car in a sea of blandness.

The interior of the car is the best part of the MKS hands down.  I was pleasantly surprised how nice all of the materials were, how comfortable the car was, and how ridiculously great the technology was integrated.  One of the greatest steps that Ford has made with their lineup has been the integration of SYNC, a car operating system if you will, developed in conjunction with Microsoft.  The added Sirius satellite radio with Travel Link allows you to do some really cool things like auto re-route your destination based on traffic, find the lowest fuel prices in your area, check sports scores and movie listings, and more.  The voice activation feature to tie it all in works practically flawlessly, and is by far the best system I’ve ever used.

If you read the list of optional items that were included in the car, you need to know that everything other than the adaptive cruise control was part of the $5,715 “ultimate package”…and I wouldn’t buy the car without it.  There is just too much cool, convenient stuff to not shell out for it.  Take for example the 5.1 THX-II certified audio system.  For audio cds that support it, you will be extremely impressed by the quality of the sound.

In regards to handling, I was pleasantly surprised to how well the MKS stuck to the road.  While the car looks smaller than it is, it sits fairly high, especially at the rear.  I’ll be honest, I was expecting a good amount of body roll.  What I did find though was that I could take an exit ramp going 60 with no problems.  I was also a little surprised at how much of the road I could feel, I mean it is a Lincoln right?  I think this mostly had to do with the 19″ wheels that also provided a lower profile tire.  Note that there is also an option for a 20″ wheel.  While I did feel some of the road, the car was almost eerily quiet when driving.  It was so smooth accelerating and shifting through gears.  I had passengers in both the front and rear of the car, all complimenting the MKS on how incredibly smooth and comfortable the car was.

Speaking of comfortableness, the MKS definitely sticks to what you would imagine a Lincoln would be…notably comfortable.  My rear passengers were pleased and with no complaints, they were happy about their rear heat warmers in the 30 degree rainy weather we were in.

The Lincoln MKS puts itself into a class of heavy competition.  With cars like the BMW 5-Series, Jaguar XF, Cadillac CTS/STS, Acura RL, Lexus GS, etc…it’s tough to come out as number one.  What Lincoln does have going over the competition is the pricepoint.  A fully loaded MKS will come in lower than most of the competition, but I still think it’s priced a little high.  The initial reaction I was getting from most people was surprised when they found out how much it costs.  While it’s a nice car, they really need to undercut the competition.  I’d like to see a fully loaded AWD model come in at the lower $40,000 range if it’s possible.  In reality though, it is a great buy for what it is…which is why it was nominated for car of the year from Motor Trend.

For more pictures, as well as the high resolution versions, see the Flickr set.

Day 2 of the 2009 Ford F150 event was definitely the day where we had the most fun. It gave me a chance to fully experience and understand the capability of the truck. The day started at 6am where we had breakfast at the hotel. By 7:30 we arrived at Michigan Proving Grounds, an impressive area of all sorts of test tracks and development facilities owned by Ford:

There were four different driving events throughout the day, I??ll cover each one separately. The first event for my group was off road??which was by far the most fun, and the one where we pushed the F150 the most. I had never been off-roading before, so I was looking forward to this. The off road track was amazing, there was everything from huge mud pits to dirt hills which we had to climb. The snake pit was the most challenging section, we had two opportunities to try and make it through. The area consisted of a big hill you climb up, and then come back down into a giant area of deep mud. Getting through successfully was all about giving the truck lots of gas, and hitting the right lines in the mud.

The first pass, I didn??t give it enough gas, which led me to get stuck right in the middle. Fortunately Ford had a truck on standby to pull me out. The second time around, I gunned it, hit the right lines, and was able to make it through. Here??s a couple good pictures from this event:

The next event was the trailer tow, where we drove the 09 Ford F150, 09 Chevy Silverado, 09 Dodge Ram, and 08 Toyota Tundra with a trailer behind each truck??oh and did I mention the 8,000 pounds we were towing? We drove the trucks on a track which gave us the ability to see how the trucks were able to accelerate up hill and handle on turns. There were a few great technologies which some of the trucks had (the F150 was the only one that had them all) that really made towing a trailer easy. Those included:

• Tow-Haul Mode ?? A driving mode which adjusts the RPMs correctly to downshift at the correct times
• Integrated Trailer Brake Controller ?? This was one of the most noticeable features, something I??m surprised hasn??t been standard in the past. Normally an aftermarket unit is installed, and essentially it tells the trailer you are towing to brake when you hit the brakes. The problem with the aftermarket units is that there is a slight delay because of the way that they do this, so when you hit the brakes, you??ll actually feel the trailer come towards you for a second before it slows down as well. Same deal with when you are accelerating. The F150 integrates this from the factory, and the way they do it, there is no delay.
• Trailer Sway Control ?? This does exactly what it sounds like. We were able to swerve the trucks while going about 50 mph downhill with the 8,000 trailers behind us…no problems.

Afterwards we went back to one of the facilities for a nice lunch, and then it was off to the next event. This time we covered durability/safety. The test for this was taking the trucks through a straight track which had a variety of things like large cobblestones in the road. Driving over this drastically effects the drivability, and shows you where each truck was able to excel. The Toyota Tundra was by far the worst in this category, some of the bumps would cause the bed of the truck to hit the cab!

You can see a video comparing the F150 and the Tundra here…notice how the Tundra cab is all over the place:

The last event was hauling where we took each truck on an autocross course with 850 pounds of weight in the bed. I enjoyed this event, and was able to get a great idea as to what the trucks were capable of handling, regardless of all the weight in the back. There were certain sections which we were to go a set speed, this way we could compare each truck as unbiased as possible. I was amazed at how well the trucks handled, especially the F150. If you remember when I had tested the 09 Ford vehicles, I was also impressed with how some of their bigger vehicles like the Flex handled on the track. After I tested each truck, I took the F150 out for one more lap driving it as hard as I possibly could. The truck handled amazing, I was floored.

Afterwards I hopped on a shuttle, and made my way back to VA. Once again, I??d like to thank Ford for the opportunity to drive and learn about their vehicles. I’d also like to thank Dorri from If It’s Got An Engine and Matt from Ford for some of the pictures that were used above.

If you remember, a few months ago I was invited over to Ford in Michigan to check out all of their upcoming 09 vehicles. The one vehicle we did not test was the new F150 pickup truck. Yesterday I arrived at Ford to take a look.

I arrived at Detroit Airport, and we headed over to the Rouge plant for a little presentation. After the presentation, we ate some lunch, and then were given a tour of the plant. This was the first time I had ever had the opportunity to take a look at how the production for the F150 was done. We literally saw each step, and it was something that just blew my mind. The facility alone is about 1.5 million sq/ft, it was monstrous!? It’s really hard to imagine how a car manufacturer can make a vehicle profitable. Here’s a few pictures for your enjoyment:

After checkout the plant, we headed over to another plant and we were able to see some of the training facilities and going over the new features on the new F150.

Then it was time for some driving!? We took the 2008 F150 and drove it about 40 miles to a Ford dealership, where we got into 2009 F150’s for comparison sake. The difference between the two F150’s is night and day, and the 09 is a huge improvement. There are some really cool technology improvements from aerodynamics to interior that really made some drastic differences.

I was able to drive the new F150 for about 80 miles before we got to our hotel in Romeo, MI (The Royal Park Hotel). It really gave me the opportunity to get a true feeling of the car, and it honestly makes me want one…and I’m not even a truck guy.

We got back to the hotel, which I made is ridiculously nice!? Check out a couple pics of my room:

Once I put my bags in my room, I headed back down for some cocktails, and a little bit of demo’ing of Ford’s Work Solutions. This is a really neat edition for the F150 meant for working professionals, and in reality more specifically to contractors and construction workers. There are a variety of nifty features worth mentioning:

• Cable lock system – Ford listened to their customers and found that tool theft was a pretty common occurrence. The cable lock system allows owners to wire lock their tools (or anything else like a dirt bike) in the bed of the truck.
• The coolest part is the new computer system option up front. The system allows you do anything from get on the internet, to remote desktop, to printing an invoice for a customer on the spot. You can read more here.
• Crew Chief – This is a system that uses RFID tags. You would simply stick an RFID tag on your tools, and then program them into your car. As long as the tool is in the bed, it will show up on the system up front. This way you will always know you have everything you need. You can even setup specific jobs, for example drywall. You can setup all of the tools you’ll need for drywall, and then it will ensure that all your tools are in the truck when you start your job…as well as leave.

After a couple of drinks, it was time for some more food. We had a great dinner, and at the end Ford raffled away a new Dewalt saw, which I happened to win!

That concludes a great first day, and tomorrow sounds like it may even be better. We’ll be spending the day at the Michigan proving grounds driving the F150 on the track and really putting the truck to the test. I’m really looking forward to it.