Lincoln has suffered a lot of hard hits over the recent years. As the last brand to realize the important of moving away from the large luxury models that were boring road boats that carried people in quiet comfort but not much more the brand began to build most of its cars on the Ford platforms. When this occurred they didn’t fool anyone and have brought us cars that we haven’t been excited about because it feels as if you are paying more for a Ford than you should just to have some upgraded equipment to enjoy.
Lincoln could follow Cadillac and start making sport luxury models that truly excite our senses and make us want to take to the track, but they seem to be headed in a different direction. We have seen the new Continental concept at the New York auto show and the MKZ which is showing off at the Los Angeles auto show is one that will be the first one to head out on the road as the concept we want to drive. These cars are still built on the platforms from Ford but are upgraded to be high class luxury vehicles.
The philosophy from Lincoln that makes it different from Cadillac is a quiet one. The idea is to include the power we want to drive, such as the 400 horsepower engine under the hood of the MKZ, and have enough insulation and noise cancelling technology to keep the cabin quiet and serene. The hope is to do this without offering a dull environment that won’t make any sense to those of us who wish to drive a great Lincoln. In order to achieve this goal Lincoln needs to have plenty of great performance parts from the suspension to the steering in order to give us a luxury filled and perfect driving car that we want.
In order to make this a possibility the engine will offer the 400 horsepower on the AWD model while the FWD version will be limited to 350 horsepower. This will give us a car that has plenty of what we want to enjoy. the torque for both versions will be set at 400 lb.-ft. of torque. With the AWD version being the more powerful the MKZ can be one of the most active cars from Lincoln that you have driven in a long time to ensure you have a car that will be the perfect complement to your lifestyle.
One benefit the MKZ has over other models is the fact it is built off the Focus platform and can take advantage of some of the Focus RS materials. This includes the torque-vectoring and other hardware that give this car a dynamic driving capability that you won’t see on many other vehicles. It appears Lincoln is on the right track and when the new Continental and MKZ make their way to market in 2017 we will see exactly how much fun these cars are to drive and how much quiet luxury we get from them, which certainly should give us the balance we want between these two nameplates that are made to help improve the Lincoln name.
This post may contain affiliate links. Meaning a commission is given should you decide to make a purchase through these links, at no cost to you. All products shown are researched and tested to give an accurate review for you.