When the Lincoln MKX was delivered to my driveway, the first thing I noticed was the protruding Lincoln emblem on the grille. It houses a hidden camera that feeds into the 360-degree monitor. When not in use, the camera retracts and the emblem blends back into the grille like a secret compartment in a wall.
And that set the tone for the test week: I kept finding features that both surprised and delighted me - such as the massaging front seats and the active park assist.
Completely redesigned for the 2016 model year, the MKX has several cool features like this that speak to the sleek new design and plentiful technology tucked away in this vehicle.
Design
The design of the MKX gets smoothed out for 2016. Where the previous generation came off a bit harsh with a toothy, vertical grille and severe lines, this new model has longer horizontal lines that start at the Lincoln emblem on the grille and sweep around the vehicle all the way to the taillights.
The interior gets smoothed out as well with the biggest changes coming to the center stack and gearshift. Lincoln has eschewed the traditional lever in other models in its lineup in favor of push-button gearing, and with the all-new MKX it's officially a thing.
This took me a bit to get used to, and I missed the built-in hand rest of the traditional shift lever, but in all I think it looks nice, works well and streamlines the overall appearance of the interior.
Other changes to the center stack include real buttons and dials for the HVAC and audio controls instead of the weird raised faux buttons of the previous generation.
With the reorganization of the center stack, however, there is one minor irritation: The cup holders. In addition to being situated at the driver's elbow, they are a bit tight to fit a larger water bottle, and I found myself fighting to access my 24-ounce Camelback while driving.
The available 22-way adjustable front seats more than made up for the cup holder irritation, though. In addition to looking great, the side bolsters, seat back and bottom cushion can all be adjusted to fit your body pretty well. And then there's the seat massager. I found myself turning on the heated seats and flipping the massager on high every time I drove.
Ride & Handling
The MKX has two engine options for 2016: a 3.7-liter V-6 Ti-VCT and a 2.7-liter V-6 EcoBoost engine. The 3.7-liter is the base engine in MKX and delivers 303 horsepower and 278 pound-feet of torque. The turbocharged EcoBoost engine has a $2K premium, but adds 32 horsepower and 2 pound-feet of torque as well as 1 mpg better fuel economy in either combined or highway driving, depending on drivetrain.
The test vehicle had the up-level EcoBoost, and it was phenomenal. Acceleration was quick and quiet, and the power was well suited to both city and highway traffic.
Though I haven't driven the MKX with the 3.7-liter engine, I have driven non-EcoBoost engines in other Ford SUVs, and there is no comparison. The EcoBoost is smoother and more spirited. So, if you can afford the extra cash, I'd totally recommend leveling up.
One of the things I really like about the MKX is the fact that the ride and handling is much more like a sporty sedan than a midsize SUV. It maneuvers well around highway traffic, and it has a luxuriously soft ride over city potholes.
Fuel economy
The MKX is available with both front- and all-wheel drive, so with two engines and two different powertrains, there are four different city/highway/combined fuel economy ratings depending on which model you select:
- 3.7-liter, FWD: 17/26/20 mpg
- 3.7-liter AWD: 16/23/19 mpg
- 2.7-liter FWD: 17/26/21 mpg
- 2.7-liter AWD: 17/24/19 mpg
The test vehicle was an AWD model with the 2.7-liter EcoBoost engine, and I averaged 20 mpg in mostly city driving. I consider that a fuel-economy win.
Tech & gadgets
Lincoln has always been on the cutting edge of new technology, so it should come as no surprise that the MKX is chockfull of cool toys. Living in a city, I fully appreciate the 360-degree camera with enhanced park assist.
Though I wasn't able to test this in the MKX test vehicle, I have tried this feature in the Ford Edge, and it works really well. In addition to a complete around-the-vehicle view with all the cameras working in concert, the front camera gives you a 180-degree view, which allows you to see things that might be just out of your line of sight as you are edging out of a parking spot.
Enhanced park assist not only allows you to parallel park on the right side of the street as you would in two-way traffic, but it also allows you to park on the left as you might on a one way street. It effectively and efficiently measures the spot as you drive by it, tells you to take your hands off the wheel and does all the steering for you. You just have to brake and operate the gearshift when the car tells you to. Enhanced park assist will also pull you out of a parallel parking space as well as pull you into a perpendicular one.
One thing to note, however, is that technology isn't cheap. To add the 360-degree camera and enhanced park assist, you'll have to add more than $8K in options.
Some other gadgets that are also "available" include the 22-way adjustable front seats, voice-activated navigation, adaptive headlights, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert and a whole host of other safety features mentioned below.
At a standard level, you do get dual-zone automatic temperature controls, passive entry, push-button start and a reverse sensing system.
Trims
Lincoln doesn't really do "trims" so much as it does "equipment groups." So, you select your powertrain and then move into the equipment groups:
Equipment Group 101A adds 18-inch premium painted aluminum wheels, LED daytime running lamps, wood trim, leather-trimmed seats, power tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, hands-free power liftgate, auto-folding exterior mirrors and a universal garage door opener.
Equipment Group Reserve 102A adds 20-inch premium paint aluminum 20-spoke wheels, adaptive HID headlights, heated-and-cooled front seats, Vista Roof, blind-spot monitoring and voice activated navigation.
Pricing is as follows:
- 3.7-liter engine, FWD, base: $39,185
- 3.7-liter engine, FWD, Equipment Group 101A: $42,475
- 3.7-liter engine, FWD, Equipment Group Reserve 102A: $46,240
- 2.7-liter engine, FWD, base: $41,185
- 2.7-liter engine, FWD, Equipment Group 101A: $44,475
- 2.7-liter engine, FWD, Equipment Group Reserve 102A: $48,240
- 3.7-liter engine, AWD, base: $41,680
- 3.7-liter engine, AWD, Equipment Group 101A: $44,970
- 3.7-liter engine, AWD, Equipment Group Reserve 102A: $48,735
- 2.7-liter engine, AWD, base: $43,680
- 2.7-liter engine, AWD, Equipment Group 101A: $46,970
- 2.7-liter engine, AWD, Equipment Group Reserve 102A: $50,735
If you want to get really fancy, you could start out with the Black Label MKX, which comes standard with the approach detection Lincoln welcome matt, hands-free lift gate, adaptive LED headlights, Vista Roof and Revel II Audio. You select a "theme" for your vehicle with pithy names like "The Muse" or "Indulgence" and then you can select your drivetrain, color combinations and technology features.
Plus Black Label vehicles give you membership privilegeswith extended premium maintenance, complimentary car washes and access to the Culinary Collection. Base price for a Black Label MKX is $54,400.
The test vehicle went all-in with the 2.7-liter engine, all-wheel drive, the Equipment Group Reserve 102A and pretty much every other option you could get, topping out at $61,125.
Safety
The MKX has all the standard safety features you've come to expect on vehicles today including front airbags, side head airbags, side-curtain airbags, electronic stability control, traction control and antilock brakes.
MKX also has a slew of high-tech safety features available including adaptive cruise control, lane-keep alert, lane-keep assist, a driver alert system and a pre-collision assist system with pedestrian detection. To get the Driver's Assistance Package ($1,650), you must equip the vehicle with the Equipment Group Reserve 102A, which means you're spending at least $48,485
The good news is that even without all the safety extras, the NHTSA considers the MKX to be a pretty safe vehicle, giving it an overall 5-Star safety rating.
Preliminary IIHS ratings seem to agree, though testing doesn't look complete for the 2016 model. It gets "Good" ratings in both moderate overlap front and side crash tests, but small front overlap, roof strength and head restraints and seats have yet to be tested.
Not sure what the safety ratings mean? We break it down for you here.
New for 2016
Since MKX is all-new for 2016, design, technology and interior appointments have all been revised. Some highlights for this new model include available features such as pre-collision assist with pedestrian detection (a Lincoln first), a new 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6 engine and an exclusive Revel audio system.
A few of my favorite things
My hands-down favorite feature in the MKX was the 22-way adjustable driver's seat. In addition to being able to contour the bolsters to fit my thin frame, the seat massagers made my drive incredibly soothing. Whether I had just finished a tough workout or I was stuck in stop-and-go traffic, the heated massaging seats made everything better.
Since I live in a winter weather clime, I've been playing around with the remote start on test vehicles the past few months, and I really liked the way it operates off the fob in the MKX. In addition to having a decent reach, the fob itself has a light on it to indicate whether your remote start was successful, or you need to try again.
My other favorite feature is the available 360-degree camera. This is great for tight urban spaces, but it's also just a nice feature to have in any situation - kind of like having an extra set of eyes that can see further and wider than your own eyes can.
What I can leave
In many ways, my biggest complaint with the test vehicle surrounded the difficult cup holders. They were in an awkward location, and the size was not conducive to easy retrieval of a larger water bottle.
The second "leave it" belongs to my husband. Though I loved the 22-way adjustable front seats, he did not. He is twice my size and said that he felt like he couldn't get the bolsters wide enough to allow for a comfortable seating position. So make sure all the drivers try this feature before you invest nearly $9K to get them.
Last, I feel obligated to point out that the reason I didn't fully test the 360-degree camera in the test vehicle is that it was a bit glitchy. The front camera occasionally did not turn on and gave me a blue box on the monitor where there should have been a camera view. At the time of writing this review, I didn't have confirmation from Lincoln regarding the issue, but my guess is that there's a loose wire that would be easy to fix.
The bottom line
I really liked the Lincoln MKX, and I think it stacks up pretty well against the likes of the Acura MDX ($43,955), Audi Q5 ($40,900) and Lexus RX ($42,850) in terms of available features and interior appointments. The ride and handling are more luxurious than sporty, and there are a lot of available tech features that you just can't get on the other SUVs in this segment.
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