Lincoln Took the Labor Out of my Weekend

Labor day weekend I test-drove a Lincoln MKT, courtesy of the Ford Motor Company. Normally, when I think of a Lincoln, airport limos come to mind. I have a history w/Ford cars, so there is a bias there, but mostly it's toward "it's a car my mom & dad would own." I can certainly say my time w/the MKT changed my perception of Lincoln. And between my 5 day stint w/the MKT and my test drive w/the Taurus SHO I'm certainly rethinking my perception of Ford cars in general.

The timing of the test drive for the MKT was certainly gratuitous for us, considering my husband's accident. Having it coincide w/the holiday weekend was also a nice touch. We were basically down one car when they dropped the MKT off Thursday morning. I got to have a dual experience with it. Thursday and Friday, I put it thru the "soccer mom paces". That included a trip to Costco, carting kids to school, daycare, practices, etc... I also got to make a trip to urgent care and some other "special" mom type duties for good measure. (The reason this write up wasn't last week in fact.) We did make it to the beach, but just for a day. So we got the "road trip experience" to an extent as well.


This car is luxurious, elegant and sophisticated. Yes, I said that about a Lincoln. And not in a "my g'ma's car" kinda way. More in a Lexus kinda way. The perks were many and made us very happy. My favorite thing: the 3rd row seats. That may strike you as odd, w/all the perks like the cool GPS Nav system, the SYNC system w/my iphone (meaning I could talk on my phone or play my ipod music using steering wheel controls,) and the moon roof. Yeah it was those 3rd row seats. I could configure those seats w/the push of a button and the pull of a strap. For someone who has a very bad back and is constantly hauling kids and stuff, this was a HUGE thing for me. It was so easy! Pull a couple straps & my backseat is big enough for a full Costco run. Press a button, pull a strap (or two) and I'm carpooling the soccer team to practice. I think it was my favorite thing partly b/c it was so unexpected. I expected seat warmers (altho seat coolers, nice touch), and I know people w/the steering wheel controls/SYNC system as well as the cool GPS & navigation systems. While I have the room in my minivan for the Costco run, it's a minivan, and really it was no comparison. The MKT was so much nicer to do anything in.

Other perks that surprised me: the blind spot lights. A little light in the corner of my side mirrors to let me know someone was sitting in my blind. I used to have a small car that no one saw, so I kill myself trying to make sure no one is in my blind. Not a problem in this car. Someone's there, the light goes on. They move out of the blind, light goes off. Such a simple thing, but such a huge benefit.

In the past I would not have considered a car like the MKT. My husband & I argued about the minivan but agreed b/c of the roominess issue. The MKT addresses the 3rd row seat issue and adds in the luxury aspect. Having to go back to driving my minivan I think svtwinmom put it best, "Now I feel like Cinderella after the ball".

I ask my husband give me a quick paragraph on his thoughts. As a guy, his focus is a bit different from mine. Here's what DaddySpeak had to say:

I was excited to drive a new car with a 400hp rating. It definitely took off at a high rate of speed but the 4 wheel drive kept the wheels from spinning like most rear wheeled drive cars would. I think you could sip a drink at full acceleration with this car. Getting backed up in highway traffic and deciding to google maps our way around it I used the full acceleration to merge onto the off-ramp to another highway was no problem. Driving over notorious hwy 17 was very comfortable even in the tight turns with the fast traffic. Watching one lane slow down for no reason as happens on 17, the blind area alert allowed confident lane changes. The blind area is rather large in this car, so if I purchased, the sonar is a necessity. The backup camera was great for backing up in a neighborhood full of kids. Again backing up in this car with out the camera would be difficult.
There is less room then a minivan but has plenty of room and is a much more fun and confident ride.

Sadly, our insurance did not total my husband's car. (Although, they're replacing part of the frame, so it better be perfect or we won't accept it.) When we are in the market for another car the Lincoln MKT will be on our short list. It made a busy, crazy weekend much more fun and comfortable. Imagine what it could do if we had it all the time?