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2007 Lincoln MKX Review

Less than the sum of its parts

AS
by Autobytel Staff
May 11, 2007
9 min. Reading Time
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Lincoln MKX – 2007 Review: Lincoln says that the 2007 MKX is set to do battle against the Lexus RX 350 and other luxury crossovers, but after a week driving this new crossover, it’s obvious that it wields a penknife against a group of sharpshooters. On paper MKX has the goods. There’s a powerful V6 engine with a six-speed automatic, all-wheel drive of course, a nicely appointed interior and exterior styling that is probably the best looking of any current Lincoln. Yet the devil is in the details, and the poor execution of how all these features are put together hobble what could have been a compelling choice in the upscale crossover market.

What We Drove

Our test vehicle was a loaded 2007 Lincoln MKX. Its $36,445 base price includes a $675 destination charge, and buys you a 3.5-liter V6 engine and six-speed automatic transmission, stability control, dual-zone air conditioning and leather seating. The $4,795 Elite package added the huge Panoramic Vista sunroof, and a DVD navigation system that includes THX-II audio and Sirius satellite radio. The $1,995 Ultimate package tacked on heated and cooled front seats, auto-dimming side mirrors, a reverse sensing system and 18-inch chrome wheels. Individual options included a $295 Class-II towing package, a $65 cargo management system, $295 heated rear seats and $495 white chocolate paint, for a total of $44,385.

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Performance

The 3.5-liter V6 engine puts out 265 horsepower and 250 lb.-ft. of torque. Floor the throttle and the six-speed automatic makes the best of the power for lively acceleration, despite the MKX’s 4420-lb. curb weight. The engine is on the loud side, with a sound that is several notches below this vehicle’s $44,000 asking price. The transmission’s six gears mesh well with the engine’s powerband, but there is no manual shift function, just an anachronistic overdrive on/off switch. It also takes its own sweet time downshifting, occasionally getting so confused in a power-on, power-off, power-on situation that it rolled in neutral for a second or so while the drivetrain computer decided what gear it should be in.

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Handling

The MKX is a Lincoln, and any pretense of sporty handling is off the table. What’s surprising is that the ride is merely OK, given the amount of squat, dive and roll under acceleration, braking and cornering, respectively. Ask the MKX to take a quick corner, and you get nothing but howling tires and a nervous stability control system cutting off the throttle and activating various brakes; shutting it off results in early understeer. Off road, the softness of the suspension smoothed out uneven surfaces, but bottomed out even at be-careful speeds on the slightly rougher sections of our light-duty trail. Put short, the MKX is an unsatisfying drive on any road that isn’t smooth, flat and straight.

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Visibility

From everywhere but the rear, visibility in the MKX is good. The front offers a commanding view, with a short hood and steeply raked windshield. The side mirrors are large, and the B and C pillars are thin enough that looking past them poses no problems. The rear seat headrests are intrusive if you’re looking directly behind you, and the rearmost pillars are ridiculously thick. Backup sensors aid reversing, but despite the navigation screen in the dash, a rear-view camera isn’t even offered, despite virtually every one of its competitors having one, which inexplicably includes Ford’s own Mazda subsidiary.

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Fun to Drive

The MKX isn’t a chore to drive, but neither is it very fun. It’s basically a forgettable vehicle from behind the wheel, unfortunate considering its competition includes dynamic rides like the Acura MDX and Cadillac SRX. The acceleration is good, but flawed by noise and an indecisive automatic. The ride is adequate, but passengers – and maybe even the driver – can get seasick from the pitching and rolling; forget about tackling a winding country road. It’s shocking to us that the MKX loosely shares the same platform as the Mazda CX-7 and CX-9, both of which are about as different from this Lincoln as can be. Enthusiasts should shop elsewhere.

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Front Comfort

Comfort is king in the MKX, and here Lincoln got it right. The front seats offer good support for long stints behind the wheel, as long as those stints are mostly in a straight line and won’t call on the weak side bolstering. The steering wheel adjusts manually for angle and reach, and the driving position is quite good. There are padded armrests on the doors and center console, and the door tops are also thickly padded, although the old-school lock plunger was exactly where we wanted to put our elbows. Also, our taller staffers found their right knees bruising against a poorly fitted seam on the center console.

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Rear Comfort

Lincoln’s justification for not making the MKX a three-row seven seater was that it allowed them to offer a generous back seat. This pays off in reality, as there is ample leg, head and shoulder room in the MKX, as long as the driver isn’t too tall. Our test vehicle also boasted optional heated rear seats, a nice touch. An armrest folds down in the middle, complete with cupholders, but their poor placement means you either use the cupholder or use the armrest; you can’t do both. The center position is uncomfortable, but the outboard positions are very good. The seatbacks recline, and the cushion is high enough off the floor and long enough that even tall riders won’t complain.

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Interior Noise

Around town the MKX is a quiet companion, with engine noises reduced to a whisper at cruise, tire noise low and outside traffic wooshes kept to a minimum. Get on the freeway and things get louder, with wind noise around the outside mirrors, noticeable tire noise and an engine drone that appears above about 65 mph. We were also annoyed by two rattles in our test car, one from the rear hatch and another from the driver’s door, which creaked over any kind of bump, steep driveway or any other chassis-related stress.

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Loading Cargo

The two-row nature of the MKX means that there is plenty of cargo room under the power hatch, 31.8 cu. ft. to be exact. Two presses of the keyfob button open the hatch and another closes it; there are also buttons on the dash and in the cargo area. Liftover is low and the cargo opening is large. Power fold downs for the second row seatbacks open up the load area to a cavernous 68.7 cu. ft., but you have to manually put the seats back up when you’re done; the power controls are one-way only.

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Build Quality

This is the third Lincoln we’ve had in our offices in the past couple of months, and the third with substandard build quality. Gaps on the outside were either large, inconsistent, or both. The front bumper cover didn’t mate properly with the front fenders, and was also a slightly different color. Interior misfits were too numerous to mention, but the more egregious examples were the transition from the dash pad to the center console, the uneven gap between the door and the dash, an unfinished edge on the poorly fitted headliner, and the large spaces around the navigation screen and other center stack buttons. This is inexcusable for this price category, and something Lincoln must improve to be taken seriously.

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