LA Show 2011 Highlights: 2013 Lincoln MKS


Call them revisions or call them fixes; either way, Lincoln has done a good amount of something to the 2013 MKS. This is not a remake, but instead a heavy refresh like those applied to several Ford and Lincoln products of late. (See 2011 Ford Edge/Lincoln MKZ and 2011 Ford Mustang.)

The hard part for the team making over the MKS had to be dealing with just that: hard points. In this platform’s evolution from Volvo S80 to Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego to current Taurus and MKS, it has underpinned a lot of big sedans and crossovers, few of them stylistic successes and none of them knockouts. It’s almost as if the MKS is only now exiting puberty—although its bones still don’t quite match its role in life. And so the awkwardly tight rear compartment, tallish cabin, and high beltline remain. With a structure like that, engineers and designers can do only so much.

And oh, that styling. We’ll let you form your own opinion, saying only that we think it’s better than it was. Everything forward of the A-pillars has been re-skinned. The new grille and hood lessen the buck-toothed look with wider upper intakes—filled with finer chrome slats that before—and smaller headlights. The hood now reaches deeper between the grilles and houses a smaller Lincoln badge. A new decklid, which is supposed to improve the car’s compromised trunk access, is flanked by Jaguar XJ–esque taillights. The 2013 MKS gets new 19- and 20-inch wheel designs. Again, they’re better, but we wouldn’t exactly call them pretty.

Inside, the biggest news is the installation of the latest MyLincoln Touch system, which places a pair of screens in the gauge cluster, a corresponding pair of directional pads with which to control them on the steering wheel, and a large touch screen in the dash. As in other MyLincolnTouch applications, knobs and buttons are replaced on the center stack by touch-sensitive nubs and sliders.

Optional multi-contour front seats use a host of air bladders to adjust to and massage the bodies in them, and a heated steering wheel is now optional. New interior wood choices (Prussian Burl and Brown Swirl Walnut) as well as new Bridge of Weir leather hues (Hazelnut and Light Dune) all sound like different ways to say brown.

Thanks to: Car and Driver

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