2011 Lincoln Navigator Review

The 2011 Lincoln Navigator.

Want a big, full-lux SUV and insist on buying American? Your ride is ready.

It helps to be a bit of a traditionalist, as well, since the 2011 Lincoln Navigator is year five of the Gen 3 Navigator (and 2012's changes are minimal, so it's going into year six).  But familiarity can breed contentment...and the Navigator is like an old friend.

The downturn of the economy and upturn in gas prices has driven the amateurs out of the fullsize and luxury SUV market. It's back to the people who really want, need and appreciate them. And as a former pre-soccer mom era Suburban owner, I can tell you, the 2011 Navigator is a sweet ride.

Side view of the 2011 Lincoln Navigator L

As with the now-discontinued Lincoln Town Car,  Ford hasn't been peppering the press fleets with Navigators, so we borrowed one from Fiesta Lincoln in Mesa, Arizona for a week. They put us not just in a Navigator, but the extended-length Navigator L...three rows of seats and room for a bunch of cargo, luggage, groceries, you name it, in the back.

Frankly, the Navigator looks better as the Navigator L. It's a tall beast and the 14.9 inches of extra length makes it look less blocky. And it may be me, but I think it rides considerably better in L form as well.

Our tester was also a 4X4 model, so the starting price was $62,695. For that, you get a 5.4 liter, 310 horsepower V8 with a six-speed automatic transmission, power liftgate, power folding, heated memory outside mirrors, power running boards, HID headlamps, SYNC, THX audio, heated and cooled front seats, heated 2nd row seats and power fold-flat 3rd row seats.

There's also dual-zone climate control, rear auxilary climate control, voice-activated navigation (hey, a Navigator should have nav standard), 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS, forward and reverse sensing system, rain-sensing wipers, power adjustable pedals (a great thing for families whose drivers are of different heights and leg lengths. I'm 6'0". Mrs. TireKicker is 5'1".) a trailer towing package, a full complement of airbacks, Advance Trac with RSC and the Securilock anti-theft system.

The 2011 Lincoln Navigator interior.

Inside, it's leather and wood as far as the eye can see (and the interior is so spacious "as far as the eye can see" is really an issue here).  In the Navigator, standard is loaded...and yet, this one was loaded just a bit more. From the options list came Rapid Spec 101A, the monochrome limited edition package, turning a lot of normally chrome bits the body color (White Platinum Metallic Tri-Coat) and adding a power moonroof for $1,645.

That White Platinum Metallic Tri-Coat was extra cost, as well...$595.  An upgrade to 20 inch polished aluminum wheels cost $1,310, and all-weather floor mats were $75. $925 for destination and delivery brings the grand total to $66,320. Given that you can load a half-ton Chevy Suburban to $65,000 and change and cracking $70K in luxury SUVs isn't difficult, that's a very good value. Just be prepared at the pump...the EPA says the Navigator L 4X4 should get 13 miles per gallon in the city, 18 on the highway. Your mileage may vary. Ours did. In a 60/40 city street/urban freeway mix, we managed 12.6 mpg.

Still, it's a nice machine with tons of presence and a lot of usefulness. Lincoln's likely to either completely re-do or do away with the Navigator after 2012. If this is for you, I'd act now.

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2011 Lincoln MKS Review

The 2011 Lincoln MKS.

Stock shots from car manufacturers are usually well lit, nicely shot and extremely flattering. At a minimum, they're in focus. Rarely do they tell a story. But the one above does. This year, after two seasons running behind the big dog Lincoln Town Car, the Lincoln MKS has a new role. It's the company's flagship. The road ahead is wide open. It's up to the MKS to conquer the drivers along the way. And having recently done a farewell review for the Town Car, I thought it was time to re-visit the MKS, so we borrowed one from Fiesta Lincoln in Mesa, Arizona.

As I wrote three years ago, I initally underestimated the MKS when I saw it on a stand at a 2007 auto show. And then I drove it.

The 2011 Lincoln MKS instrument panel.

Lincoln got the MKS very, very right. There's an elegance to the cockpit that impresses at first encounter and then slowly reveals deeper and deeper layers as you spend more time at the wheel.

And unlike other manufacturers, Lincoln has found a way to make technology a big part of the car's appeal without it being overbearing. SYNC is a brilliant interface for phone and portable music. Getting a Bluetooth connection on the first try is a given (it isn't with a lot of cars I drive)...ten seconds and done. And from that point on, it can all be handled by voice command. It's tech doing what tech should be doing....reducing driver distraction, not adding to it.

The standard THX audio system is terrific. The step up to 5.1 surround (600 watts and 16 speakers) is well worth the price of admission. 

Regular readers know I'm not a huge fan of factory in-dash nav systems. The MKS gives you a choice. There's a voice-activated navigation system with traffic, directions and information standard...and there's also an optional full satellite navigation system with an 8-inch full-color touch screen. It's the best I've seen so far, and it's bundled with Sirius satellite radio, Sirius traffic (showing current conditions on the nav map), and Sirius Travel Link with an introductory six-month subscription. Up-to-the-second weather, gas prices and gas station location, live sports scores, movie times and theatre locations are part of Travel Link.  I'd be renewing early.

Front view of the 2011 Lincoln MKS.

And then there's the tech that's involved in the actual driving. The MKS ranks with the Volvo S60 T6 as one of only two cars so far that I've driven where I actually trust the adaptive cruise control to maintain a safe following distance when there's a car in front of me and not throw up a false alarm and throw on the brakes when there's not.

And while you're enjoying seat time behind the wheel, your passengers will be happy, too...luxurious accomodations include a sunroof up front and a fixed-glass moonroof (both with powered shades) in the rear.

Starting price is $41,500. Our tester from Fiesta (we're now thisclose to rejected lyrics for Steve Miller's "Take The Money and Run") added Rapid Spec package 102A. That's the voice-activated nav system, the THX 5.1 surround sound system, a rear view camera, dual panel moonroof and wood door trim package ($4,500). It also had the adaptive cruise control mentioned above and paired with a collision warning system ($1,295) and beautiful White Platinum Metallic Tri-Coat paint ($595).

Bottom line, with $875 for destination and delivery: $48,765. That's less than $500 above the Town Car we tested last week. You trade room for six for room for five, you pick up one mile per gallon in the  EPA city mileage estimate and stay flat on the highway (17 city and 24 highway, which is very strong for a luxury sedan), and a world of current and cutting-edge technology simply not available on the Town Car opens up to you, both in standard equipment and on the option list.

The Town Car was deservedly a hero of the limousine and executive sedan fleet owners. The MKS isn't meant to replace it there (though I'd be interested in seeing a mild stretch of the MKS...an MKS-L...with five or six more inches of wheelbase). But as fond as we are of the Town Car, as a top-of-the-line Lincoln that you drive yourself, the MKS represents a massive leap forward, and Lincoln has been all too quiet about its virtues.

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2011 Lincoln Town Car Review

The 2011 Lincoln Town Car. The end of the line, the end of an era.

The end of the year clearance sales are on. 2011s are leaving the lot to make room for the 2012s.

Except for the Lincoln Town Car. When the last one is gone, that's it. There will be no more. It's been years since Ford bothered to put one in the press fleet in TireKicker's hometown, so we arranged with Fiesta Lincoln in Mesa, Arizona to drive one for a week.

The last Lincoln Town Car is a big deal because it's not just the end of a body style or a nameplate, but of a type of automobile. The Town Car is what American sedans were from World War II onward...big, comfortable, rear-wheel-drive, V8-powered machines that sat six adults in great comfort.

The 2011 Lincoln Town Car interior. You may have had smaller apartments.

See that armrest in the picture above? Fold it up, and you'll find a seat belt. There's no center console. The gear selector is sticking out of the steering column. 3 in the front, 3 in the back...and even given contemporary American bodily dimensions (within reason), nobody's crowded. There's 21 cubic feet of space in the trunk for all your things.

It's more comfortable than a large SUV, certainly has a better ride and arguably better handling, and it definitely gets better mileage (the EPA says 16 city/24 highway, and we saw 22.5 on a long stretch of urban freeway, with our weeklong city street/freeway mix never dropping below 19).

Our tester? Basic as it comes. The Signature model. $47,225. 4.6 liter single overhead cam flexible fuel V8, automatic transmission, halogen headlamps, heated power windows with memory, heated 8-way power front seats with lumbar, leather seating surfaces, leather and wood steering wheel with audio, cruise and climate controls, a dual-zone climate system, an AM/FM/6-CD changer premium audio system,  power adjustable pedals, rear park assist, four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, traction contol and a security alarm. All that packaged with a 4 year/50,000 mile bumper-to-bumper warranty, a 6 year/70,000 mile powertrain warranty and 24 hour roadside assistance.

Complete enough that ours had only one option...whitewall tires ($125). Yes, whitewall tires. You can still get them. And, apparently, reasonably.

All told, with $945 for destination and delivery charges, the Town Car rang in at $48,295. And you know what? We loved it. It's the ultimate road trip car (I rented dozens, if not hundreds over the years as a traveling TV news reporter), and it's perfectly fine in city traffic as well. There is, in fact, nothing wrong with it that couldn't be fixed with some cosmetic and convenience updates, and driving the Town Car, I kept coming up with arguments why it should be saved.

But the Town Car got stuck with the label of "old peoples' car", and in an acutely image-conscious society thus was doomed to declining sales as its owner base aged, gave up drivers' licenses and, well, began dying off. Demand stayed strong in the limousine and executive sedan market, where the combined virtues of room, relative economy and near-bulletproof reliability (300,000 to 400,000 miles is not uncommon for a Town Car) are highly prized.

The 2011 Lincoln Town Car. Off into the sunset.

Why don't civilian drivers who buy large (in some cases, huge) vehicles prize those qualities, too? Room for 6, more than respectable gas mileage, decent cargo space, epic safety ratings and legendary durability and reliability with a starting price under $50,000 would probably be a big draw...on paper..for a lot of buyers in their 40s and 50s.

Until you say the words "Lincoln Town Car".

So we walk away from something that works in favor of more stylish things that don't quite work as well. Our fault and our loss for that. There are a lot of people for whom a Lincoln Town Car would be just about perfect. If you have an open mind, Cars.com says there are 746 new Town Cars on dealer lots in the USA as I type this. That's 28 fewer than there were when I began writing this review a little less than an hour ago. 26.64 more hours like that and they're all gone.

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2011 Lincoln MKX Review

The 2011 Lincoln MKX sports the new Lincoln grille.

Creativity works wonders. What you see above is the 2011 Lincoln MKX.  Under the skin, it's pretty much a Ford Edge, but skin matters, even (maybe especially) when that skin is sheetmetal. For while the MKX and the Edge look a lot alike from the front wheels back when viewed from the side,  the current Lincoln grille...meant to evoke the original pre-War (as in WWII) Continental...makes a big, bold impression.

It's certainly more contemporary (who knew?) than the first MKX grille, meant to evoke a Continental 20 years more recent. Our review of that MKX was almost three years ago, so it was time for a refresher run, arranged through Fiesta Lincoln in Mesa, Arizona, who let us have a week in one.

Rear view of the 2011 Lincoln MKX.

The good news is that the MKX has improved in every possible way since our last test drive. $39,415 is the starting point for the front-wheel drive model (all-wheel drive begins at $41,265) and that includes a 3.7 liter Variable Cam Timing V6 that makes 305 horsepower with a six-speed SelectShift automatic transmission. And the six-speed results in great fuel economy for the weight and the power...an EPA estimate of 19 city/26 highway (as they say in the commercials, your mileage may vary...we only managed 17.6 in a 60/40 mix of city streets and urban freeways).

And, like so many vehicles, base price buys you a nicely loaded machine. In fact, ours had no options on it whatsoever. The standard equipment? 18-inch premium painted aluminum wheels, fog lamps, heated power windows with memory and security approach lamps, a power liftgate, dual exhausts with chrome tips, leather seats (10-way power adjustable, heated and cooled for the driver and front passenger), the MyLincolnTouch system with AM/FM/Sirius/CD/mp3/SYNC audio, tilt/telescope steering column, 4-wheel anti-lock disc brakes, remote keyless entry and start, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, reverse sensing system, a full compliment of airbags, anti-theft and tire pressure monitoring.

The 2011 Lincoln MKX interior.

The interior? Well, it looks and feels like a premium machine. The MKX has power and handling that puts it right in the hunt with segment leaders like the Lexus RX350. And Lincoln steps up with some attractive warranty and maintenance, too: 4 years/50,000 miles bumper to bumper, 6 years/70,000 miles powertrain and 4 years/50,000 miles complimentary scheduled maintenance.

The only thing that put the total MSRP over $40,000 was the $850 destination and delivery charge. Otherwise, the car began and ended at $39,415. A screaming deal in this class.

Yes, you can spend more. There's a Premium Package, an Elite Package, a Limited Edition Package, upgraded wheels, DVD systems, a trailer towing package, a wood package...you can break $50,000 without even checking the all-wheel-drive option. And if you do, you'll have all the bells and whistles.

But if you don't, if you just buy the base 2011 Lincoln MKX, you'll be getting a terrific luxury crossover for less than $40,000 (plus destination and delivery). And these days, that's gotta count for something.

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