The attention that Lincoln paid to refining the aging Lincoln MKZ (née Zephyr) platform was immediately evident when I wheeled our silver test car out of the parking structure. There's a newfound sense of solidity and refinement to the car that should be apparent to anyone who's ever driven the previous models. To be sure, the MKZ is not yet on par with the Lexus ES350 or the Acura TL, but it is much closer to a luxury-car experience than before.
The 3.5-liter V-6 returns with the same horsepower and torque as before, but it goes about its business more quietly due to a bunch more sound-deadening materials around the engine compartment and some other quiet-tuning efforts on the part of the engineers. Again, it's not as silky, unworldly quiet as the Lexus V-6, but it's pretty good. I was more impressed by the leather seats, which are quite richly detailed. Our test car had steel gray leather with wide, cream-colored piping, and it was very, very nice - a welcome change from the overly plasticized, overly homogenous leather treatments we see everywhere these days.... Read full article