Five-Point Inspection: 2013 Lincoln MKT

This week’s subject for AutoGuide’s Five-Point Inspection is the Lincoln MKT. It comes standard with a 3.7-liter V6, but our tester came equipped with Ford’s EcoBoost twin-turbo V6, which is EPA rated at 16 mpg city and 23 mpg highway. The base price is $45,285, while a fully loaded version can reach up to $50,780.

Read on to find out what is good and bad about the Lincoln MKT.

Navigation is a wonderful thing, when it works. And on the MKT it most certainly does not, thanks mostly to the MyLincoln Touch system.

Blindly following directions on the screen while on a weekend trip, the MyLincoln Touch system froze. We had to pull the car over and patiently wait for it to shut down and boot back up, having forgone a map in favor of the GPS. After waiting about five minutes, we hit the road again, only to have the system freeze a second time 15 minutes later.

Glitches aside, the rest of the system is no better. Replacing knobs with touch sensitive strips may look appealing, but it is much less intuitive than it should be and pulls your eyes from the road far too often. The entire system is not at the ‘premium’ level that the rest of the vehicle sits at.

The premium features on the inside of the MKT compliment the comfortable ride of the Lincoln Drive Control suspension. A heated steering wheel, and heated and cooled rear seats are available, all outfitted in soft-touch leather. Rear-power folding seats are easy to use, and tuck themselves away at the touch of a button offering lots of rear storage space. For those who are taking the MKT to an event, there is a tailgate mode that flips the rear seats over and allows you to sit facing out of the open tailgate. A large center console runs from between the two front seats to the two rear seats, offering easy to access storage, and even an optional refrigerator.

While the MKT’s information center shares a brain with the laggy center console, it actually functions well. There is a lot of information, but it’s colorful and easy to read.

Using two LCD screens on either side of the speedometer, you know what song is playing, and to make a right turn without taking your eyes from the road for more than a second. The LCD screens are also customizable, allowing you to have the information you want at hand at all times. A premium vehicle should offer the driver a large amount of information and feedback, and the information screens deliver anything you would need to know very well.

Steering wheel controls are also easy to use and simple to figure out. It seems there is a large disconnect between the frustratingly difficult center stack design and the easy-to-use dashboard information setup.