Up Close: 2010 Lincoln MKZ
The new MKZ makes larger leaps on the inside than its Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan siblings did, in part because the previous Zephyr/MKZ had, to put it charitably, a pretty lackluster cabin. Gone are the shaded plastic buttons, boxy shapes and grainy dash materials. Now the cabin resembles the MKS’, complete with a first-rate navigation system and cleverly stacked wood and aluminum trim.
The show car had Lincoln’s Bridge of Weir leather. It’s rich and inviting, but not dramatically better than the cowhide in a Lexus ES or Cadillac CTS. As long as we’re comparing cars, Lincoln’s center controls aren’t terribly attractive; they’re too small in an arbitrary sort of way, as there seems to be plenty of real estate for them to spread out a bit.
I’d like to see Lincoln do a bit more with the car’s rear styling. The front looks like the MKS — opine on that as you will — but the rear perpetuates the outgoing car’s robotic look. I find the MKS’ rear quite attractive, actually, so it’s a shame Lincoln didn’t translate some of that look to the smaller canvas here. More photos below.
