2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid: The First Car That'll Let You Live Longer

It's a brand that's been patronized by everyone from Frank Sinatra to John Fitzgerald Kennedy to Elvis Presley, and yet it has suffered monumental struggles in its attempts to remain relevant: Lincoln. And you know what? It's deserved every last minute of the time it's spent with its head on the Blue Oval chopping block. Why? Because for a brand that's produced some of America's finest automobiles, it sure did churn out some crappy cars... until recently. Very recently.

In fact, the older-than-dirt Town Car is probably still warm, having only found it's place upon a slab in the automotive morgue earlier this year. But with cars like this MKZ Hybrid fresh from FoMoCo's luxury platter, you can be forgiven for not caring about the Town Car's passing. In fact, I'd be surprised if anyone this side of a chauffeur's hat even noticed. And for good reason: the Town Car embodied everything that was wrong with Lincoln's way of thinking. It was big, bloated, flatfooted, and otherwise utterly decrepit. In other words, everything the MKZ Hybrid isn't. 

And that much is apparent from the outset. With a relatively small footprint, the MKZ in no way channels the  whale-like proportions of the Lincolns of old. In fact, I'd wager that it may be the smallest Lincoln ever produced, but don't cite me on that. Anyway, although the MKZ may not be the newest car in the Lincoln showroom, it's recent redesign does a Betty White-calibre job of hiding the car's age. With the same waterfall grillwork that debuted on the properly large MKS and similar headlights, only the old Zephyr's slightly angular flanks and squared-off trunk remain to give away the MKZ's underpinnings. 

But if the old Zephyr's bodywork was ready to be replaced, I must admit that it isn't without some regret that I found myself opening the MKZ Hybrid's door to reveal an equally new interior design. Don't get me wrong, the MKZ's criss-crossed dashboard and centre stack layout is far from displeasing, but it lacks the uniquely American quality of the old Zephyr's double bubble layout. On the plus side, the new interior's modern styling also reflects the many years' worth of ergonomics and assembly advances that have been made since the Zephyr's debut. Indeed, feeling both much easier to navigate, and much better put-together, it's an interior that I personally find to be equal to pretty much any other entry-level luxury sedan on the market, many of which command price tags that are many thousands of dollars higher. I quite like the very classic chrome highlights found throughout the interior, and although the flat grey trim found adorning the centre console may be incredibly well textured, I would probably pop for the optional burled walnut trim, as it really cranks the class factor up to 11. 

Speaking of cranking things up, I found the various controls and feedback systems within the MKZ to especially deserving of mention. First off, all the buttons and switches are positively first rate, and look even better than they feel. And then there's the Hybrid system's LCD readout on the dashboard. The first hybrid with a power gauge that overlays your current power demand over the available battery power, this allows the driver to metre the power precisely and keep the engine's intervention to a minimum. That being said, keeping my eyes glued to the gauge actually proved a bit counterproductive, as it precluded looking far enough down the road to drive in the smoothest manner possible. As a result, I found my own fuel economy improved when I started ignoring the gauge and simply drove in the most conservative manner I could. 

Which is pretty easy to do in a car that's as plush as this. It's quite apparent that Ford is perfectly content to let Cadillac go around chasing sport sedans around the Nurburgring; Lincoln's going to stay true to its American roots by providing buyers with luxurious cars that put comfort and isolation ahead of performance and handling. But, that said, the MKZ still stands head and shoulders above the Lincolns of yore in the field of NVH. From the driver's seat, inputs of all sorts seem to be run through some sort of anti-disturbance filter before their results are delivered, rendering a car that admittedly feels a half-step behind the pace, but ridiculously smooth. And it's not really that much of a slough either; although the 2.5L Atkinson-cycle engine may look a little lean on the specifications sheet, the combination of that little engine and the powerful battery pack provides a surprising surge of accelerative power when required. In fact,  as ridiculous as this may sound, the little Lincoln's acceleration at full throttle has enough head to it that one would mistaken for thinking that the car was equipped with a turbocharger; such is the way the power and speed builds. But, as impressive as it is, there's simply no getting around the Lincoln's armchair-like qualities: this is no road rocket. 

But, to be honest, I find it to be all the better as a result. I believe I've mentioned that due to my particular area of residence, my daily driving chores vary from highway-borne cruise controlling to stop-and-go traffic, with little in between. Consequently,  the high strung Cadillac CTS', BMWs, and Audis can prove less than hospitable, plummeting over slow speed bumps, frying your feet with heat, and punching you in the neck with transmissions intended to run themselves out on the autobahn, not the George Massey tunnel approach/parking lot. This makes the In the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid a real breath of fresh air in the world I inhabit. Even in standard trim, the MKZ's propensity for smoothness and undisturbed calm really makes the chore of commuter a pleasure; replacing aggravation and agitation with a state of zen-like peace. Instead of white-knuckling your way through traffic, going hell-bent for leather against a steady stream of frustratingly bad drivers like a salmon swimming upstream, the MKZ's isolation chamber-quite cabin and well damped ride instead had me waving other drivers ahead and doing all those other defensive driving things that the commuter's red mist so often supersedes. And it wasn't just for a day or two, it was without fail. In fact, with each passing day, I found my driving habits improved and my blood pressure lower than it had been the day before. And even better yet, my more gracious driving style didn't just extend my life span, it also helped the Lincoln make the most of its battery pack to the point that I was falling within less than a litre per hundred kilometre of Prius fuel mileage. So not only will the MKZ hybrid help you live longer, it'll also do its damndest to ensure that your new, longer life isn't spent slaving away at the office to pay for today's exorbitant fuel prices. And what other car does that!?