A road warrior, yes, but it’s still a station wagon
IT IS a station wagon in reality. Lincoln’s marketers call it a “sport-utility vehicle”. You can get it in front-wheel or all-wheel-drive. In either, it has loads of utility and luxury. But I drove the 2016 Lincoln MKX Premium all over Northern and central Virginia for a week – interstates and back roads – with the new turbocharged 2.7-litre petrol V-6 (335 horsepower, 380 pound-feet of torque). It is a terrific road warrior.
But it is a station wagon by any other name or description.
That is not a bad thing. It is a good station wagon, despite attempts by Lincoln’s marketers to pass it off as a “sportutility vehicle”, especially when it’s sold with all-wheeldrive. Don’t fall for that. It will get you through most inclement weather, including heavy snow. But off-road? Forget it. It is a station wagon, easily beaten up by declining roads.
In fairness, I drove the frontwheel-drive version, which almost accurately delivers 17 mpg in the city and 26 miles per gallon on the highway with the new 2.7-litre V-6 option and when lightly loaded and adhering to speed limits. Still, I was surprised – shocked, might be a better word.
Many of the roads in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley are falling into disrepair.
That means lots of pot holes, bumps and other irregularities. In the front-wheel-drive MKX, I felt every bump, every pot hole – that, in a long-wheelbase vehicle (9 feet, 4.2 inches) with optional 20-inch wheels and an independent suspension.
I thanked the heavens that it had an ebony premium leather and wonderfully tufted interior – a mixture of old-school Detroit and modern technology.
The interior electronics seemed reasonably workable. There is a Sync with MyLincoln Touch system that, with all available apps and options, helps you stay in touch with the outside world and control the MKX’s functions. An embedded modem facilitates smartphone operation. Onboard navigation works well, even in the depths of the Shenandoah Valley. And there was welcome advanced elec- tronic safety systems such as lane-departure warning, rear cross-traffic alert and blindside monitoring.
It was loaded. Yet, I was left with the overwhelming feeling that the good folks at Lincoln were trying to pass off a station wagon as something else.
There was definitely something quite old-fashioned about it, even with all of its modern electronics.
Hmm. When did this happen? When did we in America start looking down on station wagons? We still have large families. We still haul lots of stuff. We still want to pack in everybody and everything. We still need station wagons.
Call it what you will. Equip it how you might, and, goodness knows, you can spend the rest of your life choosing options for the MKX.