Drew Dowdell

Actually, no, everyone does not do it... At least not for on road evaluation drives which is what this car appears to be. When a manufacturer does do it, they often get caught. Furthermore, if this was meant for a track evaluation, why would Lincoln use a car *without* the sports suspension tuning?

No Turbo 3.0 in that. The 3.6 is excellent, but no way it will stand up to the power of the 3.0tt. Though, GM does have a 3.0tt in house that could fit.

Better sound deadening... better leathers... better carpet. It does start to add up. As for the $18k, it all depends on where you're coming from. If Lincoln wants to coax peoples' ES350s out of their cold dead hands, then they need the interior materials do to it. Though I find the interior of the ES so bad these days that even a Fusion Platinum could do it if those same people would get over the badge.

Mags generally test Mustangs and Camaros in every available powertrain configuration. While most people do opt of the lesser models... there is a point to reviews of the ZL-1 and GT350 reviews even though only a small percentage of either will be sold. When you buy a ZL-1 or GT350, you're buying more than just a set of wheels and tires... there are a whole host of upgrades that come with it. Furthermore, journalists know they are testing some high performance machine. As for this MKZ, sure it's got 19s on it, but unless you make a habit of noting the sidewall before you get in and drive, there is no reason to expect the car to be any different than what you'll find on a typical dealer's lot. In this case with the MKZ, Lincoln supplied a car in a configuration that virtually no one will buy and attempted to pass it off as normal. Furthermore, the build sticker on the door jam indicated that the car was originally configured with 18s but whoever manages their press fleet decided to swap out the wheels. When you select the high performance tires though, the suspension gets recalibrated to handle it. This test car didn't have the recalibration...meaning that technically, no, you can't buy this configuration from Lincoln without someone pulling a switcharoo at the dealership. And yet... even configured properly, it is highly unlikely that you will find one of these MKZs at a Lincoln dealership. Lincoln is only building about 300 of these cars per year with this tire package. There are about 325 Lincoln dealerships, so less than one per dealer per year with these tires.

The $18k is primarily in the interior materials. The Fusion sport doesn't feel all that different from a regular old base fusion on the inside. If your only goal is speed, then go with the Fusion Sport... but if you actually want some luxury materials in your over $33k car, then go with the MKZ.

Because as journalists, our job is to report our findings on cars as people would actually use them. It's precisely why I got into this business. I would see stupid comparisons of Lincoln Continentals and BMW 5-series in slalom runs... as if 1) Any Lincoln buyer 15 years ago cared about slalom times and 2) Any 5-series buyer was cross shopping a Continental. Years ago I got mad at Cadillac for sending me an SRX in a configuration that had already been canceled... what's the point of writing a review on a product that people were no longer going to be able to buy? In the case of this MKZ, what's the point of writing a review (except perhaps as a sidebar) of a vehicle that virtually no one will buy?

Remember when they rated the Hummer poor because people complained about fuel economy? I'm not saying that Hummers were bastions of reliability... but come on... to rate a Hummer poor based on fuel economy is to miss the point entirely.

Talk about cars not people.

On the tire thing. This is what I was referencing. Edmunds accused Ford of a "ringer" in 2012 by putting .... wait for it.... Michelin Pilot Super Sports on an MKZ for the Press Fleet... an addition that allowed the MKZ to beat an M5 through the slalom. However, while it is correct that the MKZ is technically available with them, less than 1% of MKZs came so equipped. So rather than give a realistic view of the car, Lincoln hands the press a Ringer that isn't one based on a technicality. Based on that percentage... it means about 300 MKZs out of the ~34k sold per year are equipped with these tires. So really, the review should have the disclaimer "Results not typical".

Fine, I stand corrected on that irrelevant point. See how easy that is? Do you still try to maintain that Ford got and needed no help?

No... saying that Ford did it on it's own is ignoring evidence to the contrary. I'm not concerned with how many cars Honda sold in C4C... only that Ford got a huge boost from selling 90,000 cars, which is diametrically opposed to "weathered the financial crash on their own". As is the thousands of Focii and Fusions that Uncle Sam bought at basically full price not the same as "Ford got through on their own". Ford weathered the storm because they were actually in enough financial trouble before the meltdown that they mortgaged everything up to and including the name on the door. Not the same as "doing it on their own". Just admit that Ford did require some help and we have no argument here. Irrelevant to my point.

There are three people who are ruining this site for everyone.... making it miserable for even me to visit..... For years I've had a policy of not banning people unless they built up a certain amount of warning points. I am rethinking that policy now.

The government screwed the American tax payer by deciding to sell GM stock when they did. Ford benefited hugely by selling cars to the government that they couldn't sell to the public for MSRP. When is the last time someone paid sticker price for a Focus? Oh... sometime in 2008 and his name was Uncle Sam and he bought many thousands of them. A bailout by any other name is still a bad deal on a Focus. Also... 90,000 Fords were purchased under Cash for Clunkers... second only to Toyota. Sure helps to move cars when Uncle Sam is paying for your incentive program.

Again... that is exactly my point. I'm not saying that there isn't a cost increase to do multiple variations of trucks.... I'm saying that the big three all have roughly the same number of variations. Where GM has to stamp 2 extra fenders, Ford has multiple different bumper setups and actually a greater number of grilles than GM. On the GM's, the interiors are identical with only the trim material (not the trim shape) being different. So even with all of the variants available from all of the above, in GM's case... there is just an extra badge in the mix that sells at a premium.

Ford didn't survive on their own dime. I thought we put that fallacy to bed.

This isn't the first time Lincoln got caught putting ringer tires on a car that you can't order that way....

Because the body panels are largely identical except for a tiny big of metal at the bottom of the headlights. It's two fenders and a hood. The interiors are absolutely identical except for the airbag cover. The trim pieces may be a different material, but that's no different than different materials of the same shape offered on various grades of F-series. Again, no advantage to Ford here. GMC will gladly print extra Denali airbag covers for the average $4,500 markup they get for the effort.

And the reason the 250/2500s are in there is because that's the way Ford counts them. They count F-150/250/350 all as a single model. Then @FordCosworth goes around comparing it to just the Silverado to suit his purpose of trying to elevate Ford.

Actually, the clips and everything are in the same places. You can take the front end off of a Sierra and graft it onto a Silverado and fastener wise, everything will line up. As I mentioned, GMC gets its two sets of bumpers and headlights, Chevrolet gets its own sets... the puzzle pieces for each set fit together. With the number of other permutations being largely the same, Ford spends more on grilles and bumpers while GM spends more on front fenders... The tail light shape and tailgates on both of the GMs are identical. The front fenders are so close that anyone with a grinder could modify a GMC fender into a Chevrolet fender (but not vice versa unless you're good at adding sheet metal.) The exact same modifications that go into making a Raptor front clip. So again... it is a falsehood... a mistake... erroneous... to imply that Ford has some massive engineering and profit advantage here by keeping their trucks in a single brand. Boo..well that's why I couldn't find one then... I was only looking at 2017s... So they're clearing out old stock at the end of a model year.... no news here....

Indeed... I could see myself in a King Ranch... but that's what my mom drives and I'm not sure I want to go that way.

Indeed it does take money to do different headlights, tail lights, hood, and interiors... different grilles, some with light pipes in the headlight, some without... By my count on Ford.com, Ford has at least 12 different grilles, 6 different front bumpers, and at least 5 different headlight cluster assemblies for the 150/250. Ram has 5 grilles, 4 bumpers, and 3 headlight assemblies. GM has 4 headlight clusters (Silverado 1500, Silverado 2500, Sierra 1500, Sierra 2500), 9 grilles, and 4 front bumpers (two each for 1500 and 2500) with various coatings. The interiors of the GM trucks are so identical... I can't even spot any difference beyond the airbag cover on the wheel... there might be some material composition differences, but those are paid for by the more expensive prices on the GMC anyway just like paying for 2-tone paint and fancy leather on a King Ranch is more expensive. So let's not try and pretend that there is some vast cost advantage in the engineering department that Ford has over GM by sticking all of the trucks in a single brand. It's literally an extra airbag cover and tailgate badge that GM has to do where Ford doesn't. And yet GM actually has fewer choices in "look" than Ford.

I've never thought that Subaru had the legendary reliability that Honda and Toyota had (as I said.. a legend), I always felt that people just put up with them because they loved Subarus. A neighbor of mind went through 3 of them (two Forresters and a Legacy) before finally giving up and getting a Mazda 3 (which she promptly totaled)

You know as well as anyone that there is a difference between badge engineering and platform engineering. The difference between a Silverado and Sierra is just about the same difference between an F-150 XLT and a King Ranch, or a Lariat 3.5 EB and a Raptor.

@FordCosworth why do you yet again insist on comparing just Silverado to the entire Ford for Ram lineup? Silverado/Sierra are within a few thousand units of Ford in the 1/2 Ton 3/4 ton segment. You'd pitch a fit if we counted all Ford trucks except the Platinums, King Ranches, and Raptors. That is essentially what you're trying to do. That said, I saw this article pop up on my news feed yesterday and went out hunting for such a deal. I had a really hard time finding a truck in my local inventory that had the full $11k in incentives. In fact, I found none at my local dealers even though the website clearly was promoting the $11k incentive. So... that begs the question... how much of the $11k is smoke and mirrors to get people in the door and then turn them on to some other truck with lower incentives. I was actually pretty disappointed I couldn't find one... my Honda is back at the mechanic again after only a week since the last trip, I really need to get out of that car.

Quite honestly, I'd stick with the S90 or go with the CT6.