RoboKD

I feel for you, I got rid of the car last week. I've had many Ford vehicles and this was my first Lincoln. Pretty sure it's my last of both. Couldn't stand to hear that tinny, poorly setup system any longer. My new car is playing the same USB drive that I had in the MKZ and it is amazing!I My long commutes are happy once again. That alone wasn't the reason for only keeping (dating) this car for two months. Some others are: Poor trunk design, if it's raining, prepare for water rolling over the sides into the trunk. I had to reprint some documents due to this one day. Bending over to hit the trunk release is also horrid. If you have a backpack hanging of one shoulder and the other hand full, prepare for it to take a ride. What's the point of keyless everything if you still need to fish the keys out of your pocket? Sunshade on the sunroof (small one) seemed to always work it's way partially open, nothing held it close. Could have just been mine. Couldn't easily change temp without looking down, even worse with gloves on. No feel on the buttons. I know I could have done it from the wheel, but too many clicks to get there. I had the hybrid, during my test drives the gas engine was ok on noise levels. After a month I hated the drone of it when it would kick in, which was often. Operating the heated seat from the touchscreen would frequently end up with the cool being turned on first, the buttons are too far away from the driver on the home screen and too close together. I program HMI's, adding a little space goes a long way for the operator. I know the climate screen is laid out differently, but again, too many button clicks. The push button trans, while allowing for a more open cockpit, was frustrating. I would frequently get yelled at for the car not being in park because I hit the off button too quick. They are right next to each other..... Glove box was tiny, I admit I never checked in before hand, just didn't think such a large vehicle would have such a small one. There's probably more I could complain about, I honestly really liked it on my two test drives, one being over an hour. I hated it after a month. Buying cars is like dating I guess..... LOL I was fortunate that I could walk away from it with no real loss. I did the VW TDI buyback and used a good portion of that to put on the Lincoln, I was able to walk away from it with some VW cash still and got a 2017 Passat. I guess I'm a VW guy now. LOL. About the only thing I miss about the MKZ is that the key fob would tell you if the car remote started. Not that big of a deal. If you can get some decent bass in the car I think you'll be happier. When I disconnected the rear door tweeters and set the fade more rearward, sound improved overall. I reconnected them before turning it in and it was back to misery. I had though of running an amp off of the rear channel and putting it right back into the subs and boosting the gain. 6x9 subs are not easy to find, but I thought that would shore up the weak lows.

yeah, I don't agree with that personally. HD Radio sounds tinny and mushy coming from the factory speakers. Swapping those was an instant improvement. That would tell me the sound processor is good but the speakers suck. I feel that this system was designed in a lab and those results were what Ford was going for. I personally feel that a "good" system should be able to take decent quality mp3's and make them sound better, and play HD Radio and other high quality sources a notch above that. Isn't that what most blu-ray players do? upscale DVD to a better quality. The system is limited in my opinion, I play the exact same mp3's on my home stereo streaming over my network to my stereo and they sound much better. I can tell when lower quality tracks come on, but they still are clear and not mushy. Obviously I'm not impressed, and it will be a key factor if I purchase another Ford product.

Update!!! Well since no one had any input I went ahead and replaced my door speakers with some Polk Audio DB6502, I went with a component set that had a crossover in case I needed it, as I felt that the tweeters were getting to much mid-range. Ended up not using them though. The tweeters fit perfectly back in the door holes and the midranges fit in the adapter brackets from Crutchfield, well mostly fit. I didn't want to drill a hole so they are in with two screws! I put some rubber behind the third hole to stabilize it. I first just setup the tweeter temporarily as like I said, I felt the tweeter was muddled. With just the drivers door tweeter being held in my hand I turned on the stereo. It sounded loads better instantly! I played with the balance for a few to hear the factory and Polk speakers independently to make sure I could tell a difference. Then I put the factory tweeter back and played the same song again. Muddled vocals again. So I went ahead and replaced the pair in the door, then did the passenger. I'm going to give it a week or so and decide if I want to do the rear doors, those currently have their tweeters unplugged. Bass seems to be better with them unplugged, I can set the fader more rearward without having the rear doors overpowering my ears (I'm tall and have the seat far back). I don't think I want to attempt the front center speaker, so that one will more than likely stay in. If you are not happy with the factory sound, I highly recommend replacing at least the front door speakers. Best $180 I've spent in a while! I had the midrange on "EQ" set to -3 with factory, now it's +2, highs are at +1. PS I commute 60 miles a day round trip, which ends up being 1.5hours or more, good sound is important to me! I also have a 64GB USB drive formatted as FAT32 with ~6400 songs on it, plenty of variety!

Hello everyone, I just picked this car up and the speakers are horrid! I am coming from a 2013 Passat wit the Fender system and that was a fantastic system! The MKZ was the first car that I could find that would get the same fuel economy as my diesel (took the buyback option). So since I have a long commute, car ride, noise, and comfort was what I was focusing on when test driving this car. Never dreamed that Ford would have a crap system. This is my 5th ford vehicle that I have owned, last one being a 2004 Taurus with the Ford Premium system. Pretty good system. So, I don't know where to begin. Practically no bass when the fader is in the middle, gets "some" when you move it back more. The tweeters all sound tinny, and the rear door ones especially being right by my ear. I just went out and pulled the rear door covers off and disconnected them. It's an improvement, and I now have some bass..... I am considering just replacing all the speakers, but would like to know if any one has done this on this generation? I can't find any info online about it on an MKZ. Or can someone tell me if there system sounds this way also? I have a warranty on the car still so I can take it in if it's not normal. I have seen other threads about similar complaints though.

Hello everyone, I am considering picking up a 2014 MKZ Hybrid with 19" wheels on it. From what I've read tires wear quick on these..... How are the P7's holding up? I drive ~20k a year and don't want to replace tires yearly. 50k is reasonable to me, and I may pick up a set of winter wheels&tires.