First time Lincoln owner - Shutdown bargain buy

[OverworkedITguy]

Hello folks 

 

My name is Ross and from Louisiana.  I am not exactly a newish owner of it but this was purchased 10 months ago when I was on the hunt for a bit of a sleeper and also luxury ride. After passing up on a best friends 2015 Lincoln MKC Reserve with 64k miles all the options you could get plus dealer records (and knew for a fact he went to the dealer for every single thing and even nit pick thing) he offered to sell me the car for literally the trade in. Yet my brain was wrapped around wanting more power. Purchased a Suburban due to 2nd impulse purchase and well that was a complete money pit and spent damn near the same amount as what would have been for the MKC.

 

Forward over to November 2021 and ran across a 2017 Lincoln MKZ 3.0T  Select with 64k miles. It is the FWD model (which wanted the AWD) but this was THE BEST at the time priced vehicle and actually was directly purchased and sold previously from the same dealership to the previous owner. 

 

I did not test drive the vehicle. I rode on one years ago and knew they were fantastic. Performance on paper with the 3.0TT was in the running for me wanting to have some pedal to spread the wings but only in open rural areas where its just me and trees and not saying it in. Just the occasional Italian tune up here and there. 

 

The Pros:

• Gas Mileage: 
  With 93 it is around 25-26 MPG since I do mostly highway.  Currently running (from Conoco Phillips that fills Motorcraft oil ) Kendall GT1 - MAX Synthetic 5w30 and did notice increase in some MPG over the Motorcraft one. Was give or take lets say a 1.5 MPG improvement but that was not the reason for the switch. More of the anti wear additive of the titanium in the Kendall. (If it was not already mentioned there is a Youtube video of the comparison between Motorcraft Full Synthetic and Kendall GT1 MAX. Same oil with few specs difference and Kendall is within spec and adds the titanium additive and costs less.)
  With 89 currently is hovering around 28.5. The highest was on a trip to Atlanta which is around 600 miles and the MPG was 28.9 MPG which I was shocked 
   
• Comfort: Rides like a cloud in comfort mode. When you want sporty coil over feel then hit the sport mode and take a turn.
• Performance: 3.0TT - Since it is the FWD version as of right now 350 HP at the crank but it gets up there pretty quick. 
  With 2.5 gal E85 + 93 = Literally peppy acceleration and can feel it from the seat it pulls and is snappy. It was only a E15 blend which read you can run upwards of 20 or 25% on the stock fuel pump. Since did not have a tune yet, I was shocked the ECU autosensed the octane dropped some MPG and gained a bit of pep. Downside... mileage did drop down to around 22 MPG. Not a Con when it adds some zoom zoom.
• Maneuvering: So smooth and easy to park. Turning circle is great.
• Braking: For the factory brakes and pads they bite and not exactly scrape your face to the steering wheel level but will definitely spill drinks real fast if not secured... or top heavy (face palm 2nd day my driving my passenger dumped unsweet tea everywhere.)

The Cons well lets phrase it as my to do list to improve on: 

• Audio is crisp and clear which is great for most people but I do love a bit of ear piercing volume, bass since tend to jam out to metal one moment then switch over to XM Channel 52 and jam out to Armin Van Burren and feel like I am in a club in Europe.
  It has the 11 speaker system and seems a bit of a nightmare for upgrading components due to having DSP integration but for the factory amp... wish there as a drop in factory upgrade but appears that I am unable to find but will post in another thread about the audio stuff.
• Plastic oil pan: Had to have this replaced under manufactures warranty right after I purchased it due to a seep. Not a fan of plastic oil pans since they tend to house a important fluid and there is no skid plate to further protect. Cloth air deflection thingies (cant think of the term) do not exactly protect as much as a skid plate would.

 

Overall its a shame they are not continuing this vehicle here but I will say this has been one of the best purchases for a vehicle ever. The amount of other luxury items tucked into the car is pretty amazing. Oh and November 2021 during lets say not ideal buying times... Dealer asked $25k and took $21k which they were not price gouging then actually were honest. They even drove 60 miles to my home the next day to do all of the paperwork in the front yard while on my lunch break from work. That is my intro here. 

 

Have a great day. Attached is the most recent pic. Just has tint and black lug nuts since the factory ones had to be replaced and changed them into a solid acorn lug nut.

 

. 

[bbf2530]

3 hours ago, OverworkedITguy said:

Hello folks 

 

My name is Ross and from Louisiana.  I am not exactly a newish owner of it but this was purchased 10 months ago when I was on the hunt for a bit of a sleeper and also luxury ride. After passing up on a best friends 2015 Lincoln MKC Reserve with 64k miles all the options you could get plus dealer records (and knew for a fact he went to the dealer for every single thing and even nit pick thing) he offered to sell me the car for literally the trade in. Yet my brain was wrapped around wanting more power. Purchased a Suburban due to 2nd impulse purchase and well that was a complete money pit and spent damn near the same amount as what would have been for the MKC.

 

Forward over to November 2021 and ran across a 2017 Lincoln MKZ 3.0T  Select with 64k miles. It is the FWD model (which wanted the AWD) but this was THE BEST at the time priced vehicle and actually was directly purchased and sold previously from the same dealership to the previous owner. 

 

I did not test drive the vehicle. I rode on one years ago and knew they were fantastic. Performance on paper with the 3.0TT was in the running for me wanting to have some pedal to spread the wings but only in open rural areas where its just me and trees and not saying it in. Just the occasional Italian tune up here and there. 

 

The Pros:

• Gas Mileage: 
  With 93 it is around 25-26 MPG since I do mostly highway.  Currently running (from Conoco Phillips that fills Motorcraft oil ) Kendall GT1 - MAX Synthetic 5w30 and did notice increase in some MPG over the Motorcraft one. Was give or take lets say a 1.5 MPG improvement but that was not the reason for the switch. More of the anti wear additive of the titanium in the Kendall. (If it was not already mentioned there is a Youtube video of the comparison between Motorcraft Full Synthetic and Kendall GT1 MAX. Same oil with few specs difference and Kendall is within spec and adds the titanium additive and costs less.)
  With 89 currently is hovering around 28.5. The highest was on a trip to Atlanta which is around 600 miles and the MPG was 28.9 MPG which I was shocked 
   
• Comfort: Rides like a cloud in comfort mode. When you want sporty coil over feel then hit the sport mode and take a turn.
• Performance: 3.0TT - Since it is the FWD version as of right now 350 HP at the crank but it gets up there pretty quick. 
  With 2.5 gal E85 + 93 = Literally peppy acceleration and can feel it from the seat it pulls and is snappy. It was only a E15 blend which read you can run upwards of 20 or 25% on the stock fuel pump. Since did not have a tune yet, I was shocked the ECU autosensed the octane dropped some MPG and gained a bit of pep. Downside... mileage did drop down to around 22 MPG. Not a Con when it adds some zoom zoom.
• Maneuvering: So smooth and easy to park. Turning circle is great.
• Braking: For the factory brakes and pads they bite and not exactly scrape your face to the steering wheel level but will definitely spill drinks real fast if not secured... or top heavy (face palm 2nd day my driving my passenger dumped unsweet tea everywhere.)

The Cons well lets phrase it as my to do list to improve on: 

• Audio is crisp and clear which is great for most people but I do love a bit of ear piercing volume, bass since tend to jam out to metal one moment then switch over to XM Channel 52 and jam out to Armin Van Burren and feel like I am in a club in Europe.
  It has the 11 speaker system and seems a bit of a nightmare for upgrading components due to having DSP integration but for the factory amp... wish there as a drop in factory upgrade but appears that I am unable to find but will post in another thread about the audio stuff.
• Plastic oil pan: Had to have this replaced under manufactures warranty right after I purchased it due to a seep. Not a fan of plastic oil pans since they tend to house a important fluid and there is no skid plate to further protect. Cloth air deflection thingies (cant think of the term) do not exactly protect as much as a skid plate would.

 

Overall its a shame they are not continuing this vehicle here but I will say this has been one of the best purchases for a vehicle ever. The amount of other luxury items tucked into the car is pretty amazing. Oh and November 2021 during lets say not ideal buying times... Dealer asked $25k and took $21k which they were not price gouging then actually were honest. They even drove 60 miles to my home the next day to do all of the paperwork in the front yard while on my lunch break from work. That is my intro here. 

 

Have a great day. Attached is the most recent pic. Just has tint and black lug nuts since the factory ones had to be replaced and changed them into a solid acorn lug nut.

 

.

 

Hi Ross. Congratulations on your new MKZ and welcome to the Lincoln MKZ Forums!

 

Hope you enjoy many safe and happy motoring miles! ?

Edited November 2, 2022 by bbf2530

[drolds1]

Welcome, Ross. It certainly is a shame that there will be no more MKZs.  I've had 2 1st-gens, and I'm on my 3rd 2nd-gen. If they were still offering them, I'd likely get another. Lincoln has abandoned us.  I'm not, and never will be, in the market for an SUV/CUV.

[fusionff]

Congrats on the purchase, and welcome aboard.  I still love driving mine, I'm amazed at the power this great car has.

[OverworkedITguy]

On 11/2/2022 at 6:19 PM, fusionff said:

Congrats on the purchase, and welcome aboard.  I still love driving mine, I'm amazed at the power this great car has.

Thanks. I was wanting a vehicle just to use on the weekend only since I rarely drive during the week. I have another vehicle so its not a matter of just having to have a vehicle. It was just casual use only. I wanted a muscle car but inflation prices were through the roof. Then if you found anything in range it was absolute poop. I regretted selling my 2005 GTO that was absolutely race car obnoxious but it absolutely turned heads. It was a site to see. Though it was left leg day every day and it was so much drone while driving you could barely hear holding the phone and speaker phone was absolutely impossible. Plus having to shift yeah save the grief.  *Disclaimer hands free zones are only in school zones in my state. Yet I prefer to use handsfree.

 

Now with this car the power is not violent but just super linear which I absolutely love just violent aggressive accelerations (or at least makes it feel that way). The GTO if launched hard would just wheelspin with traction control which it was a bit nuts. Though this car though it is FWD ,it has some wheel hop which I may shove a stickier wider tire setup if I replace the current rims and 300 tread wear tiires, and it should help a bit. Only in comfort mode do you feel the suspension flex and downshift and goes. Though in sport its sooooooo damn smooth and you look down and go Oh shit! 

 

Eventually possibly will upgrade the rear anti roll bar to stiffen the rear end since it can get a bit squirmy on some spirited driving in corners but for just overall use its completely fine. 

 

This MKZ's with the 3.0 either FWD or AWD are literally the best sleepers out there for the money and smooth as butter to drive. The true cloud on wheels.

[LouieMeekin]

Looks sick, glad you found the right one.