2012 Lincoln MKS Overview Change Vehicle

This 2012 Lincoln MKS review explains changes for the model year, provides a summary of the 2012 MKS, and includes Lincoln MKS safety, reliability, and fuel economy ratings.

With the demise of the Lincoln Town Car, the 2012 MKS is Lincoln’s flagship sedan, a large car offered with available all-wheel drive. It is based on the Ford Taurus.

A Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) with Cross Traffic Alert is available on the Lincoln MKS this year, offered as part of the Navigation and Ultimate option packages. New colors are also added for 2012, including Crystal Champagne Metallic, Cinnamon Metallic, and Dark Blue Pearl Metallic.

The 2012 Lincoln MKS comes well equipped with everything you expect to find on a luxury sedan priced over $40,000. Highlights includes heated and cooled front sets wrapped in perforated Bridge of Weir leather, heated rear seats, a power rear sunshade, and Intelligent Access keyless entry with push-button starting. Adaptive high-intensity discharge headlights include auto-dimming high beams, and the MKS includes LED taillights and ambient cabin lighting. A THX II Certified Audio System is standard, too, equipped with a CD/DVD changer, an auxiliary audio input jack, and a USB port. Sync technology allows for hands-free calling and music streaming when paired to your smartphone, a voice-activated navigation includes the basics, and the standard alloy wheels measure 18 inches in diameter.

The MKS can be equipped with an all-wheel-drive system, and if buyers select the twin-turbocharged MKS EcoBoost model, AWD is standard. The MKS EcoBoost is also equipped with a bigger set of 19-inch wheels.

Four main option packages are available on the Lincoln MKS. The Navigation Package upgrades the standard navigation system with a reversing camera, real-time traffic and weather, travel service assistance, a 10-gigabyte hard-drive music jukebox, HD Radio, and a THX II 5.1 Surround Sound System. The Ultimate Package adds 19-inch alloy wheels (standard MKS), a dual-panel sunroof, a Blind Spot Information System with Cross Traffic Alert, and upgraded seating. A Premium Wood Trim Package adds genuine olive ash or fine-line ebony wood trim to the door panels. Finally, if you’ve chosen the MKS EcoBoost model, you can get an Appearance Package with a darkened grille and headlamp treatment, upgraded Ultimate leather and floor mats, textured metal interior trim, body-color trim, special badges, 20-inch polished wheels, and a unique Sienna-colored leather choice.

Additional options include remote engine starting, Adaptive Cruise Control and Collision Warning with Brake Support, Active Park Assist (EcoBoost only), and 20-inch polished alloy wheels.

The standard engine for the 2012 MKS is a 3.7-liter V6 that drives the front or, optionally, all four wheels through a six-speed SelectShift automatic transmission with shift paddles. The V6 makes 274 horsepower, less than it does in models like the Ford Edge, F-150, and Mustang. EPA fuel economy estimates were not available for 2012 models as this review was written, but in 2011 the MKS was expected to get 17 mpg in the city and 24 mpg on the highway with front-wheel drive and 16-city/23-highway with all-wheel drive.

We strongly encourage upgrading to the MKS EcoBoost model, for it gets better gas mileage and provides a whole bunch more power. This twin-turbocharged, 3.5-liter V6 features direct fuel injection and makes 355 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque. The important number here is that torque figure, because it peaks across a broad rev range running from a low 1,500 rpm all the way up to 5,250 rpm. Premium fuel is required, but at least the EPA thinks you’ll get 17 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway despite the standard AWD.

While the 2012 Lincoln MKS comes with a fairly common set of standard safety features – six airbags, traction and stability control, four-wheel-disc antilock brakes – it is also enhanced with a impressive number of included and available technologies.

For example, the SOS Post Crash Alert System sounds the horn and activates the hazard flashers in the event of an airbag deployment, and the Sync hands-free entertainment and information system includes 911 Assist which allows a 9-1-1 operator to get in touch with the car’s occupants in the event of an airbag deployment, a person who can send rescuers to the Lincoln’s location even if nobody inside the car can respond. MyKey programmable car features are perfect for households with teenage drivers. It allows parents to limit the car’s top speed and stereo volume, and to program seatbelt and speed warnings.

Additionally, the MKS can be equipped with a Blind Spot Information System with Cross Traffic Alert. This system helps the driver identify when other motorists are traveling next to the MKS in adjacent lanes and provides a warning if the MKS driver attempts an unsafe lane change. Cross Traffic Alert helps when reversing from blind parking spaces or driveways, by looking for approaching traffic and emitting a warning if other cars are headed in the MKS’s direction.

Lincoln also offers an Adaptive Cruise Control and Collision Warning with Brake Support system on the MKS. This system can automatically adjust vehicle speed when the cruise control is engaged, to adapt to changing traffic conditions. The radar units used for this system can also identify when the MKS is closing at too fast a rate of speed on stopped traffic or other objects ahead, and sounds a warning that a collision may be imminent while at the same time preparing the braking system to provide full braking power the moment the pedal is depressed.

In the event that a collision is unavoidable, it is good to know that the Lincoln MKS was a Top Safety Pick in 2011, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The 2012 model is structurally identical, but as this review is written, the IIHS had not provided guidance on 2012 models.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has not rated the 2012 Lincoln MKS, or the 2011 model for that matter. Nothing more than a 4 Star rollover rating is provided by the NHTSA.

So far, so good. Unfortunately, there’s a little bit of bad news on the reliability front. Consumer Reports says that it expects the MKS to provide much worse than average reliability, based on terrible scores in 2009 and 2010. J.D. Power and Associates disagrees, however, giving the MKS a better than average prediction for dependability.

The wood and metal surfaces inside the 2012 Lincoln MKS are the real thing, and the standard Bridge of Weir double-stitched, unembossed leather is tanned using an organic process and is recyclable. Under the leather, Lincoln uses ecologically friendly soy-based polyurethane foam for the seat padding. Maybe they should call them EcoSeats.

The MKS EcoBoost model can be equipped with an optional Active Park Assist system, which automatically steers the big car into a parallel parking space while you operate the brake pedal, the gear selector, and the accelerator pedal.

When you stop to fill the Lincoln MKS’s gas tank, it’s easy because there’s no gas cap to twist off and then back on. All 2012 Lincolns are equipped with an Easy Fuel capless fuel filler system.

MyLincoln Touch is not available on the 2012 MKS. This touch-screen system is designed to simplify audio, navigation, information, and entertainment features into a single system, but has been criticized in the time since it’s debut. If technology is not your thing, you might want to consider getting a new MKS before MyLincoln Touch becomes standard.

Unlike with a Buick LaCrosse, getting stuff into the Lincoln MKS is no problem thanks to its generous 18.7 cubic-foot trunk.

The 2012 Lincoln MKS is built in Chicago.

Spend some time with the 2012 Lincoln MKS, and you’ll find, as we did, that it is very roomy inside, quite comfortable, and equipped with an enormous trunk. And if you happen to be driving the model with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6, you’ll enjoy the power and thrust of a V8 engine combined with the fuel economy of a V6 engine. In our experience, the MKS EcoBoost returned 19.6 mpg during a week of driving.

You may, however, wish to skip the available 20-inch aluminum wheels. Our test car had the polished set that comes with the sporty Appearance Package, and we were quite surprised at how busy and harsh the Lincoln’s ride quality was. Making matters worse, handling didn’t seem to benefit from the bigger wheels and tires, ranking as mediocre by the seats of our pants. In fact, mediocre could be used to describe the overall MKS driving experience.

By that, we mean that the MKS doesn’t push a single fun button in the driver’s mental pleasure centers. At the same time, it doesn’t strike us as particularly luxurious, either. Rather, the MKS EcoBoost is stuck somewhere in between, not sure what it wants to be, except for something more upscale than a Ford Taurus.

And even that goal remains mostly elusive.

The 2012 Lincoln MKS might not be the most exciting luxury sedan available today, and it might not wear the most prestigious brand on its flanks, but it is big, comfortable, safe, and assembled in America.

By Christian Wardlaw