Even as Lincoln advertises heavily to clear out stocks of the current MKC model, it is poised to charm customers with the all-new 2020 Lincoln Corsair, the MKC’s replacement.
With it, the luxury division of Ford Motor Co. fills out its cadre of sport utility vehicles, including three crossover SUVs, now with their old letter designations eliminated, and the traditional body-on-frame Navigator SUV.
Moving up in size from the compact Corsair are the midsize Nautilus and three-row Aviator (formerly MKX and MKT), with the full-size Navigator at the top. Although the Corsair could be considered the entry-level model, it is anything but that. Abounding with modern technology and conveniences, as well as plush passenger accommodations, it would be comfortable in any upscale automotive troupe.
Lincoln emphasizes the serenity of the Corsair’s interior, and it delivers that. If you did not have to occupy yourself with driving, certainly a pleasant enough pursuit in itself, you could simply relax inside and practice mindfulness in sumptuous surroundings.
Lincoln says the Corsair name comes from the Latin “cursus,” meaning “journey.” But to old-timers — among those likely to take this new crossover seriously — the name evokes the F4U Corsair, the beautiful gull-winged fighter plane that fought battles around Pacific islands from aircraft carriers with U.S. Marine pilots in World War II.
But the F4U was a raucous, noisy beast and a killing machine. The Lincoln Corsair is calm, quiet and built for genteel living and driving enjoyment. That, however, does not mean it is averse to high performance and athletic moves.
There are five trim levels, with the standard front-wheel drive model priced at $36,940, including the destination charge. Add $2,200 for all-wheel drive. Driven for this review, one of two, was a top-line all-wheel drive Reserve II with all the goodies that topped $60,110. But you can be well satisfied for less.
More to the point and the focus here was an all-wheel drive Reserve model with the standard 250-hp, 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which delivers 280 lb-ft of torque, the twisting force that makes an engine feel powerful under acceleration. An eight-speed automatic transmission with a manual shifting mode gets the power to the pavement.
Well equipped, the 2.0-liter Reserve came with a base price of $44,825 and, with options that included an active suspension system, a comprehensive head-up display and a technology package, it came with a bottom-line sticker price of $54,375.
For an additional $1,140 you can order the 2.3-liter turbo four-cylinder, which makes 295 hp and 315 lb-ft of torque. It obviously is more powerful than the 2.0-liter but it is doubtful that any Corsair buyer would be disappointed with either one. Both engines are smooth, quiet and up to any motoring situation.
Four-cylinder engines of around 2.0 liters, especially with turbochargers, are the 21st century successors to the lumbering V6 and V8 engines of yesteryear. Not only are they more powerful, they deliver exceptional fuel economy. On the EPA’s city/highway/combined cycle, Lincoln’s 2.0-liter delivers 21/29/24 mpg and the 2.3-liter is rated at 21/28/24.
Though you wouldn’t equate it with a sports car, the tested 2.0-liter Corsair performed admirably. It was quiet on the highways and byways, with brisk acceleration and passing power, tight steering with responsive moves and a comfortable, non-jarring ride.
There are five selectable drive modes that adjust multiple functions, including shift points, steering and suspension system, among others. They are descriptively labeled Normal, Conserve, Excite, Slippery and Deep.
Inside, the multi-adjustable front seats, upholstered with leather, were supportive for long-distance cruising, and heated for cold weather.
The back seat is uncommonly roomy for a compact crossover, though the center-rear passenger suffers from a hard cushion and compromised foot room.
Many functions can be controlled from Lincoln’s “phone as a key” technology, which works hand-free from an app on smart phones, including locking and unlocking doors, opening the lift gate, starting and driving, and operating interior features.
The Corsair comes standard with driver assist features called Lincoln Co-Pilot 360. They include pre-collision emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane-keeping assist. blind-spot warning, and automatic high-beam headlights. There’s also Wi-Fi and wireless charging for mobile devices.
An option, called “Lincoln Co-Pilot360 Plus,” adds adaptive cruise control with stop and go, lane centering, roadside speed sign recognition, emergency evasive steering assist, reverse braking assist, and active parking assist, which automatically parks the Corsair in parallel or perpendicular spaces.
Specifications
- Model: 2020 Lincoln Corsair Reserve four-door crossover sport utility vehicle.
- Engine: 2.0-liter four-cylinder; turbocharged, 250 hp, 280 lb-ft torque.
- Transmission: Eight-speed automatic with manual shift mode and all-wheel drive.
- Overall length: 15 feet 1 inch.
- Height: 5 feet 4 inches.
- EPA/SAE passenger/cargo volume: 103/28 cubic feet.
- Weight: 3,842 pounds.
- Towing capability: Up to 3,000 pounds.
- EPA city/highway/combined fuel consumption: 21/29/24 mpg.
- Base price, including destination charge: $44,825.
- Price as tested: $54,375.
Disclaimer: This test drive was conducted at a manufacturer-sponsored press event. The manufacturer provided travel, accommodations, vehicles, meals and fuel.
Photos (c) Lincoln
Mr. Ford has a reputation as an environmentalist, and pronounced this new machine as “a new Ford for a new age,” a non-polluting vehicle that, as some naysayers might point out, gets its electric power from a variety of sources, including fossil fuels.
Contrast that with the 2021 electric Mustang Mach-E, which goes into production next year with a choice of all-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive and powered by one or two electric motors that in the top performance model can hit 60 mph in three seconds, faster than the current top performing Mustang Shelby GT500 — and without any of the ear-splitting exhaust sounds.
Most important, from the company’s view, is the presence. The Mach-E, for all of its four-door crossover utility, looks like a Mustang from the outside with a comfortable and accommodating interior that, with its infotainment functions, vaguely resembles a Tesla, with a giant center screen.
With production not scheduled until sometime in 2020, the Mach-E for now is something of a dream. It is Ford’s first foray into an all-electric vehicle. To the company’s credit, it could have introduced a battery-electric power train into an existing vehicle like the Escape compact crossover but chose instead to make a bold leap.
To inject a note of celebrity into the occasion, the company brought a rousing performance by the Detroit Youth Choir of TV’s “America’s Got Talent,” along with Idris Elba, the English actor, producer, writer, musician and rapper, who recalled that he had worked for Ford in Dagenham, England, and said he still felt like a member of the Ford family.
Disclaimer: This preview was conducted at a manufacturer-sponsored press event. The manufacturer provided travel, accommodations, vehicles, meals and fuel.
Photos (c) Ford
Case in point: the Q3. As crossover sport utility vehicles go, it’s analogous to the world-famous herding dog, the Border Collie. It’s smart, small, fast, changes directions quickly, stops immediately and is always willing to eagerly chase the sheep-like vehicles clogging the nation’s highways.
Of course, for that price you can get a mid-size crossover with three rows of seats like the new Kia Telluride, while the Q3 is classified as a small SUV. It has comfortable room for four and an uncomfortable seat with a giant floor hump for an ill-fated fifth passenger in the center-rear.
Audi’s Quattro full-time all-wheel drive is standard. Power pulses from the Q3’s turbocharged 228-hp, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 257 lb-ft of torque. The transmission is an eight-speed automatic with a Tiptronic manual-shifting mode controlled by paddles on the steering wheel.
In real-world driving, the Q3 feels powerful off the line, on freeway on-ramps and passing on two-lane highways. It has a nimble feel with responsive steering and little body roll through fast curves.
Moreover, the touch screen can be difficult and distracting, especially while under way. First you have to look to find what you want, then give it a determined push with a finger because it requires pressure with the touch. If you simply tap it, there’s no response.
Specifications
Photos (c) Audi
The all-wheel-drive V60 wagon demonstrated its chops with runs up and down dirt roads on Kicking Horse mountain, which in the winter is a magnet for skiers, while the XC models dodged airplanes and sky divers on an impromptu performance course at a local airport near Golden, British Columbia.
The XC90 can be ordered with what Volvo calls “tailored wool blend upholstery,” an innovative addition for people like this reviewer who prefer sitting on quality cloth instead of real or faux-leather that needs to be heated and cooled. The fabric is made from wool and other recycled material and is comfortable over a broad range of temperatures.
Moreover, it comes with upgraded performance brakes, highlighted by calipers painted gold that shine through the wheel spokes. Hammer the brakes hard in a simulated panic stop and the 4,733-pound crossover is almost nonchalant in reducing speed with minimal nosedive and squirrelly moves.
Inside, the XC60 Polestar Engineered featured Volvo’s trademark supportive and comfortable seats, optimized for long-distance cruising. Interior appointments displayed quality materials and good workmanship. The large center screen has vertical format and must be distractingly swiped side to side to access different menus.
However, Volvo continues its emphasis on safety, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the three-point seatbelt, which first appeared on Volvo cars. The tested XC60 also had automatic forward braking with pedestrian, cyclist and large-animal detection; lane-keeping assist, blind-spot warning and adaptive cruise control. Volvo also offers Pilot Assist, a partially automated self-driving system.
Photos (c) Volvo
There was a 20th-century era when Lincoln automobiles competed against the most exclusive nameplates, including Packard, Duesenberg, Bentley, Chrysler and Cadillac. Though Lincolns were not the most expensive, its Zephyr models with V-12 engines were among the most beautiful and sought-after by wealthy artistes.
For those who can’t or won’t spend that much but still seek to motor behind an Aviator grille, the base rear-wheel drive model starts at $52,095 — almost reasonable in an era when the average new car goes out the door for somewhere around $36,000.
There also were two versions of the all-wheel-drive hybrid: Grand Touring at $84,365 with options and the aforementioned Black Label AWD at $90,645.
But the non-hybrid Aviator is no slouch. Its twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 engine makes 400 hp and 415 lb-ft of torque, sent through the same 10-speed automatic transmission as the hybrid. There’s a manual-shifting mode operated by paddles mounted on the steering wheel. City/highway/combined fuel consumption is rated by the EPA at 17/24/20 mpg for the all-wheel drive versions.
The tested Aviator looked the part of a luxury sport utility vehicle, with a sumptuous interior and fashionable appointments of high quality materials and careful workmanship. Among them: a Revel Ultimate 3D audio system with 28 (count ‘em) speakers, panoramic vista glass sunroof with powered shade, acoustic sound-deadening side glass, second-row captain’s chairs separated by a functional center console, and Lincoln’s Phone As a Key technology.
If a phone battery dies, a passcode can be entered on an exterior keypad and another code can be entered to start and drive. Extra key fobs also are provided and if a smart phone is lost or stolen, Phone As a Key can be deleted.
It has been consistently popular and in 2018 was the best seller against the Hyundai Accent, Honda Fit, Kia Rio, Toyota Yaris, Chevrolet Sonic and Spark, and Ford Fiesta.
But if you have a tighter budget, you can order an entry-level Versa S with a base price of $15,625, including the destination charge. That’s with a five-speed manual gearbox. Add Nissan’s Xtronic continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) and the price jumps to $17,295.
That doesn’t sound like a hot car on paper and it is not. But the S and its sibling SV and SR trim levels are quite comfortable in any driving situation anyone is likely to encounter on American’s increasingly clogged streets and freeways.
Surprisingly, the base S model rides comfortably and is nearly as quiet a highway cruiser as the SR test car, perhaps benefitting from smaller 15-inch steel wheels with plastic wheel covers and fatter tires than the 17-inch alloy wheels with skinnier sidewalls on the SR trim. There was little mechanical and wind noise, and the main intrusion — as on the top-line SR — came from the tires on the variety of irregular pavements found everywhere.
It also came with Nissan’s back-seat warning system, which could save the life of a child or pet left in a closed car on a hot summer day. The system activates when you open a rear door to place a child or something else in back. Later, when you shut down the engine and leave the car, visual and audio warnings are activated to remind you to check.
Photos (c) Nissan
Other manufacturers followed and now crossovers of every size and price have eclipsed traditional sedans as the overwhelming favorite vehicle. Subaru has sold more than two million examples of Outback.
With their vertically squished profile, boxer engines enable a lower center of gravity and a tidy way to add all-wheel drive to a front-wheel drive vehicle, as well as a natural balance. Subaru is the only manufacturer that uses boxer engines exclusively and makes all-wheel drive standard on every model except the rear-drive BRZ sports coupe, also manufactured and sold as the Toyota 86.
The transmission is Subaru’s continuously variable automatic (CVT), which also can mimic a stepped eight-speed automatic for manual shifting with paddles mounted on the steering wheel.
The system also uses an infrared camera with facial recognition technology to monitor the driver and identify any sign of distraction or fatigue, when it provides visual and audio alerts. Also available are automatic reverse braking, blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert and a head-up display.
But the focus here is on the Onyx XT with the turbo motor, which delivers more rapid acceleration and passing power, though as might be expected lower fuel economy. Its EPA city/highway/combined fuel consumption is rated at 23/30/26 mpg compared to 26/33/29 for the standard engine.
Other Onyx equipment includes 18-inch black aluminum wheels, black exterior trim, a 180-degree front-view monitor, full-size spare wheel and tire, hands-free power rear tailgate and dual exhaust pipes. The tester also had a $1,845 option package that included a motorized sunroof, reverse automatic braking and Subaru’s Starlink navigation system with an 11.6-inch center screen.
Specifications
Photos (c) Subaru
Pair the XT6 and XT5 with the compact XT4 crossover and the silk-gloved brute Escalade, with its truck-like body-on-frame construction, and General Motors’ luxury division has a lineup that can compete across the premium SUV spectrum.
Frank A. Aukofer
Jason Fogelson
Jeff Taylor
Tod Mesirow