The Lincoln MKZ 3.0T AWD Might Just Be The Cheapest Way To Get A Sedan With 400 Horsepower And Apple CarPlay

Lincoln Mkz Slept On Ts
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Clear your head for a second. I want you to imagine a 400-horsepower twin-turbocharged sedan with a fancy rear differential, Michelin summer tires, and a tremendous sound system. What image pops into your head? Perhaps you’re imagining some permutation of BMW 5 Series, or a moderately spicy Cadillac, or even a fast Audi. All of those are plausible contenders, but what I really want you to focus on is the Lincoln MKZ 3.0T AWD.

This American midsize luxury sedan may be a fancy Ford Fusion, but with the right mix of options, it offers serious shove and modern amenities while completely flying under the radar of, well, everyone. It even flies under the radar of resale value. In fact, it might be the cheapest way to get four doors, 400 horsepower, and factory Apple CarPlay, a possibility that seems rather tantalizing. So how did we get here?

Welcome back to Beige Cars You’re Sleeping On, a weekly series in which we raise the profile of some quiet greats. We’re talking vehicles that are secretly awesome, but go unsung because of either a boring image or the lack of an image altogether.

When the second-generation Lincoln MKZ launched in 2013, there wasn’t much indication that it would grow to be a proper sleeper. Sure, it was comfortable and reasonably practical, but it didn’t have much sportiness to its step. However, thanks to a bit of tricky options list chicanery, an early sign of life appeared. When Edmunds took delivery of a 2013 MKZ 3.7-liter V6 test car, the organization found it was running on Michelin Pilot Super Sport summer tires available as part of the 19-Inch Summer Tire Handling Package. Given the low take rate of this option, some drama happened, with Edmunds writing:

Red flag. We contacted Lincoln and the response smacked of desperation. Seems the Lincoln engineers insisted on mounting these tires on all of the MKZs earmarked for media testing on the West Coast. They know us car tester types like impressive track numbers to bloviate about, and being in California means cold weather isn’t an issue.

I reckon the drama was all for nothing. In new car evaluation, anything on the options list is fair game, and the effects of the Michelin summer tires seem tremendous. As Edmunds reported:

Because of those tires, the 2013 Lincoln MKZ went through our slalom at 69.2 mph. That’s just 1 mph slower than the last 911 we tested, and a couple tenths quicker than the BMW M5. We repeat, the Lincoln MKZ beat the M5.

Somewhere underneath the slightly odd styling was a car that could put up some impressive numbers. In 2017, the list of impressive numbers grew when Lincoln downloaded the three-liter twin-turbocharged V6 from the Continental to its entry-level sedan. In front-wheel-drive MKZs, this engine put out 350 horsepower, but if you ticked the box for all-wheel-drive, output climbed to an even 400. That’s E39 BMW M5 power stuffed into an unassuming Lincoln sedan. Helped by an even 400 lb.-ft. of torque, the result was a zero-to-60 mph time of 4.8 seconds in Car And Driver instrumented testing, and that’s quick by any standards.

Lincoln Mkz 1

Tick the box for the Driver’s Package on the 3.0T AWD model, and you didn’t just get summer tires, you also got an electromechanical torque-vectoring rear differential, unique suspension tuning, and seat bolsters that hugged you in the corners. The end result is a surprisingly capable sleeper that simply looks like it’s on the way to the golf course. Oh, and in 2019, that fancy torque-vectoring differential and sport-tuned suspension became standard on all 3.0T AWD models. Score.

So, does playing the options sheet transform the Lincoln MKZ into a sports sedan? Not really. It’s fast, and it’ll properly bewilder on-ramp tailgaters, but it’s still comfort-oriented, and therein lies the appeal. Vast stretches of North America are flat, open, and connected by arrow-straight highways and interstates. On long, routine highway slogs, razor-sharp handling is wasted and firm suspension can grow tiresome. At that point, why not set the cruise control to 70 mph and marvel at the amenities of the MKZ?

Lincoln MkZ Interior

We’re talking about available luxuries like cooled all-day-comfortable front seats, a household outlet for charging your laptop, a solidly toasty heated steering wheel, a panoramic moonroof that slides over the rear window, a 10.1-inch screen in the instrument cluster, and dashes of metallic finishes about the interior. The top-spec stereo is a thumping 20-speaker Revel Ultima system, and given this car’s recent nature, there’s even wired Apple CarPlay for your iPhone. The cabin is genuinely library quiet, the rear seat legroom is huge, and almost everything has its own proper button. Admittedly, all of this sounds expensive, but because few people are looking at powerful Lincoln sedans, it really isn’t.

2020 Lincoln Mkz 1

Sure, the top-spec 3.0T AWD MKZ with the diff and all may be a rare bird, but here’s a 2020 model with 51,000 miles on the clock up for sale at a Wisconsin Ford dealer for just $26,438. That’s a gently-used 400-horsepower luxury sedan without hideous Germanic complexity for less than the price of a new base-model Toyota Camry. Sure, it might not be as efficient as or pack the warranty of a new Camry, but it’s not a shed either.

2017 Lincoln Mkz

Let’s say you’re into straight-line speed but are more focused on the luxury side of the equation than sportiness. Well, good news. The richly appointed Black Label models are out there, and they can be had cheap as well. Here’s a burgundy-on-burgundy 2017 Lincoln MKZ 3.0T AWD Black Label for sale in Connecticut for $19,953. Sure, it may have 75,452 miles on the clock, but name a newer, cheaper sedan with 400 horsepower and Apple CarPlay.

Lincoln Mkz 3

For a car that started off life as a Ford Fusion, the Lincoln MKZ blossomed into a criminally underrated highway crusher, a 400-horsepower lounge of leather and podcasts that, with the right tires, offers unexpected grip in the corners. These days, it’s a bargain, cloaked in beige to hide its sleeper appeal. If you’re looking for a comfortable, pragmatic, well-equipped, fast daily driver for sensible scratch, put the MKZ 3.0T AWD on your shortlist.

(Photo credits: Lincoln, Cars.com)

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86 thoughts on “The Lincoln MKZ 3.0T AWD Might Just Be The Cheapest Way To Get A Sedan With 400 Horsepower And Apple CarPlay”

  3. I leased one of these for 2016-2019 back when Ford A plan was a pretty slick deal. Loaded, the Reserve Package, Drivers Package, Revel Stereo, Massaging seats, full Panoramic sunroof. It was a pretty good car, stealth speed. It accelerated quick and smooth, handling yeah it wasn’t a performance car but did pretty well with mag ride in sport mode. It was ok in winter on the stock Michelin MXM4 tires. Brakes did ok too in spirted driving. When I wasn’t traveling for work, I had a 80mi a day commute, it was terrible – but the car made it way bettter and comfortable. Be warned the pano sunroof eats up trunk space with structure supports. The regular sunroof eats up much less. MPG was not bad if you didn’t get on it, I got about 24-26MPG highway keeping the speeds decent. Takes premium, but you can put in 87 and it will just remap a bit and you get 350HP, not 400, not hugely noticeable. MPG same with 87.

    This was not a trouble free car, I had multiple issues with power trunk alignment (would not close sometimes), right LED high beam aimed at the sky when new (looked cool tho spotlighting trees like a police car), HVAC fan relay failed, Power takeoff unit replaced (slow leak), leaking oil pan plug. All fixed under warranty in year 1, last 2 years were pretty good (36 month lease). I debated about keeping it, but buy out was pretty bad so I bailed on it and ended up with a Honda Ridgeline – which was hassle free yet boring… Used I dunno, if cheap enough Id say go for it – not a bad place to be at all and a comfortable car. If you are in metro Detroit Livernois or MRT can tune these to 450-475 pretty easy without much issue. Tho its at the upper end of what the meh 6 speed auto can deal with.

    Have a photo of it, not sure I can post to this tho? (If I can, how?)

  4. was actually shopping these for my last car buy, got sidetracked with a good deal from a friend instead. As an immigrant I prefer to buy US-branded cars when reliability allows. Consumer Reports gives this one ‘average’ and average is pretty good these days, especially considering the price differential between Ford parts and any Japanese or German equivalent.

        1. I had a 2012 Volvo S60 R design, then a 14 mkz them 16 in the sport spec. Few shared pieces I could see, I think window switches, maybe a bit of switchgear. But… these were pretty complex, and I did have issues with it. Weirdly nothing electrical or safety system related, but see my other post – I was happy I leased it. First year was not good at all, spent a lot of time in the dealership.

  7. I got a rental MKZ at LaGuardia circa 2017 or so and i absolutely loved it. I landed mid-afternoon on a busy Sunday so they still had plenty of garbage-tier Nissan Sentras and other econoboxes they could have given me, but the beautiful people at Avis gave me an MKZ to go rip around Long Island. I fully recognize how dumb this sounds, but my favorite feature (other than the swaddling interior) was the key proximity sensor would trigger the car to illuminate a Lincoln logo on the ground in front of the door. It was really fun. I felt at least 2 income tax brackets richer when that thing lit up for me as i walked up.

  9. That burgundy was great, but let’s also consider this car for what it is: the pinnacle of automatic shifter design. Ford finally said: why do we waste so much console space on something you touch 2-3 times tops each drive? Get it out of the way.

    1. Yes, I hate these companies that have switched to buttons (or something other than a shift knob) but still put it on the console where something useful could be. Just put it out of the way. You hit the “D” and “P” button once a trip. It doesn’t need to be at your fingertips like a manual transmission.

  10. I get it but to me these were lame wanna be sports cars and their real world driving always seemed to worse than the on paper specs.

    My “291” horsepower 2012 Evolution had better mid range torque, way more responsive throttle, and hit 0-60 .2 tenths quicker despite being a turbo 2.0.

    The suspension tuning was lightyears better, still 4 doors, and it held its value better. An engine you can work on vs a crazy dual bank twin turbo v6.

    One of my coworkers thought an awd charger was an equivalent car, another thought the SHO was an equal car.

    4.8 to 60 from a 400hp AWD car on special tires isnt anything at all to be proud of.

    Plus as others said, its a Ford. Did the M5 times it “beat” also have special tires?

    1. OK, the Evo is fast, but the Evo is still based on a shitcan, and frankly I wouldn’t want to be in one for longer than a couple of hours of back-road mayhem. Fine car for it’s mission, though.

    3. When the first EcoBoost Fusions came out they were slower to 60 than an Accord Sport despite having a turbo and more power. They also had way worse gas mileage while needing premium gas. And they had less room, too. It wasn’t exactly a compelling option.

    4. I don’t think anyone ever looked at a Fusion and thought “what a sports car”. This is just another car in the line of things like the Mercury Marauder or Taurus SHO, a normal car with a bit more kick, not a track weapon

  11. While I like this idea in principle, it’s an insane amount of complexity on a used car, and Ford is not what they used to be reliability-wise (which is saying something). I would hope a robust extended warranty is available if I were to buy one.

    1. Exactly the fancier the car the more expensive it is to maintain at 7+ years old. Especially this overpriced fusion. Buy the fusion spend a few bucks improving it is cheaper than buying it with worn out bits and pieces.

    2. The internet is always questionable when you are trying to get a feel for reliability, but I’ve seen enough virtual ink on modern Fords to put them firmly in the “questionable” department.

      Certainly wouldn’t be buying a 400 hp, twin turbo, AWD car with bells and whistles inside without quite a bit of fear for repairs.

      And at that point, I might as well just go all the way and get a German car that might be more rewarding to drive.

  12. I have the previous gen MKZ (’12, 3.5L, AWD) and while it has a few attributes I don’t like it’s fine. I really lusted after these, tho. Most of the little things I didn’t like were fixed in this generation, particularly in the 3.0T models.

    I felt that the biggest things the older generation needed were more power (midrange torque, mostly) and to tighten up the handling. The 3.5 and later 3.7 were fine engines but they just didn’t deliver a sporty feel. The handling also was kinda odd in that it seemed like it was trying to be both sporty like a modern German car but also floaty like Lincolns of yesteryear and it wound up in some weird middle ground that didn’t do either very well.

    I never got to drive the 3.0T but I had a 2.0T AWD from that generation as a loaner and it was a significant step in the right direction. With the improvements on the 3.0T models, I’d imagine it’s a pretty nice ride.

  14. sshhhhh, knowing that the 3.0 MKZs are fast was my little secret. The AWD 3.0 Continential is another good choice if you want to trade off a bit of handling for a bigger car. I think you could even get the torque vectoring diff on the Continental too.

  15. I was kinda looking at MKZs last year but was turned off by, at the time, seemingly inflated prices. I didn’t even really think to look for a 3.0T AWD. Seeing what these go for now really makes me wish I didn’t take myself out of the market.

  16. Nothing to do with anything but I have to tell someone!

    I needed something cheap and good enough for a year or two so I bought a 2005 Mercedes C220 cdi elegance, With 131000 miles on it for £1500 delivered. A part exchange, get it off the lot who cares it’ll do sort of thing.

    That was two days ago, today the chap who sold it to me brought round the stuff he had taken out of the boot before vacuuming it. Not just two spare keys and a set of jump leads but it’s service history, everything from the initial purchase correspondence to the last time it was filled with diesel. It’s two previous owner had kept meticulous hand written notes of every trip, however short, even naming any passenger who had traveled in it. I think this one might be a keeper.

    1. “It’s two previous owner had kept meticulous hand written notes of every trip, however short, even naming any passenger who had traveled in it.”

      This is not only an insane thing to do, it’s even more ludicrous to pass such a list on to a future owner. But I’ll bet you get some good miles out of the car – well bought.

      1. Nope, most of the names are family members, there are notes about trips to grandma, weekends away with comments about breakfasts ( only if said meal was notable, there is a wonderfully scathing description of a guest house where the sausages are described in less than flattering terms). There are school play, picnics, christenings and funerals. It is unlike anything I have seen before, it ends with the reluctant sale of the car by an executor’s clerk. I shall try to continue it, although mostly it will be, “went to tip, took cardboard boxes, picked up next door lady”.

  17. My dad had a 2016 MKZ with the 3.7 V6. Like the original CTS, it didn’t quite fit in well with the competition. When put up against the A4, 3-Series & C-Class, the MKZ was bigger and priced similarly but lacked the agility of the others. That said, when compared to the A6, 5-Series & E-Class, it was considerably cheaper but didn’t have the same amenities as the rest. As a result, the car couldn’t really stand out in either segment.

    But, if you were looking for decent performance, comfort and A6 room for A4 money, the MKZ was actually a pretty good value. It was a great road trip car and daily driver, despite the Sync system. He finally traded it in last year because some electrical gremlins were starting to pop up.

  18. I had a coworker with one of these, and hearing the issues he had before the car was bought back under lemon law has sort of soured me on them. When it ran, it was pretty sweet, but that 3.0L had a lot of issues – I recall he had both turbos, the intercooler, the high pressure fuel pump, and a few other items replaced within the first 3,000 miles. I think the one that got the buy back was something with the transmission.

    Then again, I had a 2011 F150 Ecoboost, so I got to suffer first year issues with Ford’s turbocharged V6s, so it is highly likely I am not giving the MKZ a fair shake.

  19. Y’all are making me restart my search for these things, darn it!!! So slept on! It’s so hard to find Black Labels nowadays. Personally I’d prefer the hybrid just for efficiency, but hooning a luxo fusion sounds like all the right types of Hoon.

    1. As someone who hoons an innocuous crossover let me tell you…incognito hooning best hooning. You should see the faces on people at the track when they can’t keep up with my Kona N. Imagine dusting a JDM Bro in a WRX or CTR from a stoplight in a goddamn Lincoln. Absolutely delightful.

  20. Some of these late-model Lincolns intrigue me. There are 2016 and 17 Contis for very reasonable money too.
    Give it a few more years and one of these with 125k will dip under 10 grand.

  21. As a Ford guy, I’ve always felt bittersweet about the final Lincoln sedans like this one – they finally seemed to find their niche, offering a uniquely American (and slightly retro-tinged) take on luxury. And the designs, if not striking, were handsome.

    I esp liked Ford’s attempts to make them unique – push-button transmission like in the ’60s, that engine, I believe, was Lincoln-only, and that torque-vectoring system comes – surprisingly – right off the Focus RS! Some nifty, within-reason efforts to make them something more than a rebadged Ford.

    But then just like that, they were gone, victims of changing vehicle tastes. Sigh.

    1. The same fate is coming for Cadillac unfortunately. After decades of trying they finally have sports sedans that can beat the Germans at their own game…right in time for no body to want sedans anymore 🙁

      However the CT4V BW doesn’t seem to be selling particularly well despite all the accolades. They’re not hard to find and used ones are already dipping into the mid 50s. Won’t be long until we’re talking 40s for em, and I’m one of those losers who’d probably opt for the 10 speed, which will inevitably be the cheaper option resale wise.

      Bit of a shame, but I’ve got my eye on their depreciation curve and once it dips a little bit more I’m going to swoop in. I’d just like them to stay in production for another couple years. Buying one new right now would be a ridiculously bad idea given that we have a kid on the way but a used 2024 in 26 or 27? Now we’re cooking with gas!

      …literally. Holy shit is the fuel economy of that turbo 3.6 bad lol.

          1. Sorry, everything desirable is falling in price at once and I’m spinning my head around jumping from one shiny object to another….

            BRaptor!

            No, Blackwing!

            No, Z06!

            No, Jeep 392!

            I’ll probably end up in decision paralysis and buy nothing lol.

            1. Like I said, I feel pretty confident that there will be a nice CT4V BW for me in the 40s in a few years, especially since I’d probably rather just have the 10 speed in DC. Not to brag or anything, but I could go out today and buy one new if I really wanted to, it would just be a very stupid financial decision and I don’t need to make any unforced errors with a kiddo on the way.

              My super sedan will be waiting for me in a few years. This much I’m sure of 🙂

        2. I am legitimately curious now. $10k off of highly optioned automatics or across the board? I have been eying used 911s for months now and the prices are still high so this is intriguing.

          1. The ones I saw were highly optioned 6 speeds. At a dealer in upstate NY in a Blackwing group. I’m not really in the market for a 4BW so I don’t pay as close attention.

      1. Me either. That version of the Continental was a (relatively) big hit with its target market.

        I also really wanted a perhaps Mustang-based Lincoln convertible as a sorta a last-gasp halo car.

    3. I always felt that the last Lincoln sedans were hsndicapped by a soulless naming convention, and a failure of marketing to appeal to those who might be interested in their product. You need to use a name that conjures an image. All I get from “MKZ” is ‘we don’t care enough about this to give a real name, so let’s just use a development acronym and be done with it’ feeling. So much lose. No win at all. Shame, shame, Lincoln.

      2. I always told myself they were really cryptic references to actual names…MKZ – Zephyr, MKC – Continental, and even MKT – Towncar.

        I was avoiding reality, I know.

        It was really just an attempt to copy the Japanese who themselves were copying the Europeans.

          1. You’re right – there was no MKC, it was the MKS! I knew I was off a little on that one. But glad I’m not the only one who sought rationality within the confusion…

      3. They started out with the Zephyr, great name, before changing it to MKZ, and had to explain to the press that it was “emm kay zee” instead of “mark zee”, then ran with that, until going back to real names within the last few years after realizing how dumb that MKcrap was.

        Of course, in China, they’ve gone down to just one letter now, but the Lincoln Z is pretty handsome

      4. Lincoln Mark Something was always kind of a Lincoln thing. I always saw the MKZ as the Lincoln Mark Zephyr since the original name for a Lincoln based Fusion was zephyr. Unfortunately Cadillac might have started that trend with the DTS/CTS and so on.

    2. This is a good take, but then you have to deal with that haptic controls bullshit Cadillac was peddling at that time. That would be a deal breaker for me.

  24. A buddy of mine has a Lincoln MKX SUV with the ecoboost v6 and he raves about it-so this is basically the same hardware but a better looking sedan. Seems like a solid sleeper daily.

    1. Best part is how they’re better performers than the Fusion Sport, Ford’s lame final attempt to avoid making a proper SVT/ST version of it. Going out with a whimper, not a a bang for sure.

      1. Not sure I’d put the Fusion Sport near SVT vehicles. I need to run the numbers but at first glance, the 6th-gen Taurus SHO had some pretty good pep and made it until 2019.

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