Test Drive: Seeing Brooklyn from the new Lincoln MKZ and MKX (and You Can, Too!)
Judy Antell
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American car companies have to innovate to keep up with foreign car makers. To show off the innovations brought to the new Lincolns, the company did something very cool: through a series of city tours, Hello Again, which started in Miami in May and recently came to Brooklyn, consumers can test out the luxury car and explore the city.
Though I have lived in Brooklyn since college (suffice it to say, a LOOONG time) the borough is ever changing and the tour took us to a furniture maker I’d never heard of, a chocolate and whiskey maker I was eager to meet (no drinking while driving) and a drive-through art installation in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Red Hook sunset
I got to test out a luxury sedan, the Lincoln MKZ, and a crossover, the Lincoln MKX. Both were put to the test on the cobblestone streets in DUMBO and Red Hook and offered smooth rides in adverse conditions.
Quiet rides, too. The cars both have triple pane glass that cuts down on outside noise, the better to hear the excellent sound systems (with SIRIUS, of course).
I am not usually an SUV fan, since fuel economy is so important to me, but the MKX was such a great ride, I set aside my bias. For the record, the car gets 19/26 MPG – not bad for an SUV.
The car had lots of sexy touches, like leather seats, a panoramic sun roof, blind spot information system and soothing ambient light.
The ot only slightly better mileage (22/33) though a hybrid version gets a combined 45 MPG (much more to my liking). The ride was a bit of a letdown after the SUV; you sit lower and the car isn’t as powerful. But it had an amazingly comfortable driver’s seat that felt like a massage. I could happily spend hours in this car.
But first I have to get back on my bike to taste the bourbon and rye at Cacao Prieto and then head over to examine the reclaimed wood furniture by Mark Jupiter.
The Hello Again tour continues through the fall, with stops in Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston and Atlanta.
Note: I was Lincoln’s guest at the Hello Again tour and test drive, which is free and open to the public with pre-registration. Be sure to bring your driver’s license.