Highs: Decent power, AWD grip, THXII sound, quality leather, features galore
Lows: Horrible OE tires, mediocre MPG, sticker shock, poor resale
I bought my 2010 MKZ AWD Ultimate in January, 2011. I traded a ’10 Focus SES for it. The car currently has 21,xxx miles. It has been very solid thus far. It’s been in for 1 unscheduled visit due to a flashing TMPS light – which resulted in a faulty TPMS sensor (can’t really blame the car for that). Other than that, it has been problem-free. It holds 5.5 quarts of 5w20. It has had Motorcraft most of its life – due to free maintenance for 1 year. The current fill is M1. It’s fully loaded, with every option available. My favorite features are THXII sound, adaptive HIDs (they turn when you do), heated and cooled Bridge of Weir Leather, back-up camera, to name a few. The THXII sound system sounds amazing for OE. One would have to spend several $thousand to get similar sound and features. It has 14 speakers, 600 watts, 12-channel amp, built-in voice-command Navi, etc. The 500+w, 9-speaker Alpine system in my Jeep sounds poor in comparison. Along with all the fancy features, comes a very fancy sticker price of $43.7K. Wait…What!? Hold on….I didn’t pay near that, otherwise I’d still be driving the Focus. I found it at a small-town dealer – who was getting out of the new Lincoln business. It is a ’10 model, and I bought in January, 2011. The owner drove it some, so it was considered a “demo”. However, it only had 700 total miles. Their lowered price was $30.9K! That’s more like it…at ~$13K off, it becomes much less than a loaded Fusion Sport AWD (closest twin). What sets the MKZ apart from a Fusion, is the quality of materials inside and out. On an MKZ, you get real wood, or real aluminum trim on the interior, vs. painted plastics in the Fusion. The same applies on the exterior. The bright trim you see – is real polished metal – not chromed plastic. You also cannot get THXII in a Fusion.
Power from the 3.5 Duratec is quite nice. It’s not a hot rod by any means, but it can get out its own way (something my Focus couldn’t do). The 6-spd Aisin auto has been great. Handling is good with the stiffer suspension (Sport package) and AWD. It does feel a little heavy in corners (because it is heavy). You can’t toss it around corners like I could in the 1000lb-lighter Focus. My biggest complaint would be the OE tires. With the Sport Appearance package, comes very nice 18” wheels, and Goodyear Eagle RSAs. These tires are horrible, and need to be retired. I picked up a set of 16” steelies + Altimax Artics from DTD last winter. I never got to try them out, because we didn’t have any snowfall above 2” last year. MPG is average-to-mediocre in this class. EPA is 17/24. I easily beat that, but it’s still not great. Commuting to work in “mixed-City” driving, I average ~19.5 MPG. My Jeep gets almost the same, and it’s 1000 lbs heavier, more brick-like, and has more HP. I do drive somewhat-spirited. We took one extended trip in the MKZ, and got averaged 26.5 MPG during extreme summer heat, with a family of 4, and trunk almost full. I was satisfied. For comparison, a new Pentastar Charger AWD EPA is 18/27 (8-spd auto), a Hemi AWD Charger is rated at 15/23, and an SHO gets 17/25.
I recently checked the KBB and Edmunds trade-in price. It’s now worth half of original sticker on a trade. It is almost 3 model years old, but I’ve had it for less than 2 years. The trade-in is currently only $2K more than a loaded Fusion Sport AWD of the same year/mileage. This is discouraging.
The ride is smooth, quiet, and firm on the highway. It’s still tight and rattle-free after 21K+ miles. Would I buy another one? Sure – if I can get $13K off again. However, I would never spend close to sticker on it. At sticker, I would definitely cross-shop an SHO, Charger R/T AWD, 300 Hemi AWD, Durango, Explorer, truck, etc. You can also find 1 yr-old MKS Ecoboosts for the low to mid $30ks (that’s over $20k off new!), with mileage in the teens. I am interested in how the 13’ MKZ models do. The 3.7 AWD sounds tempting.
Here's a couple of pics:
The White Platinum Tri-Coat looks nice when clean. It's a pearlish color, with multi-colored flakes:
Lows: Horrible OE tires, mediocre MPG, sticker shock, poor resale
I bought my 2010 MKZ AWD Ultimate in January, 2011. I traded a ’10 Focus SES for it. The car currently has 21,xxx miles. It has been very solid thus far. It’s been in for 1 unscheduled visit due to a flashing TMPS light – which resulted in a faulty TPMS sensor (can’t really blame the car for that). Other than that, it has been problem-free. It holds 5.5 quarts of 5w20. It has had Motorcraft most of its life – due to free maintenance for 1 year. The current fill is M1. It’s fully loaded, with every option available. My favorite features are THXII sound, adaptive HIDs (they turn when you do), heated and cooled Bridge of Weir Leather, back-up camera, to name a few. The THXII sound system sounds amazing for OE. One would have to spend several $thousand to get similar sound and features. It has 14 speakers, 600 watts, 12-channel amp, built-in voice-command Navi, etc. The 500+w, 9-speaker Alpine system in my Jeep sounds poor in comparison. Along with all the fancy features, comes a very fancy sticker price of $43.7K. Wait…What!? Hold on….I didn’t pay near that, otherwise I’d still be driving the Focus. I found it at a small-town dealer – who was getting out of the new Lincoln business. It is a ’10 model, and I bought in January, 2011. The owner drove it some, so it was considered a “demo”. However, it only had 700 total miles. Their lowered price was $30.9K! That’s more like it…at ~$13K off, it becomes much less than a loaded Fusion Sport AWD (closest twin). What sets the MKZ apart from a Fusion, is the quality of materials inside and out. On an MKZ, you get real wood, or real aluminum trim on the interior, vs. painted plastics in the Fusion. The same applies on the exterior. The bright trim you see – is real polished metal – not chromed plastic. You also cannot get THXII in a Fusion.
Power from the 3.5 Duratec is quite nice. It’s not a hot rod by any means, but it can get out its own way (something my Focus couldn’t do). The 6-spd Aisin auto has been great. Handling is good with the stiffer suspension (Sport package) and AWD. It does feel a little heavy in corners (because it is heavy). You can’t toss it around corners like I could in the 1000lb-lighter Focus. My biggest complaint would be the OE tires. With the Sport Appearance package, comes very nice 18” wheels, and Goodyear Eagle RSAs. These tires are horrible, and need to be retired. I picked up a set of 16” steelies + Altimax Artics from DTD last winter. I never got to try them out, because we didn’t have any snowfall above 2” last year. MPG is average-to-mediocre in this class. EPA is 17/24. I easily beat that, but it’s still not great. Commuting to work in “mixed-City” driving, I average ~19.5 MPG. My Jeep gets almost the same, and it’s 1000 lbs heavier, more brick-like, and has more HP. I do drive somewhat-spirited. We took one extended trip in the MKZ, and got averaged 26.5 MPG during extreme summer heat, with a family of 4, and trunk almost full. I was satisfied. For comparison, a new Pentastar Charger AWD EPA is 18/27 (8-spd auto), a Hemi AWD Charger is rated at 15/23, and an SHO gets 17/25.
I recently checked the KBB and Edmunds trade-in price. It’s now worth half of original sticker on a trade. It is almost 3 model years old, but I’ve had it for less than 2 years. The trade-in is currently only $2K more than a loaded Fusion Sport AWD of the same year/mileage. This is discouraging.
The ride is smooth, quiet, and firm on the highway. It’s still tight and rattle-free after 21K+ miles. Would I buy another one? Sure – if I can get $13K off again. However, I would never spend close to sticker on it. At sticker, I would definitely cross-shop an SHO, Charger R/T AWD, 300 Hemi AWD, Durango, Explorer, truck, etc. You can also find 1 yr-old MKS Ecoboosts for the low to mid $30ks (that’s over $20k off new!), with mileage in the teens. I am interested in how the 13’ MKZ models do. The 3.7 AWD sounds tempting.
Here's a couple of pics:
The White Platinum Tri-Coat looks nice when clean. It's a pearlish color, with multi-colored flakes:
