On the road, the MKX delivers exactly what buyers in this segment are looking for, with a relaxed and comfortable ride, assured handling, good brakes, a full array of available driver assistance technologies (including new-for-2016 emergency auto-braking) and solid crash safety ratings in case something truly unavoidable happens. An adaptive suspension system offers Comfort, Normal and Sport modes, which you can theoretically select from if you can find them in the menu system. Happily, you can also set the vehicle up so that the Drive and Sport transmission modes call up the appropriate suspension and steering settings, and done like this it’s easy to choose your preferred setup with the press of a single gear selection button. Personally I found the Comfort mode too soft and floaty, and I preferred the MKX in Sport transmission and suspension modes, which gave it a reasonably poised and eager demeanour, making it fun to hustle through traffic and around corners, without jostling anybody around.

Speaking of hustle, the 2.7L EcoBoost V6 really boogies when you put your boot to it (0–100 km/h is dispatched in just over six seconds), but it also lays waste to your fuel economy at the same time. It seems you can have your Eco or you can have your Boost, but not together. Official fuel consumption ratings are 14.4 / 10.3 L/100 km (city/highway) and I managed about 14.5 L/100 km in the city when driving with a moderate foot on the throttle, but when I unleashed the horses my city fuel consumption rocketed up to a rather alarming 20 L/100 km. (As an aside, I couldn’t help but wonder what this engine would feel like in the Ford Mustang in place of the 2.3L inline-four EcoBoost option offered for that application.) On the highway it’s reasonably easy to achieve the rated numbers, and the MKX glides along in blissful, cocooning silence.

Where the MKX is a little less user-friendly is in parking lots, where its bulky A pillars and thoroughly obstructive C and D pillars create some monumental blind spots. Fortunately an excellent around-view camera is available in place of the standard-equipment single-view camera, and it’s one option I’d highly recommend getting (mind you, an acquaintance who purchased an MKX didn’t like that he couldn’t turn off the split screen capability, and found the amount of information displayed to be distracting). There’s also an available active parking assist system, which will entirely take over the steering duties for you when parallel or perpendicular parking, although it’s better at the former (it usually makes a three-point effort when perpendicular parking), and you still have to deal with the vehicle’s somewhat abrupt low-speed throttle and braking responses. Once parked, the hands-free power hatch makes it easy to load whatever you’re carrying, and there’s no annoying beeping as the hatch opens and closes, just a brief subdued chime. More praise be!

In a nutshell then, the 2016 Lincoln MKX offers conservative good looks, a sumptuous interior, an admirably quiet and comfortable ride, and plenty of luxury bells and whistles. It’s a nice rig and a significant improvement over the previous generation version, and as such it’s finally a real alternative to Japanese contenders like the Acura MDX and the wildly styled Lexus RX, as well as pricier German rivals like the Mercedes GLE and BMW X5.

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