2008 Los Angeles Auto Show: 2010 Lincoln MKZ

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LOS ANGELES — The 2010 Lincoln MKZ, which goes on sale next spring, looks like it could be the younger sibling of the big MKS sedan — and that's not necessarily a good thing. It made its debut at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show.

The face-lifted MKZ, a sibling of the midsize Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan sedans, gets a massive chrome grille similar to the one on the MKS (Ford refers to this peculiar piece of Americana as a "split wing" design). There's also a "sport" edition with stiffer springs, larger stabilizer bars, 18-inch polished aluminum wheels, darkened grille and headlamps, and seats with contrasting piping.

The MKZ also sports thinner wraparound headlamps and wider LED taillamps, plus new 17-inch alloy wheels.

A single powertrain team is offered: a 263-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 mated to a six-speed SelectShift automatic transmission. All-wheel drive is an option. Ford says 0-60-mph acceleration has been trimmed from 7.7 to 7.1 seconds.

Inside, the car gets a new instrument panel and center stack, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, genuine aluminum and wood trim and fancy Bridge of Weir leather seats with tuxedo stitching.

The 2010 MKS bristles with advanced technology, including adaptive HID headlamps, reverse camera system, rain-sensing wipers and a voice-activated entertainment/communications system. A new feature is a blind-spot information system with cross-traffic alert that warns the driver of approaching traffic when the vehicle is in reverse and backing out of a parking spot.

Like the 2010 Fusion and Milan, the new MKZ is built at Ford's Hermosillo plant in Mexico and goes on sale in spring 2009.

Inside Line says: Well, it certainly doesn't look generic. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent