Ghostrider009

If you happen to have an iPad Mini and need a case, one of the gifts is a Shinola leather case for it. I checked and the case goes for $145, not a bad gift if you can use it.

My lifetime MPG according to the car's computer is 41.1, but the actual lifetime MPG by hand calculations of every tank is 36.2. Never owned a car with such an inaccurate dash MPG readout. My Mustang's has never been off by more than 4/10ths of one MPG in 16,000 miles. I got my $1050 yesterday, also, plus the offer of the free gift. Unfortunately, of the 4 gifts offered, neither my wife nor I can use any of them. More than my disappointment with the MPG is my frustration that I have 3 problems with the car which it came with new that haven't been fixed yet in spite of numerous attempts for a year and a half now. Not serious problems, but apparently uncorrectable by Lincoln, and now a 4th problem has popped up.

Man, I'd be happy with 39.5 if I could get that with my 2013. Last year at this time I was getting almost that much, but it has steadily dropped (in spite of the recalibration which was to improve MPG) and I'm averaging just over 36 now. From what magazine reviewers are saying, though, that seems to be better than average. Hope my check comes soon.

So does my Mustang. When I can't stop, I do use the steering wheel pad to operate entertainment functions. It is terribly unintuitive, however, and requires looking away from the road more than I feel is safe. I know what you mean about talking loudly, I have to do it in the Mustang when the top is down, but it works better in the Lincoln if you talk normally....but it still doesn't work more than it does.....to the point that I rarely even try it any longer. There are a couple of simple commands that it does usually understand, but not many.

There are no buttons at all on the center console, only touch pads and sliders (and nothing for 'source'). I have heard that Lincoln has recognized their mistake and are putting buttons back for the most used functions. Voice commands are pretty much useless for all things on My Lincoln Touch, at least on my car. It rarely recognizes either my voice commands or my wife's. If I am driving by myself, the only safe way to change things with navigation, entertainment, etc., is to stop and go through the touch screen commands. I have had other cars with much better voice recognition. For many years I have been a strong cheerleader for Lincolns, but after 6 months into this new one, I have changed my feelings greatly. This car was not ready for prime time when it was introduced, even though the introduction (and my delivery date), was delayed for many months. I still love the car when things are going well, but there is virtually always something that is not going well. The misleading EPA mileage figures are the obvious big thing, but the auto up/down power window resets, accent lighting default resetting, and My Lincoln Touch problems are constant reminders of the many aggravations.

I always ask them, and they have found a few. The only one affecting mpg was the one I had done last summer, the recalibration of the PCM. Even though the car would operate in electric mode at over 80 mph after that change, the mileage, especially highway mpg, steadily went down after that recalibration. The dealer personnel seem clueless regarding the mpg problem.

I did find a different oil change interval in some of the service information which came with my car, but went with the 10,000/1 yr figure which is what the information display advised me. My car was the first MKZ my dealer had sold, and I have found changes in the manual in several areas in more recent printings of the manual available online in pdf form. My problem was that the customer reps I spoke with both insisted I was wrong until they checked further and found that their mileage intervals were wrong. The last lady, a long time rep, retiring soon, was flabbergasted that she had been giving wrong information to owners all along. My selling dealer is in Sweetwater, TN. I've been back there twice, but it is a 3 hour round trip, so I have been going to a local Ford dealer in Blue Ridge, GA, who is authorized to also service Lincolns. Both dealers have very nice people, but they simply don't seem to be able to fix my problems. I bought my previous MKZ from the Lincoln dealer in Cleveland, TN, but didn't return there after being told by their long time service manager that my navigation unit kept leading me astray since it was only designed to work in very large cities, and I had never used it in a city larger than Chattanooga. He insisted it was working properly. I knew this was ridiculous, as did my salesperson, who took a DVD from another new MKZ which I installed in mine, and the problem was solved. I have pretty much lost confidence in FoMoCo service departments. I have also lost confidence in Ford's or Lincoln's ability to design easily operable electronics in their premium vehicles. I doubt I will ever buy another top of the line model car, with all of the available electronic options. I've owned 8 Lincolns, and the newer they got, the more difficult they became to perform simple tasks, and the less reliable they were. My 2011 Mustang is much more comfortable to drive, as well as much safer. For example, on it I can switch from streaming Pandora from my iPhone to playing a CD by pushing one button. With my MKZ, it requires taking my eyes from the road while making multiple steering wheel button pushes, or touch screen changes.

Yes, each time I fill up, I reset the dash mpg and the trip mileage for that tank, then hand calculate the mpg. I have done that every tank for 15K miles. I also save all the receipts so that I can keep a running lifetime average. I have never reset the lifetime mpg dash readout since getting the car. It gradually went up to 41.1 mpg, then dropped to 41 about 6 months ago, and remains there. Of course, that figure is as inaccurate as the figure given on the readout for each individual tank.

Lincoln customer service told me that I would be getting the $1050 check next month automatically, without having to do anything. Of course, customer service has told me many things over the past 18 months that have been totally wrong.

I just wish mine would get the mpg that the computer SAYS it is getting. My dash readout is wildly inaccurate, typically about 3 to 6 mpg MORE than I am actually getting by hand calculation, but it has been as much as 10 mpg higher than actual. I think that Consumers Reports was pretty much on target with the 36 overall mpg they got with their testing. Seems like Lincoln agrees since they have reset the EPA figures so much lower now, and reimbursing owners for their exaggerated advertised figures. My lifetime computer readout for 15,000 miles is 41, but the actual figure is about 37 (and yes, I do allow for variation in fillups.....I have kept every gas receipt for all those 15,000 miles).

I hope you fare better than I did with my inoperable heated wheel. I have left the car at the dealership 5 times to have the wheel repaired. After a few failed attempts, it was decided they needed to order a 'clockspring'. That only took a few days, so back to the dealer it went. When I picked it up, allegedly repaired, the wheel still didn't work. So I scheduled another time to bring it in and leave it. Then it was decided that I needed an entire new steering wheel. So I picked it up, and a week later left it at the dealer again for the installation. When I picked it up, it still didn't work....both times they said it had been repaired, but it didn't work at the dealership. As I said, 5 times it has been left, and now I will have to do it again. Since it's summer and I didn't need the heated wheel (I went the entire winter without it working), I decided to wait until something else goes wrong. It just did, the navigation is acting up, so I'm gonna leave it again. I've given up on trying to get the accent lighting fixed, it has been 'fixed' twice, but always defaults to white within a week or so....Lincoln knows about this problem, but no fix has been found. Ditto with the auto up down windows, which have to be reset regularly. At least I can easily do that myself. Very few of the problems I have had with the car have actually been permanently fixed when brought in for repair. I am extremely disappointed with this car after being very happy with it for many months. Seems problems started after the PCM recalibration which was to increase mpg, but it has actually gone steadily down ever since they did that. At least they say I will be getting the $1050 check next month. But it has been a real pain in the butt taking it back to the dealer so many times and having so few problems actually fixed. Calling Lincoln customer service doesn't help, in fact, it is just a good way to get conflicting and incorrect information. For example, oil change intervals. The manual gives several different intervals, and a rep gave me a 3rd one on the phone. She was adamant that I was wrong when I told her I had gone along with the one year or 10,000 mile which is one of them given in the manual. Then she was amazed when she found that she had been wrong with her 7,500 mile figure, and admitted that mine seemed to be correct. Damned if I know what is actually right at this point, one rep insisted it was 5,000 miles. Anyhow, the dealer didn't say anything when I brought it in at 10,000 miles.

Unfortunately, it appears I may just have to live with the non-working heated wheel. Three separate attempts have been made by 2 dealers to fix it, with the last being replacement of the entire steering wheel. After the last 2 "repairs", it was declared "fixed" by the dealer, but the wheel would never heat up. I am sick of fooling with it now, but may try again if the car has to go back in for different problems.

I just picked mine up at the dealer today. Had the latest recall done, and asked that they fix the adaptive headlight warning that started appearing every time I started it, plus the ambient lighting defaulting to white, and the non-working heated wheel. Got the recall done, naturally they couldn't duplicate the default to white glitch, but they did get the warning light fixed. Had to order a part for the heated wheel repair, won't be in for a few days.

Extreme northern GA. I am only a few hundred yards from the GA/TN/NC tri-state junction. The dealer isn't 90 miles from me, but is a 3 hr round trip due to the all 2 lane, mountainous road I must take to get there. There is one dealer a little closer, but I bought my 2007 MKZ from them and had a horrible experience with the service manager and won't go back there as long as he is still in his position. Only had one problem with that car, but multiple trips to the service department only resulted in the service manager insulting me and my wife. The minor problem he insisted was 'normal', was finally fixed by my salesperson by replacing my navigation DVD with another one from another new MKZ on the lot. All the personnel at my current dealer are great (I've bought 4 cars from them), but they just don't seem to be able to fix anything. I had no problems at all with the other cars I bought from that dealer. I am considering going to a nearby Ford dealer. The service manager says they are certified to do warranty work on Lincolns, but I'm concerned since several of my problems concern features not even available on Fords.

Unfortunately, it was not a fuse or anything simple. I took the car back for routine oil change and they checked the fuses and said I would have to leave the car for at least a half day for the heated wheel repair. Since the dealer is a 3 hr round trip for me, that is very disheartening. To make matters worse, after their failed attempt to fix the wheel, now I have the "check adaptive headlights" warning come up every time I restart the car. It's very bothersome to have to click the off button to turn it off each time. Also, the accent lighting has defaulted to white, and every time I reset them, the work a while then go back to white. Now the auto up/down windows often quit working and I have to reset them also. Needless to say, I am beginning to be a dissatisfied owner, especially now that I received the transmission interlock recall and will have to make another trip to the dealer for that.....they say they have to recalibrate the PCM again for that. Since the original PCM recalibration, my gas mileage has continually gone down. Last night I filled up and got a hair over 30. Dash readout was over 38, but that has been wildly inaccurate since day one. I was regularly getting 40-41 (by hand calculation) prior to the original PCM recalibration. To make matters worse, regarding the recall, my car does not have the problem the recall is to correct, but I have to take it in anyhow, according to Lincoln. This car is becoming a real hassle, unlike any of the previous 6 Lincolns I have owned. This new one has already had more problems, all of them still uncorrected, than all the others combined.