Overview

New for 2006 is the beautiful and stylish Lincoln Mark LT.

The good news for buyers is they will get a thoroughly polished, well-trimmed, four-door vehicle that can transport four people in comfort, five people in a pinch, handle a payload of more than a ton and a half, and tow up to 8900 pounds. It's available in two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive, which is unique to the class. The latest in engine technology delivers best-in-class fuel economy.

Model Lineup

The 2006 Lincoln Mark LT comes in one body style but with a choice of two drivetrains. It's a full-size, four-door, crew cab-style pickup with an abbreviated bed and offered with either two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. The engine is a 300-horsepower, 5.4-liter V8. The transmission is a four-speed, overdrive automatic. The four wheel-drive's transfer case is a two-speed unit with a 2.64:1 low gear ratio.

Lincoln has trimmed the Mark LT with most of the features expected in a luxury-class vehicle, be it a car, a truck or whatever. Automatic air conditioning is standard, of course, as are cruise control and power windows and heated outside mirrors with integrated turn signals. There's wood applique on the dash and the inside door handles. The front seats are heated, leather-surfaced and have power adjustments for all but lumbar and seatback recline, which are manual. Two drivers get memory privileges for the driver's seat and outside mirror settings. In the back is a 60/40-split, flip-up seat upholstered in leather look-alike with a fold-down center armrest. Leather-covered, tilt steering wheel is standard, too, as are central locking with remote key fob, on-board computer and Ford's power-rail, overhead console hardware. The stereo provides AM, FM and MP3 output, a six-disc in-dash CD changer, speed-compensated volume and seven, acoustically positioned speakers augmented by a subwoofer with separate amplifier. Also standard are a universal programmable remote garage opener, carpeted floor mats and polished-metal door scuff plates. Black sidewall tires are mounted on 18-inch, cast-aluminum wheels on both two-wheel and four-wheel drive versions; the former gets lower profile rubber, a set of P265/60R all-season tires, while the latter rides on P275/65R all-terrain tires. Fog lamps are standard. So is a chrome rear bumper, complete with a black step pad.

With the exception of a set of seven-spoke, chromed aluminum wheels offered only on the two-wheel-drive model and skid plates offered only on the four-wheel-drive model, all remaining options are available across the two-model line. These are: power adjustable pedals, a power moonroof , and a power sliding rear window . Also offered are running boards, chrome box rails, eight-spoke chromed aluminum wheels, a bed extender, a limited slip rear differential and a Class IV trailer tow package.

Safety features comprise two, dual-stage front seat airbags; front seatbelt-use reminder; three-point seatbelts at all occupant positions; adjustable head restraints at all outboard seating positions; and rear seat child safety seat anchors (LATCH). Anti-lock brakes with Electronic Brake-force Distribution are standard. Optional is a reverse parking sensor system.

Walkaround

Lincoln's stylists did a better than decent job of making a square peg fit in a round hole in the design of the Mark LT's front end.

Distinctive marks on the Mark LT's side panels are noteworthy. Front fender side panels sport the Lincoln badge and a Mark LT logo. The mirrors wear chrome caps over a matte black base, which matches the mounting plate filling the forward lower corners of the front door windows. Door handles are chrome full-rounds set in body-color bezels. Chrome cladding visually links the front and rear bumpers.

Large, mostly rectangular taillight and reflector lenses bridge the seam between the fenders and tailgate. A chrome handle in a body-color surround above an oversize Lincoln badge opens the lockable tailgate, which also wears Mark LT identification. The license plate occupies a recess in the chrome rear bumper above an inset step pad over the optional hitch receiver plate. A single chrome exhaust tip peeks out under the side body panel aft of the right rear tire.

Climbing into the Mark LT is a major step up even with the assist of the optional running boards.

Interior Features

With the Lincoln logo and name sprinkled liberally around the cabin and a trendy color scheme of cool shades of tan or gray accented with tasteful wood and chrome trimmings, THE mark LT’s interior looks the part.

Seats front and rear are virtually bolster free, much like what might be found in the den of an upscale house or in an airline first-class cabin. An oversize center console with a deep storage bin separates the two front seats, which are adjustable along multiple planes. The rear seat, which is rather upright and fixed, can sit three, but with a fold-down center armrest, it's more inviting for two.

Against the most sensible competition, the Cadillac Escalade EXT, there's little difference in dimensions. Headroom front and rear varies by less than an inch, likewise legroom, which is ample. The Mark LT's front seat width is almost 64 inches, with the EXT's front-seat hip room at 62 inches. The Mark LT's back seats give 63.1 inches of hip room, the EXT's 62 inches. The Mark LT's rear door openings are more welcoming, too, than the EXT's, which offer less clearance between the seats and door edges at floor level, to the point we had to turn our feet sideways when climbing in and out of the Cadillac's back seat.

The way the Lincoln Mark LT's interior interfaces with occupants is all positive, even more so when compared with the Cadillac EXT's chunky, outdated, over-done, ad hoc hodgepodge of panels and switches. In contrast, the Mark LT's dash is smooth and sleek, with sharply defined, vertical panels and well-spaced, supremely functional ventilation registers. The instrument cluster is a quiet, symmetrical assemblage of well-shaded, round, easily scanned analog gauges. The speedometer dominates, with a slightly smaller tachometer to the left and a combination voltage and oil pressure twin to the right; the last houses the information display with compass heading, ambient temperature, odo/trip meter and vehicle system warnings. Tucked into the saddles between the two side gauges and the center speedometer are needles reporting fuel level and coolant temperature. Large buttons managing the essential cruise control, audio and air conditioning settings bracket the sizable steering wheel hub.

The stereo control head occupies the top third of the center stack, with the air conditioning controls directly below. The bottom third is filled with a cigarette lighter and the reverse parking sensor on/off switch above an iconic Lincoln label. All controls are intuitively marked, finger-friendly and ergonomically arrayed.

A surprisingly comfortable, ice cream scoop handle-like gear lever stands proud out of a chromed shift gate in an equally sleek and uncluttered center console. Next door, on the passenger side, is a pair of cup holders with removable inserts to accommodate oversized soft drink cups. Just aft is the padded cover on the center console, behind which are two more cup holders serving rear seat passengers. The backside of the console houses a power point and, when so optioned, auxiliary jacks for the entertainment system. There's a choice of overhead arrangements: a longitudinal assembly of flip-down storage bins and, when ordered, screen and control head for the entertainment system all suspended from Ford's F-Series' powered rail system, or a power moonroof. As for other storage on the LT, there's the glove box, of course, plus map pockets in doors and magazine pouches on the backsides of the front seatbacks, with space for occasional storage beneath the flip-up rear seat.

The Mark LT is a pickup, remember, which means there's a bed out back. Given the crew cab configuration, it's a moderately truncated box, at 5.5 feet in length. Lincoln offers an extender, a tubular construction that pivots up out of the bed to rest on the open tailgate, effectively lengthening the bed by about a foot and a half for some cargoes. When not extended, and with the tailgate up, the bed extender provides a confined storage area you’ll find helpful for holding shopping bags, gardening gear and plants.

You’ll also appreciate very much the Mark LT's Tailgate Assist, an internal torsion bar linked to the tailgate's hinge that bears some of the tailgate's weight, lightening the load when opening and closing it. And then there's the delicious irony of a tailgate that's both lockable to deter theft and fitted with hinges designed for easy removal.

Driving Impressions

 With the promise of three-valve-per-cylinder and variable-valve-timing technology, its 300 horsepower and 365 pound-feet of torque will not disappoint when called upon by the driver's right foot.

Fuel economy is rated at 17 miles per gallon in the city and 21 mpg on the motorway,

The Mark LT is a full-size truck, make no mistake. It rides like a smoothly for a truck though, without rocking and rolling over pavement heaves and mid-corner ripples. The Mark LT tracks around sweeping motorway on-ramps better than you’d expect a full-size pickup to track.

Steering is better than par for a pickup, with decent on-center feel and responsive turn-in; most certainly, there's no dartiness in the Mark LT's directional stability depth chart.

Braking was solid and linear. Even with the front-end dive that hard braking induces, you’ll experience no rear wheel lockup, thanks to Electronic Brake-force Distribution.

The Mark LT is rated to tow up to 8600 pounds with four-wheel drive, 8900 pounds with two-wheel drive. Maximum payload is 1460 pounds with four-wheel drive, 1620 pounds with two-wheel drive.