This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Lincoln.

I live in the Land of Lincoln. So, who better to drive a Lincoln for review than I?

Ok, fine so maybe a professional race car driver because this bad boy has some serious horsepower under the hood. We’ll get to that in a moment.

For far too long I’ve done the mom minivan thing. For about ten years, in fact. Three years ago I decided to join the ‘crossover’ vehicle club and have decided to stay right there. It’s a good club to join and there are perks to it: you still driving sitting high up so you can see over most cars and you have lots of room for kids and groceries.  But the best part is that you aren’t driving a minivan.

Since I’ve crossed over to the Dark Side I have decided not to return. Since I also got a chance to see what all the buzz is about the Lincoln MKT I decided to take it and learn as much as I can about that car. First of all, it’s a beautiful car. I liked the physical look of the grill, the rear, and the overall sleekness of the vehicle. Second, I learned about the EcoBoost system. It has some serious giddyup when you give it some gas and it’s like having a V6 engine with V8 power. Remember that race car driving comment earlier? This is what I’m talking about.

Things I love:

New Car Smell – That’s always a good thing.

Fast Car – This car has great acceleration and is roomy for my long-legged boys. They were completely comfortable in the back seat and even asked, “Hey, mom. How much room IS there in this car?” So, approval from the leggy boys.

Sync – The Sync system that I got to play with using my phone. Due to Bluetooth capability, I was able to sync up my phone, make calls from inside the car, find directions to the nearest gas station, restaurant, or movie theatre and all while hearing it come through the speaker system. Since I’m new to using the touch screen in the vehicle I did all of this while sitting in the parked car.

Comfort level – The seat adjusted to so many positions that I almost tired of trying to find out how comfortable I was. “How does this feel? Does this feel better?” It was almost like going to the eye doctor and picking which one you could see more clearly. Finally, after exhausting every possible direction and curvature of my seat to the body I discovered that I could move the foot pedal. Luckily, it was right where it needed to be for my comfort, but since I have a petite daughter this would have come in handy for her.

The color – Ok, so this isn’t supposed to be important. But the color of the car I was driving was Tuxedo Black which had these sparkly flecks to it and made it super sexy. The following picture, however, is also a pretty color but I totally preferred the black. Mmmm. The Tuxedo Black was delicious.

Roomy rear – Wait, am I talking about a human body or a car? Sure, every woman wants a roomy rear. IN HER VEHICLE. This had a drop down space that went under the third row seats that was incredibly spacious. However, I think improvement could be made on the lighting back there. One time while I was driving the car I stopped for enough groceries that I had to put them in the back but taking them out of the car once I got home was difficult because it wasn’t lit well enough.

Things I could live with:

Design – The low-to-the-ground look of the car completely appealed to me, but I did realize that I was lower than my other crossover vehicle experiences. Normally, I like to be raised up a little higher, but the ride was so smooth and comfortable that I could come to accept this if I bought this car.

Keyless remote – I drove the car for nearly a week so I did eventually get used to the fact that the car started with the push of a button. By the time I got used to it I started driving my other car again and I couldn’t quite remember that I wasn’t driving a Lincoln! However, this is minor and would be something I could live with and yet I have questions about this: would I be able to remote start the car? Since I don’t have a garage this is great importance to me.

The radio – the radio system seemed like it was a little fuzzy and I tried getting local radio stations to come in clearly and wasn’t able to do so. I have Sirius XM radio and missed it terribly while driving the Lincoln MKT. It wasn’t hooked up in the car I got to drive and I thought that was a crucial missing piece of the experience for people that don’t know what Sirius XM radio is like. It’s like buttah, folks. You’ll never want to listen to local radio again.

Since I drove the car less than a week I felt like I was just getting used to some of the bells and whistles on the car and could have come up with more to critique about it, but I felt like this was a car I could definitely drive and feel at home in once I got to really know it. When they dropped off the car I pretty much got the basic “Here’s how to adjust the seats” and “Here’s how to start the car” but I would have enjoyed a better tutorial on the Sync system (unless they were testing how smart I was to hook up that technology on my own).

It’s safe to say that I’m pretty smart. I figured it out with a little help from a friend.

You want to know how smart the folks at Lincoln are? They want to give something away to a lucky reader. They’d like me to help them give away a $500 Visa gift card to a lucky reader who comments on the following question: what is it that you’re looking for in a vehicle? Do you have to have a good safety rating? Do you desire a GPS system? Are you looking for the incredibly smooth qualities of the Sync system? A winner will be chosen on March 19, 2010 by a random number generator. Hey, it’s $500! Surely, you can come up with something you’d like in a car besides “new car smell.”

If you visit the BlogHer.com special reviews page you can also enter to win  the “Lincoln Night Out on the Town” giveaway. (The “Lincoln Night Out on the Town” giveaway will include a chance to drive an MKT for an evening, a deluxe spa package for two, dinner for two at a local restaurant, and a night at a local hotel! This is a giveaway valued at $1,500.)

Contest Rules:

• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking to Twitter and leaving that link in the comment section.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving that link in the comment section.
• This giveaway is open to US residents aged 18 or older.
• Winners will be selected by a random number generator and will be notified by email. Please use a valid email address.
• You will have 48 hours to get back to me. After that time another winner will be selected.
• See the official rules here: Official Rules for the Lincoln MKT Contest.