KenZ_GA

Certain hospitals will turn away patients without insurance (or require a credit card for proof of ability to pay) - and send them to hospitals that accept patients without insurance. Then, if the patient does die, the hospital will go after the estate of the patient for inflated billing. If the patient is cured, the hospital may force the patient into bankruptcy or take all their assets in payment for their inflated billing. You can negotiate down the billing if you get a lawyer involved who will go thru the bill line by line and require proof of costs. Neither system is perfect. I just wish there was a happy balance or some sort of low cost mandatory insurance and/or way to get the high health costs paid. I recently had a trip to the emergency room, luckily I could get someone to drive me and save the $5000 ambulance cost. But the ER costs were shocking - not that I am bitter or anything! ???

A qualified Yes to both... Freeway ramps tend to be longer in the south than in the NE, so some of those short NE ramps could be a challenge. Passing on a freeway, definitely yes. Passing on a 2 lanes road with limited sight and distance - sometimes challenging. A test drive should probably tell you if it works for you...

What I consider scary probably would not affect others as much. Don't get me wrong, the Hybrid power is adequate. Sometime you want more than adequate! When I travel to the midwest (often), there are many many miles of unfamiliar 4 lane interstate highways where you have semi trailer trucks travelling in packs, often in groups of 20 or 30, often on both lanes. When you come up behind them as they go slower up the long broad hills of the midwest, I just want to bob and weave thru them as fast as I can, not really wanting to be beside the truck for long in case they decide to change lanes. And then as you go down the next long broad hill, I want to stay ahead of whatever pack I may have just traveled thru. You are definitely going up and down that 60-80 MPH range to bob and weave and then stay ahead - and that is an area where you would want power to be more than adequate. Same thing happens in the mountains where I also travel often, trucks may be travelling slower than normal uphill or may not be in total control (especially downhill). and although there are some areas with a truck lane thru the mountains, more than once I have seen a truck going way too fast downhill and using one of those "out of control" ramps to get stopped. Again, I kind of want the power to be more than adequate to stay ahead of trouble - or get out of the way of trouble. One other area are the 2-lane roads which dot much of this country outside urban areas. You may have hundreds of miles and will undoubtably need to pass slower local traffic somewhere along the road. When you have that white dotted line that says you can pass, you need to get out, pass and back in rather quickly. Again, adequate power makes it interesting sometimes. That is kind of what I meant by scary. The unfamiliar roads, unusual topography and unusual traffic patterns that you might see on vacation that you would not see in local day-to-day driving.

I originally has a 2013 MKZ Hybrid, I loved that car. I traded it in for a 2017 3.0 Twin Turbo. Sort of went from one extreme to the other. While I loved the Hybrid mileage, lifetime calculated MPG was 41.08 MPG. I tended to use the MKZ on longer trips, vacations, etc - where I would typically get lower MPG because you are driving faster. Trips often as low as 35-38, while local driving was typically in the 42-45 range - once I learned how to drive how the Hybrid wanted me to drive! i.e. longer braking to recharge, slower starts, etc. Both MKZ's were incredibly quiet and incredibly smooth, the newer one more so than the older one, as well as the MKC. If the MKC (upcoming 2020 Corsair) ever comes out in a Hybrid version, I would grab it in a minute since that is more of my local daily driver where I would take advantage of the MPG. These three Lincolns were the first Ford/Lincoln products I ever owned - and I was quite surprised and the fit and quality. The MKZ being the vacation car was a little scary for me in the Hybrid version. Driving in the mountains and dodging trucks, I love the effortless power of the 3.0T engine. Or on those long stretches of interstate highway where trucks outnumber the cars, bobbing and weaving around those trucks is much easier in the 3.0T. Remarkably, while my lifetime calculated average in the 3.0T is right around 22 MPG, when you are driving fast on long stretches of highway - it has not been uncommon to get calculated MPG of 28-30 MPG with my high so far being 31.42 mpg. Either choice is good, depending on your needs. It is just a matter of finding the right one for the right price!

THX in the MKC is not going to give you the big booming bass that you might want from rock, rap, or hip-hop. THX is very exacting and known for it's clarity. I listen primarily to smooth jazz, easy listening and various "chill" playlists from Apple Music - and for that type of music, my MKC it is as good as it gets. I also have the top of the line Revel system in an MKZ, that one rattles your doors and your teeth! That one was probably a waste of money for me!