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MKX 3.7L vs Edge Ecoboost I4 : Real World MPG and more questions


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Hey guys,

 

As you'll be happy to know, my wife is going in next week to trade her Traverse in on either an Edge or an MKX. Our sales guy (who I've worked with previously when buying my Focus) is pushing us towards the MKX because he said he can get the lease payment around the same as a similarly equipped Edge. (I'm X-plan, but whatever, I'll be reading the fine print). He actually said he would beat X-Plan, so ...cool.

 

Anyway, we are getting rid of the Traverse for 3 main reasons:

  • Too flippin' big. We don't need such a big vehicle. A two-row midsize SUV is fine for our needs. My wife has problems parking it because of its heft.
  • Thirsty! It gets horrible gas mileage. We want something more fuel efficient
  • Color: It is a dark blue and it shows every scratch and always looks dirty. She wants something in a lighter color (white / silver)

 

The Edge is an obvious choice amongst the sea of SUVs out there, but if I can get the MKX at a similar price, hey, why not?. However, I'm leaning towards the Ecoboost 4 to get better gas mileage (which the Lincoln does not have).

 

So, some questions:

  • Can anyone with real-world experience let me know if the 3.7L is much worse than the Ecoboost when it comes to MPG? I can see on the spec sheet it obviously gets worse than the Ecoboost, but does the Ecoboost really live up to its MPG numbers in comparison?
  • Does the 3.7L have a noticeable power difference compared to the Ecoboost?
  • Is the overall MKX experience that much better than the Edge if I end up having to pay a few extra bucks?

 

Note: We have not test driven either yet. We are going next week to try them out. We may go this weekend to make sure our 2 kids fit comfortably in the back seat (they are used to captain's chairs in the Traverse, but realize that is not going to be the case anymore)

 

Thanks all!

Edited by Anthony
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I'd go for the 2.7eb (available in both if you go high enough into Edge trim level, I think, right?). A V6 is going to be much smoother than a 4, turbo or not. Plus with the 2.7 you get the power and torque of the boosted motor. My guess (although I have no first hand experience) is real world fuel economy is going to be very similar with all three engines. It takes a certain amount of fuel to move the vehicle and all three engines will deliver that amount of power. The ecoboost engines will probably do a little worse mpg if you accelerate aggressively simply because making that much more power requires that much more fuel and the fact that boost requires a richer fuel mixture. Conversely, the 3.7 will probably do a little worse if you drive gently due to the greater pumping losses with the bigger engine.

 

The 2.7 is a nice mix of V6 smoothness, limited displacement (not really all that much bigger than the 4), and also happens to be the most powerful engine offered in those models.

Edited by Sevensecondsuv
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I had a 2011 MKX with the 3.7L V6 and it was smooth as silk and adequately powerful for all of my driving, towing (on occasion) and passing needs...she really had a good amount of "giddyup" when you hit the loud pedal....MPG wise, I could not get that vehicle to crack 22 MPG even if I drove it off a cliff. My driving is what I refer to "mixed suburban use"....small upstate community in Central NY with some highway driving and a little rural driving as well as small town traffic. I now have a 2017 MKC and it has the 2.3L Ecoboost motor and the scoot is there, but you notice the motor more....not bad mind you, but you definitely know it is a 4 cylinder versus the V6 on my MKX. Also the MKC is smaller so of course it will get better mileage and I am getting 24-26 on average. What I don't understand is that while MKC is available with either the 2.0L EB motor or 2.3L EB motor, the new Nautilus (nee MKX) only gets the 2.0L EB motor....in my opinion MKC/Corsair should have 1.5L EB as standard and 2.0L EB as upgrade and Nautilus should have 2.3L EB and 3.0L V6 EB as upgrade...but I digress...

 

All in all, you will see similar numbers of either the 2.0L EB Edge or 3.7L NA MKX since you will be into the loud pedal a bit more in the Edge to get the same driving dynamic as you will with the comparatively effortless amount of that "giddyup" in the MKX with the NA V6...of course, take 'em both out for a ride and see the acceleration dynamics of each vehicle for yourself.

 

One thing I enjoy as a Lincoln owner is not seeing yourself coming and going everywhere you drive...

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We have a 2016 MKX with the 3.7L. It’s a good engine but you really have to stomp on the gas to get it going at low speeds. The ecoboost by contrast has tons of torque just off idle but runs out of steam around 5000 rpm. I much prefer the ecoboost personally but your wife probably won’t care. If we had a choice I would have gotten the 2.7L but we didn’t want to wait to special order.

 

We’re averaging around 21 mpg. I’m also averaging 21 in my 3.5L ecoboost F150. I had a 2.0LEB fusion previously and I averaged around 22 mpg. My experience with ecoboosts is great off the line torque and everyday drive ability with a wider range of mpg. If you drive it right you can do a lot better than the 3.7L but drive it wrong and you can do a lot worse, too. It’s more sensitive.

 

We found the MKX to have more comfortable seats and we liked the center console design. It is a bit quieter. Stay away from the 21” wheels in either case - there are only one or two all season tire choices. Other than that it’s just personal preference.

 

The longer Lincoln warranty and free pick up is really nice, too.

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I don't have any real world experience with the 3.7L V6, but before we purchased our Explorer, we test drove the 3.5L V6 and 2.3EB back to back, and the 2.3EB just drove better. Around town, with a lot of idling waiting for kids to get out of school, my wife averages around 16 mpg, but she's a bit of a lead foot. Out on the freeway, I don't have any trouble getting 22 to 25 mpg depending on speed & headwind.

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I know this won't make things any easier on you but I will say a few things about the 3.7L V6 vs the 2.0L EB.

 

I've had both engines in many different Fords and Lincolns. The 2.0L EB is MUCH more efficient depending on how you drive, while the 3.7L is a little more consistent. You will get better mileage out of he 2.0L either way, but it may not be as big as you expected depending on how you like to drive it.

 

I had a 2015 Edge SE 2.0L and got about 26MPG, a HUGE improvement over the 18MPG I got in my 3.7L 2013 MKX. My sister has a 2010 Edge with a 3.5L and gets 21MPG.

 

For reference, I get about 19MPG in my 2.7L 2018 MKX and 22MPG in my 2.7L 2018 F-150 XLT. The MKX is just not a fuel sipper, no matter what.

 

The big issue for me with the 3.7L V6 is just the transmission tuning, this is something ALL of the EcoBoost engines do much better. Any of the 3.5/3.7L V6 engines are coupled with a transmission tune that's conspicuously unrefined and lazy. I don't know why this is but that ultimately means the 2.0L EcoBosot engine feels miles more refined than the 3.7L and it's noticeably quieter. My 2015 Edge SE was much quieter than any of my Lincoln MKXs. I just think, the 2.0L EB is a gem, I love the way that engine drives and would ultimately prefer it to the 3.7L V6. The good thing about the 3.7L is that it's quicker off the line.

Edited by Assimilator
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Thanks for the input gents. It seems there is a good difference and the Ecoboost 4 gets a noticeable better MPG. My wife is mostly "around town" driving and has a very light foot. On the weekends we use her car as the family highway cruiser. She would kill me if we bought something that had as dismal fuel economy as her Traverse, so I think we are going to look at the Edge over the MKX simply for the engine choice unless the MKX absolutely wows her over the Edge.

 

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Edited by Anthony
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.

Yes, and that makes zero sense to me as you can get the smaller MKC with the larger 2.3L Ecoboost....

 

But you can also get the MKX with the larger 2.7L which obviously isn't available on MKC. I do agree the 2.3LEB would make more sense. They must be trying to simplify production by sharing the same engines with both the Edge and Nautilus.

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But you can also get the MKX with the larger 2.7L which obviously isn't available on MKC. I do agree the 2.3LEB would make more sense. They must be trying to simplify production by sharing the same engines with both the Edge and Nautilus.

Does any CD4 vehicle use the 2.3L? Wonder if there is some weird packaging issue with it.

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We have owned a 2011 mkx with the 3.7 and awd, honestly I was never impressed with the vehicle as a whole, the 3.7 was fine and had plenty of get up when needed but was never anything that great. We replaced it with a 2016 mustang gt and I honestly believe the mustang is more quiet on the highway than the Lincoln was. The Lincoln would regularly get 21.5-22 on the highway. My wife had back surgery and is having trouble getting in and out of her mustang but loves the car. We decided to buy A 2016 mkx reserve win the 2.7 in it, cant say how impressed I am with the whole car, feels completely different from the 11, the 2.7 is impressive and in our first road trip got 24.7 round trip.

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Does any CD4 vehicle use the 2.3L? Wonder if there is some weird packaging issue with it.

No other cd4s. I doubt it’s packaging since it fits in Focus RS. More probable that it’s factory location - only Flat Rock and Louisville are using the 2.3 right now (I think).

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No other cd4s. I doubt its packaging since it fits in Focus RS. More probable that its factory location - only Flat Rock and Louisville are using the 2.3 right now (I think).

MKC and Focus are same platform, maybe something with the way and point the transmission lines up to the drivetrain or a crash provision in the structure, but most likely was capacity or CAFE. Plus with the next Nautilus less than 3 years away (summer 2021) they could have not seen the need to pay for the recertification of the 2.3 8 speed combo. There is the solution on the showroom floor if someone thinks its under powered with the 2.0L.

Edited by jasonj80
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We have owned a 2011 mkx with the 3.7 and awd, honestly I was never impressed with the vehicle as a whole, the 3.7 was fine and had plenty of get up when needed but was never anything that great. We replaced it with a 2016 mustang gt and I honestly believe the mustang is more quiet on the highway than the Lincoln was. The Lincoln would regularly get 21.5-22 on the highway. My wife had back surgery and is having trouble getting in and out of her mustang but loves the car. We decided to buy A 2016 mkx reserve win the 2.7 in it, cant say how impressed I am with the whole car, feels completely different from the 11, the 2.7 is impressive and in our first road trip got 24.7 round trip.

 

I'm glad you brought that up. They have a leftover 2017 Premier in the exact color we want with the turbo 2.7L. I can't find X-Plan pricing on it on the Ford Partner site because they only list 2018's. I'm also not sure a 2017 model would get any of the current incentives either, so it may be a moot point. But it sure looks purdy and it gets a tiny bit better MPG than the 3.7L which could sway my wife into getting that over the Edge.

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I'm glad you brought that up. They have a leftover 2017 Premier in the exact color we want with the turbo 2.7L. I can't find X-Plan pricing on it on the Ford Partner site because they only list 2018's. I'm also not sure a 2017 model would get any of the current incentives either, so it may be a moot point. But it sure looks purdy and it gets a tiny bit better MPG than the 3.7L which could sway my wife into getting that over the Edge.

 

Post the dealer name, zip code and last 4 of the VIN and I can check x plan for you.

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