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2020 Lincoln Corsair – Five Month Review

Four Out of Five Stars

I leased a 2020 Lincoln Corsair on January 20, 2020.  It replaced my hated 2019 Honda Passport crossover SUV (but that’s another story).  Since January 20, the Corsair has 1,400 miles on it thanks to COVID-19

What’s Good About the Corsair?  Corsair looks great with Lincoln’s new styling DNA.  Corsair is a great size.  It is Lincoln’s smallest crossover SUV, but doesn’t feel small.  It has great visibility from the driver’s seat.  It is easy to get into and out of.  The rear seats can be moved fore and aft.  The smallish rear seat is not a bother because no one is usually back there.  The cargo area is adequate for the occasional trip to Costco.

Lincoln’s new mantra is “Quiet Flight” and Corsair achieves that.  It is very quiet in almost all conditions.  Upon starting, you can barely hear the engine.  The attention paid to providing a quiet “sanctuary” was well worth it.

This Corsair has the optional 2.3L Turbocharged 4-cylinder engine.  It makes 295-horsepower which is good for a vehicle this size.  It is very fast when you want it to be.  The base engine is a 2.0L Turbocharged 4-cylinder with 250-horsepower.  In all honesty, the base engine is sufficient.  The larger engine comes with All Wheel Drive which is optional with the 2.0L engine.  Performance is excellent.  By selecting an option package I didn’t particularly want, adaptive suspension is fitted.

The interior is very nicely done.  Laid out in horizontal lines, the style communicates luxury and quality.  The materials are high quality.  They look and feel good.  The interior has slate gray seats and door trim panel inserts and this opens up the spaciousness of the interior.  The 24-way Perfect Position seats are good to look at and include a massaging function.  Actually, this is a nice feature once you have used it a few times.

One of the things I really wanted in the Corsair was the brilliant Head-Up Display.  Configurable several different ways, once you have had HUD, you never want to be without it.  The overall ergonomics are excellent.  The radio and HVAC controls fall readily to hand.  The instrument cluster in front of the driver is also configurable.  It just takes a bit of fiddling to get the layout the way you want.  There is a high resolution 8-inch display over the center stack.

Another feature I really wanted was Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop and Go.  This comes with Lincoln Co-Pilot360 Plus.  To get this, you have to move up to Corsair Reserve I.  Lincoln’s pricing people are diabolical.  To get Co-Pilot360 Plus adds $10,085 to the price.  Eeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!

You don’t feel like you have sacrificed anything by getting the smallest Lincoln crossover.

What’s Not So Good About the Corsair?  The Perfect Position seats can be positioned any way but perfectly.  They look like they should adjust more, but they don’t.  Comparing them with the seats in another Corsair they look about the same.  While the seats were included in an option package, they are a $1,100 option.  The base seats are much better in my opinion, so save the money.

Also included in the option package was adaptive suspension.  That’s $700 as a free-standing option.  The base suspension is better.

Pardon the French, but the fuel economy sucks.  For a small vehicle powered by a 4-cylinder engine, it gets around 16mpg around town.  My previous beloved Ford Flex Limited with the 3.5L V6 twin turbo and 365 horsepower, got better than that.  Admittedly, the Corsair has not seen much highway time during the coronavirus lockdown and I am probably driving it in the turbo a lot, but 16mpg is abysmal.

Picking nits:  the driver’s side rear door does not match with the front door very well.  This is a very early build for the Corsair, so possibly some glitches have been resolved by now.  The instrument panel sets up a buzz on certain road surfaces.  There is a rattle coming from somewhere behind the driver’s seat.  Can’t find it, but I can hear it.  My comparison is my Flex which was as solid as a bank vault.

I feel screen envy when looking at the 8-inch center screen.  Everyone is going to much bigger screens.  Ford just showed the 2021 F-150 and it is available with a 12 inch screen.  Maybe they don’t think that Corsair is big enough for a bigger screen.  I disagree.  After all, the Aviator has a 10-inch screen.  Don’t penalize the Corsair!

Would I Get Another Corsair?  Absolutely!  Lease is up in another 19 months, so I’ll order another one not quite as loaded as the one I have now.

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