Hands on: 2009 Lincoln MKS with THX sound

I'll admit up front that, though I've been driving for 21 years, I'm not traditionally a reviewer of automobiles. But when the good folks at THX arranged for me to try out a 2009 Lincoln MKS loaded with their latest, killer sound system, I jumped at the chance. And so I've spent the last three days touring in style and pounding out some of the best, clearest car audio I've ever heard.

Let's start with the audio: As mentioned, this is a fully THX-certified, and in fact THX-designed rig, featuring 16 speakers, 600 watts of power, a 12-channel amp, and a 10-inch subwoofer in the back. It's safe to say that the audio power of the MKS surpasses all the speakers and amps in my house combined, and the actual audio experience blows it away completely. I didn't even approach the maximum volume during my miles on the road, but at about 50% music was overwhelmingly loud while remaining completely distortion-free. Bass notes were crisp and drum beats poppy, while vocals came through with startling clarity. If you're used to muddy cymbals and mushy bass lines, take a test drive in the MKS and your ears will open up in ways you've never imagined.

It's not just a whole bunch of speakers: There's tons of engineering in this setup behind the scenes, all of it designed to improve the listening experience for everyone in the car. Specially aimed and focused speakers provide an identical listening experience to both the driver and the passenger, for example, rather than just saturating the driver's seat. There's even a center channel built right into the dash: A "slot" speaker which lets you hear the center track right where it should be if, say, you're playing a DVD on the video display (only while in park, folks).

What can the MKS play? If you can bring it into the car, it can probably handle it: There's a USB connection in the center console, stereo Bluetooth, CD/DVD slot (including DVD Audio support), and even a 10GB hard drive under the hood: It's a music jukebox that you can rip your CDs to, so you don't have to worry about swapping discs in and out. All of this is powered by Microsoft's Sync system, which lets you do just about everything (including controlling the GPS) via voice commands and is intuitive enough that you will almost never need to consult the (ginormous) manual.

I ran into only a couple of issues with Sync: It found all the music but couldn't find the playlists on my aging, 4G iPod. I synced up my phone via Bluetooth (and made several calls over the integrated speakerphone, all crystal clear), but when I tried to play music from the phone, it would invariably come out through the phone's speakers, not the car's. Weird. Everything else worked great, though the voice system and spoken GPS directions can be a little slow to respond: On more than one occasion I had already taken a required freeway exit by the time I was told to do so.

As for the car, it's all you'd expect from a luxury vehicle designed for an older driver. I have a couple decades to go before I hit Lincoln's target demographic, but I still found the car to have almost enough power, handle well, and was reasonably comfortable even for my 6'4" frame. My only beef with the handling was accelerating from stop: I never quite got the feel of the gas pedal and ended up zooming off the line more than I'd like.

You're pretty much surrounded by tasteful leather and wood while you drive, which makes you feel like you should be smoking a cigar while you drive. (Even my five-year-old declared it to be a "cool car.") Visibility is very good except for the rear window: Fortunately there's a video camera assist that shows you exactly what you're backing over; you definitely need it because otherwise you can't really see a thing through the rear-view mirror.

Pricing is in the $39,000 to $40,000 range, fully loaded. The THX audio is bundled with the navigation system, comprising about $3,000 of that price. Thanks again to THX for arranging the loaner!