2015 Lincoln MKC a welcome arrival to compact sport-utility party

EPA fuel economy: 20 mpg city/29 mpg highway

Engine: Turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, 240 horsepower

Transmission: Six-speed automatic

The compact sport-utility party has been raging for a couple of years now and shows no signs of abating, right on through 2020.

Slowly and perhaps a tad too conservatively, Lincoln has refreshed, redesigned and relaunched six vehicles, four of which are crossovers or sport-utility vehicles.

The Lincoln home page (www.lincoln.com) has a big fat tab labeled FUTURE VEHICLES. Until the 2016 MKX and Continental concept pop out of that folder and into dealerships, the 2015 MKC luxury compact crossover remains the news.

The Good:

Exterior design. The MKC cuts a fine figure, one of the most striking in the category, with the Mazda CX-5 and the Volvo XC60 its strongest competitors in terms of looks. It's the best use yet of the Lincoln winged grille, which disappears altogether on the truly exciting Lincoln Continental Concept unveiled at the 2015 New York Auto Show. The MKC grille takes your eye along the leading edge of the hood, across its angry bird headlamps and straight into a deeply creased shoulder line that disappears and reappears as it passes the rear wheel. The doors have a deep concavity that is anchored by a lower sill between front and rear wheel wells, and tied visually to the front end's lower grille. No matter where you're standing, the MKC will catch your eye. In a good way.

Gorgeous leather. Although it was hard at night to actually see in our test car's unrelenting black interior, the stitching is superb. Especially striking are the crossing arc patterns on the door inserts. Without the $1,700 panoramic sunroof, it would be difficult to see in daylight, too. I'd recommend Lincoln's chic blend of Cream leather with Hazelnut or Ganache Truffle trim instead of boring black.

Rides like a dream. It certainly helps that our MKC had among its four optional items a control damping suspension worth every one of its $650. It rode like a magic carpet, turned on a dime and behaved like you'd want all crossovers to behave — like a luxury car.

Technology. The basic MKC comes with a rearview camera. Whenever the newest and most sophisticated safety technologies are available, I say buy them. Blind spot monitoring with cross-traffic alert is the most important part of our car's Select Plus package, priced at $1,100. I would add the Technology package ($2,295) to get adaptive cruise control with collision warning and brake support. Then there are forward sensing and lane keeping assist, just to remind you that someday, you won't have to drive at all. Active park assist is also included in the Technology package.

The Decent:

Efficient engines. My tester had the base engine, a turbocharged 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder with six-speed automatic transmission. It makes an adequate 240 horsepower with no drama, but the optional 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder's extra 45 horsepower would certainly brighten any MKC owner's day. The more powerful engine comes with all-wheel drive as part of the $7,045 upcharge over the front-wheel-drive 2.0-liter MKC, and fuel economy drops a tiny bit.

Push-button transmission? Between the right side of the instrument panel and the center console is a vertical row of large push buttons. That would be your push-button start/stop, followed by the transmission gear selector buttons. The very idea of this gear selector was controversial in our offices, but I got used to it quickly.

The Not So Much:

Black as an interior color. It's impossible to see anything when everything is black. Why would anyone but a livery driver spec out a car this way when there are really tasteful combinations of cream and browns to blend with several choices of woods, including open-pore veneers? The black-striped, open-pore wood trim in our test car hinted at what is possible to find in the Lincoln interior design book. (Let the aforementioned Black Label option guide you.)

Sync is not winning any awards. After its multiple updates to make it work better, the Ford Sync infotainment system is now drab to look at. It's easier to use, but with a recalcitrant phone operator that couldn't decipher my Midwest twang and refused to make any calls for me unless I barked out the actual phone number, one digit at a time. My husband's cell phone number is the only one I know by heart.

The Verdict:

The MKC takes Lincoln much closer to its goal of being the life of the luxury party. Designers have broken whatever fog they’ve been in, delivering stronger, more modern shapes and impressive interiors. Materials are first rate, and safety technology is a leading story. Rethink Sync, and we’ll break out the good champagne.