I grew up driving this hill, and many others in this area, and I'd never choose a car like the Lincoln shown here. Yeah, maybe it was able to perform up to this competition, but I've seen hundreds of cars being tested out here before they hit mass production. Mercury/Ford are among the most tested here in the Colorado hills.   I would PAY to see these same contenders come up here and do this race in the middle of February, and I'd be willing to bet that BMW would still lead the pack. On a personal note, in this climate, my choice for a personal car out of these would be the BMW just because they have a proven track record in winter weather, and they handle like a dream.
Note to Mercury: Why not try pitting your SUV models against the likes of Jeep, Chevy, Toyota, Nissan, etc. and try doing a similar race over "Oh My Gawd Road" or Fall River Road to St Mary's Glacier? Or even better yet, put your little MKS up against some 4banger hondas over the Central City highway?

You must admit, ford motor company has come along way. To even be able to perform against some of the most prestigious names in the business, is monumentle to ford. Who knows what the out come would have been at a much lower altittude, with the MKS having forced induction. GO U.S.A!!!

And one more thing. For those who really think that the MKS is more fuel efficient, you really need to stop looking at EPA numbers and look at actual car tests. The "EcoBoost" doesn't do any better than comparable V8's. Numbers are actually equal. I'm not bashing Ford here as I think that they are THE BEST domestic automaker to date, even better than some foreign auto makers; but believe me, none of those foreign automakers come from Europe... And like spatters80 said, I would certainly love to see a twin turbo BMW's I-6 in this test. I know that it lack 55 more hp, but the car is also considerably lighter and doesn't loose almost 25% of it's power due to altitude... No arguments to Ford for they are just trying to sell their products, but shame on both mags for making a video filled with false hype... amazing, because they didn't say these things when they tested the MKS by themselves during first drive reviews etc....

I can't lie, good job to the Lincoln... However, at the end of the video when they photograph all the car together, I really can't help to smirk at the sight of the Lincoln next to a Mercedes Benz, BMW, Maserati, and Jag. The MKS just doesn't fit in. And I must admit, I do think that this video is a bit bias. I mean, the test was constructed at 12,000 feet in the air, but yet the Lincoln was the only forced fed engine there. And every one knows that a turbo charged engine will always perform better than a naturally aspired engine at high altitudes... AND the whole 6 versus 8 thing is also pointless. Now and days it's really starting to matter less about the displacement and number or cylinders when it comes to performance. Even a 2 liter I-4 can get 300 hp squeezed out of it. They could have put a previous generation twin turbo I-6 M3 in this competition and it would have done just fine with the rest of the group. It's elementary...
But nonetheless, good job to the MKS, I'm sure it's a more than capable everyday car, but this competition is out of it's element (just look at how it bobs around towards the end of it's run instead of staying planted like a true Sports/Luxury car)...

Great moment for Ford.  EcoBoost Technology is a major step in the right direction.  Shame on Rod Millen, Automobile and MotorTrend for choosing high altitude when they know that blown engines have a definite advantage and naturally aspirated engines are disadvantaged.  Let's try it again with MKS/Taurus SHO, 2010 BMW 535i or 2011 BMW 550i, Jag XF Supercharged, Older MB E55 or E63, or  take the original challenge to Nurburgring.  Otherwise, let's call it what it is...