Lincoln is having a bit of an identity crisis lately. Over the past few years, its best attempt at a sports sedan has seen several iterations, including the Zephyr, the Lincoln MKZ, and now the all-new MKS. And once again, the 2009 MKS will hit the market with an older engine design, AutoWeek reports, with relief coming in the 2010 model year in the form of an EcoBoost 3.5-liter twin-turbo with 340 hp and 350 lb-ft of torque. For now, though, it seems like a pretty nice car, with a much improved interior.

Lincoln is hoping that those first-year buyers—and those who follow—will be lured by MKS features such as active cruise control and a version of Ford Sync voice-activated audio, telephone and navigation controls, the report said. The dashboard design is much nicer than some of the angular, 70's-retro themes the company has been churning out in recent years.

There's also Sirius satellite weather and traffic mapping and a monster 600-watt THX surround-sound audio system. From what we're seeing in the photos, that's certainly a high-resolution display worthy of a luxury car—as portable nav systems drop further in price, car manufacturers are going to have to do more to entice buyers to spend over $1,000 on built-in systems. Ford Sync is a good example of that.

The 2009 Lincoln MKS starts at $38,465 for the FWD version and $40,355 for the AWD model.