Lincoln Continental Review--GOOD BUT NOT PERFECT

Well, today I'm looking at the Lincoln Continental and the Continental name is back on the flagship car. This is an interesting product from Lincoln and Ford because one of the main criticisms of the Lincoln brand in recent years as they have tried to get it going is the fact that they are basically rebadged Ford products and this is a major change to prove something a little different, a unique look, an attitude away from what you can get from Ford and it certainly has a luxurious and exclusive look. Now the way I look at Lincoln is as an upstart brand, even though it's been around for decades and decades, it's failed and to reboot the brand they're coming up with new products so it's like it's starting the whole thing. again and I think Lincoln's main competitor is another upstart brand and that's Genesis, they're doing a lot of things right, they're doing all in one pricing, you're doing pick up, delivery, you're doing everything included.

For five years, Lincoln I think has a challenge against that Korean rival who is doing a lot of things right when it comes to quality and quality scores on the sides. It is smaller than the Cadillac CT-6, which is a much more expensive car with which it competes. with the Genesis g80, it's a

good

looking car, it's stylishly detailed, it's got a lot of chrome, it's distinguished on the outside with unique chrome door handles that jut out from the beltline along the side of the car. Available LED headlights, a truly cohesive design. the rear and I think the rear is

perfect

and you have that Lincoln LED bar that goes from side to side across the rear so popular now that Porsches do something similar.

Now what I'm going to do is because it's the last hurrah for some, they're embarking on one last family road trip, they're going to cover a thousand miles in this new Continental, we're going to settle in inside, which is really the showcase of the automobile, we're going to add up the miles and We'll see what the family thinks about what the Continental is equipped with. With 30-way electrically adjustable front seats, that's right, 30-way they also come with a massage function for not only the backrest but also the bottom of the seat. This particular car was equipped with the $5,000 rear seat package that includes manual rear windows.

Rear blinds. center armrest with audio and climate controls power reclining rear seats heated and cooled rear seats four-way rear seat power lumbar a dual-pane moonroof and inflatable rear seats seat belts After several hours, the family noticed that the seats have Lots of adjustment, but the seat bottoms are quite hard. I also noticed this when getting into the back seat. Yes, the seats are firm, plus there is very little headroom for passengers over six feet in the back, unless the seats are reclined. There were many complaints after the accumulated hours of driving. this car, so what did my wife think of the Continental's interior and the ride?

I enjoy a sport here, as you know, I'm picky, yeah, okay, so what are the things you like about it? What are the redeeming factors? It's kind of

good

, I think so. It has a luxurious look, I think it's sophisticated, it has a beautiful big screen, it looks very easy to use and actually I think the level of comfort, if we take away all the adjustable seats, there's a lot of leg room, there's a lot of room of storage, I think it's a large sedan. so it's usable, well now you pointed out the screens and when you get into this kind of price range in this category of car, the screens are now getting bigger than this and the other thing is it's basically Ford's Sync system, that really doesn't differentiate.

Anyway, it's a Lincoln so it doesn't have a central controller for example like your Audi or many other imported cars so the screen is actually small for this classic car and then behind the wheel you have this digital board. which is great, but it's not that big, what I love and what they've done a really good job with is the heads up display. This is the best head-up display I have ever used in a car that you can't. Look at it from where you're sitting, but it's not like that, it's basically the same size projected onto the windshield as the instrument cluster behind the steering wheel, which is very wide and very bright, and even with sunglasses you can see it very, very well.

That's all fine, some things there's no wireless charging for your phone, which you're starting to see, and less expensive cars now, but overall I think it's a good attempt by Lincoln to produce a car that shows what they're capable of. of doing. but I think the seats and I agree with you is that they are doing it for a WOW factor, but although the seats don't really let you know when I would love for Abbey to see that it has some adjustments that I can feel very comfortable, well, you can't Beat a really good bucket seat, just well made with good foam, sure, that's fine.

I'm going to talk about the engine and transmission and you can tune out if you want. One I drive has a three liter direct injection turbocharged engine, 400 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque, that's good power and torque, it could affect fuel economy. We are averaging around eleven liters per 100 kilometers. Now there is a smaller engine. The engine is a 2.7 liter, the EcoBoost 8 debuted for the first time and the Ford F150 has 335 horsepower and 380 pound-feet of torque and you know, it's less expensive and for the average driver it might be the one you want to buy , but this one is 3 liters. it's doing a great job, so road manners there's a setting here in the center, you can adjust the suspension, you have what's called ride control or Lincoln drive control, it doesn't have a switch in the center of the dash, you have to go into the menu in the instrument cluster which I think isn't as intuitive as it could be but at least it's there so I set it for sport suspension to get through the corners and it's doing a good job people are accustomed to driving imported German vehicles.

Japanese cars and imports want more road manners and they want more return feel and this is as good as most of them and I think they have done a good job on the driving front in addition to their standard all-wheel drive in Canada and it has something like a torque vectoring system that pushes power to a certain rear wheel if you're turning a corner to help it handle better, so on that front it's state of the art, but overall, it's a good job. Would anyone want to do it? hurry up with this, I don't think for 80,000, like you say, I thought the prices here, yeah, they start at 53 for the base engine and 58 for the engine that's here, that's not bad money, fifty-eight thousand dollars a lot. car for that yeah you know it's interesting because I chose this car specifically for a long road trip because it has those multi-directional massaging seats and no one really liked them.

Now I want to say right from the start that on the driving front this car exceeded my expectations, the 400 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque from this 3 liter turbo is really fantastic so it makes a great job. I thought maybe eight gears would be better. The six-speed transmission is doing a fantastic job and the handling is quite good. If you have that type of Lincoln driving system you can change the settings, it would be more convenient to have a button, but it still did an admirable job, the steering could be a little more precise, but overall I think the driving dynamics It's going in the 'European direction and I think a lot of people will like that now, price wise, the car you see here is only 50 bucks less than 80 grand, it has everything you could want, it has luxury back seats , has the advanced package for LED headlights.

I got the advanced safety package 80 thousand dollars, a lot of money now what I mentioned is the Genesis g8 II with its sport package that gives you 365 horsepower, that car costs 62 thousand dollars all included if you want to go with the 5 liter that it's the 5 liter v8 that gives you 420 horsepower that's $65,000 total so that's what I'm basically going to go back to this car okay is there any compelling reason to choose Lincoln over something else based on this car, I really don't like the fact? that Lincoln finally has its own exclusive products, it's not just a rebadged front model, it looks much better inside, the styling is up to you, but at least they're doing something different than what they have at Ford, so that's what I really need to do the pricing.

I think it's going to be a hindrance when you have another upstart brand like Genesis that prices their cars so aggressively across the board. Unfortunately, family, right?