|
The last time I
wrote about Lincoln Continental,
it was the last century. Yes, December 30th, 1999. After 17 years, Ford
finally brings back the once highly admired American luxury label!
The history of Continental could be traced back to the 1956 Continental Mark II.
It reached the peak shortly afterwards with the 1961 Continental. Since then
the nameplate had been on a long decline, falling behind the
competition and was gradually forgotten by the American public. In
fact, the history of Continental is just like that of Lincoln itself.
At a point, Lincoln was considered insignificant to Ford in the
presence of Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover, i.e. the other members of
Premier Automotive Group. After the sale of PAG companies, Ford spent
a few years fighting for surviving the great recession that led to the
bankruptcy of Detroit. When it was fully recovered, it started thinking
about revitalizing Lincoln again, since this is the only unfinished job
left by ex-CEO Alan Mulally. However, the plan progressed slowly due to
lack of commitment. In late 2012, Ford finally established a dedicated
design center for Lincoln, which spent the next 4 years searching for a
new brand and design direction. The new Continental is the first car
designed by the center from scratch.
Looking at
these pictures, you might be
disappointed with the outcome. In my opinion, it looks incredibly close
to a
1998 Nissan Gloria/Cedric,
which means very old-fashioned and conservative,
blame to the boxy profile. There are some nicer details, such as the
Rolls-Royce-style waist line and special door handles that become part
of the
window frames. However, these things are too subtle. The front mesh
grille, the
square head and tail-lights have little character to speak of. If
Lincoln wanted
this car to symbolize its revival, then I’m afraid it is a failure.
Those door handles are very
special. They have no moving parts but a sensor that triggers the
electric motor to unlatch the door. This means the Continental has
soft-close doors, a rare feature that only the most luxurious cars
have. Another benefit is, getting rid of mechanical latches allows the
speakers to be positioned at an ideal position on the doors to improve
sound quality. The design team tried to make a difference in small
details.
Unfortunately, they could not overhaul the mechanicals. Here, bean
counters still take charge. They think it would not be financially
viable
to develop a dedicated platform for the Continental, nor Lincoln had a
plan to introduce multiple models based on a new common platform. This
means the best the Continental can use is the front-wheel-drive,
transverse-engined platform of the Ford Fusion/Mondeo/Lincoln MKZ. This
platform is
not bad in its own right, but is it good enough for a luxury car? I
doubt. By stretching its wheelbase by 150 mm, the Lincoln realizes a
full 3-meter wheelbase to match other luxury limousines. Likewise,
extending the rear overhang stretches its overall length beyond 5.1
meters, equalling the standard Mercedes S-class. The car's
proportion is also improved a little bit by pushing the front axle
forward. In addition to a long and flat bonnet, it looks more like a
rear-wheel-drive car, albeit a dull-looking rear-wheel-drive car.
Sitting East-West in the engine compartment is either a 3.7-liter V6,
2.7-liter twin-turbo V6 or 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6. The naturally
aspirated one is the cheapest, of course, but it is also the least
sophisticated (still lacks direct injection) and least powerful,
producing 305 horsepower and 280 pound-foot of torque at relatively
high revs. The pair of twin-turbo V6 share the same architecture,
including the compacted graphite iron block. The 2.7-liter unit is
exactly the one serving the recent Ford Fusion V6 Sport, just tuned to
produce 10 more ponies (at 335 hp), accompanied with a remarkable 380
lbft of torque. The 3.0-liter version makes another 65 hp and 20 lbft
for a round 400 hp and 400 lbft, which is exactly the same as Lincoln
MKZ 3.0T. Both turbocharged engines need AWD system – like MKZ, a GKN
Twinster setup with rear-axle torque-vectoring capability – to put
down the power effectively. All motors are paired with a slightly
outdated 6-speed automatic transmission.
On the road, both turbo V6s offer enough punch to haul the 2-ton
machine with dignity, but neither could be called sporty. Expect 0-60
mph to take 5.5 seconds at best, some way off the sub-5
benchmark of the class. The 6-speed auto is a weak link. It is neither
smooth nor responsive enough to serve a luxury car. Its calibration is
flawed, as it sometimes shifts at odd moments. It is also short of
gears, hampering fuel economy a little.
Predictably, the car does not handle very well due to its heft, size
and front-biased balance. In normal driving it is perfectly adequate,
but push harder or commit more on mountain roads will find the Lincoln
by no means a driver's car, because it does not turn as willingly as an
average European luxury car. Neither does it control its body motions
as tightly. Its simple adaptive dampers (with 3 stiffness modes) return
a ride that is either too soft or too hard, unlike a Jaguar which
achieves excellent ride and control simultaneously. Air suspensions or
magnetorheological dampers might improve its ride quality, but the
Fusion/Mondeo platform allows neither. Meanwhile, the steering is
progressively weighted but delivers not much feel. Running refinement
is decent rather than remarkable in this class.
The Lincoln's best asset is interior. Its design is clearly inspired by
the '61 Continental, with square acting as the main theme. There are
lots of soft leather, real wood and metal to make it feel luxurious,
especially at the door panels where many near-luxury brands ignored.
The dashboard looks conservative, but it leaves plenty of hardware
switches for
the climate control and audio system to please older drivers at which
Lincoln targetted. For younger buyers, the intuitive Sync 3 connection
system should satisfy. The only weak point is the instrument cluster,
which is a dim LCD rather than TFT display. Moreover, the dials
displayed look old-fashioned.
On the top trim, the front chairs offer 30-way power adjustment, more
than anything else we have heard of. Seat adjustment is located at the
door panel, in Mercedes style. Not only comfortable, the seats are
heated, vented and fitted with massagers.
The back seats are not quite as comfortable, but they are also fitted
with massager and are power-reclining. With panoramic glass roof
installed, headroom might be tight for 6-footers, but the long
wheelbase and front-drive architecture assure generous knee and leg
room, so I suppose the Continental suits more China (it will be sold
there with a 2.0 turbo as base engine). A center console at the armrest
controls air-con and infotainment
system.
On the downside, the build quality is not perfect, most obvious from
some inconsistent panel gaps. It seems that neither Ford's factory nor
its suppliers are good enough to build true luxury cars. Another
weakness is the lack of intelligent driving aids or safety features,
something only true luxury brands managed at the moment. In addition to
the mediocre dynamics, dull exterior and high prices, the new
Continental is hard to compete with rivals from established luxury
brands. A lot more has to be done to turnaround the Lincoln brand.
|
