Lincoln is making real luxury cars again – Nov
Lincoln is making real luxury cars again
For a very long time, Ford ( F ) seemed to think it could get away with passing off somewhat nicer versions of Ford ( F ) car and SUV models as Lincoln luxury cars. In essence, Lincoln was selling what are known as “near luxury” cars.
Ford’s competitor, General Motors ( GM ) , has a separate division for this called Buick. Buick sells some very good cars but they don’t have the expensive materials and painstakingly developed driving qualities of genuine luxury cars. At GM, it is Cadillac that sells legitimate luxury cars.
Lincoln, meantime, was attempting to sell Buick-quality vehicles at Cadillac prices. A carmaker can get away with that at times, but it’s not a good long term strategy.
The Continental is Lincoln’s fresh flagship sedan and it serves the brand well.
Lincoln’s not playing that game anymore. Instead, it’s selling the good stuff at fully suitable prices. For example, I recently spent a few days with the fresh Lincoln Continental, a full-sized luxury car, and it is as real as they come.
When I got in, I was amazed with design and materials in the interior. Then I began it up, pressed the big D button to put it in gear and drove off down the block.
Inwards, the Lincoln Continental is warm and comforting.
The difference was demonstrable. I could tell when it went over a bad patch of road of which there are slew around here. The Continental was slick and unruffled. It didn’t wobble or wallow. It carried me straight on like nothing at all was the matter. There were no banging sounds or whizzing tire noises, either. It was just silent, comfy and managed.
With optional all-wheel-dive and powerful engines, the Continental drives with confidence.
The car I was driving didn’t have the strongest engine it could have. It had the mid-range 335-horsepower turbocharged V6, but it was slew. More than enough power played out sleekly, hustling the big car up to speed and never feeling shoved hard.
This is not a spectacle sedan, but if you like to drive the Continental will do very nicely. With all-wheel-drive and nicely tuned suspension it cornered confidently and felt good on the road.
From the outside, it was solidly beautiful and, on the inwards, warm and comforting. The seats were adjustable in every way imaginable, including some I’d never thought of. This was a genuinely big, comfy luxury car. Even the $65,000 total price tag, including a healthy serving of optional features, seemed correct.
The Lincoln MKZ, smaller than the Continental, has also become a contender in its field.
And the Continental was not the only thing Lincoln has flipped lately that has affected me. The Lincoln MKC and MKX crossover SUVs are both legitimate luxury vehicles that seem well worth their price tags. They look good, sound good and drive nicely.
I also recently spent time in the fresh Lincoln MKZ. I had been especially skeptical of that car since the last version had failed to impress me. This time, with just a few but significant switches, engineers and designers made the MKZ into a true contender.
Does this mean that Lincoln is fucking it every time and that these vehicles are all as good as the best you could get? Maybe not. And a lot of that, of course, depends on your private taste. But it does mean that Lincoln, once again, is a luxury brand worth taking earnestly.