Payne: Lincoln Continental takes a back seat to none

Posted by hpayne on November 7, 2016

conti_fr

When presidents travel, they leave traffic nightmares in their wake, as any commuter can attest who’s been stuck in motorcade gridlock on Interstate 94 outside Detroit Metro. Over the last eight years, President Obama has descended on Los Angeles for fundraisers so many times that locals have dubbed his visits “Obamageddon.”

I arrived right smack in the middle of “Obamageddon: Part 30” last week. And endured it in the nicest possible place: the back of a 2017 Lincoln Continental.

To compete against Teutonic performance sedans, Ford’s luxury brand is resurrecting the Continental name to emphasize passenger comfort first — and Nurburgring lap times second. It begins with reinventing the backseat space. With one eye on the U.S. market and the other on China’s limo-loving nouveau riche, Lincoln has outfitted the back as if it were your living room Barcalounger.

I arrived at LAX airport at 3 p.m. and was hustled into the Continental’s rear suite for my 15-mile drive to the Hotel Bel Air, the appropriately luxurious backdrop for Lincoln’s luxurious media launch. The journey should have taken 45 minutes in afternoon traffic. It took us 2 hours, 30 minutes in Obamageddon.

Motorcade One shut down Sunset Boulevard, cutting West L.A. in half and sealing our doom. No matter. I was just getting comfortable. I’m 6-foot-5 and even a big luxury car’s back seat can cramp my giraffe legs with the passenger seat moved all the way back. But a thoughtful button at my right elbow allowed me to roll the front seat forward, opening acres of room. After flying five hours from Detroit in Delta torture — er, coach — class, my legs audibly sighed with relief.

And at my left elbow was the biggest center rest I’d ever seen: bin storage, twin cupholders, climate controls, audio dials, sunroof control. Heck, I may have missed the fridge.

By the time I made it to the hotel, I had checked email, made phone calls, riffed L.A.’s radio stations, opened the sunroof and generally made myself at home. Only a jumbo TV screen was missing.

What’s also missing from the $45,485-$80,000 Continental is electrification. Tesla’s battery-powered, $70,000 Model S is the best-selling big sedan in America. Yet, startup Tesla still can’t make money on it. How about a mature automaker?

Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr. shares the same bomb shelter with Elon Musk, warning of global warming Armageddon. Yet he hasn’t followed Musk’s lead in electrifying his own land yacht, which tells me EV-luxury is unaffordable below 70 grand.

Tesla’s high-risk investor class may one day get its home run, but Ford pensioners expect a return right now. So the Continental is built from the most affordable tech on the market. That means a choice of three gas engines and a stretched version of the tried-and-true Ford Fusion CD4 platform.

The combination made for competent power and handling the next morning as I explored north L.A.’s highways and twisty canyon roads. Continental’s stylish comfort embodies the brand’s “quiet luxury” mantra, but put your boot into the car’s exclusive twin-turbo, 3.0-liter V-6 and you’re ready to rumble. Ford Motor Co., after all, has been defined since birth by performance (the legendary Sweepstakes and GT40 racers, for example). And the same engineering talent that has developed state-of-the-art mills for the Ford GT, Mustang GT350, and Ford Focus RS has stuffed Continental with its own 400-horse beast.

The 3-liter pulls the land yacht nicely. But the chassis’ 4,500 pounds is evident under braking and through corners, so Continental makes available the same torque-vectoring, all-wheel drive system that possess the Focus RS hellion. I didn’t try any 360-degree, Gymkhana acrobatics, but the AWD system rotates Conti nicely and gives needed AWD oomph come Michigan winter blahs.

With its full-sized value, the Lincoln is positioned to go head-to-head against the midsize BMW 5-series, Audi A6 and Mercedes E-Class in the $55K-$65K luxe market for owners who value more leg-room and less cornering G. So I’d opt for the turbo, 2.7-liter V-6 (which stars in the Ford Fusion Sport I recently flogged) with AWD — then dress it up in Black Label trim.

Offering the best Lincoln accessories, Black Label will get you the rear-seat package, “turbine wheels” (the coolest this side of a VW Golf GTI) and the “Perfect-position seat.”

As pleasant as the back may be, Lincoln’s 30-way (or 24, sans massage) front throne is its calling card. With 30 patents, Lincoln has gone where no seat-maker has gone before, separating the chair into zones that allow front occupants to adjust everything from head to thigh.

Take your giant scribe, who has cursed conventional headrests for their reach-around, thumb-adjusted, twin-rod inanity. The Conti’s headrest can be simply adjusted up-down-aft-and-fore by a button. Brilliant. As are the individual thigh bolsters to cradle my sciatica-prone left leg, while allowing my right leg independence with the throttle. These functions are all located on the car door — with further tweaking available in the center console screen.

Add these options up and you have a $70K luxo-barge that is much roomier than an E-Class and similar to the $72k Genesis G90 I recently tested, which is reading from the same value playbook. Indeed, the handsome Genesis was the class multi-way seat record-holder until Lincoln came along.

The Conti vs. Genesis slugfest is an interesting one. Both offer excellent interiors with tantalizing details. Score one for the Lincoln’s superior digital instrument display, while the G90’s horizontal dash is more modern. Genesis throws in a best-in-class 5 year/100,000 mile warranty; Lincoln’s got self-park and kick-the-bumper-to-open trunk.

The deciding factor may be which stylish exterior tempted you inside in the first place.

Lincoln has ditched its polarizing, winged fascia for a more old-school Jaguar grille and swept headlights (with delicious details like a grille mesh made of repeating Lincoln logos). From the headlights, a single line sweeps rearward along the beltline — over those big, irresistible turbine wheels — that anchors the mirrors and both fixed door handles.

To open the car you slip your fingers under the microprocessor-controlled E-latch like you’re holding hands with your mate. You’ll never want to yank on another door handle again.

Detroit luxury sedans are a rarity in L.A. Cadillacs? I saw only Escalade SUVs. Tesla, BMW and Mercedes dominated the four-door field. Conti hopes to reverse that trend. In a few decades I may be sitting in the back seat of an autonomous Lincoln. No driver. Controlling everything from the back seat. Waiting in Ivankageddon traffic.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.

2017 Lincoln Continental

specifications

VEHICLE TYPE FRONT-ENGINE, FRONT AND AND ALL-WHEEL

DRIVE FIVE-PASSENGER SEDAN

Power plant 3.7-liter V-6; 2.7-liter, turbocharged

V-6; 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V-6

Transmission 6-speed automatic
Weight 4,224 pounds (4,547 AWD 3.0L turbo

V-6 as tested)

Price $45,485 base ($78,510 AWD 3.0L turbo

V-6 Black Label as tested)

Power 305 horsepower, 280 pound-feet torque

(3.7L V-6); 335 horsepower, 380 pound-feet

torque (2.7L turbo V-6); 400 horsepower,

400 pound-feet torque (3.0L turbo V-6);

Performance Zero-60: 5.0 seconds (3.0-liter V-7, Car

and Driver est.); top speed: 130 mph

Fuel economy (All figures for AWD) EPA 16 mpg city/24

mpg highway/19 mpg combined (3.7L V-6);

EPA 17 mpg city/25 mpg highway

/20 mpg combined (2.7L turbo V-6);

EPA 16 mpg city/24 mpg highway

/19 mpg combined (3.0L turbo V-6);

report card

HIGHS VISUAL PRESENCE; 30-WAY FRONT THRONES
Lows Rear end loses character; signature

wheels/rear seat control only available

at premium

Overall:★★★★

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