I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – when it comes to cars, my interest doesn’t lie with just one manufacturer, or one style of vehicle, or one era. I say this again because I felt it was relevant to the rather drastic change of subject as compared to the last post – the first spotlight from the 2017 Calgary Auto Show. I had mentioned that there were a few models in particular which I went to visit first in an attempt to beat the crowds, with the McLaren 675LT being one of them; today we take a look at another of those vehicles. With the first spotlight being given to a bright green, 666 horsepower, $700,000 super- (/almost-hyper) car, it’s probably fair to say that this is a bit of an unexpected follow-up; the new Lincoln Continental.

To be clear from the start, I can have a bias towards Lincoln due to my family having owned them (including the now-previous-gen Continental) but I’ll also freely admit that the brand needs work to really be competitive in today’s market. Whenever a new model comes out I hope that it’s the one to bring them back and be the vehicle with which which they truly find ‘their way’, and this Conti is by far their best chance yet if you ask me. It’s elegant but attention-getting, and is filled with nice details that reward you for looking further.

In person it’s stunning and draws attention without any one part of it really standing out as being flashy or aggressive. The body is largely free of drastic swoops or creases as compared to many cars today but has some beautiful detailing and also some very unique features – looking at you, door handles. To avoid it looking like a fleet car though (as Brian noted too) I’d like to see one in person in something other than black or white paint, so I may go hunting for one.

The interior was equally impressive; I made sure to sit in both the front as well as the back and spent some time looking through the various buttons and features – overall it was a very nice package and especially considering the car’s pricepoint, it definitely had some of the competition beat – including a few cars costing tens of thousands of dollars more. It presented very well with a clean, relatively uncluttered layout, though the ample amounts of chrome trim will mean keeping fingerprints away will take some effort. It also included a bit of wood trim which I am typically not a fan of, but I felt it was in the happy medium (for me anyway) between having just enough for it to not look like an afterthought, while not going too far with it. Interestingly, one feature which I hadn’t been aware of until I was inside the car (one which helped to de-clutter the interior further) was the lack of door handles. When I went to hop out it took me a moment to figure out how to open the door – it was via a button on the arm rest. With a push the door popped open! On the topic of buttons, amusingly we also discovered that the Conti has what is possibly the world’s most over-eager self-closing trunk lid. I pushed the button to close the lid just as Brian leaned in for a look and it nearly clobbered him in the head. Sorry ‘boot that, Brian!

Like I said above I really hope that this is the car for Lincoln, but in any case I think they’ve more than done the Continental name justice with this new model. I’d be very interested to drive one and get the chance to go through all of the menus and features in more detail, mainly just to satisfy my own curiosity.

I’d also like to see one in person in that burgundy they offer.

-Bill