ZanatWork

I quote Steve Martin from "L.A. Story" : "I don't think you understand how unattractive hate is." Given the decades of existence and their long-reserved spots at vehicle debuts, I have to assume that the manufacturers utterly disagree with you on their place in the buyers' decision-making. Your complete discounting of them comes of as something between bitter and delusional. Yes, I know the main argument in your favor, I've seen it many times: if car mag reviews mattered, no one would be buying Camrys or Corollas. I attribute that to the mainstream media's shameless worship of Toyota and Honda, while most of the mags were more honest about matters. Given the relationships that are maintained with the "buff books", the manufacturers must believe in some impact. I know that the reports of driving quality across the main players in the car mag arena helped sell me my Contour many years back, along with the Expedition I have now.

Gosh, I guess they forgot about their anti-Ford, all-BMW bias! Actually, they've been brutal to BMW for a few years, now. I really do like the new Edge, especially the Sport. Torque is a GOOD thing, even if too few appreciate it.

Well, the addition of the then-new 3.5 V6 was kind of a big deal.

You take any vehicle on a skidpad to determine grip/cornering limits. Just because some vehicles are far less likely to be pushed near said limits, doesn't mean that it's responsible to simply skip that part of the test. It's laughable how some will chide the "entertainment", yet also chide the measureables just because they're not interested in the categories. Seriously folks.....

Are they still irrelevant after being successful in their market for something like 50+ years? I find their opinions to be at least as relevant as those with clear-yet understandable-biases on any given brand fan site.

That's too limited, though, and would mean prefacing their review with "tested only in sub-40 mph traffic in the urban crawl". What would be the point? In this era, there's plenty of legitimate reasons to criticize a thrashy engine in a luxury hybrid. I agree that added displacement, bringing the usual torque and smoothness gains, would likely have a number of positive effects overall. Torquey engines don't get near the credit they deserve in terms of power/economy, because horsepower is a sexier term.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2015-lincoln-mkz-hybrid-review That was an ugly review of a pretty car. While I imagine the usual suspects will soon be sputtering that C/D is somehow less than legit, guilty of writing for some degree of entertainment (as opposed to be dry enough to be a saltine with pages?), has a "bias against Lincoln", etc....as I personally found the MKZ interior to be underwhelming when I checked one out previously, and as the car has not managed to differentiate itself enough from its Fusion roots...it's hardly an unfair review. For those still muttering "bias against Lincoln", they weren't too kind to the ES range, either...hybrid or otherwise, and have lambasted BMW in recent years. So, I don't see many specific anti-Lincoln tendencies among their scribes. Apparently, the Black Label touches are nice, but can't overcome some non-luxury-worthy gaps and other details in the interior. This soldier in Lincoln's fight to change its perception issues did a decent (if thoroughly delayed) job initially...but there's nothing special enough about it to progress much in its very heady price market. I hope there is considerable improvement from the ground up in the upcoming MCE.

So, Ford got in with the Expy, and...um...the Expy.

I'm kinda looking at this backwards. I'd like a Lincoln "4 door coupe" or similar, but mostly for the purpose of gaining more use from the Mustang's platform. Given the stories regarding how the chassis went from evolution to complete redesign, I have to assume there are costs that would be best spread out across more than a single model. I understand that the Mustang is global, now, and thus should have higher overall sales numbers (by a good bit), but I'd like to see that engineering truly pay off more widely for Ford. I don't know that I can suggest another real coupe, as the market for them is truly niche and I don't see much chance of a full resurgence; something "grand-coupe-ish" seems to be the better path forward. I think that Lincoln could benefit from a sharper-edged model inasmuch as every luxury brand now is expected/required to have some sporting aspirations. I'm not worried overly much about the whole platform-sharing backlash in this case, because I've noticed very few complaints in the connections between, say, the past Infiniti G37 and the 370Z, the Audi TT-S and the Golf, and so on. There's a difference between "gussied-up (mainstream midsize sedan)" and up-engineered performance car. Also, I fully admit that I'd like Lincoln to follow up the headlines created by the Continental with something more daring than the market-mandatory CUVs and what-not. I'd like Lincoln to challenge perceptions further than the Continental concept already has.

Hmmm...it appears that a full-on exodus from the "krill grill" may be beginning. I have some concerns that Lincoln will be abandoning yet another "face" like this, but we'll see....

The Flex was up big, obviously needs a 2nd generation...! (it doesn't hurt to try)

You act as if your point cancels mine, which is utterly not the case. Some of us had wagons all through our formative years, and appreciate the lower center of gravity, the lower weight without the foot (or more) of added body height, and thus the performance and economy gains available. I'm very well aware of the reasons for SUV/CUV popularity, but I still scoff at people getting their "rugged appearance packs" on vehicles that will see, at worst, a tar-stripped road. Poseur marketing at its finest. The Focus wagon is miles more attractive than the C-Max, and could certainly be a good combination of performace/utility/economy for the brand, were it not for so many falling in love with "activity vehicles" that are wholly unlikely to do anything that an embattled "wagon" couldn't do as well, or better, while lugging around less weight.

I definitely would love that to come over, but am not willing to drop money on a BMW to make my point. It's really tragic, to me, that "wagon" is such a profane word to the American car-buying public. Maybe they should take on "estate" names for some trial marketing...because the unavailable-to-us Focus wagon (especially the ST) really does humiliate the C-Max in terms of appearance.

After some hours of contemplation, I keep internally referring to it as a "Jags-Royce". I see plenty of XJ and Rolls-Royce cues, with some admitted Bentley and Audi influence, as well. This isn't actually a criticism, because it'd be nearly impossible to not show any resemblance to major players in the luxury sedan market while trying to obviously turn some high-brow heads among their clientele. Kudos on the concept, Lincoln, and I can't wait for more pics to pour in. NOW...make the finished product drive as good as it looks, and make the overall experience a full step forward (or three) for the marque.

It wouldn't let me post the pic from the URL....

Literally just saw this on Facebook...I guess we should cite them, now... http://jalopnik.com/2016-lincoln-continental-concept-this-is-it-1694455362?rev=1427688234131

What Richard said. The Flex, MKT, Freestyle, Explorer, Montego, 500, and the recent iterations of the Taurus and Sable are all based off of the old Volvo S80 bones (granted, with varying degrees of evolutionary improvements). In a fairly real sense, the Freestyle (also, Taurus X) split its personalities and became the Flex and the Explorer. All this because American buyers are still allergic to the word "wagon", despite it being all they generally need....

If Ford sees an opportunity to make a fairly compact yet capable 4x4 that borrows many components form the various CUVs yet is on a platform that would be worthy of a real "1st gen Bronco" successor, I think they'd have plenty of buyers in the US, South America, and Australia at the very least. There is a crowd that really wants the Bronco to return (judging by the number of social media wishful renders I keep seeing), so maybe Ford can find a niche justification.

No worries, I'm well aware odds are thoroughly against such a thing existing.

At least he didn't say "mic drop", I was afraid that was gonna be inevitable....

Heh....so, you failed to defend the first point at all, admitted you're a troll on the second, and apparently think courses on human existence require a "John Kerry Fan Club" t-shirt or something. You've destroyed any potential of being seen with a valid opinion. Be a good little troll and go have a "manly cry" at the latest state to grant marriage equality or whatever trolls do.

A couple reality points: 1. The urban dictionary has about the same credibility as anything Kanye West says at an awards show. 2. The sheer amount of time you've spent worrying about defending some regrettable points destroys your "confidence" statement. 3. I'm a guy that knows misogyny is for complete tools, actually pursuing a degree involving that crap in our culture, so I'm more inclined to believe real data to your babbling... ...because real data tends to make non-backed wannabe "facts"...its "bitch", to use your vernacular, if not your glaring gender issues.

I'm sorry, I thought you were defending it being a "bitch car", not "chick car"? Should we assume that you have the phobias and/or misogyny that makes pathetic "men" refer to females as "bitches"?

Even an average car enthusiast knows much better than that, they also generally know better, and "consensus" is much more legit when it involves numbers greater than one. Sorry, car guys figured that out a long time ago.

Ummm...you really need to quit thinking you speak for anyone but yourself. As for the insecurity, I'm more sure about its location than before...but when you learn how to use "who's" correctly, you can be less insecure about the use of English. Goals are important!