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2016 Lincoln MKX First Drive [w/video]

The Lincoln Motor Company was one of America's great luxury symbols of the 20th Century. It grew from an aircraft engine maker during the First World War to become the car of presidents. The jaw-dropping Continental concept revealed earlier this year is a clear indication that Lincoln plans to build on its history and recapture some of that luxury magic. While the image of a powerful Continental thundering over a tony Westchester road is certainly romantic, it does little to sell cars today. Enter the 2016 Lincoln MKX. Flagships like the Continental are great, but Americans buy way more crossovers, and Lincoln's redesign of the MKX focuses on the needs of modern luxury customers. That means more and better safety features, a quiet interior with attractive materials, and classy exterior design. The potent 2.7-liter twin-turbo V6 pushes out 335 horsepower, outperforming V6 offerings from Lexus and Acura. There's also a new engine – Ford's potent 2.7-liter twin-turbo V6 pushing out 335 horsepower – that outguns V6 offerings from Lexus and Acura. All told, it's a tasteful redesign with some spotlight features that might turn a few more customers Lincoln's way. The updates are intriguing, yet many of them (aside from the V6's 380 pound-feet of torque) are rather subtle. So we grab the key fob to an attractive all-wheel-drive model decked out with the Reserve package and set out for a long weekend to absorb the new MKX. Several days of running errands around town, commuting, and a three-and-half-hour drive from metro Detroit to the northern tip of Michigan lay ahead of us. We're going to be spending a lot of time in the MKX, so naturally, we take stock of the interior. Our tester (we photographed a different one) is done up in a cappuccino leather theme, which means brown leather for the steering wheel, armrests, and the tops of the door panels. Another chocolately strip bisects the dashboard. The rest of the cabin – the headliner, the seats, the sides of the doors, etc. – is a creamy white. We sink into the seats, which are cushy yet supportive. The headrest is like a pillow, and the plush floormats feel made for bare feet. The touchscreen works well, and it's complemented by redundant buttons and switches, which we like. The MKX is generally user friendly. The touchscreen works well, with little poking or jabbing. It's complemented by redundant buttons and switches, which we like.

How the Lincoln Continental Concept almost wasn't

That Lincoln Continental Concept that everyone is so excited about? It almost didn't happen. Speaking at the private reveal event for the concept yesterday, Ford Motor Company CEO Mark Fields revealed that when the design team started working on the vehicle that eventually became the Continental, the designers thought it was just another full-size luxury concept, and were turning in ideas to match. The problem, Fields said, is that this was an important vehicle to get right. "A full-size luxury sedan for a luxury brand is a very important marker that, I think, sets the beat for the brand and it creates a lot of awareness and favorability if you do it right," he said. "As we were designing this concept ... we reviewed with the designers the themes. The first couple of themes the team came with really didn't do it for us because we want to make sure that every vehicle that we bring out with Lincoln moves the brand forwards in a big way. So we went through the first couple of them and we really didn't get that kind of 'oomph' in the pit of our stomach." The team was stuck with an upcoming debut and nothing exciting to show for it, until the past was brought into the present. "In one of the design reviews, we were looking around at everyone and we mentioned, you know what, why don't we call this the Continental Concept? And I have to tell you, the body language was unbelievable in the design showroom. Everybody's head snapped up and you could see everybody's eyes widen and they started nodding and they said, 'now we get it.'" Aside from the Navigator, every vehicle Lincoln currently sells is simply named a trio of letters that start with M and K. Fields knew that the large luxury segment sedan is important for a company like Lincoln, with about 1.8 million units sold last year and an expected growth to around 2 million units by the end of the decade, he said. "When you think about where that growth is coming from, it's still a substantial segment here in the US, it's a very substantial segment and even more substantial segment in China. As a matter of fact, that segment grew by 17 percent last year and China is the largest market for full-size luxury sedans." Given the positive reaction to the Continental Concept thus far, bringing the name back from the dead might be just the thing Lincoln needed.

Lincoln Continental suicide doors: A lot has changed since 1961

It looks like we've hit peak Lincoln Continental for the 21st century with the Coach Door Edition. At least, 80 people will be enjoying the best that Lincoln (and Cabot Coach Builders) can offer. We figured now was a perfect time to look back at the original Continental with suicide doors, now that there's a return to form. Make sure to scroll through the barrage of historical Continental photos Lincoln provided to us from its archive above. Lincoln was aiming to offer a design throwback to the 1961 Continental with its return to suicide doors. Back then, Lincoln wanted a car to compete with GM's " Standard of the World," ergo Cadillac. The goal was to make a car so enticing that people might want to buy a Lincoln instead of a Cadillac as their next luxury-mobile. It never stomped down Cadillac, but the Continental made a strong statement. Sales spiked at 54,755 Continentals in 1966 – Cadillac sold 196,685 cars that same year. For nine years (1961-1969), Lincoln made the Continental with suicide doors as the only option (barring the two-door coupe introduced in 1966). The car was offered as a four-door convertible or hardtop for most of the suicide-door generation, but the convertible was dropped after 1967. It was the droptop that was most iconic, and the car many of us picture today when thinking about that Continental. The pillar-less look of the Convertible with the top removed and the doors swung wide exudes class and luxury. This generation of Continental appeared in movies like "James Bond's Goldfinger", and more recently in "The Matrix." Celebrities owned them back in the day. Who doesn't want to exit their large convertible through suicide doors onto the red carpet, right? 2019 Lincoln Continental Coach Door Edition View 51 Photos Obviously, Lincoln wanted the normal Continental released for model year 2017 to take the world by storm. As rumors swirl of its untimely death after 2020, it's safe to say the new Continental hasn't exactly done that. What if it had suicide doors to begin with? Would we have been looking at the next Mercedes beater? Probably not. But still, we would have been blown away if that's what Lincoln showed us at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show. Maybe those in the market would have been too. The new Continental with suicide doors serves an entirely different purpose than the original. Producing only 80 of them makes sure of that. Maybe a few celebrities will buy one, but this one won't have the same cultural impact of the old.