Once upon a time, I thought we would never see a car in Lincoln's showroom again.
It was 2020, and Lincoln's last Continental drove off the production line. Before that, MKZ had been discontinued and Lincoln entered a new era without cars. They also said at the time that they would focus on the SUV field and build a complete SUV product line. All the signs are getting closer to that fact, but they don't say the words: "We don't make cars anymore." ”
It now seems wise not to say that the word "dead" (at best, it was just saying that cars would no longer be sold in the United States), or that it was premeditated.
As the title of our test drive article on Lincoln Continental a few years ago expressed in the title , "To Lincoln Continental: Obviously Clinging to It, But I Have Nothing to Say", now when I see this Lincoln Z, I actually have similar feelings, but the story line is reversed.
So this time we will do it again, to Lincoln Z: Obviously overjoyed, but there is nothing to look forward to.
"Z" is right?
Regarding the promotional packaging of the Lincoln Z car, Lincoln used such an advertising slogan: Z is right.
In this advertising slogan composed of an English letter and three Chinese characters, the English letter Z has a pun, first of all, of course, it refers to the name of lincoln Z car, and another meaning is that "Z" passes "this", which is read together, which is right.
▲ Screenshot of Lincoln's official website
This game is very networked, if it is replaced by which new power brand directly uses an English letter to name its new car, and with such an advertising slogan, I will not be surprised. But for Lincoln, "Z" may not be quite right, because this is Lincoln, such as aviator, navigator, adventurer and other names, are quite in line with the brand tone, but as far as "Z" is concerned, I think it is a bit frivolous, and can only be understood as Lincoln hopes to attract more young consumers in this way.
In my opinion, the most plausible explanation for the name Z is that Z forMKZ, in terms of size and positioning, Lincoln Z can be seen as a successor to MKZ.
On the other hand, the interior and exterior styling of lincoln Z is also a little bit unflinken (not a public official in that beautiful country), the overall styling style of the appearance is quite flat, not with the grace of Lincoln, and compared with the same flat MKZ, it lacks that uniqueness, of course, I am talking about the previous version of MKZ.
▲ Left i enjoy, right i cool
If I remember correctly, the Z was also lincoln's first model to offer two design kits, called i-hee and i-cool, with the former being more luxurious and the latter sporty. I personally prefer i-sharing, because i-cool has a bit of a heavy blackening force, and it has even less chrome on it than my Giulia, which obviously doesn't fit Lincoln's brand tone.
What's more, iKu offers a red interior, and the level of vividness is also a bit of a match for my Giulia, which is obviously a bit of a joke in Lincoln.
So I strongly recommend that even if you want to choose the Lincoln Z of the i-cool kit, it is best not to choose the red interior. In contrast, the red interior of the i-share kit will have a reasonable color. Here is still a praise for lincoln for providing consumers with a wealth of collocation options.
Inside the cabin of Lincoln Z, in addition to the rich color scheme, another highlight is the screen, which is very long. But as we all know, we usually don't pay too much attention to the screen in a very important position to evaluate, can only say that Lincoln Z this large screen function and gameplay should be quite a lot, the display effect is not bad.
It's just that this big screen occupies a very important position in the carriage of Lincoln Z, so that the entire central control shape has to accommodate this screen, so it becomes a bit flat and straightforward. For Lincoln, the sense of luxury is very important, lincoln Z interior shape is bound by this large screen, can only be through the leather material wrapping, and the details of the keys to highlight the luxury.
These buttons are good-looking, but the hidden buttons on the central control are not easy to use, the number of buttons is not much, most of the functions still need to be operated through the screen, giving people the feeling that these buttons are lit up after the vehicle is powered on to embellish it.
The multi-function keys on the spokes of the two-frame steering wheel are much denser, and they are also hidden, but the functional direction of each button is clearer after the light is turned on. This steering wheel actually has bigger bugs, which will be said later.
How does Z open?
Well, don't sell off, when you drive on the Lincoln Z, you will first find that the spokes of the steering wheel at 3 or 9 points are too thick, too thick to be called spokes, and may be called "width", which still has a little impact on the grip.
The overall driving experience of Lincoln Z is clearly distinguished, first of all, the advantages.
The first big advantage is the power system, first of all, the standard 2.0T high-power 246 horsepower engine, don't look at the maximum torque of 376Nm needs to go to 2500 ~ 4000rpm to issue, the peak platform looks a little small, but the low torque response of this machine is good, and the actual power performance is also satisfactory. Secondly, the 8AT gearbox does not drag its legs, although the action is not fast and fast, but the downshift is downshift, the smooth is smooth, it is good.
Another big advantage is the chassis, although Lincoln is a representative of American luxury, everyone may subconsciously think that Lincoln is the softness of the ship, but in fact it is not, Lincoln Z and I have tested several Lincoln models before (Continental, MKX, etc.), the chassis is very crisp and clean.
It's just that this crispness and neatness may make some people think that it is too hard, especially the impact of the bump over the speed bump will be slightly obvious, but it can indeed absorb the vibration very well, at least I think it is still very good to be able to achieve such an effect through tuning on the flat infrastructure of the horizontal front-drive platform and the McPherson form of front suspension.
And this also allows lincoln Z to maintain a very stable posture when encountering larger ups and downs on the road surface, even if it is at a slightly faster speed into the corner, the pace will be more robust, and the lateral support will be in place.
The next thing is the downside.
When you make a directional turn, the steering system will have a strange force, when you turn the steering wheel, it will remove the positive force, but if you keep the steering wheel angled, there will be another force competing with you. If you want to experience what is called "electronically heavy" steering, try lincoln Z.
Another drawback is the noise. Lincoln Z is generally not quiet nor noisy, and it is decent at this level, but at a speed of 30-50km/h, the noise coming from the chassis will be significantly more, but after this speed range, it will return to the normal range. I don't understand why.
Overall, it's not hard to pick a punch in the lincoln Z's driving experience, but it does have flashpoints. It depends on what kind of person you need. After all, in addition to the BBA, which sells well in the same class, there is another imported model that does not seek merit but seeks no fault, I think lincoln Z's main opponent is it, and Lincoln Z and it are obviously two different tones of the car, if you know what you want, it should not be difficult to choose.
250,000 early to start with Lincoln, is this worth it?
If you just look at the sentence "250,000 early to start with Lincoln", it is obviously not attractive enough, after all, 200,000 Audi BMW can be done. Add another definite sentence, 250,000 to start nearly 5 meters long Lincoln, so it looks different.
What's more, the 5-meter-long Lincoln, which is in his early 250,000 years, is a 2.0T engine with 246 horsepower and more than 6 seconds of ability to break hundreds. After this series of marketing number terms, it's even more cost-effective.
Obviously, if you take the Lincoln Z to compare with the similar size of the Audi A4L, BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Lexus ES, etc., it really responds to the famous saying that Lincoln sells, "The biggest drawback of our car is that it is too cheap", and your entry is already my high match.
But the world of luxury brands is not so simple, not that these elite consumers will not go online to pull the configuration table to compare, but whether they think it is unnecessary. Otherwise, Lincoln Z does not need to give such a sincere price, in the end, or afraid that everyone will not recognize this brand.
So, is it time to come up with that set of "luxury theories" to measure, lincoln Z has enough "you want but not just need" stuff?
Is that long 27-inch screen? I guess not. Is that a long configuration table? I guess not. Is that long back space? I guess neither.
Undoubtedly, the most solid foundation in the luxury car market is still BBA, because in the eyes of luxury brand consumers, the brand is the first in the "you want rather than just need" thing, not to mention Lincoln, many other luxury brands can not break this spell.
In terms of the enjoyment that the product itself can give, Lincoln Z has given everything that can be given, strong power, large space, high configuration, but it lacks a little charm of hooking.
To tell the truth, I think lincoln Z's product strength is stronger than Lexus ES, and the price is also cheap, but whether it can be fought in the market depends on your recognition of the Lincoln brand.
I thought lincoln would be more obscure in the eyes of most people, but what I didn't expect was that I pinched my finger, and there were several Lincoln owners around my relatives and friends, and Lincoln's domestic models also sold well. In this way, the Lincoln brand is still quite recognized in the Chinese market, perhaps the credit of the "lengthened Lincoln" of the old era.
Therefore, even though Lincoln Z can give not much "you want rather than just need" things, with relatively pragmatic product characteristics and quite a confident brand power, it may still be able to encircle the hearts of some consumers.
What about rebuilding a car?
In today's "world", even if Lincoln did not really say the phrase "we no longer produce cars", when they stopped production of MKZ and mainland China, everyone would think that Lincoln would only produce SUVs from now on. For many Chinese people, the cognition of Lincoln was initially "lengthened Lincoln", I don't know how much emotional dividend the "reborn" Lincoln Z can get in the "lengthened Lincoln" as a car, after all, this car does not look like the legendary "lengthen lincoln".
As you may already know, the Lincoln Z is a model that only supplies the Chinese market, which may be one of the reasons why it looks different from other Lincolns, or perhaps considers the preferences of Chinese consumers? But it also reflects Lincoln's continued confidence in China's car market.
In fact, there seems to be only one 27-inch screen to be found in luxury brand cars, and perhaps this is one of the market vacuums that Lincoln found?
Issue 1854
Author: Chen Houze