2019 Lincoln Continental Coach Door Edition gets the slammers it should have always had
This special-edition Lincoln with center-opening doors will make you feel as though you're in the opening credits of Entourage.
The Southern California native briefly lived in Sydney, and is proud to have developed a barely passable Aussie accent. He also serves on the board of directors of the Motor Press Guild. When not reviewing cars or nerding out on OEM premium audio, you can find manual-labor-averse Manuel doing his best to convince his closest friends to fix the very Porsche that delivered him home.
When Lincoln brought back the Continental nameplate for 2017 after a 15-year hiatus, there was one iconic feature missing: suicide doors. First appearing on the fourth-generation Elwood Engel-designed 1961 Continental and burned into the collective consciousness during the opening credits of every Entourage episode, the Lincoln Continental and center-opening doors go together like ranch dressing on pizza. Yum.
Happily, those suicide doors are making a comeback. The 2019 model year marks the Continental's 80th birthday, and to celebrate, Lincoln is building a limited batch of Coach Door Edition Continentals with center-opening doors that pay homage to the Contis of the 1960s.
But the Coach Door Edition is more than just a top Black Label-spec Continental with set of hinges moved aft. This Lincoln rides on a wheelbase 6 inches longer than the standard Continental, meaning there's a ton of legroom out back. In addition, rear-seat passengers will enjoy a back-seat center console with a hideaway tray table and tablet holder. Folks in the second row won't be the only ones in comfort, though. The front seats feature 30-way power adjustability, and no matter which door you open, a numbered sill plate will remind you of where your special Lincoln sits among its limited-edition production run.
Although those rear-hinged doors to the back seats are 1960s-inspired, the Continental Coach Door Edition offers the latest in tech, such as Sync 3 infotainment and embedded navigation on an 8-inch touchscreen that can also run Android Auto and Apple CarPlay . The Coach Door Conti will also keep your ears drooling with its 19-speaker, Revel Ultima premium audio system.
The limited Lincoln will also feature the latest in driver-assistance tech, such as a head-up display, collision-mitigation braking, blind-spot monitoring with cross-traffic alert, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control and automated parallel parking.
The rear-hinged doors can only be opened when the vehicle is in park, so no need to worry about someone opening these huge swingers into the wind.
Powering this special model will be Lincoln's 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 engine pumping 400 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission.
If those rear-hinged doors aren't your style, you'll still be able to snag a Continental with conventionally-hinged rear doors, but if you're hankering for some suicides, you'll have to hurry. Lincoln just opened the order books for only 80 of these things, though more are expected to be produced in 2020.
Pricing is expected to be announced at the beginning of next year, but expect an MSRP north of $100,000, with the first examples hitting showrooms next summer. That's a ton of money for a Continental -- roughly a $20,000 increase over the already lofty Black Label. But for folks who want this bit of iconic style, it could be worth the money.