Continental 2000 mile road trip

[brucelinc]

We just completed a trip from Minneapolis to Dallas and back. On the trip down, we spent the first night in OK City but on the return, we drove straight through - about 1000 miles. You learn a lot about a car when you cover long distances in a day so I will share my thoughts about the Conti as long distance cruiser.

 

The 30 way massaging seats are fabulous. Even after long hours I felt no particular discomfort and could have kept going if need be. Now that the car is fully broken in, the performance is quite impressive. It feels nearly as quick as my MKS which had a Livernois tune. I know it can't be that strong but I will find out when the tracks open in a few weeks. No one makes a tune for the Conti 3.0 yet so I will have to run it stock for awhile. The transmission behavior is great now. It shifts very smoothly and never hunts for the right gear. Shifts have gotten reasonably quick and more positive.

 

My MKS had a 2.77 gear while the Conti has a 3.39 so highway mileage is not quite as good with the Conti. Due to extremely strong headwinds on the way to Dallas and equally strong tailwinds on the return trip, the mileage was a bit misleading - around 22.9 going south and 27.9 on the return trip. I suspect the EPA rating of 24 highway is about right in calm conditions With most cars, I can easily beat the EPA highway number but this one is probably about right. By the way, we drove 75-80 mph both going and coming and didn't hesitate to use the turbos when merging or entering on-ramps.

 

Even in high wind conditions, the Conti has nearly zero wind noise and tracks very straight. They have done a nice job with that. The overall noise level is also very low. I wouldn't call it remarkable in that regard but it is a bit quieter than my MKS. Ride quality is also a bit better, although again, not remarkably better than the MKS or my wife's Taurus. What is much better than the MKS or Taurus is the overall handling, nimbleness and maneuverability. The dynamic torque vectoring works well as does the adaptive steering. By the way, the adaptive cruise also works flawlessly and so does the automatic windshield wipers and other tech.

 

Sync 3 is better than MFT in my wife's Taurus but there are some things I miss about the system in my old MKS. I realize it is a legal issue but there were things than could be done manually on my old car while driving that can only be done by voice with Sync 3. Finding a list of restaurants is an example. Another thing is that when the Nav voice comes on, the sound system is barely muted. I have to have the Nav voice turned up so I can hear it over the sound system. When using the full screen map, it no longer shows the music source, song title and artist. My old MKS did and I miss that.

 

I have music recorded on a flashdrive and that works well except there are 2 things I don't like. Using voice, when I say "USB," it begins playing whatever was playing last. I have to use a second voice command to select what I want. Also, if I select a specific song that is part of a playlist, it plays the song and then goes into a shuffle mode instead of playing other songs on the playlist. Another minor complaint is that I think it is silly to waste space on the screen to tell me whose phone is connected, that I have 911 assist, how many bars I have and the status of the phone battery. My MKS just had a bluetooth icon to show my phone was connected and that was quite sufficient, thank you.

 

Sorry for the long post but to summarize, I would say the Conti is a great choice for a road trip. I can live with the few things that do not impress me and I think my enjoyment will increase on the things that are impressive.

[akirby]

Sync 3 2.2 should solve the nav volume issues. It should be available via USB from the website but for some reason it doesn't seem to be going out over auto wi-fi yet. I'm probably going to upgrade the MKX today.

 

On the playing a song from a playlist - when you play a specific song that song could be in multiple playlists. What it could do is first search the current playlist and if it finds the song stay in the playlist, otherwise go to the library.

 

Instead of saying "USB" first, have you tried simply saying "play playlist"? I don't know if it works or not but it's possible now that the systems are more integrated.

 

I would like to see the home screen customizable so you can delete the stuff you don't want and add things you do want, especially controls like the heated steering wheel.

[brucelinc]

Mine hasn't updated over wifi yet. I will probably just wait for that since the volume issue is not a huge problem for me. I just have the Nav voice volume turned up a bit.

 

If I am in FM or Sirius, I have to first say "USB" to access that source before I can select the content I want. Just saying "play so and so" doesn't work unless you access the USB first. When you access USB, it just starts playing whatever was playing last. My MKS would respond, "USB, please say a command." I could then say the album, playlist, artist or song that I wanted without pressing the voice button a second time. Again, not a big deal but not quite as friendly.

 

Yes, a customizable screen would be great. Mine has a hard button for the steering wheel but accessing Sirius travel link for weather or fuel station info is buried in "apps" and I would like that on the screen.

[rmc523]

When using the full screen map, it no longer shows the music source, song title and artist. My old MKS did and I miss that.

 

 

Funny, I drove my dad's Raptor over the weekend with SYNC 3, and I mentioned the same thing to my brother.

 

The difference is, doesn't your gauge cluster show song/music info too? I know the Raptor's display doesn't show any music or nav info, making its lack of display on the the center screen more annoying.

[brucelinc]

The gauge cluster does show the song title but not the artist. It also shows NAV info such as the next turn, how many miles to destination, etc. The song title in the gauge cluster is OK for the driver but passengers cannot see it. With the old MKS, the song title AND artist was still shown on the NAV screen even when using NAV and the full sized map. The music info was relocated to the bottom of the screen but it was there.

 

You can always touch the "home" button with the NAV still functioning if you want the music info shown on the NAV screen. You only get 1/2 the map but in many cases, that is sufficient, anyway.

[rmc523]

The gauge cluster does show the song title but not the artist. It also shows NAV info such as the next turn, how many miles to destination, etc. The song title in the gauge cluster is OK for the driver but passengers cannot see it. With the old MKS, the song title AND artist was still shown on the NAV screen even when using NAV and the full sized map. The music info was relocated to the bottom of the screen but it was there.

 

You can always touch the "home" button with the NAV still functioning if you want the music info shown on the NAV screen. You only get 1/2 the map but in many cases, that is sufficient, anyway.

 

Right, I know how your MKS is set up - I have the same system on my Flex.

[30 OTT 6]

I saw the Continental in person for the first time this past weekend at the local dealership lot. I have to say that the car is gorgeous... inside and out. It's much better in the flesh than in media.

[akirby]

I just upgraded to Sync 3 2.2 and I confirmed you can just say "play song" or "play artist" from another source like fm or sirius without saying USB first. I assume playlists would work the same but did not have one on my wife's usb to test it.

[brucelinc]

I just upgraded to Sync 3 2.2 and I confirmed you can just say "play song" or "play artist" from another source like fm or sirius without saying USB first. I assume playlists would work the same but did not have one on my wife's usb to test it.

Good info. I checked yesterday and it said My sync was up to date. I will have to dig into this a little deeper.