Lincoln Continental

Which Lincoln Continental years should you avoid?

Going by 1,390 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Lincoln Continental years to avoid are 1990, 1991 and 1994.

• 1990158 complaints, 2.2× a typical Continental year, most often about the engine; and 3.0× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (15 fires, 5 crashes, 3 deaths).
• 1991203 complaints, 2.8× a typical Continental year, most often about the engine.
• 1994190 complaints, 2.6× a typical Continental year, most often about the engine.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2019 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →