#NYIAS: CAR WARS! Design Showdown, Lincoln Continental Concept vs. Buick Avenir — WHO Wins?

According to *my* eyes...

I gotta say, the Buick exterior looks pretty respectable.

The Lincoln loses points for the chrome bumper that reminds of the previous century's designs. Lose that, the Lincoln logos in the headlights, and the "I belong on a ghetto buggy instead of a luxury car" wheels, and it too would look pretty respectable.

Neither are my kind of car, though.

i like them both, you could give it a tie really, but more impressed by buick because i have high standards for lincoln. i expect more from lincoln. but a good effort from both really.

Both are great but I give the edge to the Continental.

This is similar to comparing the original Lexus LS to the original Infiniti Q45. Conservative vs. aggressive. For a premium brand, conservative seems to be more successful, so the Lincoln would seem to have more viability as a production model. And the Buick, while more adventurous, also feels like it has more of a mainstream look to it. You could stick almost any brand's logo on the grille and trunk, specifically Asian makes, and no one would think twice about it.

I think they both will do well against the Japanese and the Koreans.

Not Europeans, though. Not at all.

The Lincoln wins because it will actually be built and sold - and it will sell well in the intended markets - China - and the USA.

The Buick - while nice as well - will - like the Ciel and others - die on the GM vine.

And GM needs to stop doing that. The Ciel and Elmiraj had strong, positive reactions and when you have that kind of response, you (1) get the car into production and (2) use the name.

The Buick looks nice, until I reached the rear. Something about the way the window and trunk line slopes down looks like trunk space may not be practical. I know, it's a concept car, and their designs aren't always real world :). Then again, sometimes it looks completely different when you see it in real life, instead of pictures.

The Lincoln harks back to their glory days, for sure. I too don't care much for the wheels, and while I understand the grill mesh has the logo in the pattern, it doesn't look quite right either. Overall, I think it will do well, but as others have said it's not the car for me. I may be old and prefer my comfort, but this is just too large for my tastes.

The Avenir and Continental are home runs, the problem is that by comparison the Cadillac CT6 looks drab.

I went to the NYC Auto Show today and saw all three - CT6, Avenir, and Continental. In the flesh, the Continental and the Avenir are beautiful. The CT6 looks like (what it is..) a stretched Cadillac CTS - acceptable, a little dumpy, and nothing to write home about - I agree with Darringer.

The clincher - the Lincoln employee at the Continental display said that they expected the Continental to be priced a little above the MK-S when it debuts next year. However, the dopey Cadillac employee (yes they were both employees and not "models") said that Cadillac was planning on selling the XTS and the CT6 side by side and that the CT6 would go for $20,000 more than the XTS. Sounds like Escalade money to me ($80K to $100K) and sounds like this CT6 will be the next XLR.

Seeing the CT6 and the Avenir in sequence - it is obvious they both share the same platform and the Avenir is much nicer than the CT6.

I think the Lincoln Continental will be the best overall package (style, price, size) when it comes out and it will smoke both the Buick and the Cadillac.

Both are proof that America could play again in this arena. I hope they build them.

While I do like the Continental, I think the Buick looks more athletic and refined.

The Buick looks enormous. Can't wait to see how long it takes for the centenarians who buy this behemoth to back out of their parking spots.

The Buick. It really is a masterpiece flagship Sedan.