lincoln

The Lincoln MKS with an EcoBoost V6 engine is put to the ultimate challenge for speed and handling against four European luxury V8s up Loveland Pass, Colo. The challengers are the Maserati Quattroporte, the Jaguar XF, the BMW 550i, and the Mercedes E550.

Unfortunately, no real details of the challenge, such as fuel economy braking and handling, are released. More details about the challenge can be found at 6versus8.com.

We like Lincoln's new design language; that big winged grille looks good on the midsize MKZ. But the car struggles to separate itself significantly from its platform-mates: the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan. Its interior is generally nicer, but some control surfaces come from a common parts bin. The ride quality doesn't feel that much better than its lower-priced siblings. And much of the cabin tech, although excellent, is the same as you can get in the Fusion and Milan. This comparison leads us to ask, what makes a Lincoln a Lincoln? And does the MKZ have that … Read more

Cars.com recently to a look at the powerfully smooth 2010 Lincoln MKZ. At $43,000, this luxury car competes with the Cadillac CTS and Lexus ES 350.

Last weekend's Concours focused on vintage cars from Porsche, but also showed an array of rare cars from other manufacturers in pristine shape. Because of the well-heeled crowd that attends the Concours, including Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld, luxury automakers show off some of their newest cars and concepts. This year saw entrants from Lotus, Mercedes-Benz, Tramontana, and even Lincoln.

Check out photos of the newest cars from the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

In yesterday's blog we were all enthralled by a battle of four "clunker" trade-ins filled with "liquid glass", and lemons attempted to one-up the other by outlasting their opponents in running time before the inevitable seizure of their respective engines. Today's clip is similar, but in my not-so humble opinion the duel between these two clunkers isn't the story here. What I found more amusing was the amount of smoke that this old Lincoln Towncar (I think...it's a Ford make so I'm close) was able to emit. And to me, … Read more

I've owned a variety of automobiles in my lifetime, but one of the few that holds a special place in my heart to this very day was my old 1988 Lincoln Town Car (or as I used to call it "The Stinkin' Lincoln"). It was in no shape or form sedan-like: I'm talking about one of those big, boat-like cars with gas-guzzling 5.0 V8 engines that are sort of like a poor man's Cadillac. My Lincoln was white with plush, white leather interior and the fancy-looking wood grain. The feeling I got driving that … Read more

During the 2009 New York auto show, Ford let us try out a couple of technologies it is introducing. The first is called Active Park, and parallel parks your car for you. Lexus previously rolled out a self-parking car with its LS model, but Ford has refined the concept and made it more user-friendly.

For the demonstration, we got into a Lincoln MKS equipped with the technology and started driving. After pushing a button to activate the system, the car goes into parking spot search mode. We drove by two cars parked at the curb, and the system told us we could fit in the space between them, and advised us where to stop so it could commence parallel parking.

As with the Lexus system, we had to put the MKS in reverse and control the brake and the accelerator, but the car handles the steering. As we backed up, the wheel spun around on its own accord, steering the car into the spot. The park distance warning sensors sounded off as we got close to the car behind us, and the Active Park system flashed a message that it was time to pull forward. Putting the car into Drive, the wheel again turned, straightening the MKS out so it would be parallel to the curb. … Read more

Probably the only race that Buick and Jaguar would finish in a tie is the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Vehicle Dependability StudySM (VDS), but both are on the top of the leader board this week. Each rank highest in vehicle dependability in a tie. Buick improves from a sixth-place ranking in 2008, while Jaguar improves from 10th place. Following in the top-five rankings this year are Lexus, Toyota and Mercury.

Toyota garners five segment awards for the Highlander, Prius, Sequoia, Solara, and Tundra. Lexus follows with four segment awards for the ES 330 (in a tie with the … Read more

DETROIT--While the switch to electric power steering will boost fuel economy, it also opens the door to driver-friendly features for Ford vehicles--specifically, parallel-parking assist and a torque-assist feature that reduces driver effort on crowned road surfaces.

By 2012, 90 percent of Ford's vehicles, including light-duty trucks, will be equipped with standard electric power steering, replacing hydraulic steering.

"It improves fuel economy by 3 to 5 percent--which, depending on the size of the vehicle and the engine, equates to somewhere between 0.4 and a full 1 mpg," said Ali Jammoul, chief engineer of North American chassis.

Ford is purchasing electric power steering systems from Delphi and TRW Automotive. Valeo provides the parking-assist module. … Read more