2012 Lincoln Mkz Base Sedan 4-door 3.5l on 2040-cars

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Hyundai, Kia, Genesis and Subaru clean up in IIHS 2018 safety ratings

Hyundai, its partner Kia and its Genesis division are the big winners in the latest vehicle safety ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, accounting for six of the 15 models that earned the Top Safety Pick+ awards for 2018. Subaru was right behind with four, Mercedes-Benz had two, and Toyota, BMW and Ford each had one. Another 47 vehicles earned the Top Safety Pick designation, where Toyota had 10 vehicle models, with Hyundai recognized for nine models. All but one of the seven vehicles in Subaru's lineup, the BRZ, qualified for one of the awards. IIHS strengthened the criteria for the Top Safety Pick+ award for 2018 to require headlights to earn a "good" rating — an "acceptable" rating was previously enough to notch the "plus" award — and good or acceptable passenger-side protection in the small overlap front crash, which replicates a crash involving just the front corner of a vehicle. It also required vehicles to have acceptable or good headlights for the first time to earn a Top Safety Pick award. Most of winners for both awards qualified on the basis of optional upgrades. IIHS in October began evaluating the passenger side of vehicles in its small overlap front crash test after it said it became clear that automakers were neglecting that side of the vehicle as they focused on improving driver-side protections. IIHS first began conducting driver-side small overlap crashes in 2012. It began measuring both how well low and high beams illuminated the road and the amount of glare they produce for oncoming vehicles as part of its ratings in 2016. The Top Safety Pick+ winners are listed below. The list doesn't include any minivans, pickups or minicars, which don't appear on either list of awardees. Small cars Kia Forte Kia Soul Subaru Impreza (sedan and wagon) Subaru WRX Midsize cars Subaru Legacy Subaru Outback Toyota Camry Large luxury cars BMW 5 series Genesis G80 Genesis G90 Lincoln Continental Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan Midsize SUVs Hyundai Santa Fe Hyundai Santa Fe Sport Midsize luxury SUV Mercedes-Benz GLC The full list of Top Safety Pick winners is available here.Related Video: Image Credit: IIHS BMW Genesis Hyundai Kia Lincoln Subaru Toyota Safety Crossover SUV Wagon Sedan crash test

McConaughey's bizarre new Continental ad is perfect parody material

So let's say you're running a car company and have a luxurious new flagship sedan and need to advertise it. What do you do? Did you answer with "film a commercial with a barely coherent Hollywood actor standing in a pond?" If so, perhaps you work for Lincoln, which brought back Matthew McConaughey to do another bizarre car ad. It starts with McConaughey and a Continental standing on a body of water. He starts talking about staring (or not staring) at the Conti, and then about sitting in the back seat (or not). The ad then cuts to McConaughey in the back who replies to the McConaughey in the front seat. Presumably, there are two McConaugheys at this point, and the front seat one just laughs in a slightly unsettling manner. He then makes a clicking noise, closes the center console and drives away. You can't make this stuff up. It's thoroughly strange, but we can't say we're entirely surprised. When Lincoln first launched some bizarre ads with McConaughey muttering sweet nothings about the MKC, the company got loads of attention. Admittedly a lot of that attention was to make fun of it, but you know the old saying that there's no such thing as bad press. Lincoln even brought him back for an encore in ads for the MKX and MKZ. In truth, we're also glad to see another bizarre Lincoln ad, mostly because we're hoping for another round of great parodies like the classic Jim Carrey spoof that aired on Saturday Night Live. Check out the ad above to see the strangeness. Related Video:

Jay Leno recaps Pebble Beach

Each year at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance the picturesque, ocean-side setting of the golf course becomes a parking lot for a vast array of multi-million dollar vehicles. However, if you missed the posh event this year, then Jay Leno has you covered yet again. For a nearly hour-long installment of Jay Leno's Garage, the comedian has dumped his denim in favor of a suit to take viewers on an insider tour of the lavish gathering. He interviewed some of the most talented designers in the auto industry, too. Leno starts off checking out a few beautiful classics by the shore, but things really get interesting for his stroll down the Concept Car Lawn for a scoop on the vehicles of tomorrow. Ed Welburn tells Leno all about the Buick Avenir, and Shiro Nakamura offers a tour of the Infiniti Q60. Plus, there are detailed looks at the Lincoln Continental, Hyundai Vision G Coupe, and Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6. News Source: Jay Leno's Garage via YouTube Bentley Buick Hyundai Infiniti Lincoln McLaren Classics Videos Pebble Beach Jay Lenos Garage infiniti q60 buick avenir bentley exp 10 speed 6