2005 Lincoln Ls Sedan 4-door Project Car on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2020 Lincoln MKZ gets price and trim changes, new packages

The Lincoln MKZ doesn't have much longer to live, slated to meet the executioner later this year. The team in charge isn't letting the brand's penultimate sedan die unloved, Ford Authority reporting a raft of cosmetic changes and packages that can set the 2020 model apart from others. The three engines, FWD or AWD, and hybrid option stand pat. There's been the expected trim rationalization, though, and some noteworthy price changes. Last year's nine trim combinations are whittled to five in 2020 — the base hybrid, Reserve I in FWD and AWD, and Hybrid Reserve II are no more. The new base models see an increase in MSRP, but there are big savings on the Reserve models. The remaining trims are listed here with their price differences compared to 2019, after the $995 destination charge: Base FWD for $37,745 (+ $755) Base AWD for $39,745 (+ $755) Reserve II FWD for $44,495 (- $2,445) Hybrid Reserve I FWD for $43,495 (+ $3,505) Reserve II AWD for $45,495 (- $2,445) Outside, four colors in the current palette disappear: Empire Blue Metallic, Magma Red Metallic, Red Carpet Metallic and Silver Radiance Metallic. Four new colors take their places: Blue Diamond Metallic, Crystal Copper Metallic, Ingot Silver Metallic and Ruby Red Metallic. A new, bright aluminum 19-inch wheel with ebony pockets is available on all four trims. There's a lot more happening on the packages page, Lincoln throwing five new bundles at the configurator. Only one can be specced on the base MKZ and the MKZ Hybrid, that being the Convenience Package that gathers features such as a tilt/telescoping steering wheel with memory, power trunk lid with soft close, voice-activated touchscreen navigation, and Lincoln Experiences Phase II, which means dynamic signature lighting and smart power mirrors. That suite tacks $2,000 onto the price.  Three packages can be had only on the MKZ Reserve with either engine option and the MKZ Hybrid Reserve. The Elements package runs $800 for goodies like heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, and heated rear seats. The $3,000 Luxury Package adds full LED headlights, Multi-Contour front seats with Active Motion, and the 20-speaker, 1,200-watt Revel Ultima Audio System. The $1,595 Monochromatic Package can only be ordered in Infinite Black or Platinum White. Both hues get upper grilles and other body trim in the chosen color, as well as 19-inch polished black wheels.

Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4-Door and Fiat 124 Spider Abarth | Autoblog Podcast #596

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder and Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale. This week, they focus on the cars they're driving, starting with the hardcore, four-door Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S. Then they move on to the aging Lexus GX 460 and the plucky Fiat 124 Spider Abarth. They discuss the practical-yet-luxurious Lincoln Nautilus, as well as the state of Lincoln as a whole (did you hear it just got a new design boss?). Finally, they help pick a modern vehicle for someone with a hankering for the look of the classic Ford Bronco. Autoblog Podcast #596 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown 2019 Mercedes-AMG Four-Door GT 63 S 2019 Lexus GX 460 2019 Fiat 124 Spider Abarth 2019 Lincoln Nautilus Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.