1997 Lincoln Mark Viii on 2040-cars

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Consumer Reports explains its disdain for infotainment

One of the perks of reviewing all manner of cars and trucks is that we're exposed to all the different infotainment systems. Whether Cadillac's CUE, Chrysler's UConnect, BMW's iDrive or MyFord Touch, we sample each and every infotainment system on the market.
Not surprisingly, some are better than others. It seems consumers have come to a similar consensus, with Consumer Reports claiming that Ford and Lincoln, Cadillac and Honda offer the worst user infotainment experiences. Not surprisingly, you won't find much argument among the Autoblog staff.
Take a look below to see just what it is about the latest batch of infotainment systems that grinds CR's gears. After that, scroll down into Comments and let us know if you agree with the mag's views.

Lincoln and MKZ propose brand reinvention

Lincoln made a rather assertive statement about the future of its products at the 2012 LA Auto Show. Rather than put any new vehicle on display for the first press day, the American premium brand placed a collection of classic cars from its past on the show floor. For the second day, that assortment was replaced with more than a half-dozen examples of the all-new 2013 MKZ. Following that, Lincoln teased a new ad campaign that was in the works, and it appears we now have the first extended promotional video.
Entitled "The Lincoln Motor Company," the spot acts as more of a mission statement, rather than an ad, featuring (once again) cars from Lincoln's past, as well as certain bits of Americana usually reserved for a Levi's ad. The video concluded with Lincoln reintroducing itself to the world, accompanied by a new name: The Lincoln Motor Company.
The video is likely to be the first of many in a large advertising blitz by the automaker, in concert with the rolling-out of the new MKZ. The sedan was the only new vehicle featured in the video, and Lincoln is betting heavily on this "reinvention" to bring customers in to see its new sedan. We want to know what's next. Scroll down to watch the video.

Everything new at the 2019 New York International Auto Show

Transcript: Welcome to the 2019 New York Auto Show. It's the last auto show, and so far it's my favorite of the year. We have a new buggy, compact pickup and trail ready SUV from Volkswagen. Ford brought the new Escape and a new Mustang performance variant, and we have a brand new Toyota Highlander and Subaru Outback. Let's go take a look around. We're here at the New York Auto Show with the Subaru stand. Normally the Subaru stand is just some white carpet and some show lighting. This year it's like we're in a national park. It's ... Frankly, I'm from Oregon. You're from Colorado. Yeah. It's making us feel at home. And in that way what better place and what better people to introduce this Subaru Outback which is pretty much the official car of Colorado and Oregon. Yeah. You actually have to buy a Subaru before they let you move to Colorado. Now instead of climbing up there and taking a look because we've been told we can't do that we're gonna go over there and check out another one. So the exterior, not that different. No. Looks exactly like an Outback. There's actually oddly a little more black plastic trim on the outside. A little too much for me. Right. It's interesting because it kind of slowly went away from that from the beginning because in the beginning the black plastic trim kind of made it an Outback, and now they're kind of bringing it back. I guess they needed to make it more macho. Right. Right. Now we're inside. Inside it looks pretty different. Swank. It's kind of swank for an Outback which has been pretty plain. Now this is the newly available vertically gigantic touch screen here. 11.6 inches. That is massive. This is how big it is when it's turned on ... just for the viewers. Now this is the onyx trim. So with that you get the black mirrors, the black wheels. This upholstery is special to the onyx, so it's gray and black and you also have this green stitching. Yeah, I like this accent stitching. It's kind of neat. Oh there's also a little tray there. Well this is a deep bin here. You can probably fit a phone. There we go. Almost. Yeah there are two USB ports. There's an additional two in the backseat. So this thing here you pop in the cup holder and it gives you a little more space or less space. These are really big, so if you have one of those Nalgene bottles I'm guessing it's going to fit in there. One of my complaints about my Subaru that I own now which is a naturally aspirated Crosstrek is that up in the mountains. It's slow?