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2017 Lincoln Continental pricing undercuts Cadillac CT6

For 40,000 people interested in purchasing a new Lincoln Continental, today is the day they've been waiting for. We have the full and complete list of prices and optional extras for the luxury brand's big, new sedan. The Continental will be offered in four trims – Premiere, Select, Reserve, and Black Label. The Premiere starts at $45,485 (including $925 in destination pricing), while the Select kicks off at $48,440. Speaking of the Select, the base 3.7-liter V6 can be swapped for a 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6, if you've got $2,250 to burn, driving the price up to $50,690. Going to the Reserve gets you more kit and the 2.7-liter comes standard, but the price increases to $54,840. Finally, the base Black Label starts at $63,840. In the case of both the high-end trims, Lincoln will let you upgrade to the eagerly anticipated 400-horsepower, 3.0-liter V6 for $3,265. All-wheel drive is a $2,000 option regardless of trim or engine. Standalone options include Lincoln's "Perfect Position" seats, a $1,500 feature that adds 30-way adjustability. It's easy to drive those prices up, of course. Lincoln is offering five options packages, spread across the Select, Reserve, and Black Label trims. The Select Plus (blind-spot monitoring and Sync 3) adds $1,255 to the price of the Select. The $695 Climate Pack (automatic high beams, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, and rain sensing wipers) and $3,105 Technology Pack (360-degree camera, adaptive cruise control, Enhanced Active Park Assist, lane keeping assist, and forward collision warning) can be added to the Select, Reserve, and Black Label. The $4,300 Rear-Seat Pack (heated, cooled, and multi-contour rear seats, inflatable rear belts, and a panoramic sunroof) will pamper backseat passengers on the high-end Reserve and Black Label, while the $5,000 Luxury Package will add LED headlamps and a 19-speaker Revel stereo to the Reserve trim. Standalone options include Lincoln's "Perfect Position" seats, a $1,500 feature that adds 30-way adjustability. That's just silly. More common features include a $1,130 Revel stereo, a $1,750 panoramic sunroof, $750 20-inch wheels, and a $335 CD player. So yeah, don't expect many of those base prices to make it to the showroom without some swelling. By our math, the Conti tops out at a cool $82,400. Lincoln says it's big target for the Conti is Audi A6, and its pricing matches up neatly with that car. The front-drive 2.0-liter turbocharged A6 Premium starts at $47,125.

Ford announces four recalls, 1.4M vehicles affected

Ford is taking a bit of the spotlight away from General Motors, announcing a major group of recall campaigns, covering a total of 1.4 million vehicles built between 2006 and 2013.
Let's start with the big one, which covers the Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner and, according to The Detroit News, Ford-built Mazda Tribute CUVs. 915,216 vehicles are covered, all of which were built in model years 2008 to 2011. 736,000 vehicles are in the US, while Canada then Mexico make up the vast majority of the remainder. The problem is due to an issue with the torque sensor in the steering column, which could lead to sudden power steering failure. Manual steering would still be available, though.
"Dealers will perform one of three service fixes, depending upon what diagnostic codes are shown when the vehicle is taken to the dealer," Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker wrote to Autoblog in an email. "They will either update software for the power steering control module and the instrument cluster module; replace the torque sensor; or replace the steering column, which includes upgraded power steering control module software."

Weekly Recap: Racing legend Jim Hall explains Chevy's futuristic Chaparral concept

"I said our cars are built to be winners." – Jim Hall Racing legend Jim Hall never thought he'd be a video game consultant, but when Chevrolet asked for his advice to create a futuristic Chaparral for the Vision Gran Turismo series, he was eager to help. He reviewed early sketches and suggested some changes that made it onto the concept, including the addition of a camera that's mounted onto a mast over the cabin to aid the driver. The Chevy Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept was revealed this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show and will be part of a downloadable update for PlayStation 3's Gran Turismo 6 in December. Theoretically, at least, it uses a laser-beam propulsion system and an air-powered generator to produce 900 horsepower in the video game. It's capable of sprinting to 60 miles per hour in 1.5 seconds en route to a top speed of 240 mph. Those gaudy performance specs – even in the virtual world – came at Hall's urging. "I said our cars are built to be winners," Hall told Autoblog on the floor of the Los Angeles show. The 79-year-old drove Lotus racecars in Formula One before launching the successful Chaparral Cars in the 1960s. Like his innovative Can-Am racers, the Vision Gran Turismo project has an eye toward the future. It also introduces the iconic Chaparral name to a new generation of fans, and hopefully, Hall says, gets them excited about engineering and design. "It emulates what we did in the '60s," he said. And what they did back then still resonates. Chaparral Racing and Chevy partnered more than 45 years ago for development work on the composite monocoque chassis, lightweight alloy powertrains, automatic gearboxes and active aerodynamics. "He [Hall] walked right back into this and was able to apply thinkings and learnings," said Clay Dean, General Motors executive director of advanced design. The Chevy Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept was created at GM's North Hollywood advanced design studio, and it will be on display at the show through November. Other News and Views Sebastian Vettel joins Ferrari team in 2015 Ferrari confirmed that four-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel will join the Scuderia for the 2015 season, jettisoning Ferrari's current ace, two-time champ Fernando Alonso. Vettel has been F1's most successful driver since Michael Schumacher, though he's struggled to match his previous accomplishments in 2014.