1994 Lincoln Town Car, Signature Edition, 4-door 4.6l, Low Reserve on 2040-cars

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Dan Neil pokes fun at the celeb cars of 2014

Look, we try really hard not to pay any attention to the Kardashians and their vapid reality TV empire. But, as troubling as that brood may be, occasionally we're impressed and/or horrified by their four-wheeled conveyances. In fact, that curiosity extends beyond talentless reality stars with rotund glutes to celebs in general. That's why we're enjoying Dan Neil's sometimes biting take on the celebrity cars of 2014. Besides paying tribute to Kim K, husband Kanye West and the adorable Lamborghini that their spawn rides about in, Neil also takes a look at LeBron James' turn as a Kia spokesman and boxer Floyd Mayweather's trio of Bugatti Veyrons. Matthew McConaughey is a focus of Neil's as well, thanks to his oft-panned advertisements for Lincoln (and the raucous parodies they inspired), before finishing on the high, with Jerry Seinfeld and his new Porsche 918 Spyder. Take a look at Neil's recap of the celebrity cars of 2014. News Source: The Wall Street Journal Celebrities Humor Bugatti Kia Lamborghini Lincoln Porsche Videos porsche 918 spyder celebrity dan neil

More head-up displays are coming to a dashboard near you

With the exception of Apple products — $1,000 for a freakin' smartphone? — one great thing about tech is you typically get more for your money with each passing year. This is particularly true with automotive tech: Features like driver assists and surround-view cameras that were once exclusively available in luxury vehicles now come standard even on some economy cars. The same thing is slowly happening with head-up displays (HUD). For example, the 10-inch HUD in the 2018 Toyota Camry is one of the largest and best HUDs I've seen in any car. And a big improvement on the much smaller HUD in the latest Toyota Prius. Mazda is another mainstream brand that offers HUDs in several of its vehicles. But instead of embedding expensive components in the dash and using a special windshield, the HUDs in the Mazda3 and Mazda6 use a thin plastic lens that folds down when not in use. MINI has a similar solution, but this low-cost approach has limits in terms of size and position of the images compared to traditional HUDs that use the windshield as a screen. We're also starting to see similar lens-based aftermarket options that can be added to any car. Last year I tested a portable HUD called Navdy that taps into a car's OBD-II port to provide info on speed and RPM and uses built-in GPS and Google Maps to show the surrounding area, display speed limits and route you to your destination. Navdy also connects to an Android or iOS smartphone via Bluetooth to display data from phone calls, texts and music playing on a connected device, and it's simple to use and easily visible in almost any lighting condition. While Navdy is still available online, late last year the company ran into financial difficulties, and product support has been halted. I recently tested a new portable HUD called Hudly that's not quite fully baked and falls short of Navdy because it doesn't tap into an OBD-II port. Since a companion smartphone app for Hudly isn't scheduled to launch until next month, for now it only mirrors what's on a smartphone. So it can be used for nav and other apps, and its features are very limited. Between automakers adding HUDs in more reasonably priced cars and the aftermarket filling in the gaps for existing vehicle owners with add-ons, the technology is becoming more prevalent and affordable. And it's also getting better.

2019 Lincoln Continental will cost as much as $5,000 more

Rumors have been swirling for months about the fate of the slow-selling Lincoln Continental amid Ford's larger plans to pare cars from its lineup in favor of trucks and SUVs. But now comes word of official order guides that show the 2019 Continental priced as much as $4,925 more than the previous year's model. That price bump brings more perks for buyers, however. According to CarsDirect, all models will get adaptive cruise control and the Lincoln Co-Pilot360 suite of safety technology, which includes automatic emergency braking, blind-spot information system and rearview camera. The base level Continental Premiere will start at $47,140, including destination fee, which is $985 more than the 2018 model. The Reserve model is where the starting price jumps $4,925 to $60,705. It adds technology like a 360-degree camera, heads-up display and park assist, plus heated rear seats and steering wheel and windshield wiper de-icer. The top-of-the-line Black Label edition starts at $71,040, an increase of $4,630, and adds 30-way adjustable seats. Those prices are considerably cheaper than comparably equipped competitors like the Audi A8 or BMW 7 Series, of course, but that value proposition hasn't so far managed to help the sedan's fortunes. Lincoln sold 12,012 models of the Continental in 2017, according to CarSalesBase.com. Sales through August were 5,677, which is more than 29 percent off the pace at this same point last year. Lincoln revived the storied Continental nameplate back in 2015 to much fanfare, but its market release in 2016 was a victim of bad timing, coming amid a rising tide of crossovers. Earlier this year Lincoln reportedly showed dealers photos of a Continental with rear-hinged suicide doors that it said it planned to manufacture, which may be an attempt to drum up interest. Jalopnik, citing unnamed sources familiar with Ford's product plans, says the Continental is likely to be killed off at the end of the run of the current model in 2020. That aligns with what a user on the Blue Oval Forums is saying, that shift changes at the Flat Rock Assembly plant near Detroit are coming and that workers have been told the Continental can be phased out of production by next summer. One supposed possibility is Ford moving production to China, though any plans to import sedans to the U.S. from there would seemingly be negated by the same Trump administration tariffs that killed plans to import the Ford Focus Active. Related Video: