ZanatWork

I've seen it stated that the V8 option will return, which I think is a good idea. As much as I have high hopes for the next-gen EB V6, a good V8 is an experience unto itself, and one that should be available in a large $50K SUV.

Agreed. Most of the parts are already on the shelf, and it'd be a newsworthy sub-model to get the Escape back into the news.

I just read the article in my morning auto-news-site rounds, and it was very positive. I'm hoping that Lincoln will continue to make each new model better developed than the last, which has seemed to be the case starting with the MKZ, then the MKC, and now the MKX. The Navigator doesn't count, as its update was just a fairly involved band-aid treatment. Most importantly, though, the lack of mentions of the Edge might mean that Lincoln is finally giving their vehicles that intangible luxury experience...something admittedly harder than ever to accomplish when "typical" models have so many features available.

I'm surprised at the rumblings about the motor being the 2.7, if only because it seemed like Ford was going to stick with 4-bangers in the Fusion. I'd expected the 2.3 Ecoboost, maybe a less-peaky variant than the Focus RS is bringing. In any case, I'm glad the Fusion is finally getting some performance worthy of its appearance.

Yet, you have no issue with the reasoning concerning the previous Shelbys, and much of the other reasoning came to conclusions so similar as to be nearly identical. You try SO hard at this, and it'll never make a lick of sense.

Meh. It's a step between some bone-dry peer-reviewed crap and the C/D article. The basics are the same: great car, Ford took the chassis seriously this time, the steering rack could be more responsive. C/D had valid points regarding the the previous Shelby Mustangs and their more primitive underpinnings, like it or not...but then, you historically hate them having any points critical of FoMoCo. They arrived at the same conclusion, you just continue to insist that one must be "well-written" by a standard that is still going to be relative. If the steering gets tied down a bit more across the board, the Mustang line will have utterly blurred the line between "Pony Car" and "Grand Tourer", eliminating the usual qualifications involved. I very much enjoy the though of a Mustang that is less of a "poor man's M4" than a legitimate competitor for consideration.

Sharing the love...though some will decide it's completely invalid, because it's written by automotive journalists...?! http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2016-ford-mustang-shelby-gt350-gt350r-first-drive-review

Also, Mustang, Fiesta, Focus, and Raptor all get diesel-sport-wagon models!

I think the GT-500 will get a tubro'd coyote motor, because there's much more of a "retro muscle-car" theme to the Mustang than the GT. They'll already have the track-day special in the GT-350®, so the GT-500 can be built to make everyone forget about the Hellcats.

That generation still defines "F-series" to me. Tough, capable, an interior you could hose out...!

I won't generalize quite that far, but I will state that, from plenty of personal experience and my own time in the automotive sector, Camry and Corolla buyers are more likely to actually embrace the concept of the vehicle as an "appliance", as opposed to caring about the ride/handling/performance and the overall driving experience. The Camry had existed for about 20 years when the Fusion came on, and it had to overcome perception issues that were not helping Ford at the time. It is what it is.

Gosh, Richard, I coulda swore the Fusion had to make a fairly recent break into the market, being that it's a roughly two-decade newer nameplate than the Camry... ...y'know, just sayin'. I could also throw in that it had to make its name right after a pretty disastrous time for Ford, with the Oval fairly damaged in terms of perception. SO...habit didn't help it initially, unless you count the people finding out that Ford could do better than the Taurus a decade ago....

Not one point in there disproves any level of their potential influence. As I'm unaware of how to measure the exact influence, and I'm certain you can't prove the opposite, why not put a little less effort into something that's either a grudge or just open dislike of entertaining journalism that still contains technical, measurable information? Given the efforts of so many brands to insert themselves into entertainment, the marketers seem to see considerable value in the practice.

I believe that the combination of those articles, combined with those of other local news agencies, compounded over years, had positive impacts on the sales of Toyota and Honda...even when they were recent recall kings of the industry. The same reporters were likely very hesitant to damage their own reputations filing seeming contradictory stories. Given that the Camry tends to be mid-pack or worse in driving impressions-with everyone-I attribute a great many sales to habit over all else, habits potentially a generation or two old by now.

I quote Steve Martin from "L.A. Story" : "I don't think you understand how unattractive hate is." Given the decades of existence and their long-reserved spots at vehicle debuts, I have to assume that the manufacturers utterly disagree with you on their place in the buyers' decision-making. Your complete discounting of them comes of as something between bitter and delusional. Yes, I know the main argument in your favor, I've seen it many times: if car mag reviews mattered, no one would be buying Camrys or Corollas. I attribute that to the mainstream media's shameless worship of Toyota and Honda, while most of the mags were more honest about matters. Given the relationships that are maintained with the "buff books", the manufacturers must believe in some impact. I know that the reports of driving quality across the main players in the car mag arena helped sell me my Contour many years back, along with the Expedition I have now.

Gosh, I guess they forgot about their anti-Ford, all-BMW bias! Actually, they've been brutal to BMW for a few years, now. I really do like the new Edge, especially the Sport. Torque is a GOOD thing, even if too few appreciate it.

Well, the addition of the then-new 3.5 V6 was kind of a big deal.

You take any vehicle on a skidpad to determine grip/cornering limits. Just because some vehicles are far less likely to be pushed near said limits, doesn't mean that it's responsible to simply skip that part of the test. It's laughable how some will chide the "entertainment", yet also chide the measureables just because they're not interested in the categories. Seriously folks.....

Are they still irrelevant after being successful in their market for something like 50+ years? I find their opinions to be at least as relevant as those with clear-yet understandable-biases on any given brand fan site.

That's too limited, though, and would mean prefacing their review with "tested only in sub-40 mph traffic in the urban crawl". What would be the point? In this era, there's plenty of legitimate reasons to criticize a thrashy engine in a luxury hybrid. I agree that added displacement, bringing the usual torque and smoothness gains, would likely have a number of positive effects overall. Torquey engines don't get near the credit they deserve in terms of power/economy, because horsepower is a sexier term.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2015-lincoln-mkz-hybrid-review That was an ugly review of a pretty car. While I imagine the usual suspects will soon be sputtering that C/D is somehow less than legit, guilty of writing for some degree of entertainment (as opposed to be dry enough to be a saltine with pages?), has a "bias against Lincoln", etc....as I personally found the MKZ interior to be underwhelming when I checked one out previously, and as the car has not managed to differentiate itself enough from its Fusion roots...it's hardly an unfair review. For those still muttering "bias against Lincoln", they weren't too kind to the ES range, either...hybrid or otherwise, and have lambasted BMW in recent years. So, I don't see many specific anti-Lincoln tendencies among their scribes. Apparently, the Black Label touches are nice, but can't overcome some non-luxury-worthy gaps and other details in the interior. This soldier in Lincoln's fight to change its perception issues did a decent (if thoroughly delayed) job initially...but there's nothing special enough about it to progress much in its very heady price market. I hope there is considerable improvement from the ground up in the upcoming MCE.

So, Ford got in with the Expy, and...um...the Expy.

I'm kinda looking at this backwards. I'd like a Lincoln "4 door coupe" or similar, but mostly for the purpose of gaining more use from the Mustang's platform. Given the stories regarding how the chassis went from evolution to complete redesign, I have to assume there are costs that would be best spread out across more than a single model. I understand that the Mustang is global, now, and thus should have higher overall sales numbers (by a good bit), but I'd like to see that engineering truly pay off more widely for Ford. I don't know that I can suggest another real coupe, as the market for them is truly niche and I don't see much chance of a full resurgence; something "grand-coupe-ish" seems to be the better path forward. I think that Lincoln could benefit from a sharper-edged model inasmuch as every luxury brand now is expected/required to have some sporting aspirations. I'm not worried overly much about the whole platform-sharing backlash in this case, because I've noticed very few complaints in the connections between, say, the past Infiniti G37 and the 370Z, the Audi TT-S and the Golf, and so on. There's a difference between "gussied-up (mainstream midsize sedan)" and up-engineered performance car. Also, I fully admit that I'd like Lincoln to follow up the headlines created by the Continental with something more daring than the market-mandatory CUVs and what-not. I'd like Lincoln to challenge perceptions further than the Continental concept already has.

Hmmm...it appears that a full-on exodus from the "krill grill" may be beginning. I have some concerns that Lincoln will be abandoning yet another "face" like this, but we'll see....

The Flex was up big, obviously needs a 2nd generation...! (it doesn't hurt to try)