KeriBlog

Cars, Security & a Peek into my Life

The Lincoln Motor Company’s Re-Invention

Non-car nerds: Over the last year, Lincoln re-invented themselves, starting by reverting to its original 1922 name, The Lincoln Motor Company.

The cars got a fresh new design, look & feel.  So did the website. 

Les Clefs d’Or, the world’s premiere concierge service, was hired to re-train the entire sales staff, inside all the newly renovated dealerships.  What I like best about this re-invention, is the air of class they’re pumping in.

This MKZ was their first “tada! This is the new us” car.

The Lincoln MKZ Luxury Sedan
Starting at $37,460

Sharp, exacting lines, a very flat interior, a long roofline to a solid rear.

Huge panoramic roof, heated everything, LEDs, and all the driving aids, features and infotainment that’s expected in a luxury sedan.

Do you notice it?

Aside from that I forgot to wipe the screen, but notice what’s missing?

A gear shift.

Look to the right of the steering wheel, the buttons running down, those are Park, Drive, Neutral, I know!

The push button transmission is back!  Once in vogue back in 1960s, it’s here again.

Watch.

Neat eh.

The lack of gearbox beneath the shifter, is how the interior design is so clean and open.

There’s another fancy photo of this car, in my Auto Art Collection.

(Lincoln just launched their luxury SUV at the LA Auto Show, the Lincoln MKC)

 

 

Diesels are the New Hybrids

Today’s diesels are far different than when they first arrived in the 1970s, yet somehow the stigma has unfairly stuck.

If you’re looking for great fuel economy on a tough-as-nails engine, consider a diesel. Better re-sale value too.

Read it online at Autonet.

Favourite line:

Don’t take my word for it – ask a diesel owner, because they will sing its praises, and word-of-mouth is how you really know. 

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Back to ‘Keri on Driving’ – Index

 

 

Yesterday’s Car Breaking Adventure

Monday is Car Swap Day.  My Jetta had been sitting for 3.5 weeks, it was dead, so I went looking for a jump.

The security guard gave me a safety vest, and sent me into the Chrysler warehouse to look.

Sure we can help, they said. And then they let me gawk around.  Such a massive building. No matter which corner I looked down, it kept going.

So cool. And so the exact opposite of my business – an 11″ laptop + blog.

Hop on the back of this little yellow cart, Keri.

Okay!

Doesn’t take much to make me happy, eh.

Off to the journalist parking lot, boost, it turns over, thank you bye now! But then the engine stopped again.  Now it won’t turn over.  Huh.

Wait, a pickup truck appears, who’s this? It’s the owner of the detail shop that cares for the Chrysler fleet, Andrew Ross, and Danny Smith, hi guys!

Please yes, don’t know what’s wrong. We all call people, and hold our phones inside the engine… wait wait… pull off the distributor cap… ahHA.

It’s the world’s most burnt-out distributor cap.

No spark, no engine.

Come on Keri, let’s go look if there’s a replacement at the shop. Okay!

And THERE WAS.

Non-car nerds: the odds of there being this part, for a 1999 Volkswagen, are ridiculous. The math on that is astronomical, winning-the-lottery odds.

Wizard auto shop.

Go too: CarCareExtraordinaire.ca Mississauga 905 567-6644

(if you’ve never been to one, I wrote a column, “When going to a detail shop, do this“)

 

 

To All the Auto Manufacturers…

You all use the same material to line both the glovebox and centre console storage.

That fake velvet material.

Please stop.

It sheds so badly.

Because no matter how great the engine or handling, it’s undone by the tiny, black hairs now stuck to everything I own.