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Updated 2017 Lincoln MKZ Priced from $35,935 to $54,485

A raft of changes are in store for the Lincoln MKZ, the most enticing of which is a new 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 engine. We now have pricing for Lincoln’s updated sedan, which also gets a new front end and a revised interior for 2017. Surprisingly, the base price is slightly lower than before, down $180 to $35,935. But adding options like the new V-6, all-wheel drive, and other packages can take the new MKZ into a much loftier price bracket, with fully loaded versions topping $60,000. Yikes.

Four trim levels are offered, starting with the Premiere ($35,935), then moving to the Select ($37,685), the Reserve ($40,435), and the Black Label ($48,595). One of two powertrains comes standard: either a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with 240 horsepower, or a gas-electric hybrid drivetrain with a net power output of 188 horsepower and an estimated EPA combined rating of 40 mpg. Turbo-four-powered cars offer all-wheel drive as a $1890 option regardless of trim level; MKZ hybrids are front-wheel-drive only.

For those who prefer more grunt, all 2017 MKZ trim levels save the base Premiere offer the aforementioned 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 that pairs with a six-speed automatic. It costs $2750 extra for front-drive models and $4000 extra with all-wheel drive. Frankly, we’re shocked that this engine is being offered with front-wheel drive, seeing as it produces a whopping 400 lb-ft of torque. At least Lincoln detunes the V-6 slightly to 350 horsepower for its front-drive application—AWD models get the full 400 horses.

Lest you worry that the MKZ’s Ford Fusion–based chassis will struggle to handle that kind of power, Lincoln is touting a new Driver’s Package ($2395 on the Black Label, $3395 on the Reserve) for V-6 AWD models that brings some chassis tweaks. It includes a stiffer suspension and the GKN-supplied torque-vectoring system from the Ford Focus RS, along with some restyled visuals such as 19-inch wheels and a slightly different grille. It also requires adding the $595 Multi-Contour front seats.

For less performance-minded 2017 MKZ buyers, a whole host of luxury options are also available. A $2395 Technology Package offered on most trim levels includes all sorts of active-safety tech, a panoramic sunroof is offered for between $1795 and $2995 depending on trim level, and a 20-speaker Revel audio system is part of a $4400 Luxury package for Reserve models and comes standard on Black Label cars.

Once you start piling on these extras, it’s surprisingly easy to get an MKZ to top $60,000. That strikes us as a lot to pay for this mid-size sedan, especially when the larger Continental runs from around $45,000 to $69,000. The MKZ will hit dealerships sooner than its big brother, as the smaller sedan goes on sale this summer while the Continental goes on sale this fall.

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Updated 2017 Lincoln MKZ Priced from $35,935 to $54,485

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Takata Airbag Recall Expansions: Ferrari, Fiat Chrysler, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru

Takata-Ferrari-Jeep

Six more automakers have specified cars that are now part of the expanded Takata airbag recalls, with Ferrari and Jeep joining the master list for the first time. All of the recalls involve the passenger-side front airbag.

First up, Ferrari. Last July, the automaker recalled certain cars in its entire 2015 lineup for Takata airbags, although those airbags had nothing to do with defective inflators shooting shrapnel. Now, 2820 cars in the U.S. are under recall for this problem, including the 2009–2011 California and 2010–2011 458 Italia.

Fiat Chrysler is recalling 4,322,870 cars. Newly added models include the 2011–2012 Chrysler 300; 2009 Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango; 2011–2012 Dodge Charger and Challenger; 2010 Ram 3500; 2007–2012 Jeep Wrangler; and the 2008–2009 Sterling Bullet 4500 and 5500. Also included in previous recalls are the 2004–2008 Dodge Durango and Ram 1500; 2005–2010 Chrysler 300; 2005–2011 Dodge Dakota; 2005–2008 Dodge Magnum; 2005–2009 Ram 2500; 2006–2009 Ram 3500; 2007–2008 Chrysler Aspen; 2008–2010 Dodge Charger and Challenger; and the 2008–2010 Ram 4500 and 5500.

mazda_cx-7_dies_so_that_the_cx-5_may_live

Mazda is recalling 731,628 cars. Newly added models include the 2009–2011 RX-8; 2005–2006 MPV; 2007–2011 CX-7 and CX-9; and the 2009–2011 Mazda 6. Previously recalled cars in this total include the 2003–2008 Mazda 6; 2006–2007 Mazdaspeed 6; 2004 MPV; and the 2004–2008 RX-8.

2006-mitsubishi-lancer-evolution-mr-photo-540484-s-986x603

Mitsubishi is recalling 38,628 cars, plus an unknown number of previously recalled 2006–2009 Raider pickups built by Chrysler. Newly added models include the 2007 Lancer and Lancer Evolution. Previously recalled models in this total include the 2006 Lancer and Lancer Evolution.

2009 Nissan Versa 1.6 sedan

Nissan is recalling 402,450 cars. Newly added models include the 2007–2011 Versa; 2006–2008 Infiniti FX35 and FX45; and 2007–2010 Infiniti M35 and M45. Previously recalled cars in this total also include the 2003–2004 Infiniti I30 and I35; 2005 Infiniti FX35 and FX45; and the 2006 Infiniti M35 and M45.

2010 Subaru Tribeca

Subaru is recalling 383,101 cars. Newly added models include the 2006 Baja; 2006–2011 Impreza and Tribeca; and 2009–2011 Legacy, Outback, and Forester. The 2006 Saab 9-2X, built by Subaru, is also included in this total. Previously recalled models in this total include the 2003–2004 Legacy and Outback and the 2003–2005 Baja. It is unknown at this point if 2006–2011 WRX and WRX STI models are included.

As before, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is dividing up the recalls into three zones, so that not all cars in all regions will be immediately fixed. The full explanation, as well as more info on parts availability, can be found here.

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Volvo CEO: Hybrids Will Replace Diesels, Even in Europe

Volvo T5 Twin Engine CMA platform

Although Europe, like the United States, has been caught up in their own version of Volkswagen’s diesel-emissions scandal, there’s not yet been a corresponding move away from diesel engines on the other side of the Atlantic. That’s set to change with increasingly tough emissions standards and competition from a new generation of high-efficiency gas hybrids. Volvo has been the first to reveal one of these, the new three-cylinder “T5” plug-in that we’ll see in the new XC40 and then throughout the lower and middle reaches of Volvo’s range. And Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson predicts that it (and similar powerplants) will progressively replace diesel engines over the next decade or so.

“It is a very attractive alternative to a diesel engine,” Samuelsson told journalists in Gothenburg, “it offers much lower CO2 levels but more or less the same performance in both horsepower and torque. On cost I would say that within a couple of years we will see a crossover, the diesel getting more expensive and the [hybrid system] going down.”

There are no diesel-powered Volvos in the U.S, and there will be progressively fewer in those parts of the world that do still favor them. Although there is no emissions or economy data for the T5 yet, we’re told to expect that the powertrain will emit less than 95g/km in European testing, that number bringing both sizable tax benefits in many countries and also being the official Euro target for fleet-average emissions. Samuelsson says that, more importantly, the T5 will also deliver diesel-like fuel economy in real-world use. So will Volvo still be making diesels in ten years’ time?

“Diesels will be more expensive, they will have much more advanced after-treatment with additional fluids that have to be filled not once a year, but probably every time you refuel the car,” Samuelsson said, “I think that it’s very realistic that the percentage will go down. If it will go down to zero I think we don’t need to speculate—let the future decide, let customers decide. We are flexible enough that we can make petrol and diesels on the same line basically.”

As well as the 40-series family, Samuelsson also confirmed it’s likely that the three-cylinder T5 will be offered in the larger 60-series, although he ruled it out for Volvo’s biggest 90-series models, where the company already offers a four-cylinder T8 ‘Twin Engine” hybrid.

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We Go for a Flight in the Amphibious Icon A5 Airplane

It’s time to face facts: The flying car will probably never happen. But here is a carbon-fiber flying boat that is intended to be as easy and natural to operate as the family Camry, if about eleventy-billion times more fun. The Icon A5, which started as a napkin sketch more than 10 years ago by ex-F-16 fighter jock and company founder Kirk Hawkins, flushes airplane convention down the commode with its carlike dashboard, simple controls, and ultra-stable flying manners. If you ever wondered what it’d be like to fly out of a swimming pool in a Mazda Miata with wings, this is as close as you’ll ever get.

Granted, you have to be doing pretty well in life already to afford one. At its current price of $257,000 (less-expensive versions will come later, we’re told), the A5 is likely to be the umpteenth vehicle in your household(s), best suited to your isolated lakeside estate where it can serve as a joyous runabout or go-into-town vehicle. A fuel-injected Rotax 912 four-cylinder engine making 100 horsepower turns a three-blade fixed-pitch prop that pushes along the stupendously entertaining amphibious two-seater, which weighs a feathery 1080 pounds empty and has a maximum takeoff weight of 1510 pounds. It’ll cruise at around 98 mph for up to four hours on its 20-gallon tank (either 91 octane pump gas or aviation 100 low-lead). When the flying is done, the wings slide outward and fold back manually so the plane is easily put on a trailer.

There may be no flying car coming, but the car industry has its thumbprints all over the Icon. Key members of its creation team came from the industry, including design vice present Klaus Tritschler, formerly of BMW Designworks, and Dong Tan, who worked in Honda’s advanced design studio on the NSX and Civic. There are other ex-industry people working in production at the company’s 250-employee Vacaville, California, headquarters.

Traditionally, airplanes have been highly technical vehicles designed for highly technical people, says CEO Hawkins. The A5 is intended to take advantage of new FAA rules that ease the restrictions on general aviation, aiming to move planes out of the mega-regulated realm of airliners and into the recreational powersports realm, where things need to be simpler if more people are to enjoy them. “The car has evolved to fit the human, but the plane hasn’t,” says Hawkins. “In a plane, the human serves the vehicle. We didn’t intend to make a car cockpit; we wanted it to be human-centric and it evolved into a car dash.”

Climb onto the A5’s wide side sponson, unlatch the large, forward-tilting canopy (the side windows remove if desired, but don’t try it in flight), and plop into the sculpted pilot’s seat. The automotive inspiration is obvious. The “panel,” as they say in planes, looks like a modernized version of the dashboard in a Lamborghini Diablo, with a vertical stack of big, carlike analog gauges—Hawkins prefers old fashioned needles to digital displays for their easy legibility—leading up to an angle-of-attack meter at the top. The AOA, as it’s called, is intended to convey in one simple gauge how healthy the state of lift is at the wings. Keep it in the green and all is good—as long as you stay out of power lines and trees. In the center is a detachable Garmin 769 tablet with aviation-style GPS navigation and additional flight data.

As in a car, you twist a small key to start the overhead Rotax—which has a gear-reduction output and a distinctly gravely voice—and off you go. Once a seaplane is started on the water, it moves; there is no way to brake except to turn it into a stiff wind. Icon fits a small deployable water rudder in back to help you steer, and the overall lowness of the design means the waves are practically lapping at your elbows.

A sliding lever between the seats is the throttle. Push it forward, put in a little left rudder with the pedals to keep it straight against the torque reaction, and the Icon easily comes up on “the step,” or the bow plane. You can skate along a smooth lake like this for hours, the world’s biggest and coolest Jet Ski, but ease back the Icon’s slim, delicate stick and you’re aloft.

Nothing is idiot-proof, but Icon aimed for and achieved high idiot-resistance. Yank the stick back into a stall, which in most aircraft is followed by a heart-stopping plunge, and the A5 just hangs there, the inboard part of the thick, asymmetrical wing stalled but the outboard portion still generating lift. The A5 also resists spinning, another dangerous situation. If all else fails, there’s a rocket-powered parachute that will bring the plane down.

When you’re not intentionally trying to crash it, the A5 hums along, skimming the water or the treetops at eye level with the seagulls, which you should avoid. Though it’s heavy for its class of light-sport aircraft, it’s highly maneuverable, with a surprisingly fast roll rate that will stand it on its wing in a 60-degree bank, you pressed into the seats by 2 gs. If you’ve flown light aircraft before, it takes about 15 minutes to learn how to land it in smooth water and just a little longer to land it wheels-down on a strip. Icon’s 30-hour, $9500 training course, conducted at its own school in Vacaville over two weeks, is designed to get spring-chicken rookies through the FAA-mandated sport-pilot licensing, although some pilots may need a few extra hours. If you’re already a rated pilot, Icon offers a $2500 seaplane transition course or a $1250 checkout course for seaplane-rated pilots.

After that, the Icon will carry you and a companion aloft on airborne adventures not imaginable in any car. Well, not for the foreseeable future, anyway.

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We Go for a Flight in the Amphibious Icon A5 Airplane

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