Lincoln Ready To Deliver Black Label Service

Luxuryis the new black for Lincoln. Well, actually, it’s the new Black Label program that Lincoln wants people to see as luxurious, and Lincoln will be talking a lot about the program this week at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show. Black Label is not to be confused with the Mercedes-Benz Black Series, a lineup of uber-performance vehicles. It should also not be confused with Johnnie Walker’s Blue Label, the highest-end Scotch Johnnie Walker produces.

No, for Lincoln, a new standard of customer service will be wrapped and packaged under the Black Label. Think of it as the way many people think they should be treated when plunking down more than $40,000 for a car or crossover.  2015 Lincoln Mkc Black Label Indulgence Chroma Couture Front Side View While skeptical of the initiative a year ago when Lincoln introduced the world the concept at Pebble Beach, I’m starting to understand why Lincoln created this program, which will add another $6,000 to a vehicle’s price tag. 

It’s a story behind buying your car that you share with a friend over dinner. “Oh, I didn’t even go to the dealership,” you can say as you cut into your medium rare free-range grass-fed steak. “They brought samples and swatches to my house, and when I did arrive at the Lincoln dealership, I sipped espressos while the dealer had my car detailed. And I hope you’re enjoying tonight’s dinner. The menu was created exclusively for people like me. You know, on the list. The Black Label list.” More

New Honda Power Unit In Its F1 Car

McLaren today started testing of a new Honda power unit in a modified version of its 2014 Formula One car. The testing took place during a filming day at the Silverstone circuit in the U.K. under strict conditions.

McLaren, along with other teams taking part in the filming day, were only able to drive the car a limited distance and with demonstration tires. However, the test still represents a major step in the development of McLaren’s 2015 F1 car, particularly in the area of packaging and integration.

Behind the wheel was McLaren test driver Oliver Turvey.

Honda first confirmed its intention to return to F1 as an engine supplier back in 2013. The Japanese automaker’s new power unit, which was revealed for the first time last month, will be used exclusively by McLaren in the 2015 season.

The power unit consists of a turbocharged 1.6-liter V-6 engine paired with two electric motor-generators, one providing a boost of power to the wheels and the other helping spool up the turbo. Under current regs, combined system output is around 750 horsepower.

Unrestricted testing of the new power unit in a McLaren chassis will commence after next weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi. By then, we should also know McLaren’s driver lineup for the 2015 season. Currently driving for McLaren are Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen, though the former may be replaced by current Ferrari man Fernando Alonso.

2015 Mini Cooper S - Functionally simplified—though still quite busy

Inside, the Cooper lineup is a little less quirky than it was, and less cluttered in its controls. Yet it’s still most definitely a busy design. Between the various curves, bulges, steps, bevels, and bezels, taking in the design of the interior as a whole can be overwhelming, even though from a functional standpoint it's been simplified. The speedometer has been moved in front of the driver—a good move, we think—while the central stack is still a Big Round Thing, now encircling a display screen. Below, there’s now just a handful of toggle-switches, and climate controls are quite intuitive and ordinary.

A ring surrounds the central display cluster, illuminating based on your driving style and driving mode. We found it gimmicky and somewhat distracting and turned it off; our test car had the available head-up display, which we found quite useful given the central gauges. Settings for both items, by the way, are accessed through a version of BMW’s familiar iDrive system, with a version of the iDrive controller just behind the shift knob. For this tall, long-armed driver, with the seat back most of the way, it was in the right place; but we do wonder about shorter drivers.

Otherwise there’s a drive mode switch just at the back of the shift-knob base, letting you choose from Sport and Green settings, as well as a 'normal' one, that order up some quite different behaviors in the powertrain and steering. The Green setting, for instance, lets the transmission fully detach when you ease off the gas, for far more effective coasting.

A different car, familiar in the details

The latest generation of Mini Coopers are built on a new platform, but you might not even know it from the outside. You’ll know it once underway, though; this feels like a different vehicle entirely—yet one intimately familiar in some details.

While base Mini Cooper models now have a 134-horsepower, 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine—one that lets the MINI Cooper achieve ratings up to 30 mpg city, 42 highway—the Cooper S we drove comes with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, making 189 hp and 207 pound-feet of torque—or 221 lb-ft in a special overboost mode, for a few seconds at a time. In our Cooper S it was hooked up to a six-speed automatic transmission; and although we probably would have preferred the six-speed manual, the automatic was a delight for the most part, allowing more of a ‘connected’ feeling than most automatics bring.

2015 Mini Cooper S Overwrought or Just Cheeky

Is the 2015 Mini Cooper S overwrought or just cheeky? Is it a trend-setter or a fashion victim? And does it still continue to build on the heritage of the classic Mini?

Those are tough questions, we know. But when driving the Cooper S—the new-generation Cooper S that made its debut this past year—for the first time a few weeks ago, we couldn’t help but ask them to ourselves. MINI, the BMW sub-brand, making cars in England, has been around for 12 years, and this is the third generation of a vehicle that started as a sort of design homage to the classic 1960s (and later) Mini—and especially the more 'optimized' Cooper.

In some ways, we'd say the Cooper S embodies what a modern hot hatch should be; yet in others it’s confoundingly aloof, despite all the heavy-handed cues.

First off, the packaging: At just 151 inches long, the MINI Hardtop is definitely still mini by American standards. Sure, it’s grown closer to other subcompact hatchbacks like the Ford Fiesta or Honda Fit—and significantly larger than the modern Fiat 500, another retro-styled minicar that’s sold in the U.S. But it’s worth making a reality check that the new model is two and a half feet longer, a foot wider, and two inches taller, than the classic Mini.

Before I get into some of the more controversial points, there’s one thing we can all agree about, and it’s that the new Cooper models look pretty great on the outside. They’re essentially the same interpretation on classic-Mini-inspired proportions that MINI Coopers have had ever since BMW created the brand in 2002, but it seems that the nose edges just a bit longer with each generation (are there lies being told?). What we really do like is how there’s a little more contrast and sharpness brought about by the details. Read More

GM Takes Cue From Amazon

Here's what we know:

1. Consumers generally hate infotainment systems designed by automakers. (Sometimes, they hate them so much, they file lawsuits.)

2. All that hatred has had an impact on quality and reliability ratings.

3. Both Apple and Google hope to improve the infotainment experience with systems of their own -- systems that mirror the interfaces and features found on the smartphones and tablets we use every day.

You'd expect automakers to breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing about #3. "Hallelujah!", they surely shouted, "Tech companies have come to the rescue, allowing us to focus all our attention on what we do best: building cars!"

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And yet, that hasn't happened. Automakers continue to "improve" their own deeply flawed, impossibly outdated software. And now comes news that General Motors is building its own infotainment system on Android rather than using the already-built, already-tested Android Auto.

Before you throw up your hands, though, keep reading. There's a method to GM's madness.

WHAT IT DOES

Apple's CarPlay and Android Auto put smartphones at the center of the infotainment experience. They serve as mirroring devices, allowing consumers to access apps and media via familiar user interfaces.

The problem is, neither Android Auto nor Car Play are full, in-dash operating systems. If you don't have a smartphone, they don't do much good. And they can't control everything that conventional in-dash systems do, like air-conditioning and heating -- at least not yet.

And so, just as Amazon built a completely customized Android operating system for its Kindle Fire devices, GM has decided to tweak Android for its dashboards. The as-yet-unnamed system promises to be instantly bootable, and it will come with its own app environment (again, like Amazon). It will not only allow owners to access apps and media on the center screen, but it will also control the a/c system, allow views through rearview cameras, and everything else that today's dodgy infotainment systems do.

Even more interestingly, GM has partnered with Harman to carry out the task of building the system. Since Harman also supplies infotainment systems for BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota, variations of the one it creates for GM could appear on those lineups, too.

OUR TAKE

We get where GM is going with this. It wants an infotainment system that's baked into the dash -- one that can handle a wide range of functions and works even for people without smartphones. Building that system on Android, which many people know (and even iOS users can pick up pretty quickly), seems like a very smart move.

Then again, Google isn't the kind of company to let promising software languish. (It's currently tinkering with one of its most beloved offerings, Gmail, with a new, odd app called Inbox.) Nor is Apple. We'd be surprised if one or both didn't release infotainment systems with greater functionality in the near future.

Will GM's system gain traction? Or will Android Auto and CarPlay force it off the road, much as Android and iOS did to the laughable Fire phone? We'll keep you posted.