Car Throttle

FINALLY.  The friggin' Buick Encore is here.  All my dreams and prayers have been answered, I'm so excited I can hardly...

...oh, sorry, got caught up in Auto Show mode there.  I'm just glad we don't have to deal with teaser images of a small SUV any more.  Look, I love auto show season.  Even after years of this, it still gets my blood going - who doesn't like seeing new stuff for the first time?  But not everything that comes out at the auto shows are worth an entire article.  Thus, Car Throttle News Bites: Detroit Auto Show Edition.  If you missed the earlier coverage, you can find it under the Detroit 2012 Category.

Speaking of that

Wow, good news for Lincoln's updated  MKZ! The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently did a round of updated testing on all the latest crop of new vehicles. The Lincoln MKZ and Mercedes-Benz R-Class were particular bright points. This is surprising! The original car, based off the CD-3 platform that underpins the Fusion and Milan, was the Lincoln Zephyr. When tested by the IIHS, it performed merely acceptable overall and in the head on tests. Ford then made some changes and requested a retest as the MKZ. It fared good in those tests, but it's still surprising to see the car go from relatively unexceptional in terms of crash test ratings to an IIHS Top Safety Pick. The Lincoln MKZ and Mercedes-Benz R-Class received good ratings