You're right about the RL; that was a keyboard error on my part. My intended reference was the TL, which had essentially displaced the RL in its fourth generation, and is, in fact, based off of the same pedestrian platform as the Ridgeline, Accord, Odyssey, MDX, and Pilot. And the points still stands; you've done…

Exactly; the MKZ might not be everything we dream of Lincoln being, or everything that Lincoln itself dreams of being. But it's not a bad start if Lincoln can keep building momentum little by little. It's enough to show that there is a little life, a little enthusiasm, to be found in Lincoln yet.

Yes, you're right - Ford could hypothetically start from the ground up with a new premium RWD platform. But the point that you seem to be missing here is that they wouldn't be able to do much with it. It would cost too much to be the volume seller that Ford of Australia needs the Falcon to be, there isn't enough…

And here's the counter to the issue that you have with that argument - while the MKS was intended to be the flagship of the brand when introduced, it was not intended to be a flagship luxury car. It was never intended to go up against the the 7-series, S-class, or any other German luxury car, for that matter. As such,…

I think you're exactly right, and that's exactly why internet commenters tend not to be called in to act as subject matter experts for major manufacturers.

Well, the LS failure - for ultimately, despite it being a decent car, that what it was - was literally the result of Lincoln doing exactly what it shouldn't have tried: going head-to-head with 5-series and the E-class. For the reasons I stated above, that was simply doomed to fail, even if the car had been much better…

You know, I completely understand the criticism of how Lincoln handled the MKZ's introduction, along with their marketing scheme for the car.

I could give a damn about what you drive; but, if it makes a difference, I drove a 1974 Jeep Cherokee, a body-on-frame monster that was quite adept with only minor tweaks, provided that it could fit on the trail in question.

As I've thought more about your argument, it seems more and more that you made a point that I completely missed, and I humbly apologize for that. I think that you're right in that doing something different, even in the case of Jeep, isn't necessarily a bad thing, and I think that you were implicitly arguing that the…

It's not that I'm hung-up on the headlights from the standpoint that I think that Jeeps should only come with traditional round headlights; rather, it's that I simply happen to think that the Cherokee design is hideous. I don't care if they change the headlight shape or the design language; I just care that they make…

I think you missed the entire point of my comment.

We will have to agree to disagree on #8. The SSR may have been a whole hell of a lot irrational, but it was also a whole hell of a lot of weirdly cool. It may not have been the most attractive thing in the world, but it wasn't the worst-looking. Sure, a convertible truck is an odd concept these days, but not so much…

No. Just no. The Aztek may have been a spectacular aesthetic disaster, but it was otherwise a very well-thought-out and versatile, functional vehicle. The only CUV since the Aztek to come close to matching it in terms of functionality was the Honda Element, and, notably, it, too, is dead.

It's funny what a difference a little bit of context can make. Make no mistake, I hate the aesthetics of the new Cherokee. It's an abhorrently disgusting example of what can go wrong when you try to be too "fashionable" or "forward-thinking" in design. And, truth be told, I would hate the look of it no matter the…

I think that about sums it up. It's not an ugly car per se, in the way that the babboon-butt P1 or the amorphous blob that is the Veyron, but the term "beautiful" just isn't an appropriate descriptor for it. It's handsome in a functional way, but far from beautiful or sensuous.

I do not in any way, shape, or form condone the actions of Officer Culpepper. That was just not an appropriate course of action. Period. With that being said, however, I have precisely zero sympathy for the truck driver. The cop's driving may have been far more in the wrong than the truck driver's, but that truck…

*SIGH*

Yeah, I wouldn't care if Jennifer Lawrence had epilepsy. She's such an awesome woman in so many ways that it'd be incredibly fun to hang out with her regardless.

Yes, one question: What's the car (or, as the tag implies, truck)?

Agreed. I'm sentimental and curmudgeonly about a great many things, but this just isn't one of them. I'm always amused by the people that try in vain to tell me that I should love modern supercars because they are technological wonders, only to turn around and bitch about supercars not having simple, manual…