It's no secret that Lincoln has been struggling lately to establish itself as a serious luxury brand, often being criticized of not differentiating itself enough from its parent, mainstream company, Ford. Motor Trend's most recent test of the MKZ line-up is in line with all recent Lincoln reviews. I think part of the problem is with the reviews, though, not Lincoln and its offerings. Let's look at this latest review. You don't need to read a whole lot to notice the problem ( 2013 Lincoln MKZ Full Line First Test - Motor Trend ). In fact, you only need to read past the first couple of lines. They said that the Lincoln MKZ has changed things but is it good enough to be more than "Ford-Plus? That's still a tough case to make, when given all the data." Notice the problem? The problem is the data. Or rather, using data. Over the years, performance figures have become a huge factor in judging a luxury car. So huge, in fact, that the vast majority of the ...
Okay, this isn't a car but there's a reason why I'm writing about it. It has a supercharged 1.0 litre engine makes 296 hp. 296 hp may not be too impressive in a car but one has to remember that this isn't a car. It's a bike and it weighs just 476 lb in full trim and a 90% full tank. That's a weight to power ratio of 1.6 lb/hp. I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around that number. To put that number into perspective, a 2013 Mustang GT500 has 5.9 lb/hp. A C6 Corvette ZR1 has 5.3 lb/hp. A 2015 Porsche 918 has 4.2 lb/hp and that's with the electric motors running at full song. The insane Hennessey Venom GT with its twin-turbo LS7 7.0 litre engine has 2.2 lb/hp. I can't even begin to imagine what 1.6 lb/hp would feel like. I would also be curious about how fast you'd have to be going to be able to use that power. I used to have an 09 Cobalt SS. It had GM Stage 1 and a few bolt ons which would put it at very close to that 296 ...