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<\/p>\n<\/div>When presidents travel, they leave traffic nightmares in their wake, as any commuter can attest who\u2019s been stuck in motorcade gridlock on Interstate 94 outside Detroit Metro. Over the last eight years, President Obama has descended on Los Angeles for fundraisers so many times that locals have dubbed his visits \u201cObamageddon.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I arrived right smack in the middle of \u201cObamageddon: Part 30\u201d last week. And endured it in the nicest possible place: the back of a 2017 Lincoln Continental.<\/p>\n To compete against Teutonic performance sedans, Ford\u2019s luxury brand is resurrecting the Continental name to emphasize passenger comfort first \u2014 and Nurburgring lap times second. It begins with reinventing the backseat space. With one eye on the U.S. market and the other on China\u2019s limo-loving nouveau riche, Lincoln has outfitted the back as if it were your living room Barcalounger.<\/p>\n I arrived at LAX airport at 3 p.m. and was hustled into the Continental\u2019s rear suite for my 15-mile drive to the Hotel Bel Air, the appropriately luxurious backdrop for Lincoln\u2019s luxurious media launch. The journey should have taken 45 minutes in afternoon traffic. It took us 2 hours, 30 minutes in Obamageddon.<\/p>\n Motorcade One shut down Sunset Boulevard, cutting West L.A. in half and sealing our doom. No matter. I was just getting comfortable. I\u2019m 6-foot-5 and even a big luxury car\u2019s back seat can cramp my giraffe legs with the passenger seat moved all the way back. But a thoughtful button at my right elbow allowed me to roll the front seat forward, opening acres of room. After flying five hours from Detroit in Delta torture \u2014 er, coach \u2014 class, my legs audibly sighed with relief.<\/p>\n And at my left elbow was the biggest center rest I\u2019d ever seen: bin storage, twin cupholders, climate controls, audio dials, sunroof control. Heck, I may have missed the fridge.<\/p>\n By the time I made it to the hotel, I had checked email, made phone calls, riffed L.A.\u2019s radio stations, opened the sunroof and generally made myself at home. Only a jumbo TV screen was missing.<\/p>\n What\u2019s also missing from the $45,485-$80,000 Continental is electrification. Tesla\u2019s battery-powered, $70,000 Model S is the best-selling big sedan in America. Yet, startup Tesla still can\u2019t make money on it. How about a mature automaker?<\/p>\n Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr. shares the same bomb shelter with Elon Musk, warning of global warming Armageddon. Yet he hasn\u2019t followed Musk\u2019s lead in electrifying his own land yacht, which tells me EV-luxury is unaffordable below 70 grand.<\/p>\n Tesla\u2019s high-risk investor class may one day get its home run, but Ford pensioners expect a return right now<\/em>. So the Continental is built from the most affordable tech on the market. That means a choice of three gas engines and a stretched version of the tried-and-true Ford Fusion CD4 platform.<\/p>\n The combination made for competent power and handling the next morning as I explored north L.A.\u2019s highways and twisty canyon roads. Continental\u2019s stylish comfort embodies the brand\u2019s \u201cquiet luxury\u201d mantra, but put your boot into the car\u2019s exclusive twin-turbo, 3.0-liter V-6 and you\u2019re ready to rumble. Ford Motor Co., after all, has been defined since birth by performance (the legendary Sweepstakes<\/a> and GT40 racers, for example). And the same engineering talent that has developed state-of-the-art mills for the Ford GT, Mustang GT350, and Ford Focus RS has stuffed Continental with its own 400-horse beast.<\/p>\n The 3-liter pulls the land yacht nicely. But the chassis\u2019 4,500 pounds is evident under braking and through corners, so Continental makes available the same torque-vectoring, all-wheel drive system that possess the Focus RS hellion. I didn\u2019t try any 360-degree, Gymkhana acrobatics<\/a>, but the AWD system rotates Conti nicely and gives needed AWD oomph come Michigan winter blahs.<\/p>\n With its full-sized value, the Lincoln is positioned to go head-to-head against the midsize BMW 5-series, Audi A6 and Mercedes E-Class in the $55K-$65K luxe market for owners who value more leg-room and less cornering G. So I\u2019d opt for the turbo, 2.7-liter V-6 (which stars in the Ford Fusion Sport I recently flogged<\/a>) with AWD \u2014 then dress it up in Black Label trim.<\/p>\n Offering the best Lincoln accessories, Black Label will get you the rear-seat package, \u201cturbine wheels\u201d (the coolest this side of a VW Golf GTI) and the \u201cPerfect-position seat.\u201d<\/p>\n As pleasant as the back may be, Lincoln\u2019s 30-way (or 24, sans massage) front throne is its calling card. With 30 patents, Lincoln has gone where no seat-maker has gone before, separating the chair into zones that allow front occupants to adjust everything from head to thigh.<\/p>\n Take your giant scribe, who has cursed conventional headrests for their reach-around, thumb-adjusted, twin-rod inanity. The Conti\u2019s headrest can be simply adjusted up-down-aft-and-fore by a button. Brilliant. As are the individual thigh bolsters to cradle my sciatica-prone left leg, while allowing my right leg independence with the throttle. These functions are all located on the car door \u2014 with further tweaking available in the center console screen.<\/p>\n