Continental

For several years the American car manufacturers left a gap in their product lines.  Ford had let the Lincoln Town Car become hopelessly dated and discontinued and Cadillac has gone in pursuit of BMW drivers with smaller, faster, better handling cars - long ago dropping the Fleetwood for the smaller Deville, morphing it into the smaller yet DTS and watching that fade away.  This left a gap for full size domestic cars.  Cars that are built for the owner to ride in the back with a professional driver up front.  A celebrity on Top Gear described why he owned an S-class and a Maybach.  The S-class you drive, the Maybach you are driven in.  The class of cars intended for you to be driven in was absent from the American manufacturers lines for several year.  Huge SUVs, really trucks, were substituted, but the rider experience is not the same as a luxury car.  The limo services have struggled for several years to replace the fleet of cars.  Despite rumors of Cadillac bringing back the Fleetwood, it has not happened.  

Over the past 3 or 4 years Lincoln has brought back the Continental. Kind of timidly at first, then this year as a true full size, top of the line, technologically up to date luxury car.  How techy is it? The door latches are electrically operated.  I am not talking about power locks, almost every car has those. The door handles have electronic switches in them that actuate the latches.  No mechanical pull.  On the inside there is no lever to pull, just a button to push.  Front and rear seat dual zone climate control.  programmable digital instrumentation, a smooth quiet ride.  I sat in one at the auto show a few weeks ago, then lucked into my Super Shuttle ride in New Orleans being in the one.  It is a very nice ride.  

I hope they sell lots of them, my retirement account owns a ton of Ford stock.  

If I were Lincoln, I would offer an extended cabin version, pushing the seat back 4-5 inches.  The driver commented that the seat was overly firm, and the console pressed on his knee (a common problem in newer cars.) The last car I had with a lot of knee room was the Eldorado. 

If money were no object, would you drive or ride in the back.