At a swanky Manhattan event space, Lincoln Motor Company held a press event to discuss one of the innovations it’s most proud of in the strikingly handsome and headed-for-production Lincoln Continental concept. But we weren’t there to talk about engines or gawk at the suspension or raise an eyebrow at chassis-rigidity specs. No, we were there to hear all about the Continental’s absurdly luxurious seats, which adjust thirty different ways.
“Feeling refreshed and rejuvenated—even after a long trip—is possible with the 30-way seats introduced in the Lincoln Continental,” the automaker’s press release claims. The assumption here is, if you can’t find a way to be comfortable after being granted access to this much seat-adjusting freedom, you should probably get an exorcism or something. What are those 30 ways? Glad you asked. There are:
- Six ways to adjust the seat’s lower cushion: forward/back, raise/lower front edge, raise/lower rear edge
- Two ways to adjust the seatback: raise/recline
- Four ways to adjust the headrest: forward/back, up/down
- Two ways to adjust the upper-back support: tilt forward/back
- Four ways to adjust the lower seat-cushion extensions, two telescoping segments that move fore/aft independently
- Four ways to adjust the thigh supports; these move up/down independently
- Four ways to adjust the lumbar support: up/down, inflate/deflate
- Two ways to adjust the seatback side bolsters—in/out
- And finally, two ways to adjust the lower seat-cushion bolsters—in/out
READ MORE: Bentley Designer Slams Lincoln Continental, We Ask Him to Elaborate
While the Lincoln Continental is for now just a concept, Lincoln’s Advanced Seat Innovation Supervisor Jonathan Line stated that the seats that appear in the blue show car give a very good indication of what will come standard in the eventual production vehicle. We were able to sample the seats inside the car, as well as a disembodied example set up on a small platform.
After the tech talk—where we learned about the concept seating’s plastic and thin foam “comfort carrier” that supports the passengers’ shoulders and neck and the standard passel of heating/cooling/massaging thingies buried within—the moment came. Our posterior quivered in anticipation.
The throne-like demonstration chair that Lincoln set in the middle of the room for journalists to perch upon had a nifty touch-screen control center that, sadly, won’t be featured in the production Continental. It was pretty much necessary, however, to help this lowly simpleton navigate the many ways in which you can adjust a seat through 30 variables. The old-school, door-mounted seat adjuster buttons are much more likely to indicate what you’ll find in the Continental that will hit dealers.
And oh, those adjustments. You could get lost in your own lumbar trying to figure out how to best adjust this seat for maximum comfort. Do I want maybe a touch more recline? Perhaps my right thigh needs 1.5 degrees more angle than my left. This head restraint setting is fine, I guess, but what could a tiny fraction of an inch’s adjustment rearward do for my life?
Frankly, in the few minutes we had to spend with this über-throne, all that adjustment ability was moderately overwhelming. We suspect that the luxury buyers who love themselves enough to splurge on 30-way adjustable seats (and the opulent sedan they’ll be mounted in) will have no problem spending some quality me-time figuring out exactly what their derrières deserve. The moments we spent hogging the chair from the growing line of auto writers only showed us how deeply we could personalize this seat’s settings, not the bone-deep comfort that such tweakability could reveal. Suffice it to say that our editorial backside eagerly awaits the chance to test drive these cushions for real.
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