that is as fully tasteful as any luxury car on the market. The plush carpeting and

high-quality fabrics, the simple wood trim and rich colors, all work to put you at

ease.

Attention has been paid to many details, such as the large-capacity, extendable

coat hook and umbrella tucked into a pouch behind the right front seat.

There's plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy long drives, and the back seat is

extra spacious. Car seats and kids go in and out with ease.

The white-on-black instrument panel with floating red indicators is elegant and

functional, with just four dials to deal with--a speedometer and tachometer, fuel and

temperature gauges.

The right side of the panel has a dot-matrix display screen that's part of the

Memory Profile System. This is supposed to be a great technological breakthrough that

sets the Continental apart from all of its competitors. This electronic marvel lets

you customize just about every operational aspect of the car. Select how much effort

you wish to exert in steering: low, normal or firm.

The car remembers everything from how you like to position the six-way power seats

and how the outside mirrors should be adjusted, to what radio stations you like to

have available on the preset pushbuttons.

When you unlock the doors with your key fob, the car knows it's you and adjusts

everything--seat, mirrors, radio--just the way you like it. So if your spouse has been

driving the car and reset the button for your classical music station to play

country-western tunes, don't worry. It will all change back.

The idea sounds great, but in real life driving the memory profile system just

seems like another electronic gadget that doesn't add anything to the true substance of the car.