2002 Lincoln Blackwood...Continued

You don't want to use the Blackwood as a work truck, because that's not the intent -- and Ford already has the four-door SuperCrew based on a F-150 truck for that purpose. You also wouldn't want it as a sport-utility wagon for off-road travel with four-wheel traction because that's the role of Lincoln's Navigator, the foundation for Blackwood. Instead, Blackwood is reserved strictly as a rear-wheel-drive vehicle designed for pavement cruising.

It looks like a big truck yet functions like an oversized limousine built with a higher stance and stronger engine, more plush gear in the cabin and more space in that truckbed trunk.

We pick up a prototype edition of Blackwood near Paso Robles and spend a long afternoon steering it over a variety of California roads.

First, we headed east on a wiggly state highway across the rolling Cholame Hills to reach bee-line routes cut through flat fields of the San Joaquin Valley. Then we wound around westward to the 101 freeway at Atascadero for a speedy descent through Cuesto Pass in the Santa Lucia Range to the Pacific Coast at San Luis Obispo.

Covering so many miles, we spent enough time in Blackwood's plush buckets to develop opinions about the way Lincoln's new vehicle operates on the open road.

Despite a hefty curb weight of almost three tons, it's a nimble machine that's surprisingly easy to steer through curves or maneuver in traffic. It's also quiet powerful when commanded, capable of zipping down the fast lane or leaping around a string of slow trucks on a two-lane highway.

Blackwood's driver and riders will also find the cabin as a quiet space isolated from the outside world and at all times utterly luxurious and comfortable for long-haul treks. And it scores a rave rating for those cushy front seats. Each bucket, clad in perforated Connolly leather, contains an internal blower that circulates either soothing warm air or refreshing cooling to your backside. A thumb wheel positioned below each seat on the outboard side controls air flow and temperature, from toasty warm to chilly cool.

Driver and passengers perch high in Lincoln's form-fitting seats. With generous expanses of window glass wrapping the cabin, the outward visibility looks good. A functional dash design integrates easy-to-view and easy-to-reach instruments and controls in a system housing twin air bags. The dashboard mounts through a unique cross-truck beam welded to the frame for no-squeak durability.