Car Board.

You're in your mid-40s; maybe your car should be, too.

Lincoln CONTINENTAL Price: $43,390 Engine: 4.6-liter V8, 275 hp, 275 lb-ft Curb weight: 3848 lbs Drivetrain: fwd four-speed automatic If you're ready for luxury, look no further than Lincoln's Continental-the car version of the company's Navigator. It's big (the trunk could carry six adults, if you could find a drive-in to sneak into). It's loaded with comfort: heated leather seats; audio, air conditioning, cruise control buttons on the steering wheel; and outside rear-view mirrors that automatically angle downward to help you back up without running over the kids' toys. You do have kids, don't you? They'll find space aplenty in back for three, but its front center console limits Conti's overall passenger capacity to five. And the up-front space just seems big... until you fill it with all that won't fit in the center console because it holds the CD changer. We recommend you set the ride to ``firm.''

Lexus GS 300 Price: $45,133 Engine: 3.0-liter I6, 220 hp, 220 lb-ft Curb weight: 3638 lbs Drivetrain: rwd, five-speed automatic This may well be the perfect midlife-crisis mobile. The GS 300 marries the genteel appointments you've earned by your mid-40s with the performance you demand of a car in its mid-40s. The I6 engine with variable valve timing has smooth, linear power delivery to match the overall smoothness of this car. It seats the requisite five passengers in a climate-controlled and heated-seat environment. (If we're talking too much about heated seats, understand where our headquarters lie.) The GS 300 trumps its competition with its performance-oriented ...