mmarshall

I was at my favorite Ford/Lincoln shop today, test-driving a new F-150 for (possibly) our condo-maintenance man, who needs a new truck (I'll do a separate thread on the F-150 test-drive experience), and, on the way out, looked at a new Aviator in the showroom, without doing a test-drive. I was absolutely taken aback at the quality and solidness of the materials and trim, inside and out. It was like a downsized version of the excellent Navigator, but, in some ways, even more impressively built and assembled. Lincoln, with several recent models, is apparently going all-out to redeem itself after years (too many years) of goofy styling, cost-cutting, cheap materials, indifferent build quality, Ford look-alikes/drive-alikes, and (with some exceptions), marketing mainly to those in Florida Bingo-Houses. This Aviator, IMO, even without a test-drive, simply blows away much of its competition, and, IMO, if the people at Cadillac were wise, they would buy a couple of different versions of the new Aviator and have their engineers disassemble the vehicles and check out the materials and construction.

Pictures, BTW, don't really do this interior justice...you have to check it out in person to see how nice it is built. I didn't care for the upright video-screen housing (which, IMO, should have been integrated into the dash)...but everything else is A-1.

FrankReynoldsCPA

I look forward to your eventual test drive review of this.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

that isn't much leg room in the 2nd row

mmarshall

Gotcha.......That's probably what I will use the Lincoln Test-Drive offer on. It's good till the end of the month.

I haven't done many write-ups lately, mainly because my health has been suffering...a several-week period of acute bronchitis, coughing, laryngitis which took away most of my voice, sore throats, and even a 6-7 hour case of what may have been food poisoning Sunday night. But I have rapidly improved in the last few days, got back in the pool yesterday for some laps, and, of course, got back into the review/write-up groove again today. Keep your fingers crossed.

mmarshall

Well, you and I are both over 6', and, no, it is not going to have the kind of room inside that the big Navigator or Escalade does. But, of course, rear-seat room is determined at least partly by where the front seats are adjusted....and many SUVs in the Aviator's class also have adjustable rear seats.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

the front seats look adjusted all the way to the back in that picture, also

https://www.automobilemag.com/news/s...ncoln-aviator/

Coolchuck

Can’t wait to see one in person.

corradoMR2

Nice interior. Agree, looks nicer, richer in materials than the XT6.

AJT123

Yeah I'm not a Lincoln guy but handily will admit this and the Navi are impressive.

mmarshall

Like said, images alone don't do the interior justice. You have to actually see it and sit in it.

SW17LS

Will see if I can find one at a dealer around here

mmarshall

At Chantilly, they have one in the showroom (I doubt if it will last very long)...but most of the Lincoln shops around here don't have one yet.

LexBob2

The son in law of good friends of ours is Aviator Chief Engineer and he's discussed how committed Ford is to the Lincoln brand with his father in law. It's obvious IMO with what they are doing with their CUV's and SUV. Ford has set him and his wife up in a condo in Chicago while he's working with the assembly plant to assure a smooth start up of Aviator production.

mmarshall

Interesting.....small world, isn't it? Give him our congratulations for a nice job on the new Aviator.

And you can tell him that I hope that Lincoln remains as committed to the MKZ sedan as much as it is to the SUVs. The MKZ could use a nice, jewel-like interior like the Navigator and Aviator got. Its current interior, though not the worst I've seen in its class, has a somewhat flimsy, lightly-built feel.

mmarshall

This video is several months old, but here's King Alex's take on it at the L.A. Auto Show. Unlike his usual half-hour-long test-videos, this one runs only a few minutes, but includes some very good close-up sweeps of the interior.

https://www.alexonautos.com/2020-lin...or-first-look/