[ad_1]
Finally, American luxury.
At one time, Cadillac felt it could challenge luxury car manufacturers around the world with a distinctly American view of luxury. However, while sedans such as the CTS and ATS offered a competitive driving experience, the only impressive aspect of the cabin experience was how much it lacked Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
If, in our early days in art and science, we had said that Lincoln, not Cadillac, would create a product that would lead well and offer an undeniably American experience in a high-end product, we would have made fun of you. But here we are with the Lincoln Aviator 2020, a luxury vehicle so complete that you just have to take a look at the cabin to convince the uncertain customers of Germany.
American luxury
Open the big driver's door using the capacitive touch tip and the following view is better than anything the American manufacturer has been offering for decades. Hundreds of soft leather, sumptuous wood, subtle black piano finishes and elegant little touches of chrome in the right places underscore the cabin of the aviator. But while any automaker can trade these materials at random, the way Lincoln uses them here is unique.
The dash is rather thin, but the designers have created an impression of depth that makes it much more substantial. The leather overcomes it, but the heart of the dashboard is made up of a flared piece edged with warm, handsome wood on everything but the basic aviator. The passenger side features a small Lincoln coach line with badges that seems expensive. Before all this is the only iteration of a tablet-style touch screen that your author has ever liked, and underneath, a strip of black piano black trim that houses the climate control vents, sandwiched between two leather straps.
The set seems expensive. But more importantly, it seems elaborate and theatrical. And it looks special. Lincoln did his best to achieve this with neat little touches, ringtones and chimes at startup (created with the help of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra), at rectangular orifices that seem to come straight out of a Continental 1964. But there is information here too.
While the 10.1-inch touchscreen hosts the vast majority of Aviator's controls, Lincoln designers have retained the physical volume and tuning knobs, and the entire system of air conditioning incorporates analog buttons. These are the only physical controls of the central stack, in a configuration that reminds us a bit too Volvo. That said, with lots of wood trim, two large cupholders and a nice little safe above the flying bridge type center console, the aviator puts the accent on convenience.
There are, of course, dubious choices, but they are rare. For some reason, the designers have set the voice command button at 10 o'clock on the steering wheel radius. You will hit accidentally and often. And unlike Mercedes-Benz and BMW, the speaker grilles of the Aviator are plastic instead of metal. It's really a shame, given that the Revel audio system with 28 speakers available is arguably the best on the market, that's all. In fact, the lack of true metal accents in this cabin is disappointing – the $ 60,000 luxury vehicles require the real McCoy. But the clever way Lincoln has matched the colors and materials in the Aviator's cabin makes it easy to ignore these flaws. Again, these are easy-to-solve problems, and plastic speaker grilles are not the only strange choice.
Take to heaven
One of the strangest choices is what Lincoln calls the Aviator's driving modes. Instead of sports, there is Excite. Instead of Eco, we get Conserve. Once again, these are theatrical choices. But the default setting? Ordinary. What about Chill or Relax or Leisure? Each of these options is best suited, while accommodating the Aviator's driving experience.
Unlike the previous Lincoln Aviator that was discontinued in 2005, the resurrected 2020 model no longer behaves like the Ford Explorer with which it shares a modular rear-drive architecture. Lincoln abandoned the Explorer's McPherson strut rear suspension for a long and short arm configuration and associated it with a full-link rear suspension, but it's only a matter of the basic configuration. The Aviator you want uses a four-corner air suspension and adaptive dampers with a camera that scans the roads up to 500 times per second to account for imperfections between 2 and 8 inches in height. Although this type of predictive technology is not new, it is at a reasonable price … relatively speaking. The $ 3,000 package requires either a state-of-the-art Black Label finish or a $ 11,625 USD Reserve II package and AWD, the most affordable aviator to support the advanced suspension configuration. $ 565
The premium configuration is worth the cost. Or at least it was in Napa Valley, where we were testing the new Aviator.
The reality is that the roads crossing the vineyards are smooth and winding. This makes the region a great place to test the driveability of a vehicle – and that's why so many automakers are hosting media launches – but it's less good for getting an idea of the way a vehicle drives on imperfect roads. The advanced suspension of the Aviator is excellent, but on these roads, the only thing that would have surprised was if it was less. We're looking forward to finding an Aviator on tougher roads (or maybe even a dirt road) to see if the promise of its suspension exists outside of Wine Country.
What we can confirm is that the Aviator's noise, vibration and hardness control is excellent. Lincoln has built an extremely quiet car that eliminates the wind noise and smoothness of the standard 3.0-liter V6 twin-turbo.
Your roots show
We'll discuss in more detail the 3.0-liter V6 and its 10-speed automatic on Thursday morning, where we'll see how it fits into the Aviator range with the new gasoline-electric hybrid model. For the moment, however, we'll say that the 400-horsepower Aviator base engine has a lot to offer, like in the Explorer ST. But if we can forgive the sound of the V6 engine in Ford's more traditional products, its shrill sound is too much present in the Aviator. Increase engine speed and Ford Lincoln's roots shine clearly.
This is also true of the touch screen infotainment system. This is a slightly redefined version of Ford's Sync 3 suite, which is … very good? It's responsive, easy to understand and fortunately the designers have used physical controls to change radio stations, but in such a special booth, this infotainment system looks like a painted blue oval in the middle of a labor. The configuration of the infotainment does not destroy the luxurious character of the Aviator (the large 10.1-inch landscape-oriented screen is much nicer than anything in a Ford), but it has a small impact.
This infotainment system looks like a painted blue oval in the middle of a chef-d'oeuvre.
Sometimes, however, even specific Lincoln bits are insufficient. We have never found our ideal position in the "Perfect Position" seats with 30 positions, despite the fact that we have to play constantly at multiple settings and the tilt and telescopic steering column assisted. The 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster is another missing asset, without the customization and the very versatility of the explorer's digital cockpit. The digital clusters of Audi, Mercedes-Benz and even BMW are of a totally different utility and versatility. For example, there is no way to display the navigation map in the cluster. The cluster is not even particularly easy to learn – during tests, we did not find how to adjust the left side of the screen, so it only displayed the name of the song that was in stereo at this moment. This is useful if you are listening to a new artist, but we do not need a 100-point font to tell us that we are listening to "Kodachrome" when Simon and Garfunkel go on the radio.
The cost of luxury
Aviator prices start at $ 51,100 for the rear-wheel drive base model, but increase rapidly with the reserve balance of $ 56,190 and even faster with the Black Label models we drove. You will earn $ 77,695 to enter the latter model. The only gas-powered aviator we drove was even more expensive thanks to options, although, fortunately, most of the equipment is standard at this stage. The only options available are the 3,000 USD Dynamic Traction Package (Air Suspension, Adaptive Shock Absorbers and Road Preview Camera System) and the second row free center console. A price of $ 81,790 after test (destination fee included of $ 1,095) is a hard pill to swallow, but the Aviator stands out from the others.
The interior will win prizes. It's significantly better than Cadillac's three-row competitors, Infiniti and Acura, and it's at least a little better than what you get in the Audi Q7. At the same time, with a 400 horsepower V6 engine, this Lincoln has more punch than the Mercedes-AMG GLE43 and BMW X5 xDrive40i (two-row only), as well as their larger, three-row, six-cylinder. siblings fully equipped, the GLS450 and X7 xDrive40i, while having the best value for money. This combination should make the Lincoln Aviator 2020 a must-have choice for luxury shoppers looking for something other than the classic three-row premium.
| Black AWD Lincoln Aviator 2020 | |
|---|---|
| Engine | V6 3.0-liter twin turbocharger |
| Exit | 400 horsepower / 414 lb-ft |
| Transmission | Automatic 10 speeds |
| Type of training | Full traction |
| Fuel economy | 17 city / 24 highway / 20 combined |
| Weight | 4,892 pounds |
| Towing | 6,700 pounds |
| Number of places | 7 |
| Loading volume | 18.3 / 41.8 / 77.7 cubic feet |
| Base price | $ 51,100 |
| Price As Tested | $ 81,790 |
Lincoln Lincoln Aviator 2020: First Reader
[ad_2]
Source link