Car Reviews
The 2025 Lincoln Aviator – AIR SUPPLY
The 2025 Lincoln Aviator
AIR SUPPLY
It’s Saturday morning, and I’m parking the Lincoln Aviator at a coffee shop near Vienna, Virginia. At roughly the same time a kid (OK, an early 30-something) is parking his ’23 Aviator. Thinking he doesn’t need to be bombarded with questions before he gets his coffee, I wait…until he’s ordered his coffee. While knowing Lincoln’s buyer demographics are younger than they once were (how could they not be?), I was still looking for this youngster’s motivation in buying what many see as an old man’s car.
The answer is simple enough: His Audi Q7 was totaled, and he was unable to replace it with the insurance settlement. In searching for a luxury SUV he found Lincoln and, while this is just a couple of years ago, looks like he will live happily ever after. And if you happen to like the recipe Lincoln is mixing up in Dearborn you could live – and drive! – happily ever after. Also.
Long before Honda hatched Acura, Toyota launched Lexus or Nissan brought us Infiniti, Ford – back in 1922 – acquired Lincoln. Naming it for the former president, Henry and his son Edsel immediately put Lincoln on an upmarket path in both specification and design. Highlights from ‘back in the day’ include Edsel’s Continental of 1940, the Mark II of the late ‘50s, the ‘Kennedy’ Lincoln of the early ‘60s and (in the mid-‘80s) the Continental Mark VII. Regrettably, its notable design catalog has run somewhat dry over the last 40 years, but in this observer’s opinion Lincoln’s Aviator has relaunched the category.
Competing in a segment shared with Volvo’s XC90, the aforementioned Audi Q7 and Acura’s MDX, Lincoln’s Aviator brings to this gunfight an upright architecture shared with Ford’s Explorer, enough interior upgrades (in our test vehicle, Lincoln calls its leather trim ‘Hot Chocolate’) to better justify a $70K window sticker, and – in the guise of its 3.0 liter twin-turbo V6 hooked to a 10-speed automatic transmission – on of my favorite drivetrains.
Sitting on the drive or rolling on the street, I’m struck by the Aviator’s setback on its chassis. There’s almost no front overhang, and the sheetmetal behind the rear axle is there to accommodate a 3rd row and, if those buckets are folded, everything you’d want to carry for an extended holiday. The proportions give the Aviator a get-up-and-go attitude fully appropriate to taking off or, uh…going.
Step inside (our Reserve trim was fitted with an available Air Glide suspension, which provides a lowered entry) and you’ll find comfortable buckets up front and in the second row, supplemented by uncomfortable buckets in the third. The rearmost seats will certainly accommodate your 12-year-old and friend, but as those kids ‘blossom’ into whiny adolescents you’ll want to relocate them to the second row…or get them their own Lyft. That third row does, however, provide adequate room for some luggage behind it, while roof rack side rails allow for a roof-mounted carrier for additional stuff…or sleeping space for the butler.
The dash provides 12.4 inches of digital instrumentation and just over 13 inches of centerstack infotainment, which neither Ford could have envisioned. The layout is intelligent and – to its credit – doesn’t overwhelm. And in combination with the brown leather trim, the piano black accents and metallic silver speaker enclosures, the interior ‘pops’ in a way completely appropriate to your $70K-plus (our press Aviator listed for $83K) outlay.
Within its 199 inches of overall length atop almost ten feet of wheelbase, the Aviator goes about its business in an almost serene manner, with just enough ‘visceral’ to keep the driver engaged – and not wake up the butler. Steering is direct, cornering is relatively flat and the overall impression is of a large vehicle which doesn’t feel that large. It may be a land yacht, but it’s not a Jeff Bezos-spec’d yacht. And its responsive chassis is directed by a Drive Mode, enabling you to switch between a performance-oriented Excite to an eco-friendly Conserve. And if you dabble in politics, there’s even a ‘Slippery’.
Much of the Aviator’s over-the-road goodness can be attributed to its 3.0 liter twin-turbo V6. With 400 horsepower and 415 lb-ft of torque it delivers a whole bunch of great from just 183 cubic inches: Car and Driver arrived at 60 in 5.4 seconds, covered the ¼ mile in 14 seconds and estimated the top speed at 145. What it doesn’t deliver is great efficiency: EPA estimates are 18 City/26 Highway and 21 Combined. My week of driving saw an indicated 17 mpg on the dash, and that roughly corresponds with what the magazine achieved in its own testing.
In his five years as president, LBJ frequently returned to his Hill Country ranch, touring it – and its surrounding roads – in a Lincoln convertible. The Lincoln, of course, would have been great on the roads, less so on the ranch. Lyndon would have liked today’s Aviator, and Lady Bird, you gotta’ think (she was, after all, a ‘Bird’) would have loved it.
