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2020 Lincoln Aviator Review and Buying Guide | All-American sophistication

The new 2020 Lincoln Aviator lands into one of the hottest luxury segments – three-row family crossovers – and is not only an incredibly relevant product, but a fully competitive and appealing one too. It all starts with a uniquely characterful interior that's likely to earn the Aviator a fair share of takers by itself. Then there's the exterior styling, which is long and sleek with a tapered roofline courtesy of new rear-wheel-drive architecture developed in concert for the Aviator and also-new Ford Explorer. The two vehicles share common bones, but the skin and muscle are quite different. Emphasis on muscle, too, because the Aviator's powertrain options utterly blow away its competition (a 400-horsepower turbo V6 and the Grand Touring's 494-hp plug-in hybrid). However, despite those eye-popping performance numbers, don't expect the Aviator to be a firm-riding, sport-tuned SUV. All that power is there if you need it, but it's part of an overall competent, composed driving experience rather than one thatÂ’s tightly wound and over-caffeinated. Frankly, it's a recipe that should make a lot of sense to American luxury buyers. If you're looking for a big, luxurious family vehicle, put it on your shopping list. What's new for 2020? The Aviator is an all-new model that slots into a previously unfilled slot in the Lincoln lineup between the five-passenger Nautilus and full-size, truck-based Navigator. 2020 Lincoln Aviator Interior View 9 Photos What's the interior and in-car technology like? No other company's interiors look anything like the mid-century-inspired palace of cool you get in the Aviator. All versions are available with distinctive color schemes shown above, but the Black Label trim level stands out the most with its three available "themes" of "Chalet," "Flight" and "Destination" that get special colors and trim types. Perhaps the quality of some plastics and the fit-and-finish aren't up to Mercedes or BMW levels, but everything looks so special that it makes up whatever deficit exists. Most competitors just seem drab and generic by comparison. In terms of technology, every 2020 Aviator comes standard with a 10-inch touchscreen mounted so high on the dash and close to the driver that it actually seems larger. It runs the Lincoln-skinned version of Ford's Sync 3 interface, which is generally user friendly, though it perhaps doesn't look as cool and sophisticated as the all-digital gauge cluster (or the interfaces of rivals).

Junkyard Gem: 1979 Lincoln Continental Town Car

Ford built Continentals from the 1940 through 2020 model years (with a couple of pauses during that period), and the biggest and arguably most extreme Continentals of all were the 1977-1979 models. That's what we've got for today's Junkyard Gem: a 1979 Continental Town Car with Cream paint outside and plenty of Light Gold Jubilee velour inside, found in a self-service boneyard in Sparks, Nevada. Thanks to the big 5 mph crash bumpers, the overall length of the 1977-1979 Continental sedan stretched to an astounding 233 inches. That's more than a foot longer than the 2024 Lincoln Navigator, though the Navigator scales in at more than a half-ton heavier than the '79 Continental sedan. For the 1980 model year, the Continental went onto the Panther platform and shed 10 inches of wheelbase, more than 13 inches of length and 500 pounds of curb weight. Considering the geopolitical events of 1979 and their effect on fuel prices, this turned out to be good timing … but the downsized '80 Continental didn't look as imposing (or as white-powder-dusted) when it pulled up to the valet parking stand at the disco. When your sedan weighs 4,649 pounds, you want serious power under its hood Â… and that was a rare commodity among 1979 automobiles sold in the United States. This is a 400-cubic-inch (6.6-liter) pushrod V8, essentially a stroked 351 Cleveland, rated at 159 horsepower and 315 pound-feet. That means that each of this car's horses had to drag 29.2 pounds, a ratio that's quite a bit worse than that of the much-maligned-for-slowness 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage (though the respectable torque made driving these cars tolerable enough in most situations). The interior was all about cushy seats and space to stretch out. The silver-faced gauges were very classy. Opera lights? You bet! This would have been an excellent, if thirsty, long-distance highway cruiser for its day. There were some 1999 coupons inside, suggesting that the car had been parked for a quarter-century before coming to this place. The high-elevation desert sun is murder on vinyl roofs. On January 10, 1981, people associated with this fine luxury automobile played golf at Willow Glen in San Diego. On the same day, Richard Boone died and Jared Kushner was born. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. A standard by which luxury cars are judged.

How long will the 'golden age' of performance last?

High-powered sports and luxury cars were everywhere at the New York Auto Show, prompting the obvious question for enthusiasts: How long will this golden age of performance last? Industry leaders have some time before regulations elevate the Corporate Average Fuel Economy level in 2025. Even then, they expect cars rippling with power to survive in some form. "Is it the end of an era," I don't think so," said Ola Kallenius, Daimler AG board member for Mercedes-Benz cars marketing and sales. "That performance element of individual mobility I don't think will ever go away." Kallenius, who oversaw the company's AMG division from 2010-2013, expects it to continue to grow. Last year, AMG sold a record 68,875 units around the world, an increase of 44.6 percent over 2014, with strong growth in the US, China, and Germany. Still, there's always the potential for gas to spike, and pending fuel economy regulations are looming. That could lead AMG to add electrification to its products, Kallenius said, pointing to the electric SLS as a test case. Chevy is also thinking ahead, said Al Oppenheiser, chief engineer of the Camaro. He wouldn't bite when asked about electrification for the Camaro (he did say "never say never"), but admitted in 2025 "it's going to be pretty tough to sell V8s." For now, things are rosy for muscle cars, and Chevy confidently showcased the 640-hp Camaro ZL1 in coupe and convertible form in New York. "I think that this is truly the golden age of performance," Oppenheiser said. It's hard to disagree. News & Analysis News: The 2017 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF was a show-stopper in New York. Analysis: There was a palpable energy when this RF — for Retractable Fastback — was revealed the night before the show at a trendy off-site venue near the Hudson River. Even as a parade of SUVs and flashy luxury cars rolled out the rest of the week, the Miata remained a hot topic. The Retractable Fastback is really a clever targa top, with part of the roof stowing behind the seats, adding about 100 pounds compared to the standard convertible. It makes the car more practical and arguably more attractive. The RF continues Mazda's tradition of selling the Miata with a hardtop variant. The first and second generations offered a detachable one, and a power retractable hardtop (a $1,700 option) was available on third-gen models. Judging by its reception in New York, the RF could prove to be even more popular than its predecessors.