LA was not the greatest place to test the Aviator's all-wheel-drive system, and I had no passengers during the few days I spent behind the wheel.
But LA was a dandy place to test the abundant interior comfort and the glorious, 14-speaker Revel audio system while sitting in traffic on the 405, the 10, the 110, the 105 and assorted surface streets.
I was also able to tap into the combined 494 horsepower and 630 pound-feet of torque produced by the Aviators potent powerplant and ... WHOA-LY SCHMOKES!!!
This thing really goes! On electric power alone, the Aviator has some tasty pep, but when this SUV is in Excite mode and you put the hammer down, it wants to pop a wheelie as you merge with City of Angels traffic. It's like there is a Mustang GT V8 under the hood.
Nothing else I've driven in the segment feels quite the same. The Aviator is supposed to be suave, but it's kinda wild. I hope the new Aston Martin DBX SUV can manage this stunt.
My tester was crammed with driver-alert and -assist features, but I was having so much fun driving the Aviator myself that I barely used them. They worked fine. (For the record, LA is a difficult area in which to use these systems anyway, given the mix of congested freeway driving and sprawling surface-street navigation.)
The bottom line is that the Lincoln Aviator looks great, drives great, has great tech, is great for passengers and cargo, and even gives you something in the ballpark of 20 mpg in combined city/highway, which isn't bad. The hybrid system is great at boosting the V6 into V8 territory, even if 20 miles of EV range isn't all that useful in real life.
The word, then, is great to describe the Lincoln Aviator. There's nothing to complain about, and quite a few things to unabashedly praise.