The Aviator buries the MKT’s ancient bones and moves to a new architecture that rotates the engine 90 degrees so that torque now flows to either the rear wheels or all four. Sharing this core componentry with the new Explorer, the Aviator is still very much a gilded Ford. Crucially, the visible and tangible similarities are few and insignificant enough not to matter.


Aviator can be hustled quite capably around some pretty serious mountain roads thanks to the advanced suspension and inherent chassis balance afforded by its rear-drive-based architecture (all-wheel drive is optional). Though the standard steering ratio and tuning is unique to Aviator, we sampled the available adaptive steering, which is paired with the air suspension and alters the ratio and effort based on speed. Thankfully, it’s not overt in this adaptability. Its effort is consistent and natural, there’s no slack on center, and turn-in is crisp in the Normal driving mode. Selecting Sport mode, or rather “Excite,” dials in exactly the right amount of extra weight to provide additional confidence and control when on a twistier road.


Those drive modes also change pedal feel from the electronic brake-by-wire system, with distinctive setups for Normal/Conserve, Excite and the two inclement weather modes. It’s a subtle difference and you may not even notice it, yet it’s important to note that there’s no Individual mode that allows you to mix and match different control calibrations. Lincoln engineers thought that sort of enthusiast-oriented fiddling really wasn’t in keeping with the Aviator’s character and purpose. Either way, the settings as-is are well calibrated and appropriate for the situations they’re intended for. We wouldn’t have fiddled with them anyway.
Cc: Marpol

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