You got an eyeful last week. Alluring, SEXY new vehicles, all displayed under high-intensity lighting specifically for your your viewing pleasure. Objectify this, the automakers implored.
It’s likely you’re still losing sleep over the 2019 RAV4. Okay, maybe not.
Still, with every show comes a new vehicle that gets under your skin, burrows its way into your brain, and compels a reader to go in search of a nonexistent online build and price tool. Was there a New York reveal that legitimately knocked your socks off, or did you walk away wanting so much more?
In this author’s opinion, the next-generation Nissan Altima and Lincoln Aviator impressed the most. Well, by “the most” I mean to say “at all,” though it’s nice to see Toyota attempt to overcome the Corolla iM’s serious shortcomings. Maybe the new Corolla hatch is actually a wildly competent little five-door.
To this jaundiced eye, the 2019 Altima succeeds, design-wise, where the Toyota Camry fails. It’s a car you want to look at. It remains to be seen, however, how well the brand’s variable compression engine holds up over long-term use. Also, while it’s good to see automakers (Nissan and Mazda, to name two) stretching the lifespan of the internal combustion engine through new technologies, it’s also good to see Nissan giving the trusty ol’ 2.5-liter a new lease on life. With reliability of the VC-T engine only a promise at this point, many sedan-loving buyers will want to hedge their bets and go with what they know.
But that Lincoln. The Navigator is a hulking brute with New York sensibilities, and the lesser MKC and MKX (Nautilus, for 2019), well, exist, but the upcoming Aviator impresses with its proportions and lines like no other Lincoln utility to date. If the Aviator can’t get buyers flocking to Lincoln dealers in droves, the brand may as well give up. Even a crossover-hating friend had to admit he was taken with this vehicle.
Maybe you’re taken with something else. Sound off in the comments, B & B — did anything really turn your crank at this year’s New York auto show, or are automakers playing it far too safe in their quest for reliable profit?
[Image: Ford Motor Company]
Aviator for me. A little too big for me to actually own, but a feast for the eyes for sure. Hoping the next generation of the MKX/Nautilus ditches the melted “organic” look and adopts the same design language. If we get another Continental they should apply the same changes there too.
It’s very interesting that this big truck got so much buzz. I remain convinced that the auto industry is starved for new and fresh design. Ring times, 0-60 numbers and increasingly large and useless touchscreens don’t move or excite people anymore…. but good design remains a safe bet.
CT6 V-Sport because it’s a car with a V8.
The only vehicle that truly and really impressed me and realy realy needs to be produced…………is the Cadillac Escalla!! if Cadillac does not build this car…………….it’s a slow death for my favorite car company.
preach on brother.
The Altima got the VC engine? Guess that’s what happens when you burden your entire fleet with CVT’s: nobody cares.
I want an Aviator.
That Dodge Journey looks great in blue.
Aww EBFlex likes a Ford product but is afraid to admit it! Lincoln has truely hit the Aviator out of the park.
LOL
Huh?
Where did I say I like it?
Frankly I think it’s styling is awful. It blends in with every other SUV out there. It’s lump cheese. Nothing special about it.
It’s almost as if Lincoln designers had to prove they have no idea what a pleasing design is as part of the hiring process.
No, this is you back pedaling to protect your tough guy anti-Ford image. If you truely believed what you just wrote you would have led with that. Instead you gave it a compliment. You made sure to say it looked great in the blue, but you tried to hide your love by trying to pretend it looks like a Dodge Journey.
Don’t worry though, we see through the facade. You love the car, you just don’t want to admit.
I may be showing my age, I think the Lincolns are some of the best looking vehicles out there. All the little touches add up, in these tired old eyes. You can spot a Lincoln from across the grocery store parking lot. Others, not so much. Is that a Hyundai? Camry? Lexus? what is it? But an MKX, Continental, or one of the CUVs, their design proudly says LINCOLN. Not that I have one. I’m in the market for a new car but the talk of the Fusion, and near relatives MKZ and Continental, going away in the near future scares me off. (Although the cut lines at the corners of the Connie’s windshield bother me.)
I also hate CUV’s and SUV’s. I have no use for them.
Then I saw the Aviator. I now am drooling. It is stylistically one of the most beautiful VEHICLES I’ve seen in the post 1960’s era.
What Lincoln has re-learned and what Cadihack is running from is the idea that American LUXURY is so different from the bland and without soul European version of it. Lincoln has brought back the jewel like facets of luxury lost since the 1970’s. I swear every new look at this Aviator I find a detail I hadn’t noticed before.
Lincoln has found its mojo – luxury – and has also found its style. Meanwhile Cadihack is offering a moribund version of predented sheetmetal and tacky accents (not jewel like at all) – and interiors that are remarkably not luxurious in OVERALL execution.
Aviator – it succeeds design wise in all the ways that the original Aviator failed.
Kudos to Ford too for showing the Aviator before showing the new Explorer that will be on the same platform. Show the luxury division model before the plebeian model and let things “trickle down.”
I wasn’t at the New York show.
Was the new Bentley Continental there? If so, that’s the car that would make me want to sign up.
Incidently, the Bentley website allows you to build a car, but no mention is made of price. I guess if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
Aviator, this will likely save Lincoln. Beautiful outside, stunning inside. I want it, and I hate SUVs.
Only if they don’t change its looks when it goes into production.
Aviator looks great. MKX/Nautilus is much more distinctive with the new grille, and the basic Edge shape was always nice. Need to see the Bronco for real, which is going to be huge.
What is Toyota doing? Not much of anything it seems.
Toyota is running around hitting its Toyota and Lexus models with an ugly stick. Repeatedly.
Agreed. Toytota/Lexus seem to be resting on the Toyota halo and hasnt really done much over the years other than focus on the Camry, RAV4 and Prius. Honda refined the Accord nicely, but Acura is a ship without direction. Nissan/Infiniti released the cool VC engine (finally) but get a big F in the design and tech department, and their blobs haven’t been redesigned in years.
The Aviator, on the other hand, looks absolutely stellar and contains a top notch tech and performance package. I dont want a large SUV, but I may go look at one… wouldnt be the first time I have given into temptation.
The Aviator looks like a truncated Flex. Much ado about another SUV.
Looks like the took a lot of design cues from Range Rover. There are worse designs to copy, but hard to get too excited about it.
Range Rover, Hyundai (headlights) and Saab (tail lights)
Seems all Ford can do is copy others into making their own mediocre SUV.
I’ll add to the chorus… Lincoln Aviator! HANDS DOWN! This is the vehicle to replace our Town & Country when we are ready in about 2 years.
Lincoln, take our money! Take it! (But only if you DO NOT change it drastically in production form)
We are their target market too – early 40’s youngish kids, both employed etc etc.
Don’t screw it up Lincoln…you have alot riding on this vehicle. (And I think they know it).
I agree. The Aviator looks like it could be an American Range Rover.
Which is very good for Lincoln. They already have a hit with the new Navigator, so this is a double-punch.
I sure am jonesing over your station wagon. Said no one ever.
That’s all it is, a tall wagon.
Except you’re wrong, a ton of people are jonesing over the Aviator.
I’m perplexed about how the Aviator (and forthcoming Explorer) will have much interior room, with the combination of a sub-200-inch length and that loooong hood. I’d expect pretty tight second and third rows. Maybe OK if you’re carrying kids (although watch out for rear-facing car seats) but I doubt it will be comfortable for four adults, let alone six.
My LX570 has a similar overall length (by far the shortest in the full-size segment) with a shorter hood, and it doesn’t have a lot of rear legroom to spare.
It’s an interesting trade off, and a critical one for me. In order to fit in my garage comfortably, I need sub 200″ length. Looked at GX460 and 4Runner, which are ideal sizes for me. This is in that size class I think. One down from full size, which is the Navigator.
If the Bronco doesn’t pan out, this could be my next car.