WHAT WE'RE DRIVING

For the Lincoln of my experience - and I'm not particularly young - I haven't been able to understand the “sell” of the brand. Low sales numbers and decades of declining prestige seemed to have long indicated a “cut your losses” argument for Ford to ditch its premium marque.

But if the 2020 Aviator is the building block of things to come, there's hope. This all-new platform, sensibly shared with the volume-play Ford Explorer, returns Lincoln to the longitudinal engine/rear-drive layout that luxury vehicles are supposed to have. As a result, the Aviator is as responsive and athletic as you can expect a three-row, 16.5-foot-long crossover to be.