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If you buy a foreign car nowadays, some people accuse you of being un-American. But if you buy an American sport-utility vehicle, others stand ready to call you a terrorist.

I was having these thoughts while driving this week’s test vehicle, the 2003 Lincoln Aviator. It is a beautiful SUV, derived from the Ford Explorer, and there is a temptation to think of it as nothing more than an Explorer in evening finery. But it’s more than that. It’s a metal-and-rubber statement of attitude. It says: “I can. I deserve. I enjoy.”

Some people would regard that as a declaration of arrogance, especially when it applies to an exercise of consumer choice that they find offensive. This is especially true with SUVs, whose opponents, such as columnist Arianna Huffington, disparage as universally evil.

Huffington is part of the group accusing SUV owners of aiding and abetting terrorist acts against the United States. Her thinking, if I understand it correctly, is that SUVs use more fuel than cars and that the purchase of that fuel fuels terrorism, because some of that fuel comes from questionable or downright unfriendly Arab nations.

The flaws in that argument are many. But what’s curious is that neither Huffington nor those huffing along with her seem to hold large homes, pickup trucks, vans, minivans, or diamonds from the bloody fields of Africa in similar contempt.

I can understand rejecting the Aviator in favor of a less expensive Explorer, or maybe the Volvo XC90 crossover SUV-wagon. Ford Motor Co. makes all three, so it doesn’t mind which one you buy.

Most car companies are doing what Ford is doing, which is why the market for the Aviator and other mid-size SUVs is so crowded. Companies such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., hailed by many as being environmentally conscious, are selling SUVs of every type and size. Honda’s Acura MDX, for example, competes against the Aviator just as the Honda Pilot runs against the Ford Explorer.

Why do all these companies offer SUVs? Well, heck, they want to make money, and the easiest way to make money in any business is to give consumers what they want at a price they are willing to pay. Judging from the latest sales figures, U.S. buyers want SUVs and other light trucks as much as, if not more than, they want cars. Light trucks hold 50 percent of the U.S. new-vehicle market, and the cars that sell along with them increasingly are taking on some attributes of those trucks. Witness the growth of all-wheel-drive sedans.

Huffington and her friends might call that terrorism. I call it capitalism, and I’m a dyed-in-the-wool capitalist, which is why I enjoyed tooling around in the Aviator. From its sumptuous, heated leather seats to its winged instrument panel, this SUV has everything, which is precisely the point of its being.

The Aviator assumes you and your passengers want to be coddled, so it gives you five more inches of third- row legroom and three inches more headroom than the rival Acura MDX. It assumes you want to be flattered, so it gives you a sumptuous interior. It assumes you want convenience, so it gives you power-adjustable everything.

The Aviator also assumes you want a truck that is more than a motorized fop. So it comes with a 302-horsepower V-8 and a maximum towing capacity of 7,300 pounds, which Ford’s engineers claim is 46 percent better than the Mercedes-Benz and BMW competition.

All in all, dressed in its pearlescent white and sporting a two-tone interior (“light parchment” and “espresso”), the tested Aviator was a nice piece of work. It got me favored parking at some of Washington’s best restaurants, where I dined with other “terrorists” who showed up in their Acura, BMW, GMC, Infiniti, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo SUVs. For the record, we weren’t plotting a takeover of the world. We were just having a good time.

Complaints: Not so much a complaint as a problem for Ford. The Aviator looks and feels different from the Explorer, especially in its plush interior, but more than one person in a high-end Explorer said they saw no real difference.

Praise: Lincoln marketers say the Aviator offers an “addictive driving experience,” and they’re right. A hot Lexus SC430 sports coupe rolled into my driveway along with the Aviator. I liked the SC430 and drove it for a day. But I abandoned it the rest of the week in favor of the Aviator.

Ride, acceleration and handling: Excellent ride, handling and acceleration. But passionate truck/SUV lovers might not like it, because the Aviator’s ride is way more sedan than truck.

Head-turning quotient: Favorable among people who like cars and trucks and who are intelligent and wise enough not to measure character or patriotism by the size or type of vehicle you choose to drive.

Body style/layout: Four-door SUV with split rear hatch. Front engine, rear-wheel drive; full-time all-wheel drive is optional.

Engine/transmission: The 4.6-liter, 32-valve InTech V-8 develops 302 horsepower at 5,700 revolutions per minute and 300 foot-pounds of torque at 3,250 rpm. Premium unleaded fuel is required.

Capacities: Seats up to seven people, depending on type of seats chosen. Maximum payload is 1,195 pounds with all-wheel drive and 1,247 with rear-wheel drive. Maximum towing capacity is 7,100 pounds with all-wheel drive and 7,300 with rear-wheel drive.

Safety: Dual-stage front bags, head bags for first and second-row occupants, latches for child-safety seats, four-wheel anti-lock brakes. Yes, you can roll this one, as you can roll any vehicle. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief Jeffrey Runge says SUVs are unsafe. If so, he should exercise the power of his office and recall all of them. It would be interesting to find out which court would honor such a request.

Mileage: I averaged 17 miles per gallon in the tested all-wheel-drive Aviator in combined highway/city driving carrying mixed loads.

Price: Base price on the tested premium AWD Aviator is $45,125. Dealer invoice price on that model is $41,355. Destination charge is $740. Price as tested is $46,160.

Purse-strings note: Compare with any premium mid-size SUV. It’s a buy.