Video: What Is the 2025 Lincoln Aviator Black Label?
By Cars.com Editors
January 22, 2025
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About the video
Watch our full video above to see how the 2025 Lincoln Aviator stacks up against the competition and whether the Black Label trim level delivers enough value to justify its lofty price.
Transcript
Hi, this is Joe Bruzek from the cars.com editorial team, and today we are reviewing the 2025 Lincoln Aviator. Now the Aviator's been refreshed for 2025, and this is the three-row SUV based on the Ford Explorer.
Now, we are specifically driving the Black Label and the Black Label. This one that we're testing is $97,000. So let's go through what is the Black Label, what you get and why this one is $97,000 because honestly, I spent a lot of time asking myself that while driving this car for review. The Black Label is the top trim level, and as the top trim level, it comes with all of the packages that are available on lesser trim levels. So the Black Label comes with the luxury, illumination, tow and dynamic handling package, and so it starts at $88,000, which is already in the stratosphere. This means the Black Label comes with the wild 30-way adjustable front seats, the 28 speaker sound system. It has standard all wheel drive. There are 22 inch wheels. It also has four and seven-pin connectors for a trailer with the maximum 5,000 pounds towing capacity. There's also an air suspension with automatic lowering entry height, as well as heated and ventilated rear seats. The next layer to the Black Label comes on the inside where you have a couple of choices of interior themes. Now these themes will change aspects like colorization, some trim pieces and accents. The themes are inspired by the heyday of travel and include flight invitation and moonbeam. The one that we're driving is the invitation theme, and that uses darker, richer colored wood and black leather trim seats with brandy colored stitching. Now, there's also some open pore wood that Lincoln says showcases an industry first dual laser etching blend of geometric and organic motifs. Now I just see a little sponge of squares all over the wood, but you know to each their own. Now, when it comes to the optional equipment that brings our as tested price to $97,000, ours has the Black Label Special edition package, and that's $7,250 and it includes unique 22 inch wheels, a bunch of black painted exterior trim, as well as this black painted roof. Now our car also has $750 paint job plus the nearly $500 full rear console. Now that has some storage area plus two USB charge ports and rear shade controls for the moonroof. There are other perks that come with the Aviator Black Label, but they're not actually on the car. It's not a feature you can use or touch, and that includes ownership benefits including four years, 50,000 miles of free maintenance, home delivery. There are more reward points versus other trim levels, so you get points towards service or accessories. You also get free car washes and then also an Avis Rental Car President's Club membership, which is kind of an odd perk, but it comes with the car. The thing that you have to know though is that these are only at participating Black Label dealerships. So you need go to the Lincoln website, go on their finder and make sure that the dealerships near you are part of that program. 300 miles around us in the Chicago area, all the Lincoln dealerships were part of that program, but definitely check that to make sure you can use these perks if they're important to you. So you put all that stuff on the inside and you have a very high quality, very luxurious interior. The wood, even with the square laser etched design, really nice, looks great, it looks and smells like a luxury car. Two very important parts of the luxury aspect. Now, new for 2025 are the screens in the car. You have a new instrument panel and you have a new touch screen. They're high quality, they're easy to use, but ergonomically I have not taken a liking to them because honestly, I can't see half the screen. The steering wheel is in the way, and no matter how I adjusted the seat or the steering wheel, I couldn't get to a place that was both comfortable and safe for driving. You want good leverage on the steering wheel. You want a good point where you're grabbing it. And also you don't want the steering wheel pointed at your face. You want the steering wheel in the airbag pointed more at your chest. And one of the ways I could get a good view of the screen is if I put the steering wheel way up here, but I didn't want to do that. So then there's the center touchscreen. Now there are climate controls that have been integrated into the touchscreen instead of physically out here, and that is just a a no win situation. It is not easy to use. You're now putting heated and ventilated seat controls in a menu. If you touch the heated seat button here, it doesn't turn on heated seats. It takes you to a menu to turn on the heated seats. It's just added complexity. The screen itself though, very nice, easy to use, the placement of it is too far toward you, the driver. So you wanna take a quick look at the screen. It takes you a little bit to refocus, and it doesn't even feel like the screen is pointing at me. It feels like it's pointing toward the backseat passengers. What is nice though, you have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Wireless, Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto. Now, why is that nice? Well, because it's using a Google built-in operating system that unlocks a bunch of Google and Alexa capability, which you know, if you find the need to turn on your automated dog feeder from the road through voice commands, yeah, go ahead, you can do that. But for everyone else, we want Apple CarPlay Android Auto, and I'm so glad that it's included in this system, unlike automakers who are ditching those two very desirable features for Google built in, which never a great way. Okay, let's talk about these seats. 30 way adjustable seats. More adjustability is not always better. I also couldn't find a comfortable seating position in these seats. Now you've got controls on the door panel, you've got controls in the touch screen, but it felt like my bottom was hitting the seat and my back was my lower back was hitting the seat, but nothing else. Even with the thigh extenders all the way out, there's even adjustability in the back rest here to move it closer to you. I just could not find a comfortable seating position. Now, this is something you're gonna have to sit in the car and figure out for yourself if this works for you. I'm about six feet tall and could not find, and I don't struggle with finding comfortable seats. Seat comfort is typically the last thing on my mind, but this car, there was just something about these seats that just didn't work for me. So the theme from the first row continues to the second row, both in the good and not so good way. You've got some really nice design accents. You've got more of this open pore wood on this center console, but also the seats are not very comfortable. They're narrow and they have really short thigh support. It really doesn't feel like a premium seat back here. There's also not a whole lot of leg room, and it's also not a very wide vehicle. So you're not getting this like big expansive roomy vibe that you would in other cars like Genesis, GV80, for example. And then there's the third row. Now the third row will fit adults if you can get them back there. When you have car seats in the second row, there's no way to get to the third row because of this optional center console. This is fixed. You can't easily remove this. So if you have car seats in the second row, you're not gonna be able to get to the third row. And in my case, my wife got in through the cargo area to the third row. And then also when you're back there, the ride quality on this car is just a little rough. And so my third row passenger was not feeling great after a 40 minute drive to the zoo with the grandparents in the car. For those of you out there with kids around four to six years old, this center console here with these buttons for the moonroof shade does not work. My two kids sat in these seats in their car seats, fought over this stupid little button for the whole trip to the zoo, and there's no way to lock this button. So again, may only apply to a couple of you, but if you know, you know, sure, there's only one engine choice for 2025, and that's a 400 horsepower twin-turbocharge V6, and that comes with a 10-speed automatic transmission. The engine and transmission work really well together. There's good power and you feel like there's something substantial underneath the hood, but it's not gonna pin you to the back of your seat, and it's not especially engaging performance, but it's fitting for this vehicle. Now, what's a little less fitting is the suspension because it does have this air suspension and it will automatically raise and lower when you shut the car off for easy entry and exit, but it's not a particularly soft suspension. The impacts from the 22 inch wheels and tires are harsh and you hear them, you almost hear them more than you feel them because the suspension does absorb big bumps really well. But there's also this constant kinda wheel motion and jitteriness that you feel, and overall it's not as refined and smooth riding as some competitors. So when we're looking at the aviator, you also have to consider its competition like the Genesis GV 80. And the GV 80 has also been updated recently with some really trick screens that work really well. And then just the stunning interior. And where it does have the edge on the aviator is that interior experience, which I feel is just higher quality on the Genesis. And then also the ride quality. It drives much nicer than the Aviator as configured. Now, where the Aviator does have an advantage though, is third row comes standard in every aviator. And even if it's not a best fit for everybody, you can still use it in a pinch on the GV80. The third row is limited only to the advanced trim level. We definitely spent a lot of time as a team discussing the $97,000 as tested price. One editor said they could buy nine vintage Mopars for that much money. Another editor said they could buy 19,000 Chalupa Supremes, and that's a lot of Chalupas. For me though, I would want just one Genesis GVAD Advance with the optional third row and then a Plymouth Fury and 2000 Chalupa Supremes. A lot of my quibbles with the Aviator are just how I fit in it. So if there are parts of the Aviator that you like, you should definitely sit in it, take it for a test drive, see if the seating comfort the instrument panel is an issue for you. And if you do like it, I think it's worth noting that a lot of the features you can get on lesser trim levels. The Black Label isn't that unique. There aren't many must have features or owner benefits here, and I would definitely save 10, maybe even $15,000 by those lesser trim levels because you can still get the sound system, those 30-way seats. All of that can be had on lesser trim levels where you're not going to have to spend $97,000 to get the bulk of what the Aviator offers. (upbeat music)
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