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COMPARISON I 2020 Lincoln Aviator vs. 2020 Cadillac XT6
won’t waste your time. I’m not going to naturally aspirated. The free-breathing more torque down low in the rev range.
yank your chain. No dillydallying here, powerplant lives under the hood of the Say you want to pass someone on the
heaven forbid. If you’re shopping for Cadillac, and it’s the same 3.6-liter V-6 highway. In the XT6, you’ll use most of
an American three-row luxury SUV, it that General Motors defaults to in count- the throttle and hear the growly V-6 spin
Iwould be a regretful mistake to buy a less Chevy, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac all the way to its 7,100-rpm redline, where
Cadillac XT6 over the Lincoln Aviator. vehicles. In this application, it makes 310 that engine makes all its power.
From a pricing perspective, they’re hp and 271 lb-ft of torque. It’s paired with The Aviator’s engine, on the other
pretty even. Each carries a starting price a nine-speed automatic. hand, doesn’t have to work as hard, spin
in the high-$50,000 range. As tested, The Lincoln is powered by a 3.0-liter as fast, or generate as much noise and
Lincoln’s three-row comes to $75,120 twin-turbocharged V-6 cranking 400 hp vibration to produce the same level of
and Cadillac’s rings in at $73,040. Both and 415 lb-ft of torque, in the same state thrust. It just quietly churns away in the
have their strengths, but by almost every of tune as the engine motivating the Ford background and gets you up to speed.
measure, the Aviator provides a superior Explorer ST. A 10-speed auto handles Traditional wisdom tells us the car with
luxury three-row experience. Here’s why. gear-changing duties. the more powerful engine will use more
But these are three-row family fuel, but that’s not the case here. Both cars
SUVs, not sports cars—does the power return an identical EPA-estimated 17/24
advantage matter? I assure you it does. mpg city/highway running on regular
Both cars generate power with gas-fueled The Aviator’s powerplant has higher gasoline, in AWD form. Without AWD,
aluminum V-6 engines, one force-fed peak numbers than the XT6’s, sure, but the Lincoln actually ekes out a 1 mpg
(by two turbochargers) and the other because it’s turbocharged, it produces advantage on the highway.
WORDS DUNCAN BRADY
56 MOTORTREND.COM FEBRUARY 2020 PHOTOGRAPHS WES ALLISON
