The 2018 Lincoln Navigator 4X4 Black Label.

Fifty years ago (!), the folks at Motor Trend had an annual battle they called "King of the Hill", in which they pitted the Lincoln Continental Mark III (and later IV) against the Cadillac Eldorado. The object was to see which was the pinnacle of American luxury, and, to be honest, American and perhaps global excess.

Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  The battleground for American luxury is no longer found in two-door coupes, but in massive SUVs.  And the two players are, in 2018, still Lincoln and Cadillac.  In 2017, Lincoln wasn't a player, selling the positively ancient last-gen Navigator.  But for '18, the all-new Navigator lands while Caddy is still preparing the next-generation Escalade.

2018 Lincoln Navigator 4X4 Black Label.

The 2018 Lincoln Navigator also arrives at the moment when Lincoln is taking a serious, possibly final shot at re-establishing itself as a serious luxury brand, after decades of self-inflicted wounds that gained it a reputation as a tarted-up, priced-up Ford.   The new Continental was the first move in this direction, met with fair-to-middling success.  Given that it's an SUV world, the Navigator may be the machine that saves Lincoln.

Not only is the Navigator styled much differently from its platform cousin, the Ford Expedition, inside and out, it's a different machine under the hood, too.  The Ecoboost 3.5-liter V6 that lives in the engine bay of the Expedition makes 375 horsepower (400 in the Platinum trim).  The 2018 Lincoln Navigator uses a 3.5-liter V6, too, but it is twin-turbocharged and produces 450 horsepower, not only out-muscling its less-wealthy relative, but generating 30 horsepower more than the current Cadillac Escalade.

The new Navigator is the best evidence yet that Lincoln understands what American luxury is and should be in the latter part of the 20-teens. That's especially true for Navigators optioned as Black Label vehicles, as our tester was.  2018 Lincoln Navigators come in Premiere (base price $72,555), Select ($76,555), reserve ($81,705) and Black Label, which is not a step so much as a quantum leap up in features and luxury, with a sticker that reflects that, at $93,705.

For that significant leap in MSRP, Black Label gives you a dedicated concierge,  an in-dealership studio with a private fitting room and remote vehicle delivery within 30 miles of a participating Lincoln Black Label dealer (not all Lincoln dealers are Black Label).   You get free car washes, anytime detailing, premium maintenance including pickup and delivery within a 50 mile radius of a participating Lincoln Black Label dealer, access to the AVIS President's Club, membership in CLEAR, which uses biometrics to allow you to skip long security lines at the airport, and access to a curated list of fine dining restaurants coast-to-coast, including a complimentary dinner for two for new members.

2018 Lincoln Navigator 4X4 Black Label Destination interior.

You also get a choice of three interior themes, Yacht Club, Chalet and Destination, which was the one our tester was outfitted in.  Destination features Mahogany Red Venetian leather, with diamond-wave perforations in the seating surfaces.  The center console and doors have Khaya mahogany appliques.  Between the sumptuous surroundings, the awesome 20-speaker Revel audio system and the sole major option, Perfect Position Seating, offering 30-way adjustability and a massage function,  I was seriously spoiled for a week...to the point where I could see myself living like this on a daily basis. It's the first time I've been in an American vehicle with a price tag racing headlong toward six figures that I felt was worth it.  This must have been what the classic Continentals felt like back several decades...truly special automobiles.

The tab?  $93,705 for the 2018 Lincoln Navigator 4X4 Black Label Destination, $1,250 for Perfect Position Seating, $420 for a cargo package and $1,195 destination and delivery.  Bottom line: $96,570.  Were I blessed with that sort of money for transportation, I'd do it in a heartbeat.  Were I blessed with significantly more, our three car garage would have the Lexus LC 500h,  the Lexus LS 500 and the 2018 Lincoln Navigator 4X4 Black Label Destination.  It's that good, and that's why it joins the other two at the top of the TireKicker's Best Cars list on the right side of this page.

The 2016 Lincoln MKX.

There was a time, mainly in the 1960s and 70s, when a Lincoln in the driveway was a status symbol for people of means in their forties and fifties.  But that was many years, indeed decades, ago.  Now, the middle-aged drivers with money and the desire to own a luxury car simply are too young to remember those days.  Luxury cars to them are from Germany and have names like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi or---increasingly among younger drivers---from Japan (Lexus and to a lesser extent Infiniti).

The 2016 Lincoln MKX is the first vehicle to come from the latest in many rounds of what we are promised will be a new Lincoln Motor Company, one that doesn't scream "tarted-up Ford", one that will build cars that can be considered in the same breath as those imports listed above by people with the means to buy cars priced at $50,000 and above.

2016 Lincoln MKX.

There have been MKXs before---based, as this one is, on the Ford Edge.  And since this year's Edge is all-new, so is the MKX.  And, in a sign that Lincoln finally understands what it wants to be and needs to be in order to survive, the MKX goes far beyond its roots.

Lincoln's designers have created an exterior that is not merely an Edge with Lincoln badging, but completely its own look.  You could park the two next to each other and not see a family resemblance.  Further, they have penned perhaps the handsomest crossover on the road.  The Lincoln MKX is simply gorgeous in a refined, not glitzy way...yet never plays it safe or dull.  It looks like money, but old money, not new.  Money that buys things that reflect taste, not ostentatiousness.

2016 Lincoln MKX interior.

The closest resemblance between the Lincoln MKX and the Ford Edge comes in the interior, but even there, Lincoln designers were given the ability to alter shapes, textures and materials.  The ride is smooth but controlled, and it is very quiet. A three-mode selector---Normal, Sport and Comfort---allows the driver to adjust the suspension and steering feel.

You can get a base front-wheel drive MKX for $38,260, but it comes with an old-school 3.7-liter, 300 horsepower V6. Our all-wheel drive test vehicle had the 2.7-liter EcoBoost  twin-turbocharged V6, which despite its smaller displacement, produces 335 horsepower.  Somewhat unusually for EcoBoost, there is a fuel economy penalty.  The EPA estimate of 17 city/26 highway with the 3.7 remains the same at 17 city but drops to 24 highway.  On the plus side, the EcoBoost feels smooth and eager.

Base price for our MKX was $47,650 (which appears to include Reserve Equipment Group 102A, although its features are listed as standard equipment on our window sticker and even with that understood, the price on our window sticker doesn't match up with Lincoln's online configurator for our model with that equipment group---check with your dealer as prices can change within a model year).

The Lincoln press fleet staff then added literally every option available---$14,700 worth---resulting in an as-tested price, including $925 destination charge, of $63,275. Spreads of $25,000 between the base price used in advertising and the sticker price of the car the intended buyer sees on the showroom floor can be tricky to deal with.  There are some perfectly fine entire cars you could buy with that additional $25,000.

But loading the MKX in that manner allows us to experience the ultimate luxury Lincoln (until the arrival of the new Continental), the best it can bring to the game it once owned and now is desperately tryng to prove it should even be considered in (actually, that's not quite true---there is a Lincoln MKX Black Label that takes it all even further).

Will it woo away sales from Mercedes and BMW?  Probably not this round.  Audi, maybe...and probably Lexus and Infiniti.  Which, for Lincoln, which has spent a couple of decades being cross-shopped against Chrysler, Buick and Acura, is progress.