Particularly harsh winter weather has hit many parts of the United States during the first few months of 2026. While the risk of frostbite, a few feet of snow, and cold that makes your central heating system borderline inert is generally bad, it does provide a few unique vehicle testing opportunities.
So that’s how I’ve decided to approach the 2026 Lincoln Aviator. It’s basically a Ford Explorer under the hood anyway, and we know how those drive. So let’s see how it does in a real world situation. If you need a car to get you through a very harsh winter, is the Aviator a good option?
The Lincoln Aviator handles the snow surprisingly well
As mentioned, the Lincoln Aviator is basically a Ford Explorer underneath it all. Now that’s not a Bronco so don’t expect to rip up 40 degree gradients on a dirt track. But it is pretty stable in most terrains. The version I tested also comes with all-wheel-drive, which doesn’t actually do a ton to increase stability on ice, but will help you get started and reduce the odds of you getting bogged down in deep snow.
Lincoln’s traction control is a big help too. It’s important to point out that you can slide anything if you really want to, so you still have to drive carefully in difficult conditions. But the Aviator will handle those conditions better than a lot of things on the road.
In addition to having to navigate a few poorly plowed streets, I drove the aviator through 14-inch deep snow in an unplowed parking lot, and over a small snow pile at the entrance of a snowed in driveway. The vehicle was unscathed, and handled everything I threw at it without issue. My only problem was snow building up on the rear camera and forcing me to use the mirrors while backing up. As far as I’m aware, no automotive company has implemented the heated camera lens yet.
Lincoln’s heated seats will cook your back
Cabin heaters can take a while to kick in. Heated seats, on the other hand, take very little time to get up to temperature. This is because a heated seat is essentially just a length of wire with a good amount of resistance. It gets hot as soon as an electrical charge gets through it. That heat then just has to fight its way through the seat’s covers to get to your back.
The heated seat alone in a Lincoln Aviator is enough to keep you warm in extreme cold. It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I once described Lincoln’s seats as being “hot enough to cook a steak on” and it does actually get uncomfortable after you have it on full blast for a while. I found myself turning the heated seat down to the lowest setting, even when the outside temperature was hovering around zero.
It’s also worth pointing out that the heated steering wheel works the same way, and is just as hot when it gets going. I find a heated steering wheel particularly useful, as it allows you to keep your hands bare in the cold weather. While touchscreen-friendly gloves are a thing, you’ll have a far easier time operating the infotainment system’s touchscreen or your phone with your bare hands. The heated wheel allows you to do this, while maintaining dexterity in your fingers at the same time.
Remote start is a life saver
Remote start is far from new, and far from exclusive to Lincoln. But on a particularly cold morning it might just be the best thing anyone has ever added to a vehicle. Lincoln’s remote start can be initiated from a good distance, I managed to launch it from the back window of my apartment with the vehicle parked one floor down and around 25 feet away. I also managed to activate it from around 25 yards away before leaving a restaurant.
To activate the remote start on a Lincoln, you need to hit the lock button then quickly tap the remote start button twice. The remote start button is the one that looks like an arrow that has been curved into a circle with “X2” written in the middle.
The feature starts the vehicle’s engine, allowing it to get up to temperature before you actually get in the car. This does two things, first the HVAC will work very quickly. Which is handy when you have biting cold outside. Secondly, driving with a cold engine is very bad for the vehicle. The oil is more viscous and doesn’t lubricate anything properly. Parts can be squeezed together a little tighter too, causing more wear. So do yourself, and the vehicle, a favor by activating the remote start 10 minutes or so before you head out.
Lincoln has more comfortable options, but don’t write the Aviator off
If you think the Aviator is comfortable, then both the Nautilus and Navigator are next level. You can basically use the Navigator as a spa. Lying back and relaxing as music plays, digital scent fills the cabin, and the seat massages all the tension from your body. But are you really going to do that at 6 am in an ice cold car? Or are you going to hit the drive thru, grab a coffee, and get on with your day?
The Aviator is perfectly adequate for the latter, and its “smaller” size is arguably quicker to heat up than its full-sized sibling. It’s the difference between warming up a large house and a cathedral.
Again, nothing mentioned here is exclusive to the Lincoln Aviator. But the Aviator, being a luxury vehicle, includes pretty much all of this as standard. It also does all of this well. There’s nothing worse than a weak HVAC system or ineffective heated seats in the middle of a particularly harsh winter. I had the Aviator during one of the most brutal cold snaps upstate New York had suffered in years, and I’m very glad that Lincoln’s mid-sized model was on my driveway that week.
