I have an old school mountaineer (1997) that I absolutely love, and was thinking about an aviator as a replacement. Any (previous)owners have + or - opinions about them?

 

parents used to own one.... until my dad rolled it haha. Great air-bags!! LOL

 

Well there was finally a cluster of them near me, so I took 3 of them out for a spin today. It looks like tailgate cracking is an issue, 2 out of 3 of them had split. Other than that, the best one definitely impressed me, it's extremely quick, quiet, smooth, agile. Probably would have bought it if it didn't have paint problems from someone keying it.

So now on to find one that's in great condition.

 

Granted every vehicle does have issues. Although I think the Aviator is a very nice truck. I am pretty sure that its based on the Explorer platform. You might want to keep an eye out for wheel bearings going bad/need replacing here and there. The tailgate plastic that cracks is a common issue, as you stated. I hope you find a nice well kept one for yourself. Happy hunting.

 

I had a cars.com & autotrader.com search agent set up for just locally, and got bored last weekend and expanded the scope of the search nationwide. I found a 2003 kitty hawk edition, that was basically new in the box, only 64 miles, everything still wrapped in plastic, totally cherry, except for some out of round tires from sitting for so long.

 

I am looking to buy a Kitty Hawk anyone know of one for sale? I have looked on craislist in Seattle and Portland I have tried Jaxed nationally I have found only 2 one in portland a 2 wheel drive he wants too much for it and another in Canada oh and one that has 138k miles although it is loaded and nice...Too high if Miles. Although I live in Seattle I am a cash buyer if we can get it here! Hope to here from anyone that has one knows of one so on!

 

In the few months I've been looking I've only seen 2 - 3 max advertised nationwide at a time. According to the lincoln research department, they only made 556 of them in 2003, the only year they made them. I was going to point you to one in north b-more, but it looks like the guy finally sold it after 7 months.

The ones I've seen though are not necessarily advertised that way. The big tip off is the black seats, and the badge on the tailgate, but I've definitely seen two with no mention of it in the ad, and only the pics reveal it.

I'd do a cars.com search & book mark it, so you can run it at will, autotrader agent, use some of the national craigslist trollers, etc. and be patient.

 

Thank you for the response.. It is just frustrating. I am not sure how to set up those searches. I will keep looking nation wide. I am just not having much luck and although I am a girl I really want one. Thank you for letting me know. Another question for you, I have found a few in 2 wheel drive and one in AWD. They did make a AWD ( 4x4 ) yes?

 

definitely come in awd, mine is.

 

Please let me know if you ever sale your 2003 Aviator my e mail is upishy@yahoo.com.

 

Helluva' find! Out of curiousity, why was it mothballed for so long? Seems like an odd vehicle to do that do.....

 

Not really sure, it was supposedly the last 03 kitty hawk, maybe someone was watching barrett jackson and saw future $$ signs or something.

It's not like they put the 390hp cobra motor in it (I wish), I'm sure it'd melt the tranny even more than it already happens. It was more of a trim package.

 

baby navigator....anyways i found some useful info on my Navigator before buying it so maby this will help you out??? http://www.cars.com/lincoln/aviator/2003/

 

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffwor...ln-aviator.htm
My parents have one; its fast, fun to drive, and looks decent. Needs premium, so a bit of a downside over a standard explorer. Factory HIDs are nice if you end up with them, with the AWD there is nothing to lock it.

 

This may be a silly question but if there are not many out there why would u buy one? Surely getting parts etc is not going to be as simple as many other more popular vehicles. Just a thought.