America’s Finest
Time is a flat circle.
Many folks will recall that line uttered by Matthew McConaughey in the climax of True Detective, but it was 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who first wrote those words, with the implication being “everything we have done, or will do, we will do over and over and over again—forever.”
Nietzsche’s doctrine of eternal recurrence rang through my head as I admired the four hulking luxury three-row SUVs from BMW, Cadillac, Lincoln, and Mercedes-Benz as they sat in the cool morning marine layer of Los Angeles’ ritzy Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Five years earlier, just across the peninsula in the Port of Los Angeles, we conducted almost the exact same test where we crowned the then-new Cadillac Escalade the winner over the Mercedes GL, Lexus LX, Land Rover Range Rover, Lincoln Navigator, and Infiniti QX80.
Time has stood still for the Lexus, Range Rover, and Infiniti. However, Cadillac, Lincoln, and Mercedes have all moved forward into the 2020s with new luxury three-row SUVs. Meanwhile, BMW joins this existentialist circle of life with its own entry into the segment.
Are we doomed to repeat these comparison tests ad infinitum? Well, not entirely. Nietzche’s predecessor Arthur Schopenhauer wrote pessimistically of the individual’s inability to satiate unquenchable desires. But in this case, these four automakers gallantly endeavor to overturn centuries of dismal dialectic.
Rather than deny our desires, as Schopenhauer would have us do, let us meet the 2021 Cadillac Escalade ESV 4WD, 2020 Lincoln Navigator 4x4 Black Label, 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLS 580 4Matic, and 2020 BMW X7 xDrive40i.
THE PLAYERS
The oldest vehicle this time around was the oldest during the last go-round, too. But that’s not to say things haven’t changed. The new Lincoln Navigator, updated for 2019, is among the most convincing American luxury vehicles of the past three decades. Its styling is retro yet modern, elegant, and unmistakably Lincoln. Little has changed with the Lincoln Navigator since it made its debut aside from minor trim and option differences. It’s the
