2005 Aviator For 2012 SRX Premium

[black bart]

My wife's 2005 Lincoln Aviator has 110K on it and is starting to show it's age. Little things are popping up, which I always manage to fix. She's thinking of a replacement SUV, but frankly, all the full sized SUV's have literally priced themselves out of her budget. At 50K, it seems the only premium SUV out there is the Cadillac SRX Premium. It comes standard with everything that she currently has on the Aviator.

I don't like the FWD period. I've never had any luck with them in any way, shape, or form. Everything I read about the SRX I like, but it seems most articles are somewhat biased. So I thought that maybe some of the forum members may have had some experience with the new gen SRX with the 3.6 V6. The earlier SRX's had some a/c and tranny problems that hopefully are now corrected.

I don't want a BMW, Merc, Lexus, or Infinity, I want an American SUV. Any comments would be appreciated. I'm in SoCal, so I have a plethora of dearlerships near by. I would consider a crossover Lincoln, but unfortunately, our Lincoln dealership closed it's doors three years ago.

Considering a used SUV, but I'm finding only high mileage vehicles available. Almost sounds like I've narrowed my choice to the SRX. The wife sells Real Estate and needs a large, safe vehicle for hauling famalies around.

[Purf]

If I could swing another $20,000, I would go for the SRX-V wagon with the same power train as the CTS-V (556 HP, magnetic ride suspension, upgraded Brembo brakes, etc.). The ultimate "sleeper."