A month ago I said farewell to our faithful Aztek friend. After twelve years of trusted service it was finally time to move on. I took more than enough ribbing over owning that car. Yes, it had a quirky shape (or just downright ugly by most accounts). Fine, it didn’t have stellar power. Sure, it had a knack for catching the slightest breeze and turning it into a lane veering gust. And yes, maybe it marked the beginning of the end for one of America’s proudest auto brands. But in practice it was extremely useful, innovative, and trouble-free. It had cavernous cargo room, a great sound system, an awesome turning radius, technology that’s still hard to find (in the heads up display), and of course, A FREAKING TENT.
But eventually the maintenance items were starting to pile up (a nonfunctional fuel gauge, a couple badly worn bearings, a couple fan settings that didn’t work, etc), and the final motivation was when the air conditioning gave up as the heat of the summer approached. Knowing the time was coming, I spent months looking for a replacement, and eventually choose a low miles, certified 2011 Lincoln MKX to be the successor.
The Aztek was the first car I moved on from that wasn’t completely totaled when we parted ways (either by fire, or rollover, or deer). And for that it deserves a special tribute:
