By: Yousef Alvi
Like its brother the Expedition, the Navigator has been refreshed for this year with updated front and rear facias, upgraded instrument cluster, and a new engine. Let’s start off with the interior treatment of the Navigator. The fit and finish is on par with its stablemate – the Expedition. The dash is reshaped a bit to reflect the Lincoln brand image, and wood trim is added to the dash & steering wheel. Unfortunately – for the price point, there is too many hard plastic finishes for our tastes. The Navi lacks things like proximity unlock, panoramic sunroof, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assistance, and a heated steering wheel. For the price & segment it’s competing in, those are rather glaring oversites considering the Navigator’s competitors have at least an option for those.
The exterior of the Navigator features the Lincoln signature split grille, LED running lights, LED tail lights, and added chrome here & there. It’s a rather handsome & stately truck.
As mentioned before, the drivetrain is lifted from the Expedition. And with the 380hp and 460ft/lbs of torque, this large beast will scoot to 0-60 in a brisk 6.5 seconds. The Navigator does come with the Lincoln Drive Control which will give its driver three suspension modes to choose from: Normal, Comfort and Sport. However, to access said control is rather a pain – because you have to first go to settings, then drive control and then choose your mode. Whereas other vehicles in its class will give a physical button to toggle/twist… or at the very least, have it easily accessible in the menu system. Regardless of what mode the vehicle was in, it never seemed planted; it just seemed to wallow from bump to bump. Whereas the Expedition just rode beautifully with its regular suspension tuning. That’s because the Expedition we tested was the long-wheelbase version. It’s important to note, that when you’re looking at Expeditions, Navigators, Tahoes, Yukons, or Escalades… just know that the short wheelbase versions are going to ride more harshly/wobbly than their XL counterparts.
Compared to its competitors, the Lincoln is priced right in the middle. You can get one for around low $60,000, and our tester was spec’d out to $73,000, which is significantly cheaper than its closest competitor – the Escalade. Honestly though, unless they’re making you a deal at the Lincoln dealer, we would save our cash and go with the Expedition. For our money… it’s just the same damn thing.
Love the article, drove one for a few weeks shortly after having back surgery 7 weeks ago. Love the motor/trans setup on the model we had, ride was perfect, rear seats a bit more comfortable than the expedition. And when one resets the trip computer, the Navi will do what is one of the most impressive MPG’s i have seen between vehicles period. We based up in San Augustine, TX (my hometown) when we reached mid mississippi, we were still above half a tank. From torturing it off-road we were impressed with the interior, we like the mixture of plastic and leather for the simple reason of longevity. Vehicles that usually have fully leather clad dashboards covered in wood tend to look like crap after 5 years, for example, my 2006 Acura TL, a few buddies older Mercedes, a few customer BMWs and so forth.