In hindsight, the first car I ever drove on the highway was kind of a risky choice. I nearly totaled my dad’s early-2000s Ford Excursion that day. In my defense, that huge and pendulous SUV still reigns supreme as the biggest ever made.
But modern three-rows appear to be creeping up pretty close to the infamous Excursions these days. And Lincoln’s new Navigator stands out as one of the most imposing, with a generational update this year that transitions the former upscale Expedition — formerly positioned below the Excursion until Ford canceled the latter outright — to a stately SUV with aspirations of legitimate luxury.
I took a Navigator 4×4 in the Reserve trim for a week’s loan in southern California. That’s not the top-spec Black Series package, but it comes with enough trappings that Lincoln still calls it a “Spa on Wheels.”
I daily drove the Navigator around Los Angeles and road-tripped up to Santa Barbara. But in all honesty, with that long wheelbase, low front fascia, and 22-inch wheels shod in Michelin Primacy LTX eco tires, I never felt courageous enough to test the 4×4 in the name with any serious off-roading.
In short: The new 2025 Lincoln Navigator steps up to a whole new level of luxury. Lincoln went whole hog, with a design that looks sleek for its size and an interior that’s both high-tech to the max and jam-packed with sumptuous materials. But transitioning to touchscreens for almost all functions, including drive modes, makes for a frustrating user experience that counteracts much of the improvements to the Navigator’s imposing presence.
2025 Lincoln Navigator Review
Even at first impressions, the exterior design hints at a new era for the long-tenured Navigator. Smooth and aerodynamic, this SUV looks fancier, from any angle, than any boxy Expedition that came before. The grille, lines, and raked windshield all reveal some hints of Range Rover, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and even some Genesis inspiration.
But make no mistake — this is still a very large vehicle, even if the design helps minimize that impressions while simultaneously enhancing the stately presence. My tester’s Grey Mist Metallic paint probably helped, showing mostly as a typical matte finish. A bit of metallic flake only became visible up close occasionally, in the right light.
Inside the ’26 Navigator
The interior represents even more radical of an update, highlighted by the borderline absurd 48-inch curved display atop the dash. A lower 11.1-inch touchscreen houses almost all vehicle functions, from drive modes to climate controls and even synthetic scents.
Other than gear selector buttons, that is, which are awkwardly placed at the front of the center console with “D” surprisingly far from the driver’s seat. A few other buttons sit closer, including a faux crystal dial for infotainment volume and weird toggles for shifting up and down between gears.
Then there are the haptic thumbpads on the steering wheel. They look cool and feel nice to the touch, but because each changes what it controls depending on context, I needed to constantly touch one, and then look at the dash screen to figure out what does what in any given scenario.
Too Digital
And in reality, everything’s computer, to a fault. A prime example: I hate having to dive into digital menus to drag around the AC vent fan direction. This terrible contribution to the automotive industry (by main offenders Tesla and Rivian) needs to stop gaining traction. More time looking at big screens means less time focused on actually driving.
Luckily, the climate system includes very strong ventilated seats, so I mostly just needed to set and forget the dash vent directions. And the seats themselves are shockingly comfortable, cushy, and supportive, with 24-way adjustability for the driver. The massagers also dug into my back and hamstrings more strongly than any other car I’ve tested yet.
In the Driver’s Seat
To allow a better view of the main gauge cluster within that massive screen, Lincoln designed a “squircle” steering wheel. I typically enjoy squircles, but in this case, a small and thinnish rim with very light resistance belies the Navigator’s overall size and weight.
Yes, an incredible turning radius makes whipping around parking lots or making U-turns super-easy. So much so that I would have sworn I felt rear-wheel steering, which this SUV lacks.
Similarly, the suspension makes life driving something so big fairly acceptable. Although at this six-figure price point, I expected adjustable shock dampers. But no go, even if in reality, this is not a sporty vehicle. Hence why the suspension leans toward the smoother end of the spectrum.
But thicker sway bars to prevent body roll during corners don’t match the ability — or lack thereof — for the shocks and springs to prevent rear squat and nose dive under acceleration and braking.
Performance
And thanks to the unbelievable 510 pound-feet of torque from the twin-turbo 3.5L V6, the Navigator will legitimately squat under full throttle.
Not to mention, the curb weight is just over 6,000 pounds. This huge SUV can get up and go much quicker than I expected, to say the least. And all without the excessive shifting that sometimes plagues some eight-, nine-, or 10-speed gearboxes. Clearly, the Navigator’s ECU trusts the engine’s torque to get the job done, rather than constantly downshifting.
Then again, it’s weird that the spec sheet and everything online lists the Navigator as featuring full-time 4WD. The touchscreen’s drive modes page clearly shows 2Hi and 4A. Two-wheel drive would certainly help with the powertrain’s fuel economy a bit. I fiddled between the two but never sensed a change.
Admittedly, I wasn’t driving anywhere near the limit because that’s not the point. Instead, the Navigator thrives while calmly and capably cruising. So I shoved a road bike and gear in the back for a drive up to Santa Barbara. Which seemed like a perfect use case since I don’t have rugrats to haul around.
Carrying Cargo
I encountered a few issues, though — and again because of the over-technologization of every last thing.
First, the third row seats folded flat with the touch of a button in the trunk. Great! But the second row captain’s chairs act weirdly. You can’t fold the backs very much, and certainly not anywhere near flat. Instead, via an electric button on the shoulder, they slowly lean very slightly forward. Then a manual pull-strap tilts the base forward.
There is good room, and my bike fit — without having to remove a disc brake through-axle, thankfully — but not by much.
Then, while driving up to SB, the center touchscreen kept flashing a warning screen. “Return the second row seat (driver side) to its original position?” I figure the seat bases tilting up freaked the system out. But after closing that warning for the driver’s side, the same thing popped up for the passenger side.
Yes, another tap of the finger, thank you, I put the seats how I wanted. But then, after closing the second warning, I needed to tap twice more to go back into CarPlay navigation, because the UI defaulted to onboard nav afterward.
This probably happened 200 times or more, without exaggeration, on my drive to and from Santa Barbara. Often right at the worst time, too, like when I needed to make two turns in close succession right as Waze disappeared. Highly frustrating, to say the least.
Blue Cruise
Luckily, the rest of the drive kept me more relaxed. Ford’s Blue Cruise hands-free driving system handled probably around 90% of the trip on the 405 and 101 freeways.
Blue Cruise — which a friend called “Blue’s Cruise” like Blue’s Clues, and now I can’t unhear it — made a big difference precisely because I constantly needed to take my eyes off the road so much, to click out of warning messages or adjust climate and drive modes.
Luxury SUV
At this newfound level of opulence, Lincoln seems to be taking a wild swing at the likes of Rolls-Royce’s Cullinan, Bentley’s Bentayga, and various Land Rover models. It’s a valiant effort, and Ford definitely nailed most of the critical areas to focus on. Ventilated seats blasting. Hardcore massagers kneading my back and legs after climbing SB’s famous Gibraltar Strava segment twice in three days.
Serene and cozy, the Navigator 4×4 certainly swaddled me in physical luxury, even if the tech in many ways totally misses the mark. Other peculiar details included “digital scents” (seriously, what does that even mean?), some interior trim rattles, a little less sound insulation than expected to absorb road and wind noise. And a broken piece of a taillight floating around in the rear housing definitely surprised me.
2025 Navigator Review: Conclusions
In fairness, I might adjust to most of my complaints about the Navigator over time. But if a week with a $109,000 SUV doesn’t do the trick …
And despite the 4×4 in the name, the Navigator never intends for any serious four-wheeling. This new generation definitely serves best as a massive commuter or family hauler, rather than a weekend road-tripper for keeping the journey to a campsite comfortable.
The real direct competitor for the Navigator is actually America’s other full-size luxury SUV: the Cadillac Escalade. And unfortunately for Lincoln, the Escalade V exists. Admittedly on a whole different pricing tier, but that raucous supercharged V8 sure seems hard to pass up.
At least the Navigator’s twin-turbo V6 manages slightly more respectable fuel economy, which hovered around 17 mpg. That number crept up slightly higher on the highway and dropped steeply when I drove hard in town.
If Lincoln had nailed the tech integration better, the Navigator’s new generation might have wound up in a different class than the boxier, but ubiquitous and instantaneously identifiable Escalade. Instead, time spent driving the latest upscale Expedition reveals that this “Spa on Wheels” desperately needs a digital detox ASAP.
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