Is the Lincoln Navigator a Good Luxury SUV?
- With excellent interior materials, a stunning 48-inch digital dashtop display, undeniable road presence and a selection of interior themes, the updated 2025 Lincoln Navigator is one of the best options in the luxury full-size SUV class.
How Does the Lincoln Navigator Compare With Other Luxury SUVs?
- The Navigator’s biggest competition comes from the Cadillac Escalade, and though the Navigator is more expensive to start, the Lincoln’s somewhat restrained design and rich standard features makes it an equal contender.
The U.S is a big country with “bigness” as a byproduct. We’ve got big spaces, big roads, a big sky, big dreams and big appetites, all of which led to the popularity of ever-so-American big luxury. No one does the full-size luxury SUV better; the large, lumbering luxo-leviathans like the Lincoln Navigator and Cadillac Escalade are some of the best ways to loaf around town and country, especially when you need to haul the family and a sizable boat. Need one? Make sure your shopping list includes the significantly revised ‘n’ refreshed 2025 Lincoln Navigator.
Related: Ultra-Luxe 2025 Lincoln Navigator Goes Big on Screens
There’s a heap of stylistic and technology updates, but pricing sees the biggest change for 2025 with the cheapest Navigator sliding in at $101,990 (prices include destination), or nearly $17,000 more than the prior model. Much of this boils down to a trim reorganization, with the discontinuation of the base Premiere trim leaving the mid-grade Reserve as the new point of entry.
What’s New on the 2025 Lincoln Navigator?
Other than additional standard finery, look for new, uh, everything else. A new grille incorporates an available vehicle-wide LED light bar and illuminated Lincoln badge that lends serious valet-lot cred, as do the standard 22-inch wheels (24-inch rims are available). The new liftgate is the most significant exterior revision, now incorporating a handy-dandy split-gate function that offers tailgate functionality for its bottom third. A clever multipurpose cargo divider is also available, tripling as a cargo cover, parcel shelf and tailgate seatback should you desire to watch Junior’s little league game from the parking lot.
Big bruisers of this caliber are hardly the most elegant sleds on the road, but Lincoln’s soft-edged refinement conveys moderate restraint compared with some of the blingiest Escalades — especially if you opt for the available Jet Appearance Package that darkens exterior chrome bits for minimum flash. Muted, mature colors have become a Lincoln hallmark, and I’m quite partial to the deep Flight Blue Metallic that’s available on lower-to-mid trims. If you’re seeking maximum attention at both the carpool lane and country club, step up to the range-topping Black Label trim to unlock the gleaming Sunrise Copper Metallic Pearlcoat paint, a livery that hits critical levels of nouveau riche when combined with the available black exterior trim.
How Nice Is the 2025 Lincoln Navigator’s Interior?
The interior undergoes the same cosmetic overhaul, a change that had me a bit more apprehensive than excited. The prior Black Label Navigator was, without pretense, one of the most luxurious cockpits available regardless of price, with great materials, fabulously curated colorways and top-notch presentation. In concert, the Black Label was not too far off from how a hypothetical full-size Bentley SUV would present.
The new Black Label is no less luxurious, only less intriguing to behold and interact with. Much of the physical controls are now digitized, accessed via the lower 11.1-inch touchscreen that plays a functional second fiddle to the sprawling 48-inch “coast-to-coast” dashtop display previously enjoyed on the Lincoln Nautilus mid-size SUV. This curved screen is a dramatic evolution of a standard digital driver display, with layouts for navigation, vehicle information and infotainment. It’s a visually arresting setup, one that is very much of the current era of automotive design. There’s a lot to look at, so the steering wheel was molded into a squircle — a neologism for a round-edged square — for maximum screen visibility.
At least on the Black Label that I drove, there’s no region of the cockpit that doesn’t feel properly indulgent. Extended time spent in even the second row’s heated-and-ventilated captain’s chairs should count toward some hotel loyalty programs, buoyed by the second row’s optional seatback entertainment screens and center console with beaucoup storage and wireless charging.
How Does the 2025 Lincoln Navigator Drive?
All of this, along with little touches like the faceted crystal volume knob, active cabin scents and a 30-way-adjustable driver’s seat add up to a comprehensively primo driving experience. Speaking of driving, the new Navigator doesn’t feel significantly different from the prior SUV when on the move, mostly due to a carryover platform and drivetrain. The familiar twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 engine is back, making 440 horsepower and 510 pounds-feet of torque, and it pairs with a 10-speed automatic transmission. Four-wheel drive is standard.
How’s it drive? Big — but with a managed, confident heft not unlike an NFL linebacker cutting up on “Dancing With the Stars.” It’s far from agile, but the adaptive suspension finds a solid balance between composure and supreme cushiness, usually leaning into the latter. Bumps and pavement breaks are muffled with a silk gag and politely drowned in a vat of buttercream, and it’s all complemented by steering and braking that feels filtered through a vat of fondue fromage.
Acceleration is strong for such a large barge, with 0-60 mph likely falling somewhere in the low six-second range. Good stuff when facing down an on-ramp with a full house, but better still for when there’s a trailer in tow. Manually selecting gears for towing or, God forbid, aggressive driving is a smidge tricky, with gear selection managed by two buttons on the flat portion of the center console. Manual anything is antithetical to the very ethos of the 2025 Navigator, so you’d best let all 10 of those gears manage themselves. In fact, why don’t you let the whole darn bus handle the drive? Lincoln’s BlueCruise hands-free cruise control plays the role of fussy chauffeur quite well, handling the majority of highway driving with nary a scare or sketchy moment.
More From Cars.com:
- Big Timer: Redesigned 2025 Lincoln Navigator Priced From $101,990
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- How Do Car Seats Fit in a 2023 Lincoln Navigator?
- Research Lincoln SUVs
- Shop for a 2025 Lincoln Navigator Near You
How Much Does a 2025 Lincoln Navigator Cost?
For the most part, those interested in the 2025 Lincoln Navigator will purchase it predicated on its presence, interior appointments, towing capacity, or lease payment and not how the sucker barrels down a California canyon road. Maximum luxury, maximum price: As mentioned above, you can expect to bring your thickest, heaviest checkbook for this new Lincoln. Beyond that roughly $102,000 base Reserve trim, things spiral to somewhere north of $135,000 for a maxed-out, long-wheelbase Black Label Navigator L.
Hey, big luxury means big price — and I have a feeling Black Label customers wouldn’t have it any other way.
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