The 2025 Lincoln Navigator Definitely Isn't For Me, But I Wish It Was

For a number of years in automotive history, "luxury" just meant leather seats in a huge car. Before you could stick a huge OLED screen on the dash and load it with enough apps and functionality to make the ghost of Steve Jobs get upset, a luxury car was primarily a matter of scale. In the 1960s and 1970s, you could spot a Lincoln Continental or a Cadillac Eldorado from orbit because it was flat out bigger than everything else.

Bigger being better went away in the 1990s as automotive technology improved, meaning automakers could spend more money on making a luxury car's interior more high tech and inviting than simply spacious and leather-wrapped. Additionally, big family minivans like the Chrysler Town and Country, along with family-friendly SUVs like the Chevy Tahoe/Suburban, showed that you didn't need to drop a lot of cash for space. Nonetheless, vast luxury cars like the Mercedes S-Class, Cadillac Escalade, and — the subject of my test — the Lincoln Navigator are still toiling away in the luxury car mines, trying to make an outsized impression.

Immediately upon the Navigator's appearance in the driveway, I could practically feel the property value rising. The 2025 model has an unmistakable presence that has stayed with the Navigator ever since the Ford Expedition ditched the lowly blue oval and donned a suit in the late 1990s. 

As a friend of mine once noted, I have an affinity for "big and dumb" cars, and the Navigator is certainly big and brash enough to fit the bill. A six-figure luxury SUV doesn't exactly fill one with the same excitement as say, a Nissan Z-Car, but I was prepared to have a very comfortable week behind the wheel. Even though a car the size of an aircraft carrier was now hoisted upon me, I didn't begrudge its presence.

While my neighbors must have thought I suddenly won the lottery, or decided to venture to the other side of the law, driving around listening to yacht rock while wearing aviator sunglasses in a total luxury cocoon has its appeal.

Mechanically, the 2025 Lincoln Navigator shouldn't surprise anyone who is familiar with the model's overall oeuvre over the years. It's a Ford Expedition. However, the 3.5-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost V6 that sits under the hood of the Navigator is tuned a little bit hotter, here making 440 horsepower as opposed to the Expedition's even 400. 40 extra horsepower isn't much in the grand scheme of things, especially since the car weighs 5,929 pounds, but the extra power is there if you need it. As such, it can tow a maximum of 8,700 pounds if you check your options boxes right (opting for the long wheelbase version, or for 24-inch wheels, means you can tow a little bit less).

All that power is transferred to the ground via a 10-speed automatic transmission that Ford drivers should also be familiar with. All of the loud metal parts that underpin the Navigator are the least ostentatious parts of the vehicle. Fuel economy is an afterthought at 17 combined miles per gallon.

Driving the Navigator felt a lot like being behind the wheel of the Cadillac Escalade I tested last year (except of course, without the supercharger). It's smooth and uncomplicated. Despite its size, it really wasn't all that hard to navigate, although parking could be a challenge. I had to send a telegraph ahead of time and ensure that the harbormaster was able to find a spot for me to dock. 

It wasn't as maneuverable as your average sports car, unsurprisingly, or even a crossover, but it certainly wasn't lethargic. The power was plentiful and, since it was equipped with Ford's hands-off BlueCruise driver assistance package, it was able to charge down the highway at the velocity of my choice without much worry. I can see why the Navigator is prized by chauffeur and executive car companies, it's totally effortless to drive.

Alex Hevesy/SlashGear

The cabiin of the Navigator follows a lot of the same design conventions as the Lincoln Nautilus. It has the same double decker display with one screen to your lower right serving as your base infotainment screen with a larger panoramic screen on top that gives you your instruments and readouts like navigation and weather. Like I felt in the Nautilus, the screen wasn't all that distracting in a negative sense. I liked being able to glance at the weather or my fuel economy, without having to go digging through different menus.

The interior, as one would expect, was pretty luxe. I won't be as crass to say that the Navigator was like driving a living room down the highway — complete with massaging easy chairs and a huge TV in front of me — but it certainly did a good impression of a big, luxurious lounge. Like everything else with the Navigator, it was entirely painless to be in. Whatever witchcraft and wizardry Lincoln did to the interior must have worked, because the riding and driving experience is fatigue-free.

I have absolutely no issue complaining about luxury cars; it's essentially my job. But I can honestly say that I had no qualms with the Navigator's overall execution. It's just flat out good. While I'm sure a Maybach or Rolls-Royce would find more ways to charm the luxury SUV-buyer, the Navigator is an excellent car for people who just own a few luxury houses and a nice boat instead of people who own entire neighborhoods and have control of their country's armed forces and oil reserves.

Just looking at the badge and the fact it says "NAVIGATOR" on it, you already have an idea that this SUV is going to be expensive. The Navigator appeals to a demographic that actually revels in how much it costs. The 2025 Navigator Reserve (the "base" trim") sits with an MSRP of $99.995, just the price of a McDonald's bacon, egg, and cheese bagel under a full six-figures.

All you need do at the dealership is sneeze near the options list, and that MSRP will set you back a full 100 grand. The "Starlight Gray" paint color adds $750. The leather, power, and heated second row captains chairs with a console between add $2,750. The tow package is $570 and, lastly, the gargantuan 24-inch nickel aluminum wheels are the most expensive single option at $2,995. The destination fee of $2,195 completes the Navigator for a grand total of $109,435. Oh boy. It's a lot of cash for a lot of car. 

If you're in the market for a more pedestrian car like a $40,000 Subaru Outback then a six-figure Lincoln might have you calling the IRS, but within the luxury barge context of other giant SUVs, it's pretty competitive. The 2025 Cadillac Escalade with four-wheel drive starts at $96,295. The G-Class from Mercedes is almost $50,000 more expensive at $148,250. Similarly, any of the BMW X7's variations have no issue eclipsing six-figures. To us mere peasants, a $100,000 SUV with more bells and whistles than the bells and whistles store is unthinkable; to the demographic that buys and drives cars like the 2025 Lincoln Navigator, it's just another day.

I quite enjoyed my glimpse into how the other half lives with time behind the wheel of the Navigator. I will likely never be a target for Navigator sales, but I didn't begrudge my driving experience. It's an excellent big SUV for all of your big SUV needs and you can't really go wrong with a Hot Rod Lincoln.