Quick Look At A Big Car: The New Lincoln Navigator Wins Over A Small Car Fan
Judy Antell
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The 2015 Lincoln Navigator wraps you in luxury, and power.
Trips to Costco where you buy 36 rolls of toilet paper elude New York City dwellers, as do the charms of big cars that can’t squeeze into spots on the street or shoehorn into NYC garages. But the Lincoln Navigator, for the rest of the country, is a gorgeous, fully loaded and surprisingly agile luxury experience.
Three rows of comfort, and a fold flat third row in the 2015 Lincoln Navigator
The car is so big that running boards pop out of the side when you open the door. So cool! They would likely knock down a city canine, squatting by your car, but they signal that this car has your every comfort in mind.
Cooled and heated seats – of course. The person who thought up cooled seats was probably a woman, switching off with her sweaty husband on a long road trip (they compromised on the air conditioning) who had to drive a few hours in pools of his sweat. In fact, the Navigator had Elaine Bannon, Chief Engineer of Lincoln MKX and Navigator design many of the new features of this full-size luxury SUV, though cooled seats were thought of by someone else.
And there are dual climate controls, so the passenger can consider her comfort level and hot flashes by 50-something drivers don’t mean refrigerator temps for all.
I drove the new Lincoln Navigator for just a few hours, at its Louisville, KY reveal, and came away impressed with how the car maneuvered on winding roads, and how easily I could pass lollygaggers.
The inside of the 2015 Lincoln Navigator is first class all the way. Check out that trim
The SUV has a V6 Ecoboost engine so the fuel economy is much better than a huge V8 engine, but it still has enough vroom to satisfy speedsters. The info panel told me that we were averaging 18-19 miles per gallon; not great, but if you fill the car’s 7 seats and can take one less car to a travel soccer game, you are doing your environmental duty.
Elaine Bannon, the engineer, noted that the Navigator is considered a family vehicle and that one of the important luxury elements is quiet. Now, if you have a couple of squabbling siblings or that travel soccer team filling the seats, they will create a din, but the car itself is whisper quiet. We drove with the windows down and sun roof open, just to see how quiet, and we were still able to chat, listen to Sirius XM music and hear the nav system.
Other luxury touches include a leather wrapped steering wheel, leather on the glove box, real wood in the center stack and power fold third row seats, that lay completely flat for cargo.
You feel cosseted in the Navigator – though for $75,000, you had better feel good.
Note: Lincoln covered all expenses to attend this event. Opinions expressed are my own.