Lincoln's Prince of a Navigator

The Navigator has been redesigned for 2007. It's handsomer and plusher than ever. But is it good enough to beat the Escalade?

by Charles DuBow

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Handsome; comfortable; well-priced

The Bad: Poor fuel economy; could be more powerful; undefined brand image

The Bottom Line: A terrific SUV, but is it right for you?

Reader Reviews

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Up Front

The guys at Lincoln must really hate the guys at Cadillac. Over the past decade Cadillac has rolled out one successful new product after another and watched its sales climb year over year, while Lincoln continues to come out with yawners like the MKZ and its perennial sales champ, the solid yet boring Town Car.

Even when Lincoln comes out with a winner, as it has with the redesigned Lincoln Navigator, Cadillac still steals the show. For the first two months of this year the Navigator sold 3,635 units as compared with the Cadillac Escalade, which sold 6,965, nearly twice as many (see BusinessWeek.com, 11/2/06, "Cadillac's Crown Jewel").

Anyone familiar with the automotive world of recent years knows that the Escalade is one of Detroit's unbridled successes, enjoying an apotheosis to iconic status. The Navigator, which actually came to market a year before the Escalade and was the first American-built luxury SUV, is still considered only a lesser angel in the automotive firmament.

One of the reasons was that Lincoln failed to successfully market the Navigator by going after a more urban audience the way Cadillac did with the Escalade. But Lincoln went about designing an SUV the same way it would a car. It made the Navigator roomy and luxurious but underpowered. When the Escalade came along with its big 255-horsepower, 5.7-liter Vortec 5700 V-8, which it borrowed along with its platform from the GMC Yukon Denali, the Navigator found itself outgunned. In fact, I remember driving both vehicles back-to-back in 2001 and, while I was largely unimpressed with the Escalade's interior, couldn't help but be wowed by its big-engined power.

Like all General Motors' (GM) cars, the Escalade has also benefited in recent years by a great attention to interior detail and luxury. The Escalade no longer looks like a rebadged Denali with a different grille. It has been rethought inside and out, and its high-end model, the $59,470 ESV, comes with a suite of luxury options such as a climate package; $995 power sunroof; $1,295 rear entertainment system; $2,495 information package with rearview camera, DVD-based navigation, and Intellibeam automated head lamps; and, of course, gorgeous $2,995 22-in. chrome aluminum wheels, as well as increased frame rigidity, an all-new suspension, and rack-and-pinion steering.

But the Navigator isn't about to give up without a fight. For 2007 Lincoln has given it a redesigned interior and a handsomer exterior, complete with a more aggressive chrome grille and HID headlights, fender flares, and body side-trim. Eighteen-inch machined aluminum wheels come standard; the 20-in. chrome wheels cost $1,495 more. The new model has a quieter, more luxurious interior and a 300-horsepower, 5.4-liter Triton V-8 engine with a standard 6-speed automatic transmission. But is that enough to win people over from the Escalade? To find out, read on.

Behind the Wheel

When the attendant at the Ford (F) dealership pulled up in the shiny black Navigator that I would be testing I could not help but be struck by how handsome it looked. The attendant noticed my appreciation and said, "Yeah, you're going to have fun in this baby."

But I have been driving and testing cars long enough not to be fooled by a little show of polished cladding or a wink of chrome. To me, the proof of the pudding is in the interior. It's easy to make a car look big or go fast, but it's what's on the inside that counts. The reason is that it reflects the level of detail that a car company is willing to invest in its product. That's because you can't see the interior from outside and car companies know that visual impressions are often the best advertising. People see a beautiful or cool-looking car tooling down the street or on television, and they react to it.

But the interior is actually more important because that's where buyers spend all their time.