2004 Lincoln Navigator

Testing the first Navigator in 1997, I was followed by a woman in a Lincoln Town car. After she flashed and honked repeatedly, I stopped.


"You're driving my new truck," she exclaimed. "I've been waiting for this, but I don't think it will fit in my garage." So my Lincoln host and I followed her home and quickly proved the Navigator was a snug—but definite—fit. That was also true for the entire Lincoln lineup.

Navigators come in three trim levels?Luxury, Premium, and Ultimate?each with successively added luxury features.

The Navigator helped reinvent and broaden the appeal of this venerable brand; but, prior to its arrival, Lincolns were primarily for the limo and blue-rinse crowd. There were no luxury full-size SUVs. Today, Navigators account for about 20% of Lincoln's sales, with Cadillac and the slightly smaller but similarly priced Range Rover, BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz ML, Acura MDX and Lexus RX 330 and more all vying for wealthy buyers.


Despite competition, the Navigator commanded a healthy 40 percent share of the full-size luxury SUV market last year. Anxious to increase its truck penetration, Lincoln introduced the slightly smaller Aviator. But the Navigator is the bread and butter of its business (or should we say the croissant and brie), so the division's engineers went all-out in 2003 to improve it in every way, without, of course, abandoning the formula that won all those folks in the first place.


First and foremost, Lincoln wanted the new Navigator to be, very simply, less truck-like and more car-like than its predecessor. This was a difficult task with a three-ton, body-on-frame behemoth that's expected to ride comfortably on the road yet be more than passably capable off of it. Sparing no expense, the Navigator features a fully boxed, hydroformed frame that's 70 percent stiffer torsionally and 67 percent stiffer in vertical bending. The result is reduced NVH (noise, vibration and harshness), especially on rough roads, and fully independent suspension (much of it aluminum to reduce unsprung weight) coupled with rack-and-pinion steering and 18-inch alloy wheels and tires.