The OG luxobarge body-on-frame SUV enters its fifth generation with the new 2025 Lincoln Navigator. These days the Cadillac Escalade outsells the Navigator by more than two to one, so some of us need reminding that Lincoln was first to woo pop culture and other “influencers” with these jumbotrons back in 1998. Many buyers upgraded their stock 16- or 17-inch wheels to 20-inch “dubs” back in the day. Well, with the march of time, dub-deuces are now standard (and said to ride the best), with FoMoCo-first 24s optional (sorry, no spinners, but each one weighs an incredible 95 pounds!). Might this mostly new model — on its sick factory rims — claw back some sales from Caddy’s ’Slade?

How new Is the 2025 Lincoln Navigator?

Folks won’t mistake it for the fourth-gen Navi — only the door sheetmetal is unchanged. The interior and “Lincoln Digital Experience” user-interface is also entirely new and fully Google-integrated (while retaining wireless Apple and Android mirroring). Underneath all that newness, the 440-hp, 510-lb-ft EcoBoost twin-turbo V-6 engine and 10-speed automatic transmission carry over, as does most of the chassis. Max towing capacity remains at 8,700 pounds, but the limit for trailers without a weight-distributing hitch rises from 5,000 to 7,000 pounds, and the new truck inherits the F-150’s Trailer Hitch Assist and Pro Trailer Backup Assist features, all of which should greatly de-stress trailering vacations.

What’s new outside?

Up front there’s a bolder, more upright grille with a light-up Lincoln emblem that forms the fuselage of the “glider-wing” daytime running-lamps that sweep across to the headlamps. A similar cross-car taillamp spans the rear, and both help deliver a Lincoln Embrace welcome animation. A panoramic moonroof is standard and the roof rails now mount flush to the bodywork. A Jet Package blacks out the wheels and exterior trim. The biggest upgrade is out back, where the liftgate is swapped for a Split Gate (with the wiper hidden up under the spoiler). The top three-quarters opens upward, while the rest forms a tailgate rated for 600 pounds of merrymaking.

There’s even a panel that stows under the rear floor, which can be positioned as a backrest, or as a snackbar — either a foot above the cargo floor, or with legs extended, out over the tailgate. That short gate won’t hit the tongue jack of a trailer, it’s easy to reach in over and it’ll keep unrestrained bottles of Dom from christening the driveway. The whole thing opens automatically when a key fob (or phone-as-key) pauses for three seconds behind it, no one-legged kicking underneath the bumper necessary.

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Interior a screentastic sanctuary

Screen size may be the rim-diameter brag of the mid-2020s, and here a 48-incher spans the area atop the dashboard just below the new Lincoln Navigator’s windshield. The driver’s half will now show a blind-spot view while signaling. The other half lacks technology to allow the passenger to watch video programming in motion, but when parked, pano mode can show video or gaming content. This screen is flanked by a pair of book-end speakers (26 more are scattered about the cabin, as Revel Ultimate 3D Audio System is now standard). That distant screen requires less focal-length adjustment when glancing down from the road. It also greatly lowers the visual mass of the dashboard. A smaller squircle (that's a squared-off circle) steering wheel is easier to see over.

Obviously, there’s no touching a screen mounted way out there, so an 11.1-inch center infotainment screen and a pair of touchpads on the steering wheel spokes control most features. Interior trim is mostly satin chrome, including a bar bisecting the invisible air vents (which sadly must now be aimed via the screen, not physical tabs). 

The 2025 Lincoln Navigator comes with a zen-enhancing app called Calm. You may already subscribe at the $69.99 annual rate, but a year is included free with your Navigator purchase. It powers mindful meditation routines. The multisensory 5- or 10-minute programs engage all your senses by involving the sound system, screens, ambient lighting, scent dispenser, plus seat heat, ventilation and massage. The “Calm” lady can speak her mindfulness patter, or you can veg out to your own audio.

You must be parked in a ventilated area with the windows up and the engine running for the Rejuvenate routine to function. Programs include Waterfall, Aurora Borealis and Elements (those last two will be downloadable after purchase). And yes, the Navigator inherits the Nautilus’ digital scent collection, which comes loaded with Mystic Forest, Ozonic Azure and Violet Cashmere (four additional smells are available). Scents mount in and diffuse from the front center armrest console, independent of the climate control system. Each Bic lighter-sized cartridge lasts about 120 hours on full strength (6 months) and replacements costs $30.

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40/20/40 power third row

Another first for the 2025 Lincoln Navigator is its power-folding third-row seat design, which at last allows transportation of six swells with a pile of ski bags sitting between the four in back. It also helps make these rearmost outboard seats feel more like captain’s chairs. Oh, and presuming the actual captain sprang for the Black Label grade, those rearmost thrones are heated. Second-row Black-Label folks get eight-way adjustable heated/cooled power tilt/slide captain’s chairs (a bench is optional). Lower trims get electric tilt release with manual slide.

Lincoln has upped its leather game too, borrowing from Cadillac by incorporating interesting perforation patterns, including “drizzle perf” with holes that vary in diameter from top to bottom within each diamond stitch for the Atmospheric color way (salt leather, flint suede headlining, ash wood and copper accents). “Sunrise perf” employs a random pattern of like-sized holes in beige leather with grey accents and laser-etched and copper accented birch wood for the Enlighten color way. Invitation’s all-black motif remains the least interesting option. Reserve models can feature an interesting laminated reclaimed wood product called Shimaroku, that appears light gray.

When and how much?

Order banks will open this October, but deliveries aren’t expected until spring of 2025. Pricing won’t be available until closer to one of those dates, and the standard equipment list has ballooned — the moonroof, Revel Ultimate and BlueCruise were extra-cost options worth at least $4,000–$6,000; but then an AWD Escalade opens at about $87,000 (Caddy still offers rear-drive), so that may define a floor that’s about $1,700 richer than 2024. Expect a Navigator L Black Label to kiss $120,000. The new Navigator seems a match for Cadillac on opulence, and its wheels sure look big enough to us.

Photos by Steven Pham and Manufacturer

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