Lincoln Navigator

Published · Researched 2026-09-21

Lincoln Navigator — review (Sept 2026)

The 2025 Navigator is a $116,000 truck that makes a noise like dial-up internet. That's not a metaphor — owners describe a loud speaker noise "akin to connecting to AOL," and they're paying Black Label money to hear it.

Let's get oriented. The Navigator is Lincoln's full-size flagship: a 3.5L EcoBoost V6 making 440 horsepower and 510 lb-ft, 4WD only, 10-speed auto, no hybrid, no diesel. The 2025 brought the all-new fifth generation, and its party trick is a 48-inch coast-to-coast panoramic display with an 11.1-inch touchscreen, a split tailgate (upper glass, lower gate), massaging seats, and a "Rejuvenate" spa mode that does… something. The 2021–2024 trucks were the fourth generation, same engine family making 450 hp, and the community's quiet comfort zone.

What owners genuinely like: the old-money ride, the space, the calm. CarGurus owners rate the 2022 4.85 out of 5 and the 2023 4.91 — those are elite numbers. The EcoBoost-and-10-speed combo is a known quantity with no engine pattern in the complaint data, which, after what GM's 6.2L owners went through, counts as a luxury feature in itself. The Black Label pickup-and-delivery service is real, and at these prices it had better be.

Now the 2025, and here's where the forum-veteran voice gets tired. The 2025–2026 owner group reads like a first-year-redesign bug log: massage-seat air bladders making a "swooshing" noise, a tailgate that "will not open," rear entertainment screens that can't stream Netflix, voice-command confusion, and that speaker pop. One buyer showed up worried about vibration after taking a buyback on a Ford Expedition — the Navigator was supposed to be the safe harbor, and he already had one foot out the door. These are $100k-plus problems on a car sold as serenity. The tone in the groups isn't despair, it's frustrated luxury: people who wanted this truck to be perfect and are annoyed it isn't.

The recalls are worse than the quirks. Ford recall 26S21 (December 2025, 254,640 vehicles, 2022–2025 model years): the image-processing module can reset and take out the rear camera and the driver-assist systems at the same time. One fault, two safety systems. Then the 2025's own launch-year stack: the rear lightbar can crack, let moisture in, and make the reverse lights flicker (1,195 cars); and the electronic brake booster can lose power assist, which dealers fix by replacing the booster (679 cars). Ford's OTA updates now handle the software recalls, which is genuinely an improvement over the dealer-drag era — but nobody buys a $116,495 Black Label to beta-test a brake booster.

The social pulse: the Navigator crowd is old money to the Escalade's new money. Quieter, loyal, less online. The 34,000-member main group hums along; the 2,000-member 2025–26 group is where the arguments live. Nobody expects a dead tailgate and dial-up noises at this price, and the new gen has rattled a community that was perfectly happy with the old one. The experts give it around 8/10 and praise the screen and ride while noting it's "less opulent than the Escalade's new digs," which is a polite way of saying the momentum is with the other guy.

Here's the value call, and it's the easiest paragraph in the review. A 2023 Navigator averages about $56,500 used — the refreshed fourth generation's calm middle year, proven powertrain, 4.91-out-of-5 owner satisfaction, all the luxury, roughly half the price of a new 2025. The 2024s sit around $66,000, the 2022s around $49,000. Just verify the 26S21 IPMA recall was completed — it's a free OTA fix — and you've got the truck the community actually trusts. The 2025 is $99,995 to $116,495 to be someone else's debugging. There's no world where the first-year panoramic-screen truck is the smart buy at full sticker.

Should you buy one? If it's a 2023 with the recall done: yes, happily — it's the flagship the community has been rating 4.9 out of 5 for years, at half price. If it's the 2025: wait a model year or two and let Ford finish the car. The Navigator used to be the vehicle you bought when you'd already made every mistake once. The fifth generation is asking you to make them all over again, at list price.