2005 Lincoln Navigator Review: Exterior

For 2005, the Navigator gets a significant facelift that results in a cleaner, more upscale appearance. New side cladding dispenses with the fussy, double-layered look and integrates better with the restyled running boards. Similarly, the front fascia has traded the stubbly jawed suggestion of a brush bar for a clean, boldly horizontal lower air intake. A straight black band across the bottom of the fascia reduces the visual mass of the blocker bar designed to improve the safety of people in other cars in a collision.

The changes give the Navigator a richer and more substantial look. It looks more like a Lincoln. For the past 70 years (at least) Lincoln's most memorable designs have also been its most pure and clean, while the Lincolns we'd like most to forget appear to have resulted from occasional, unrestrained impulses to try to out bling-bling Cadillac.