2008 Lincoln Navigator Impressions Review at Automotive.com

»Locate a Dealer»Find a Used Car»Get Financing

Most Popular: Hybrid Cars|Lexus IS350|Dodge Charger

HOME

2008 Lincoln Navigator Review: Road Test

Below is a full, detailed review and road test of the 2008 Lincoln Navigator written by either the experts at New Car Test Drive or by one of Automotive.com's very own. A full evaluation of the driving experience, price, equipment, and specs are here in a structured, easy-to-navigate format from journalists ... more

• Latest Reviews
• Future & Concepts
• Discuss Online

2008 Lincoln Navigator Rebates & Incentives

2008 Lincoln Navigator Costs of Ownership

QUICK PRICE QUOTE

DEALER LOCATOR

User Rating

3.5

Rating:

Value Rating

N/A

LEARN WHY

IntelliChoice Value Rating

The chart above shows the purchase price versus ownership cost for each car from a specific vehicle class. The cars with better than average ownership cost/purchase price correlations are the best values, and these best value cars are represented by the dots below the curve. (i.e. the cars that have a lower ownership cost compared to its purchase price.) Those cars, which are worse than average or poor values, appear above the curve.

One way to view the graph is to draw a vertical line through any purchase price. You may see several dots that fall on this line - each of which is a car with a similar purchase price. However, notice the difference in ownership costs of each car represented by the vertical position of the dot. Two cars with the same purchase price can have thousands of dollars difference in ownership costs. This is what separates "good value" cars from "poor value" cars.

What is a good car value?

A "good car value" is one whose cost to own and operate is less than expected. The lower the cost to own and operate a car compared to what is expected, the better the value of that car.

But how do we know a car's "expected cost"?

For each car in the class, IntelliChoice plots the car's purchase price against the total five-year cost to own and operate it as determined by IntelliChoice research. Each dot on the above chart represents a specific car. Generally, we find that as the purchase price of the car increases, the cost to own and operate that car increases. This is why the dots on the graph tend to rise upward and to the right. This phenomenon also makes intuitive sense - as the purchase price rises, financing costs tend to rise, as do insurance, depreciation, taxes, and most other car ownership costs.

This is an important concept. It's normal for car ownership costs to rise as purchase price rises. Therefore, we can't just establish one "average" ownership cost number for each class, since cars in the class have different purchase prices. (This is why the "Relative" shown on each chart is different for cars in the same car class.)

Using statistical techniques, IntelliChoice "connects the dots" to form a curve that defines, for this car class, the relationship between the car's purchase price and car's ownership costs. This curve is our "expected cost" curve. The curve defines, for any car in the class, the five-year ownership cost that we would expect to see at each possible purchase price. If every car in the class were an average value, then all the dots would fall exactly on the curve. However, it's rare that any dot is exactly on the curve. Some dots are a little higher or lower, and some are a lot higher or lower. The dots that are a little lower are better than average car values, while the dots that are a lot lower are excellent car values (A dot that is a lot lower than the curve has ownership costs much lower than expected for a car of its purchase price). Conversely, a dot a little higher than the curve is a poorer than average car value, while a dot that is much higher than the curve is a poor car value.

Value is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is performing better than the logical expectation.

So is a Mercedes-Benz E320 expensive to own and operate? Certainly in an absolute sense. Most other cars cost less. But, when its cost to own and operate is plotted against cars with comparable invoice prices, the E320 costs less. So the E320 is not expensive to own and operate - it is a good car value. The Mercedes does not have low ownership costs, but it has low ownership costs for its invoice price.

Change Submodel

CHANGE VEHICLE

2008 Lincoln Navigator Review

Big, luxurious, soft and smooth.

Driving Impressions

The 2008 Lincoln Navigator and Navigator L are very large vehicles, with advantages and disadvantages that go with large vehicles. One of the advantages is the view forward from the driver's seat. Very few fellow motorists will be able to obstruct your sight lines when you're driving a Navigator.

Another advantage is space. The Navigator is as big or bigger inside than any luxury-class sport-utility vehicle. The driver almost needs an intercom to converse with someone sitting way back in the third seat.

Well, not really. The Navigator is very quiet inside for a truck, and generally quite smooth, almost placid. If you tend to drive conservatively you will probably like this vehicle. Initially, the brake pedal feels a little soft, but it's very progressive in application and easy to master for smooth, even stops, despite a curb weight exceeding 6,000 pounds for all-wheel drive models. With a little practice, the driver can avoid the fore-aft bobbing that can make motion-sensitive passengers feel car-sick.

The Navigator is full of noise-mitigating technology, including acoustically dampened glass in the windshield and side windows. The body boom familiar in vehicles that are essentially big steel boxes, which often comes across as pulses of air hitting the eardrums, is nearly eliminated in the Navigator. The quiet seems to emphasize noise generated by the tires, which is the only noticeable encroachment on the solitude inside. The optional 20-inch wheels and low-profile tires are plain noisy, be it whacking over bumps and pavement joints or just the steady hum of tread on the road surface. Typically, we prefer the appearance of larger wheels, but the price of style is high in the Navigator. We recommend the standard 18-inch wheels and higher-sidewall tires.

Review Sections

• Introduction

• Lineup

• Walkaround

• Interior

• Driving Impressions

• Summary & Specs

Get Your Free Quote on a Lincoln Navigator

The Navigator is as smooth inside as any body-on-frame truck we've tested, and generally free of annoying vibration. The ride is smooth, too (except for the effect of the 20-inch wheels), thanks partly to the fully independent rear suspension. Moreover, the rear suspension helps keep the rear tires pressed to the pavement on bumpy surfaces, eliminating most of that skipping feeling familiar in trucks with solid rear axles. There's no axle tramping over bumps or undulations, and a reasonably smooth driver can keep the Navigator's body (and those inside) nice and level through turns.

Steering is on the heavy side, perhaps surprisingly so in this type of vehicle. The good news here is that, for tracking curves or changing lanes, the steering feels responsive, direct and reasonably quick. The bad? In big, slow-speed turns, such as trying to whip into a parking space, the heavy steering feel can slow things down. Those who like the steering in smaller sedans will probably like the Navigator's. Those expecting airy, old-school Lincoln Town Car response may not.

Bottom line, the Navigator rides comfortably and handles competently in nearly every situation. Just don't try to get racy. This vehicle is a lot of mass to move, and in quick, hard, left-right turns, all that weight wants to sway in the direction opposite of your choosing.

In 2001, Navigator was the first full-sized luxury sport-utility vehicle to hit the 300-hp barrier. Seven years later, its 5.4-liter single-overhead cam Triton V8 still generates a maximum 300 horsepower, and virtually every other big SUV has passed it by. The Triton delivers torque evenly, with similar thrust whether the engine is already turning 1,000 or 4,000 rpm, and the six-speed automatic transmission is a definite plus. There's more than enough acceleration in the Navigator to merge safely or turn quickly across traffic, and it's probably quicker than what we considered a fairly quick car in the mid-1990s. Yet at the bottom line, the Navigator accelerates more slowly than just about any luxury sport-utility we've driven in the past few years.

The automatic transmission, on the other hand, might be the best. The Navigator's six-speed comes from ZF of Germany, and it was the first of its kind in a full-size SUV. This is the same transmission used in Jaguar's flagship XJ sedan and other big luxury cars, and it's both smooth and responsive. It performs almost exactly as we like, shifting up or down when we would if we were doing it with a gear-change and clutch, and almost never shifting inappropriately. It will hold a gear when going downhill, for example, maximizing engine braking and reducing the need to use the wheel brakes.

While Navigator is down on power compared to competitors, a combination of factors, including the transmission, give it excellent towing capacity of 8,950 pounds. Moreover, its Triton V8 runs on 87-octane regular, while nearly all the other vehicles in this class demand premium fuel.

Navigator's size will appeal to some buyers, but it also brings some obvious disadvantages. It's not an easy vehicle to park (even the shorter model), and if you can parallel park this truck with any kind of consistency, you deserve some sort of award. Rear park distance control is standard, but the system offers only an electronic beep, without the graphic indicators available in some vehicles. Again, the rear back-up camera can help, but the image it displays is very small. next page