{"id":28874,"date":"2022-03-10T22:01:26","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T02:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=28874"},"modified":"2022-03-10T22:01:26","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T02:01:26","slug":"payne-aboard-the-luxurious-lincoln-navigator-cruise-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/payne-aboard-the-luxurious-lincoln-navigator-cruise-ship","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Aboard the luxurious Lincoln Navigator cruise ship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phoenix<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Preparing for a trip in the 2022 Lincoln Navigator is more like taking a cruise ship than an SUV.<\/p>\n

This thing lives large.<\/p>\n

My port of disembarkation: Phoenix, where I approached the Navigator with awe. Like a cruise-liner, my land yacht tester dominated the landscape with a huge,\u00a0chromed bow, 22-inch turbine wheels\u00a0and a running board that greeted me like a gangway. What, no anchor?<\/p>\n

\"Customers<\/p>\n
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The \u201922 refresh builds on the 2017 Navigator, which redefined Lincoln luxury and gave cruise patrons \u2014 er, mega-SUV fans \u2014 a serious competitor to the iconic Cadillac Escalade. Like Carnival Cruise lines vs. Royal Caribbean. Yeah, I know, Navigator invented the mega-ute segment nearly 25\u00a0years ago, and the current barge is the fourth-gen build.<\/p>\n

But Cadillac Escalade had owned the segment since the early 2000s with its blingtastic Escalade. Navigator finally broke a champagne bottle in \u201918 over a true Escalade fighter, rolling out the red carpet (literally) with its signature Lincoln Embrace welcome sequence, bold grille\u00a0and a high-tech interior right out of a Wall Street board suite.<\/p>\n

Necks snapped as it sailed by, buyers lined up with six-figure checks. Escalade responded with a dazzling remake of its own, and Jeep resurrected the lush Grand Wagoneer to get into the game. It\u2019s a game the Detroit Three dominate.<\/p>\n

Foreign automakers have translated their sedan success into unibody SUVs, but Detroit dominates the mega-ute segment. With a corner on the full-sized pickup market, Motown makers took their profitable\u00a0filet-of-truck recipe and added lobster tail. Voila! \u2014 a land yacht that can tow your yacht.<\/p>\n

Determined to stay on top, Lincoln took the \u201922 Navigator back to dry dock for the latest\u00a0state-of-the-art goodies.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
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The exterior has been upgraded with a bigger maw (it\u2019s a law of nature, grilles must get bigger)\u00a0and expressive rear taillights. Lincoln has led the pack in horizontal light signatures, and this one\u2019s a beaut. Also fashionable these days are blacked-out packages, so naturally you can get your Navigator with black grille, wheels\u00a0and roof.<\/p>\n

But for my $115,410 luxury cruiser, I\u2019m going all out with Chrome Caviar Dark Gray, Black Label trim with signature turbine wheels. I gave the bellman my bags and stepped into the luxe suite.<\/p>\n

You can get a tan sitting in any of the three rows thanks to the standard\u00a0Black Label panoramic roof. At 6\u20195\u201d I sat comfortably in the third row (the seat collapsing forward with a pull of the seat tab). If there\u2019s no one in the second row, the seat can be used as an ottoman.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
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Second-row passengers get heated\/ventilated thrones with Amazon Fire-equipped video screens and seat massage \u2014 a segment first. I set my seat on \u201cLower Rolling\u201d massage, then pushed the remote control to watch DreamWorks\u2019 \u201cRio 2.\u201d I\u2019m just a big kid. Real kids will love it back here.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s the front row, you ask? Oh, you want to drive?<\/p>\n

In a peek at the autonomous future, the Navigator Black Label features \u201cActive Glide,\u201d a semi-autonomous system available on select\u00a0divided highways. Think Cadillac Super Cruise or Ford BlueCruise, which use similar hardware and highway mapping. Alas, Lincoln discourages using it from the back seat.<\/p>\n

With a laser focused on your face in the driver\u2019s seat to make sure you\u2019re paying attention, you can drive hands-free. But once up front, I was hands-on. Unlike Escalade, which will soon unveil an asphalt-inhaling,\u00a0supercharged\u00a0V8-powered beast, Navigator has no ambitions to be an elephant in tennis shoes.<\/p>\n

Adaptive shocks cushion shivers from the truck frame and the ocean liner cuts through the air with a 10-speed tranny mated to a 440-horse twin turbo V-6 in the engine room.<\/p>\n

Cruise ships use tugboats to get them out of port, but Navigator is self-sufficient with Active Park Assist (pioneered by Ford years ago) that will self-drive you into \u2014 and out of\u00a0\u2014 parking spots. Brilliant.<\/p>\n

Still, Navigator was ungainly in Phoenix shopping plazas, where I generally parked on the perimeter to spare myself the headache of negotiating tight aisles.<\/p>\n

Lincoln promises a battery-powered future by 2030, but that\u2019s hard to square with its halo land yacht. Navigator is coveted as an Up North tow vehicle, or \u2014 if you\u2019re in Arizona \u2014 an Out West tow vehicle to San Diego\u2019s sandy beaches 350 miles away. It\u2019ll tow up to 8,700 pounds for 470 miles, with gas stations everywhere should the tank run dry.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the landscape outside \u2014 and the interior craftmanship inside.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

If grilles must get bigger, so must interior screens. Navigator\u2019s console touchscreen grows to 13.2 inches and features the latest SYNC 4 technology. That brings Amazon Alexa capability, but I preferred Google tech via a wireless Android Auto connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, Google\u201d I barked, then instructed Google Maps as to my next port of call. Unlike other systems, Navigator also recognizes Google Maps in the digital instrument head-up and instrument displays so you can keep an eye on your route while using Lincoln\u2019s native system to scroll through, for example, your favorite Sirius XM channels.<\/p>\n

For new users, all this technology can be overwhelming \u2014 many buyers are not yet familiar with basic tech like adaptive cruise control. Let me recommend the Lincoln Showcase. True to a brand that aims to be a car concierge as much as a car builder (see Lincoln\u2019s Hospitality service, which makes you a VIP at hotels and eateries), you can contact a rep to virtually walk you around the Navigator so you are as familiar with the land yacht as a cruise captain is with his vessel.<\/p>\n

Many automakers have mistaken the opportunity to introduce smartphone-like features as a moment to eliminate hard-button controls. Not Lincoln. Navigator is intuitive to use with VOLUME, TUNE, MASSAGE\u00a0and DRIVE MODE buttons nearby.<\/p>\n

All of this is wrapped in lovely\u00a0etched Khaya wood that stretches from A-pillar to A-pillar and up the center aisle. Cruising Arizona Route 202, I relaxed in the 30-way leather chairs. With adaptive cruise control set on 78 mph, I took my feet off the pedals and stretched my legs. Switching lanes, I eyed the blind-spot indicator in the side mirror without craning my neck. \u201cHey, Google,\u201d I said. \u201cPlay \u2018Where the Streets Have No Name\u2019 by U2.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sun warmed my skin. I took a sip of my iced tea. Ah, I do love an ocean cruise.<\/p>\n

2022 Lincoln Navigator<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vehicle type: Front-engine\u00a0rear- or all-wheel-drive, seven-or-eight-passenger mega-SUV<\/p>\n

Price: $78,405 base including $1,695 destination fee ($115,410 AWD, short-wheelbase Black Label as tested)<\/p>\n

Powerplant: 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V-6<\/p>\n

Power: 440 horsepower, 510 pound-feet torque<\/p>\n

Transmission: 10-speed automatic<\/p>\n

Weight: 5,855 pounds (as tested)<\/p>\n

Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.2 sec. (Car and Driver est.); 8,00-pound towing capacity (8,300 AWD as tested)<\/p>\n

Fuel economy: EPA mpg est. 16 city\/23 hwy\/19 mpg combined (4×2);<\/p>\n

EPA mpg est. 16 city\/22 hwy\/18 mpg combined (AWD as tested)<\/p>\n

Report card<\/p>\n

Highs: Upgraded exterior gives more presence; second-row amenities<\/p>\n

Lows: Piano key shifter a bit clumsy; gets pricey<\/p>\n

Overall: 4 stars<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phoenix\u00a0\u2014 Preparing for a trip in the 2022 Lincoln Navigator is more like taking a cruise ship than an SUV. This thing lives large. My port of disembarkation: Phoenix, where I approached the Navigator with awe. Like a cruise-liner, my land yacht tester dominated the landscape with a huge,\u00a0chromed bow, 22-inch turbine wheels\u00a0and a running […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28875,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28874\/revisions\/28875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}