This week we were in the most luxurious vehicle we have driven this year. The ideal road trip vehicle, the vehicle to have heads turning and to impress your neighbours with, the vehicle that you want to be driven in and are just as happy to drive yourself. They call it the “Navigator” because it is built for extended travelling.
It only took one drive for us to fall in love with the 2024 Lincoln Navigator Reserve. Sheer size alone, this is a bus. A hefty box that seats 7 comfortably, made larger with the hatchback and white paint job. This is the type of SUV that can intimidate you.
Unlocking it automatically activates the foot ledge, jutting out from either sides of the vehicle. This is literally a necessary step that you need to climb into the cabin with. This, alongside the aid of the over the head roof handles for each passenger.
Inside it is just a spacious, a behemoth of a cabin. Ideal for long drives, drive in movies, and nap breaks. And a great option if you want to camp out within your car. Although ironically, the ones who can afford it will probably pay for the hotel room or hitch a trailer to it. The 2024 Navigator certainly has the power. A reserve that you can call on with a step of the gas pedal, and one you can hear with the roar of the engine.
It is no surprise that the door is as heavy as the vehicle looks. A helpful push and release door handle helps to compensate for the weight, giving you a good grip to swing open or pull shut.
Out of everything we loved about the 2024 Lincoln Navigator Reserve, it has to be the seats. Every consideration was taken and everything can be customized to your preference. You have so much cushion and support padding surrounding the seat. Each of which you can adjust with paddles on the panels of the driver and front passenger side door. Head, upper shoulder, the degree of the back and seat, and oblique support. There is even lat support with each thigh given its own cushion that you can tilt up or down, to help elevate the hips.
You can even raise the pedals at your feet as well as the height of the wheel, electronically. Great for all the shorter folks struggling to mount such a beast of a SUV. And of course massaging front row seats in 3 pressure settings and 5 modes from pulsing to rolling. I found “recovery” the most intensive, where you can feel the pressure push through the seat. The ability to adjust the chair to best contour to your back and bottom help to extend this benefit.
All the above really added to a premium driving experience, furthered by the mahogany wood grain finishes of the dash and centre console. It gave the screen behind the wheel such elegance sandwiching it. A display that felt high tech offering such details of your drive timing, distance, fuel consumption, and space surrounding yourself plus others and obstacles.
I liked how the centre console was an island that didn’t connect to the dash. A gap between it and the gear shift that resembled a series of piano keys, laid one after another. Under, extra matted binning between the feet of the front two seats, plus more on either doors. There is so much storage space outside the glove compartment.
The same wood makes additional appearances on the centre console, a set of push down doors for individual compartments. One for your two cup holders and the other for phone charging. The latter, a compartment with both usb and c ports, and a wireless charging mat that you tuck your phone into, on its side to save space. Or you can keep your phone upright and within discrete eyesight, using a slot that you can stand up right.
Each person has their own individual centre arm rest. A squeeze of the bottom lip of either cupboard opens it to reveal deep binning and a removable tray.
A similar set up from above is available for the second row passengers, who too get their own individual customizable seats. Their console comes with a touch screen controls, which I have yet to see on any other model. It enables heated and cooling seats for either, individual climate control, and even control over the entire car audio and settings. They even have access to the moon roof at the base or their feet; draw back the shade and open for air. Afterall, the 2024 Lincoln Navigator is a car luxurious enough that you want to be driven in it.
As for the way it drives: it is surprisingly smooth for such a large and heavy brick of a beast. The steering wheel offers firm and smooth steering. While the drive itself is light, taking turns with support, and minimizing what you felt under the tires. We couldn’t help but imagine all this in a more compact SUV, something better suited for our non-family and children lifestyle.
The safety sensors are also worth mentioning. They offer a reactive warning if you are approaching the car in front of you too quickly, but it eases you in and only sounds if you don’t react and slow down. A gentle warning as to not take away from all the relaxing and comfort driving they are trying to cultivate with the above.
The speakers are of high quality, plenty of smaller speakers surround. There is even one above each passenger’s head, dispersing the sound. There are various sounds settings, which includes having the audio set up as if you were hearing the singer live onstage.
Overall, being this comfortable made our hour plus long drive out from Burnaby to White Rock, then 90 minutes from White Rock to downtown Vancouver go by quicker than anticipated, even with unforeseen traffic. Once again, this is my favourite vehicle of 2024 that we have driven so far, and one that I would love to keep and will be sad to let go. The loan following this will have big tires to fill.
https://www.lincolncanada.com/
I have a 2021 Navigator I don’t what’s worse to $95k POS SUV or the poor service at the dealer. They say Range Rovers are bad….well this is my last Lincoln!!