After years of being thought of as, well, a mediocre expensive SUV, the all-new version of the Lincoln Navigator Price that was released was a tour de force of design and luxury. Let’s just say that the introduction of the current-generation Lincoln Navigator in the year 2018 was something of a huge event. It was this version that helped reinvent the brand as being once again competitive in the upper echelons of the market for new vehicles. It was so successful that year that Gear Patrol selected it as their pick for the automobile that the publication deemed to be the most significant of the year.
Additionally, it was a hit with the consumers. After the release of the new model, sales virtually doubled, going from around the 10,000-per-year mark in the United States to around the 18,000-per-year level before, you know, covid happened. Sales jumped from this level because the new model was more appealing.
But just like sharks, those who plan products for the automobile industry run the risk of putting themselves in harm’s way when they stand still. Automobiles cannot remain static or they run the risk of falling behind the competition. Therefore, for the year 2022, the Navigator was given an update that was designed to keep it at the top of the sales charts.
I had both of my hands firmly planted on the McDonald’s hamburger as the 17.5-foot, 5,855-pound Lincoln Navigator sped up Interstate 94 at a speed of 80 miles per hour. After a few moments, when I had finished my cheeseburger, I requested my friend Mark to bring me my fries. I was living my best life in the leather- and wood-lined luxury ship, letting it cruise smoothly as I paid less attention than strictly necessary to it. I was living my best American life.
Welcome to the world of driving in the future.
It is a rebranded version of Ford Bluecruise, and the updated 2022 Lincoln Navigator is the first vehicle to acquire the automaker’s Level 2 hands-free driving aid system. This system is known as Activeglide.
After spending a week with family and friends driving across the country and cruising around town, it is abundantly clear that Activeglide is still in its infancy, which means that it will require updates in order to keep up with the other products on the market.
It would be very difficult to tell from the exterior of this Navigator that it is different from the type that was available in the previous model year. The headlights have been shrunk slightly, the grille has been made noticeably larger, the chrome line connecting the taillights has had its orientation inverted, and there have been a few other minor adjustments made.
Even to individuals who don’t care about what type of automobiles they’re looking at, its size, style, and overwhelming presence imply that they won’t be able to notice that it’s something. However, it is still quite evident that it is a Navigator, to those who care about such things.
What’s in Store for the 2022 Lincoln Navigator
The Lincoln Navigator, the brand’s flagship SUV, has been given a stylistic refresh for the 2022 model year, which features new external lighting components and a reshaped grille. The inside has been upgraded with the addition of a new infotainment display that features updated software for Sync 4 as well as two new design themes.
The Invitation design theme features open-pore Kai wood trim with an overlayed geometric motif as well as black leather upholstery with brandy-colored stitching, while the Central Park design theme features interior trim with a laser-etched map of the famous park’s pathways on the instrument panel.
The Central Park design theme also includes black leather upholstery with brandy-colored stitching. The 2022 Lincoln Navigator will also be the first vehicle to use Lincoln’s new semi-autonomous driving mode, which is named Active Glide. This system is comparable to the one offered by competitor Cadillac, which is called Super Cruise. It enables hands-free driving.
Additional improvements have been made to the massaging seats, and there is now the option to have massaging seats in the second row. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has also recorded additional interior chimes and notifications for the vehicle. The infotainment touchscreen, which was 10 inches in size the year before, has been upgraded to a 13.2 inch display in this year’s model.
The Lincoln Navigator will now utilize a forward-facing camera in the same manner as the high-end Rolls-Royce Cullinan in order to detect irregularities in the road and adjust the suspension accordingly in order to decrease the impact of the bumps.
Lincoln Navigator Performance
Even though there is just one engine-and-transmission combination available for the 2022 Lincoln Navigator, the vehicle’s 440 horsepower make it unnecessary to have any other options. We discovered that the Navigator is both responsive and truly quick, and the 10-speed automatic transmission shifts gears with sufficient dexterity to prevent waking up passengers who are already asleep. On the track that we use for testing, the Navigator reached 60 miles per hour in 5.3 seconds.
The Lincoln Navigator performance potential, on the other hand, starts and stops with its ability to perform in a straight line. It is not a vehicle that inspires passionate driving because the steering feel is lacking, and its sheer mass makes it difficult to maneuver. Even while the ride quality of the Navigator is adequate for a large luxury SUV, competitors like the BMW X7 and the Mercedes-Benz GLS-class offer a more polished on-road demeanor than the Navigator does.
When equipped with the optional 22-inch wheels, the Lincoln Navigator exhibited a jittery driving experience at times. Sharp hits were followed by bouncing rebounds, creating an experience that was the worst of both worlds.
The Lincoln Navigator Activeglide
The Level 2+ semi-autonomous driving aid developed by Ford Motor Company will make its debut on the Lincoln brand with the 2022 Lincoln Navigator, which will also mark the launch of Lincoln’s version of the technology. (Think of General Motors’ SuperCruise or Tesla’s Autopilot.)
In Fords, it is named BlueCruise, a moniker so similar to that of its crosstown rival that it is not surprise that General Motors filed a complaint. ActiveGlide is the name given to Lincoln Navigator version of this feature; unfortunately, it sounds more like a water-based lubricant than a driving aid; however, the functionality is the same.
As long as you are on a pre-mapped highway, and you are staring at the road, the Navigator should be able to maintain course, heading, and speed regardless of what curves may come or what traffic may manifest.
At the very least, that is the plan. In actual use, it does not compare favorably to the capabilities of GM’s SuperCruise. It happened four or five times over the course of several hours of ActiveGliding, and even though it became available again in under a minute each time, it was still annoying — especially considering that SuperCruise almost never does such things. ActiveGlide proved to be more likely to deactivate itself without any rhyme or reason. SuperCruise also has the ability to execute its own passing maneuvers, which is a useful capability that ActiveGlide lacks (at least, not yet).
In spite of this, it provides a much-needed break during extended car rides, such as the pair of six-hour travels I subjected it to on the way to and from Vermont. Because I was using ActiveGlide, I was able to successfully skip the unhealthy road trip dinner that consists of a cheeseburger from a fast food restaurant and instead go for a southwest chicken salad from Wendy’s. Consider it more like an occasional snack break and less like full autonomy behind the wheel.
The Lincoln Navigator Activeglide keeping a watchful eye on you.
Activeglide is equipped with a driver attention monitoring device, just like the Super Cruise system that GM offers. The steering column houses an infrared camera system that monitors the driver’s field of vision to guarantee that the individual is giving their complete attention to the road at all times.
Throughout the course of a number of tests, it became abundantly evident that Lincoln (and, subsequently, Ford) had set an excessively short leash, with only a 4-second grace period before the system demanded that the user’s eyes be returned to the road. The leash was around the same length in the early days of Super Cruise, but GM’s lightened up on it with multiple system updates, and they now allow eyes to wander for well over double that time span.
The actual components
To put it bluntly, Lincoln Navigator (and Ford’s) system is significantly less complex than that of General Motors, and it misses a significant portion of what contributes to the impressiveness of GM’s system.
Activeglide makes use of a forward-facing camera that is mounted at the top of the windshield, five radar units that are placed around the exterior of the vehicle, a GPS receiver (although it is not a high-definition GPS unit; this is an important point), the control systems of the vehicle (although there is not one that is specifically dedicated to Activeglide), an electric power steering system, a 4G modem, and a driver-facing camera.
The hardware does not have any form of built-in redundancy. What is the cause? According to Chris Billman, Chief Engineer of Activeglide, who spoke with Motor Authority, it is not necessary because the driver is the fallback, and as such, the driver is supposed to be ready to take control of the car at all times.
Simple and easy to use
Activeglide, which is provided by Lincoln, has been designed to be arguably one of the most streamlined and user-friendly systems available today. The first thing you need to do is check the Driver Assistance settings on the 13.2-inch touchscreen infotainment system and make sure that adaptive cruise control and lane centering with hands-free systems are both activated.
Then, once you have successfully merged into a motorway or entered a mapped zone, a notification will appear in the 12.0-inch digital gauge cluster to inform you that the car has entered an Activeglide zone. When you press the button for the cruise control, the system will need a short while to read the road and become familiar with its surroundings.
After this, the gauge cluster will turn blue and include an image of a Lincoln Navigator in the middle, with a steady stream of dots streaming outward from it. The hands-free mode has been activated when a picture of a steering wheel displays on the left side of the screen in the vehicle.
Limitations
In some circumstances, Activeglide and the Lincoln Navigator will not be able to provide an accurate determination of the lane in which the vehicle is currently traveling. The hardware cannot determine the location of the car down to the precise lane on the road if an HD GPS receiver is not there.
When the cameras can actually see the road, the reliance on the cameras to place the vehicle on the road is the only way it will operate. Because cameras are unable to see through metal and cars, the Navigator appears to be unaware that it is traveling in the middle lane of the road when it is in this position and there are vehicles on either side of it.
This was a hurdle in certain circumstances as the Navigator sought to read the lane lines at speeds of more than 70 miles per hour in order to maintain the three-row SUV’s ability to remain centered and in its lane consistently.
In the same vein as GM’s Super Cruise technology, the Lincoln Navigator Activeglide is not designed to function in areas with road construction. However, in contrast to the GM system, it does not appear to have any knowledge of the locations of current construction zones. There are no warnings that appear, and the system does not automatically disconnect itself. Because I was concerned about our safety, I turned it off manually.
Towing won’t work either, despite the fact that GM has enabled this new feature with its system for trucks as it transitions from cars to trucks. The Lincoln system gives a negative verdict. Activeglide is turned off as soon as a trailer is attached to a car and plugged into the Lincoln Navigator. Activeglide won’t become operational again until the trailer is disconnected from the vehicle. Billman declined to comment on whether or not a future upgrade to Activeglide will include hands-free towing as one of its features.
The distinctions between real life and Super Cruise
When it works, Activeglide is a very useful tool. However, the system does not quite live up to its potential.
The ease with which the GM system reads the circumstances and how far in advance it does so is a significant point of differentiation between Activeglide and its main competitor, Super Cruise.
It would appear that Activeglide is unable to select a virtual center line and maintain full vehicle alignment with it at all times. Even when traveling in a straight line, there is a very minor rocking motion from side to side, requiring the driver to make constant corrections with the steering wheel.
Additionally, the system does not appear to detect traffic building up ahead as rapidly as Super Cruise does, nor does it apply the brakes and throttle in a manner that is as seamless when driving through stop-and-go traffic. My wife and daughter, both of whom are prone to motion sickness and make it a point to let me know (loudly) whenever the active safety features aren’t functioning in a smooth manner, have on several occasions provided confirmation of the latter.
The Lincoln Navigator attempt to comprehend a significant portion of its surroundings in real time while extensively depending on its camera systems is the root cause of all of these problems. Should Lincoln decide to do so in the future, the throttle and brake problems might be fixed with an updated calibration.
On the instrument cluster, the system flashed a warning light to indicate that I needed to pay attention. On the other hand, I was paying attention. It began flashing a red warning light in the gauge cluster, requiring me to pay attention to it.
Then, while I was going above 70 miles per hour, the system began applying the brakes randomly in an effort to get my attention, which it had already done. Pulling on the wheel didn’t give any indication to the system that I was attentive and paying attention to what was going on around me. It appeared that the only way to get out of this loop was to turn off the system by disengaging the cruise control.
After waiting for a few moments, I went ahead and reactivated the system; however, just a few minutes later, the same procedure was repeated. I decided to give up because our exit off the highway we were mapping was only a few miles away. We had covered the most of the ground.
Billman told me that the system would have entirely halted the Lincoln Navigator on the highway if the escalation had continued, but in its current state, it would not switch on the hazard lights or call 911.
Only two other totally hands-free driver assistance systems are now available for purchase in the United States, but Activeglide is the only one that is designed to function at highway speeds. It is good, and given the appropriate conditions, it is perfectly capable of going for lengthy periods of time without the driver being required to take control of the steering wheel. In the middle of nothing, out on the open highway, the system performs at its highest level.
However, there are still a lot of scenarios that it isn’t prepared for just yet, such as certain turns, tunnels, when the vehicle is pulling anything behind it, and even the capacity to recognize exactly where the car is in relation to its surroundings while driving on the road.
Even though Activeglide is a full step behind GM’s fantastic Super Cruise system in the Escalade, it is providing a glimpse into the serene future that will enable hands-free driving down the road in a leather-lined luxury liner where fast food can be eaten with both hands, while traveling at full speed.
Lincoln Navigator Economy
In order to achieve higher fuel economy than its V-8 competitors, the Lincoln Navigator utilizes a smaller, twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6 engine along with a 10-speed automated transmission. The competition uses V-8 engines. Even though it has a smaller engine, it is not very fuel efficient and has received ratings of 17 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway when it is equipped with rear-wheel drive. Visit the website of the EPA for further details regarding the Navigator’s efficiency in terms of fuel use.
Lincoln Navigator Cargo Space and Interior Design
The interior of the Lincoln Navigator is astounding in its level of spaciousness and true opulence. Materials like open-pore wood trim and front seats that massage the driver and front passenger are only available in the higher trim levels of the Lincoln Navigator, but even the base model has a lot to offer. One of the finest illustrations of this seating configuration can be found in the third row of the Navigator. The legroom in the third row of the Lincoln Navigator is 1.1 inches more spacious than that of the GLS-class, while the legroom in the third row of other competitors is significantly less spacious.
The Navigator, Lincoln’s flagship SUV, includes front seats that can be adjusted in 30 different ways and come with a massage feature as an option. The seats have an almost sculptural quality to them and a high degree of personalizability; for example, the individual thigh supports on the left and right can have their heights adjusted independently.
The enormous size of the Lincoln Navigator can be a challenge while navigating through traffic or looking for a parking spot, but it can be a significant advantage when it’s time to prepare for a trip. When all three rows of seats on a short-wheelbase model are occupied, there is not much room for goods; however, there is plenty of room for cargo when the third row is folded down. Even when all three rows of seats are occupied, the long-wheelbase L versions offer an abundant amount of cargo space.
Lincoln Navigator Connectivity and informational entertainment
The Lincoln Navigator comes outfitted as standard with an eye-catching touchscreen measuring 13.2 inches and features USB connections in each row. The graphics of the infotainment system are smooth and easy to read, which is vital for Lincoln’s presbyopic clientele, and the enormous screen is like a sparkling jewel perched atop the prow of the Lincoln Navigator. Standard features include wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the system is able to get over-the-air software upgrades thanks to an onboard 5G Wi-Fi hotspot. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are wireless interfaces. The standard audio setup is a Revel stereo with 14 speakers, but upgrading to the extra Luxury package gives you access to a Revel Ultima 3D stereo with 28 speakers.
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Specifications
2022 Lincoln Navigator 4×4
Vehicle Type: front-engine, rear/all-wheel-drive, 7-passenger, 4-door wagon
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $81,405/$107,605
Options: Black Label trim (ActiveGlide, head-up display, sunroof, illuminated running boards and grille, Revel audio system, 30-way-adjustable front seats, 22-inch wheels, 4 years/50,000 miles maintenance with pickup and delivery), $24,880; Manhattan Green Metallic paint, $695; second row heated/ventilated/massaging seats with console, $625;
ENGINE
twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve V-6, aluminum block and heads, port and direct fuel injection
Displacement: 213 in3, 3492 cm3
Power: 440 hp @ 5850 rpm
Torque: 510 lb-ft @ 3000 rpm
TRANSMISSION
10-speed automatic
CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: control arms/multilink
Brakes, F/R: 13.8-in vented disc/13.2-in vented disc
Tires: Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season
285/45R-22 114H M+S
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 122.5 in
Length: 210.0 in
Width: 79.9 in
Height: 76.3 in
Passenger Volume: 178 ft3
Cargo Volume: 19 ft3
Curb Weight: 6078 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 5.3 sec
100 mph: 13.9 sec
1/4-Mile: 13.9 sec @ 100 mph
Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec.
Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 6.0 sec
Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 3.2 sec
Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 4.0 sec
Top Speed (gov ltd): 124 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 185 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.75 g
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed: 16 mpg
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
Combined/City/Highway: 18/16/22 mpg