Lincoln caught testing 2007 Navigator

[BMWDave]

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Lincoln caught testing 2007 Navigator
By Ed Hellwig Email


Date posted: 12-08-2005

With Cadillac's 2007 Escalade on the way early next year, we weren't surprised to catch this prototype of the 2007 Lincoln Navigator undergoing testing at Ford's proving grounds in Michigan. From what we can see in these latest spy photos, the 2007 Navigator won't be a top-to-bottom redesign like the Escalade. Other than the front and rear fascias, this Navigator prototype appears identical to the current model in both its size and shape.

The Navigator's most dramatic difference on the outside looks to be its new front fascia that features a broad crosshatch grille in place of the current waterfall design. Complex headlight clusters with multiple lenses should add some flash to the otherwise traditional-looking face.

It's rare to get a clean interior shot of a prototype that isn't cluttered with wires and laptops, but our shot clearly shows a very different cabin than the current model. Larger slabs of wood cover the door panels while the chrome door pulls look to be larger and more substantial than the current levers. Squared-off gauge binnacles protrude from the instrument cluster adding a slight retro touch to the cabin while vertical strips of wood lie on either side of the center stack. The console shifter stays, the stereo cover is gone and the steering wheel gets a new, more squared-off four-spoke design.

Given that Cadillac stuck with a more traditional straight axle design for the new Escalade, expect Lincoln to continue to refine its fully independent suspension as a means of differentiation. We don't expect big changes under the hood either as the Navigator already gained a six-speed automatic last year. The biggest news will come in the way of a stretched version of the Navigator designed to compete with the Escalade ESV. It will debut about a year after the standard Navigator that goes on sale next fall.

[ifcar]

The center stack looks all right, but the rest of the dash looks very overdone.

[Speed_Racer]

The center stack looks all right, but the rest of the dash looks very overdone.

That's alright. Now when the Navi's 'blinged out',  the outside AND the inside will look overdone.

[TBR]

The center stack looks all right, but the rest of the dash looks very overdone.

I definitely agree with you, but in this type of vehicle is that really a disadvantage to the typical customer? I don't really think so.  

[ifcar]

The driver's side doesn't look so terrible, in retrospect. But if that thing jutting out of the passenger's side of the dash were any bigger, you could put a wall-mounted TV on it. It's just a giant slab of plastic that would look more at home as a "modern" sculpture.

BTW, anyone else keep thinking "NSX" about the center stack?

[TBR]

The driver's side doesn't look so terrible, in retrospect. But if that thing jutting out of the passenger's side of the dash were any bigger, you could put a wall-mounted TV on it. It's just a giant slab of plastic that would look more at home as a "modern" sculpture.

BTW, anyone else keep thinking "NSX" about the center stack?

Perhaps that's the idea..  

[ifcar]

Wouldn't be legal.  

[giant_mtb]

Those overlap things are disgusting...

[GMPenguin]

The interior is a bit....different...

The front looks like it will be similar to the Mark X Concept:

[Car Zeus]

Damn, always keeping up with the  Joneses. (ie: Caddy)