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Navigator charts course to further luxury-SUV edge in 2003
Even if you hadn’t noticed the subtle styling differences on the outside of the 2003 Lincoln Navigator, you realize as soon as you climb aboard that this is something beyond being a rebadged Ford Expedition.
Not that there is any problem with the Expedition, or with the first Navigator, which began life in 1997. When Ford went after the large SUV market, it moved logically. It took the platform of the F150 full-size pickup truck — the largest-selling single vehicle on the planet — and plunked the Expedition body on top. Then it modified that exterior and gave a version to the upscale Lincoln brand.
That first Navigator did just fine, thank you. With its bold “waterfall” grille, the first Navigator popularized the “luxury” sport-utility vehicle segment, and it went on to capture 40 percent of that lucrative market by the end of 2001. With prices zooming up over $40,000, $50,000 and $60,000, and profit margins of $15,000-$20,000 per unit, it is easy to see why the competition has risen dramatically in the last four years.
For 2002, the Cadillac Escalade, for example, made a serious bid as the top U.S. luxury truck, based on the long-stellar Chevrolet Suburban/Tahoe. Ford, however, has been planning its new-for-2003 Expedition and Navigator for years, and when it introduced the new Expedition in the mountains of British Columbia, it seemed possibly redundant to call the motoring press to reconvence in Santa Barbara, Calif., to check out the new Navigator. But the new Navigator was worth the trip.
While the first Expedition and Navigator were based on the F150, the new Expedition and Navigator are unique cousins. When the new F150 is introduced a year from now, it will have nothing in common with the big SUVs. As it is, the Navigator has a surprising number of structural differences from the Expedition, and Michael Arbaugh, who is chief designer atop the separate engineering staffs for both vehicles, also stressed that the new Navigator has nothing in common with the current Navigator.
“The current Navigator is a dressed-up Expedition, and the current Expedition is a dressed-up F150,” said Arbaugh. “The new ones share front door panels, roof, B, C and D pillars, and quarter-panels. The Navigator has different grille, bumpers, headlights, hood, fenders, liftgate, taillights, and exterior sheet metal from the Expedition. Even the door glass is different — thicker on the Navigator.”
The interiors are significantly different, too, right down to the instruments which have white LED lighting in the symmetric round Navigator gauges and green-tinted in the Expedition. Luxury touches like the burl walnut and leather of the Navigator also set it apart, as well as the console-mounted shift lever. The Expedition interior is just fine, but the Navigator is truly luxurious, but with classy, almost German-car simplicity rather than overstuffed plushness.
All that luxury is not without cost. The basic Navigator 4×2 starts at $48,000, while the 4×4 in fully-loaded form can rise above $61,000.
The Navigator comes only with the upgraded 5.4-liter V8, while the Expedition has a 4.6-liter V8 or the 5.4. Arch-rival GM stays with aging but highly-developed pushrod V8 engines, choosing enlarged displacement to add power, while Ford has vaulted into the future with more flexible overhead-camshaft engine designs. The Navigator 5.4 is a dual-overhead-camshaft, 4-valve-per-cylinder unit with 300 horsepower at a high 5,000 RPMs, and a whopping 355 foot-pounds of torque at a low 2,750 RPMs. Beyond that, 90 percent of Navigator’s low-end pulling power is exemplified by the fact that 90 percent of that torque peak is available all the way from 1,700-4,700 revs.
It needs all the power, because the Navigator weighs nearly 6,000 pounds (5,994 in 4×4 dress). While seven or even eight occupants can ride inside, the 4-wheel-drive Navigator will tow 8,300 pounds. The ControlTrac transfer case lets you pick all-wheel-drive, 4×4 high, 4×4 low, or 4×2 high, with a 4-speed automatic transmission making the transitions. In normal use, the Navigator 4×4 should get 12 miles per gallon city, and 16 highway, and a 28-gallon tank should help limit fuel stops.
Despite all the impressive upgrades, perhaps the most significant is the Navigator’s suspension. Ford engineers came up with a unique and patented system for the rear suspension, which it first used on the 2002 Explorer, and makes an equally dramatic change in stance, stability and ride quality on the larger Navigator/Expedition platform. The trick is called “porthole” design, and it means that instead of the large side frame rail arching up and over the rear axle, Ford can run that large, 10-foot straight side-beam all the way back, with a hole cut into it. The rear axle shafts is run through the porthole, directly to the wheels.
That technique allows several things. First, the frame is stronger and therefore safer from side-impact and structurally less flexible. Second, it allows designers to lower the floor several inches while also increasing ground clearance to 8.6 inches — achievements that seem like two diametrically opposed objectives. The porthole design allows for and combines with independent rear suspension to pay obvious benefits in handling agility compared to solid-axle designs.
Wheel travel is increased to 9.5 inches because of the independent rear suspension and porthole design, which soaks up bumps and handles off-road chores. The frame is twice as stiff as its predecessor, and creates a flat floor for greater interior room while also lowering the unsprung weight — that proportion of the total weight that must be supported by springs and shock absorbers. When less weight is dependent upon the shocks and springs, they can be fine-tuned for ride quality, rather than simply being made firmer to support more weight.
Like the Expedition, Navigator switches from recirculating-ball to the more precise rack-and-pinion steering, and unlike the Expedition, Navigator adds 18-inch wheels (instead of 17), with the suspension tuned differently, and the addition of 4-wheel air-suspension components. The air-pressure adjusts automatically, not only to level the load but to raise the body one inch after you get started, and another inch if you switch to the “4-wheel low” off-road setting. It also means that when you stop, the body lowers an inch, reminiscent of a well-trained camel that kneels down to let you on or off.
Safety and noise-reduction also were priorities with the Ford engineering team. Hydroformed frame rails increase strength, with 70 percent improvement in torsional stiffness and 67 percent in stiffness against vertical bending aid both safety and reduce “NVH,” the noise-vibration-harshness trio that is the target of every manufacturer’s engineers. The fully-boxed Engine mounts coated with rubber help cancel the normal vibration frequency, and everything from the double-wishbone front suspension to the structural foam used at various joints and acoustic baffles and laminates insulating larger cavities, plus the thicker glass, are aimed at reducing sound and vibration.
Lincoln officials readily admit they examined other vehicles as targets for the new Navigator, and they claim that the 2002 Navigator was slightly noisier than the Cadillac Escalade and Lexus SC430 luxury SUVs, but that the 2003 Navigator is quieter than both, with a 42-decibel reading at idle. At 206 inches in length, the Navigator has a 118.8-inch wheelbase, and it stands 77.8 inches tall and 80.2 inches wide. That’s large.
Larger and stronger 4-wheel disc brakes have an added feature that pressurizes to increase stopping power when you step harder on the brakes make the big Navigator feel more managable too. The frame is aligned to better engage a smaller car in the event of an accident to bolster the Navigator’s safety intentions, and, along with the usual front airbags, Navigator deploys a side curtain Safety Canopy with dual-stage protection for occupants of the first and second row seats.
In its quest to raise the competitive bar, Navigator offers a choice of bucket or bench seats in the second row, with a much roomier third-row bench. The second and third row seats also fold flat into the lowered floor to turn the Navigator into a truly cavernous room, and the rear tailgate operates with a remote power switch, opening fully or closing in about 10 seconds.
Beyond the dual climate controls and thundering audio system, which sounds better than ever with the normal motoring sounds reduced, a couple of other touches prove conclusively that Lincoln went over the top. First, the leading edge of the hood has been raised 4 inches, in response to market research that showed some shorter drivers complained of difficulty keeping track of the snout in parking maneuvers. Never mind that the best move for a vehicle sometimes criticized for being too large might not be to make it larger.
And, would you believe power running boards? Yes, the running boards quietly slide out 4 inches when any door is opened, and they slide back in when the door is closed. Running boards used to be standard, and were a nice touch when stepping up or down to enter or exit from an old car. They are similarly useful in the new crop of ever-larger trucks and SUVs. The only drawback is that some people don’t exactly fit the height of running boards, and some find it easier to hop directly up and in or down and out. Whether you use running boards or not, in foul weather you will find a neat little horizontal strip of snow, slush, mud or simply wetness on the back of your pants-leg, about calf-height.
If you time the new Navigator right, you could pull up, feel the whole thing kneel down an inch, hop out, and have the power running board rubber-stamp its trademark on your calf.
What’ll they think of next?
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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