What is the best year for the Lincoln Navigator?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Lincoln Navigator
which year?
Compare every Lincoln Navigator model year the EPA recorded, 1998 to 2027. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Lincoln Navigator year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Lincoln Navigator years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect1998
192 indexed complaint reports; tires is the most-reported component label.
Open the 1998 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect1999132 indexed complaint reports; tires is the most-reported component label.
Open the 1999 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect2003127 indexed complaint reports; suspension is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2003 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Lincoln Navigator model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2026 Lincoln Navigator
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 0
- Combined EPA economy
- 17 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 1
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $3,600
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsNo component label indexed
Open the 2026 evidence dossier →2027 Lincoln Navigator
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 0
- Combined EPA economy
- 17–18 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 2
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $3,400–3,600
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsNo component label indexed
Open the 2027 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
The two years have the same number of indexed NHTSA complaint allegations.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Lincoln Navigator by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 0 | — | 17–18 | 2 | $3,400–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2026 | 0 | — | 17 | 1 | $3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2025 | 11 | electrical system 3forward collision avoidance 3air bags 2 | 17 | 1 | $3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2024 | 15 | suspension 5forward collision avoidance 3lane departure 3 | 18 | 1 | $3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2023 | 6 | electrical system 4back over prevention 2engine 1 | 17–19 | 4 | $3,250–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2022 | 20 | electrical system 8forward collision avoidance 4service brakes 4 | 18–19 | 2 | $3,250–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2021 | 31 | engine 7power train 5fuel system, gasoline 4 | 17–18 | 3 | $3,400–3,600 | Dossier → |
| 2020 | 30 | power train 18electrical system 4engine 3 | 18–19 | 3 | $3,250–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2019 | 72 | power train 20seat belts 18electrical system 11 | 18–19 | 3 | $3,250–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2018 | 51 | power train 19engine 12electrical system 8 | 18–19 | 3 | $3,250–3,400 | Dossier → |
| 2017 | 30 | back over prevention 5service brakes 5service brakes, hydraulic 5 | 16–17 | 4 | $3,600–3,850 | Dossier → |
| 2016 | 25 | visibility 7back over prevention 5service brakes 4 | 16–18 | 4 | $3,400–3,850 | Dossier → |
| 2015 | 21 | electrical system 7power train 5engine 4 | 16–18 | 4 | $3,400–3,850 | Dossier → |
| 2014 | 17 | power train 7electrical system 3unknown or other 3 | 15–16 | 2 | $3,850–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2013 | 14 | power train 6electrical system 3engine 2 | 15–16 | 2 | $3,850–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2012 | 12 | power train 5unknown or other 3suspension 2 | 15–16 | 2 | $3,850–4,100 | Dossier → |
| 2011 | 9 | electrical system 2power train 2service brakes 2 | 13–16 | 3 | $3,850–4,750 | Dossier → |
| 2010 | 16 | electrical system 4service brakes 4engine 2 | 16 | 1 | $3,850 | Dossier → |
| 2009 | 10 | electrical system 3engine and engine cooling 2unknown or other 2 | 16 | 1 | $3,850 | Dossier → |
| 2008 | 30 | electrical system 7service brakes 5structure 4 | 14 | 1 | $4,400 | Dossier → |
| 2007 | 45 | fuel/propulsion system 7service brakes, hydraulic 6structure 6 | 14 | 1 | $4,400 | Dossier → |
| 2006 | 60 | suspension 16engine and engine cooling 13engine 9 | 13 | 1 | $5,850 | Dossier → |
| 2005 | 48 | suspension 12structure 7air bags 6 | 13 | 1 | $5,850 | Dossier → |
| 2004 | 86 | suspension 25air bags 13electrical system 11 | 13 | 1 | $5,850 | Dossier → |
| 2003 | 127 | suspension 39electrical system 23structure 18 | 13 | 1 | $5,850 | Dossier → |
| 2002 | 32 | engine and engine cooling 8air bags 7vehicle speed control 7 | 12–13 | 2 | $5,850–6,350 | Dossier → |
| 2001 | 81 | tires 23electrical system 17vehicle speed control 13 | 12 | 2 | $6,350 | Dossier → |
| 2000 | 109 | tires 44electrical system 13power train 11 | 13 | 2 | $5,850 | Dossier → |
| 1999 | 132 | tires 30engine and engine cooling 22electrical system 12 | 12–13 | 4 | $4,750–5,850 | Dossier → |
| 1998 | 192 | tires 54suspension 26steering 22 | 12–13 | 2 | $4,750–5,100 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.