Lincoln has introduced a mid-cycle facelift for its flagship SUV, the Navigator. Headlining the arrival of the 2025 Navigator is a new, massive screen inside a revamped interior, revised styling on the outside that includes an awesome split tailgate, and an ever-increased focus on making the big ute's interior feel like a spa-seriously.

Let's begin with the exterior. There are new full-width lightbars front and rear, both of which will illuminate from the center outward as you approach the vehicle in what Lincoln calls the "Lincoln Embrace" welcoming sequence. Up front, the light bar flows outward into redesigned headlamps with winged motifs that flip up at the corners of the vehicle. Out back, similar winged motifs flip the other way, cascading down as you reach the rear corners.

Lincoln's designers opted to leave chrome accents behind, instead opting for satin finishes to give the 2025 Navigator a modern, slightly understated look. We dig it.

Perhaps the biggest news bodywork-wise is the arrival of a split tailgate for the rear hatch. The upper portion opens overhead, like normal, but now a lower section will swing downward, offering a nice bench to rest on as you throw on equestrian boots or laze about at a seaside picnic in Mauntauk. As tall as the Navigator is, this split-door scenario also makes for less door to swing upward and a lower chance of hitting your head on the top of the opening. It's very Range Rover-esque and something that we lamented the disappearance of on the Lexus LX 600, another of the Navigator's bogeys.

Of course, these luxurious bunkers set themselves apart when you open the door. Expect no different on the 2025 Navigator. The biggest news here: Lincoln finally caught up to the competition when it came to gargantuan screens. A 48-inch panoramic display spans nearly the entire width of the dashboard, displaying useful driving information, navigational data, media settings, weather details, and more. A new "pano mode" enables the expansive screen to play video or gaming apps while the vehicle is parked if that's your thing. While the new screen still falls short of the 2025 Escalade's 55-inch behemoth, we'll go ahead and say that 48 inches is plenty adequate here.

The 2025 Navigator can seat up to eight, although expect most buyers to opt for second-row powered captain's chairs that offer heat, ventilation, and massaging functionality. You can even get heated seats for the way-back third row, which can seat two or three, depending on your configuration.

The Navigator's interior materials have impressed us many times over, and things look promising for that trend to continue. The flat-top, flat-bottom steering wheel is wrapped in Wollsdorf leather and looks rather handsome in pictures. Everything your hands are likely to touch regularly in the Navigator's cabin is fitted with real wood, supple-looking leather, satin metal, or some combination of the three.

Lincoln calls the 2025 Navigator a "spa on wheels," a superlative it seeks to make good on through several multi-sensory programs. A new feature called "Lincoln Rejuvenate" can be activated while in park from a single touch on the central screen. Poke the rejuvenate icon, and you'll be treated to either a five- or 10-minute experience that slides the driver's seat rearward, reclines it, activates a bit of heat and a massage function, and tilts the steering wheel back and away simultaneously. While all that is happening, calming visuals of naturescapes or Aurora Borealis lights will seep across the center stack and panoramic display, accompanied by ambient lighting flourishes, soundscapes pumped through the Revel Ultima high-end audio system, and a subtle fragrance that fills the cabin.

Does it all sound a bit over the top? Perhaps, but in the rush of a busy day, a 10-minute chill-out session conducted in one's car doesn't sound half bad. We'd imagine our team members running around the Monterey Peninsula this weekend would outright relish this feature.

Notably absent from the 2025 Navigator's update sheet are any powertrain tweaks. Indeed, the new Navi will soldier on with the same 3.5-liter, twin-turbo V-6 (Lincoln doesn't use the "EcoBoost nomenclature anymore, but this engine is certainly that) and 10-speed automatic transmission that the pre-facelift version boasted. Output remains the same as before, at 440 hp and 510 lb-ft of torque. All Navigators will have full-time four-wheel drive and active suspension with continuously variable damping to help smooth out the rough spots.

(It's worth pointing out that Cadillac already has an all-electric version of the Escalade, dubbed the Escalade IQ, in the pipline. Production is expected to begin next summer. We've not heard anything of an all-electric version of the Navigator, and judging by the timing of this facelift, we'd bet that Lincoln will lag Cadillac a few years in the electric mega-ute space.)

All 2025 Navigators will get BlueCruise hands-free highway driving tech as standard-but not for an unlimited time. Upon purchase, new Navigator customers will be able to use BlueCruise for four years, but after that, they'll likely have to pay a subscription fee. I recently spent time using BlueCruise in the Pacific Northwest in a new Ford F-150, and despite being quite skeptical going in, I must admit that the tech was extremely additive to my experience. Expect more of the same here but from an even comfier perch.

When it arrives next spring, expect the 2025 Navigator to command a hefty sum (their precise price has yet to be disclosed). Prices for these vehicles already clear the six-figure mark regularly, a trend that's expected to continue-if not accelerate. Still, for the money, what's offered here-at least on paper-looks incredibly promising. Is this the jolt of life that the Navigator needs to finally reel in the Cadillac Escalade, long the king of this big-buck-box segment?