Lincoln Navigator vs Toyota Sequoia
Posted by Pavan Chander | Filed under Review
Man what a bad time not to have my camera on me. I think I need to carry it around with me everywhere so I can always be able to snap lots of images, although I don’t know how much people who visit my Flickr would appreciate that.
Me and my dad went to the Toyota dealership to pay the lease on our Toyota Sienna today, and while we were there we noticed that they had the Sequoia in stock finally. So we took a good look at it, opened all the doors, sat in all the seats - the usual.
We’ve been thinking of a new SUV and as my dad is a Toyota fan I told him they have something big enough to compete with the huge Ford’s, like the Expedition or the recently discontinued Excursion. But I had been debating on whether to get the Sequioa or to get something like the Lincoln Navigator as that is more of a “name brand” in luxury SUV’s.
We couldn’t go for a test drive in the Sequioa but on the way home we decided to check out the Lincoln dealership to really understand the differences firsthand. Upon first glances the Navigator looked nice, well of course it did otherwise it wouldn’t be as famous as it is. What surprised us was the lack of a step/rail to help you get into the SUV, but much to our surprise and delight the moment you open a door, the rail actually comes sliding out from underneath in time for you to step on it. That seemed a little fishy to me, so I stepped on and jumped a little, needless to say it survived.
Everything about the SUV was nice from the outside, right up to sitting in the driver’s seat, at which point we were greeted with a dashboard fit for a Buick made in the 80’s. The sight was horrifying!
This is one of the American SUV’s that is always on TV, whether it be the CIA, FBI, CSI, Police, SWAT. This is it!
Totally ruined my image of them forever. Could you imagine any bunch of self respecting Federal Agents, sirens blazing, surrounding you with 4 or 5 huge black SUV’s and you realize that the whole time they were chasing you, they were looking at an odometer made in the 80’s.
But anyway, enough bashing, it did have some very redeeming features that one could still call on. From nice soft leather seats with not only heating, but air conditioning built in; to having the car adjust the seat and pedals depending on the driver, normal until you realize it recognizes you from your key; and having a nice parking assist camera which is overlayed onto the rear view mirror. Of course it was also a superb drive, but can also be attributed to the fact that its a brand new vehicle.
Unfortunately after all that, the Navigator pales in comparison to the Sequoia. The moment you sit in the middle row, you immediately notice the lack of space and comfort, not to mention much more effort to move the middle bucket seats. The Sequoia also features a makeshift bed, by folding the middle seat forward and folding a rigid cloth covered portion of the seat backwards 180 degrees. This piece rests on the back bench, and you know have a much more comfortable sleeping position.
The middle console’s for the driver and second row, also seemed to be a little too plastic and cheap feeling, and there was also no room in the door frame for anything in the Navigator.
Another sparkling feature, albeit random and maybe even useless for most, is the ability to create a spot to hold roughly 3 inches of letter size hanging file folders in the middle console of the Sequoia.
All in all, it was a great investment in time and we learned a heck of a lot looking at the Navigator.
Although probably the opposite of what the salesperson wanted us to learn.
I shall have to go back and take a couple of photo’s of both SUV’s, although that will probably happen after a week or two.
Tags: Car, lincoln, Navigator, Photos, Review, Sequioa, suv, toyota
