2024 Lincoln Nautilus

The inside is more daring. Lincoln won’t offer a head-up display and rethinks the instrument cluster, combining those two elements into a 48.0-inch curved display screen situated at the base of the windshield. It appears safer, with the navigation screen near the center, and vehicle info in front of the driver. The passenger side of the screen is limited to seven sets of information, though there’s plenty of potential for more interactive info on that side. A center 11.1-inch touchscreen fronts the lower dash, and below it is a keyboard gear selector. Below that, flanked by grab handles on the console, are six buttons that look like toggles. The drive mode button would be better as a toggle; pressing it opens up the drive mode menu in the touchscreen, so it’s a kind of redundant shortcut.

At 4,517 pounds, the Nautilus hybrid is 168 pounds heavier than the gas model and it feels more planted. Even with standard adaptive dampers, however, it doesn’t feel as composed as the gas model when equipped with the optional dampers. The weight transfer is more noticeable in the hybrid and it’s a little squirrelier when pushed in Sport mode. Most Nautilus drivers won’t drive it near the performance edge, instead preferring the charm of its quiet composure while cruising. 

How fast is the Lincoln Nautilus?

It’s not. The 2.0-liter turbo-4 produces 250 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque, and the 8-speed automatic transmission alters shift points based on drive modes. In Sport, expect a 0-60 mph time of about seven seconds but aside from the red glow of the ambient lighting and a bit of turbo lag, there’s no real sport pretension here, and that’s OK. The automatic is smooth in keeping with the Nautilus’ character, though it lacks paddle shifters, opting instead for a Low gear to extract the Nautilus from sticky situations or to engine brake on a mountain descent.

The new hybrid model screws in a larger turbocharger on the turbo-4 to generate 300 hp and 295 lb-ft, and it pairs with an electric motor to boost total output to 310 hp. It hustles to 60 mph in the mid-six seconds, but, again, sportiness is not the hybrid’s forte, either. There’s no energy-use monitor as in many other hybrids, and Lincoln has calibrated a mostly seamless balance of power between the engine and motor, but going from a cruising state to a sudden burst of passing power can surprise it. Paddle shifters would help here. The hybrid is quieter, especially around town, and the $1,500 upcharge for the hybrid makes a lot of sense at the pump.  

Lincoln debuts a new steering wheel on the Nautilus, with a flat top and bottom that’s almost yoke-like so you can see the gauges near the windshield. In our testing, results were mixed on the gauge visibility. The steering veers to the leisurely side, with a 16.5 to 1 steering ratio and little road feel, but that’s all in character for the brand.

The standard leather-wrapped power steering wheel complements 10-way power front seats that are heated and cooled. They’re supportive and comfy, but the available 24-way front seats with massagers in an array of settings are next-level comfort. They’re the most sumptuous seats on the market. That’s great for road tripping, or sitting in parking lots waiting on kids or errand hoppers.   

The 60:40-split rear seats fold down to expand the cargo area from 36.4 to 71.3 cubic feet. There’s plenty of room, and four adults could go away for a long weekend to the Cape or the Nape in amicable comfort.

The Nautilus comes with a 90-day trial of Lincoln’s semi-autonomous BlueCruise 1.2 driver-assist system that operates the vehicle on nearly 170,000 miles of mapped highways in North America. This iteration can change lanes, but you still have to click the indicator stalk, so it’s as showy as it is useful. BlueCruise operates as expected by maintaining the lane center and keeping pace with the lead car, and it also encourages the operator to pay attention. If optioned, it’s good for four years before it enters an undisclosed subscription model.

The passenger side of the screen shows three displays out of seven possible widgets that can be reordered in the touchscreen. But with widgets such as a clock, weather, fuel economy, trip meters one and two, it’s limited as well. There’s a ton of potential here, so it’ll be interesting to see how Lincoln will use its OTAs.

Which Lincoln Nautilus should I buy?

The base Premiere strikes a good deal with its 10-way power driver seat, an 8-way power front passenger seat, heated and cooled front seats, ambient lighting, driver seat memory, a heated power-adjustable steering wheel, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Alexa Built-In, a power tailgate, and 19-inch alloy wheels. It also comes with a 90-day BlueCruise trial. We’d make it a hybrid for $1,500, and we would prefer to upgrade to the 24-way Perfect Position front seats with massagers but Lincoln only bundles them on the $10,005 Reserve III package. Ugh. That would bring the total to $67,850. 

How much is a fully loaded Lincoln Nautilus?

The Black Label costs nearly $20,000 more than the Reserve trim at $75,845. Lincoln loads it with the massaging seats, 22-inch wheels, an awesome Revel 28-speaker audio systems, heated rear seats, a panoramic sunroof, adaptive dampers, four years of Blue Cruise, and the Lincoln Rejuvenate system in 5- and 10-minute increments that blends the seat massagers, display animations, ambient lighting, and up to seven different scents to soothe drivers stuck in the car in park. Add the Jet Appearance package ($3,000) that blacks out exterior trim bits and make it a hybrid to clear the $80,000 hurdle. That’s steep, even in the luxury crossover realm.

The turbo-4 in the Nautilus performs relatively efficiently, with an EPA rating of 21/29/24 mpg.