The Lincoln Motor Company has surely redefined itself in the past few years with fresh new luxury SUVs that thankfully far depart from being its Ford counterparts with different badging and leather seats. Now, Lincoln has gone the distance with fresh luxury creations covering all SUV segmented sizes, from the compact Corsair to the full-size body-on-frame Navigator. Between such, we find the Nautilus, which is completely redesigned for the 2024 model year bringing us a stunningly good-looking vehicle inside and out. From its large 22-inch turbine blade-styled darkened wheels and sleek-looking body panels to a lavish interior adorned with a massively wide 48-inch instrument panel and an infotainment screen that nearly runs the entire width of the interior – the new Nautilus is unique and poised.
Taking design cues from the successfully welcomed Lincoln Aviator in the luxury SUV market, the new 2024 Nautilus embarks on a similar journey for its two-row midsized seating proportions, ready and eager to rival competitors. There’s a lot to digest in the new Nautilus, and most do go down well, only leaving a couple of minor grievances that can easily be overlooked when you consider the collective of all the luxury that it has to offer.
Also, don’t forget that you can get discounted new car pricing with a free quote through qualified local dealer partners.
The new 2024 Lincoln Nautilus has two powertrain choices, a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder touting 250 horsepower and 275 lb-ft of torque mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission or a hybrid setup based on the same turbo 4-cylinder but paired with an electric motor sending power through a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission). All-wheel-drive comes as standard on all trim levels no matter the powertrain.
Having the new Nautilus Black Label, the higher trim level, there’s a little left to be desired in the area of power output where the engine does feel like a bit more than the 250 horsepower on paper but nothing near what it should be. Zero to 60 mph comes in at 7.3 seconds. In a nutshell, the new Nautilus could use more power as it feels inadequate at times, and that’s only exacerbated when you have a cabin full of 5 people and some luggage in the back. Adding some insult to injury is its lofty and often floaty suspension when the drive mode is left in the default Normal mode where the adaptive dampers are at their soft setting. Such a lofty feeling is almost to the point of giving passengers car sickness as the body lofts up and down, going over road undulations or rises. The overall ride quality is still ultra smooth, but it appears that smoothness is at the cost of the body lofting all around, almost to the point that you think something’s wrong with the dampers.
Placing the Nautilus in its Excite drive mode, basically a Sport drive mode, things tighten up with the steering effort and suspension dampers while the transmission holds onto lower gears longer. In such a mode, the Nautilus rides more like it should, but such a mode puts the dampers into a setting where they may be just a touch too tight when you encounter large road imperfections. Still, the Excite mode is welcomed, where I feel the floating sensations are tempered. A good part about the ride quality is there is minimal road noise or tire impacts, as the larger 22-inch wheels have a smaller sidewall than the rubber wrapping the smaller standard 19-inch wheels. Moreover, the 4-cylinder turbocharged engine never sounds like you would think, as there is ample sound deadening and dampening of the engine, keeping any buzzing sounds or vibrations from reaching the cabin.
Concluding the drivability of the new Lincoln Nautilus is the fact that you as a driver will have to become accustomed to a new steering wheel style and positioning where the somewhat boxed shape steering wheel sits a bit lower than usual to have a clear view of the exceptionally wide digital display. The different positions take a while to get used to, but they feel mostly “okay” and forgiving, whereas the large display is high enough that you don’t need a head-up display. Such a setup is certainly different, and it may not be for everyone.
The new 2024 Lincoln Nautilus properly fits its segment for all that it offers, which may be done in a unique way. Nevertheless, fuel economy falls in line with competition, where there’s somewhat of a letdown in only getting as much as 29 mpg on the highway, considering its relatively low power output figures. The EPA estimates of 21 mpg city, 29 mpg highway, and 24 mpg combined seem to fall a bit short of expectations, considering the use of a turbocharged 4-cylinder with only 250 horsepower. The good part is that you have a cruising range of around 580 miles on the highway with a 20-gallon tank for recommended premium unleaded fuel.
Lincoln appears to have gone the extra distance to make the Nautilus a standout in the crowd of midsized luxury crossovers with two rows of seating. There’s nothing else like the dashboard layout of the new Nautilus, with its 48-inch screen that spans the width of the vehicle, acting as the digital gauge cluster and several areas of configurable information screens. Moreover, there’s a central 11.1-inch touchscreen that’s easy to reach and easy to interact with. In the touchscreen, Lincoln brings us their newest Android-based infotainment system with Google apps to elevate the interaction and usability from what we used to find in the Sync system setups of the past. The new system works well to eventually become userfriendly after a slight learning curve. The unfortunate part about the learning curve that I had to learn the hard way was the necessity of setting up a system profile before setting off in the new Nautilus. Without setting up and saving a profile that’s customized to how you want everything set up, from your seating position to radio presets and what you want to be displayed on the large 48-inch screen, the system will basically erase everything the next time you start the vehicle. Owners of the Nautilus won’t have much of an issue if things are properly set, but if you’re just in it for a quick joy ride, beware of setting up and selecting a proper profile.
The integration of wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto work seamlessly but are only displayed on the 11.1-inch touchscreen, not the larger 48-inch setup apart from your currently playing song/station. Other qwerks of the system are how it departs from what you find in other Lincoln vehicles, such as more physical buttons and knobs, something that the Nautilus has few of other than its large glass volume knob and a set of buttons for quickly disabling the auto start/stop function, drive modes, camera button, front windshield defrost, parking aid, and hazard blinkers. Otherwise, you have the paino styled transmission gear selector buttons and then the touchscreen above that. Speaking of buttons, the squared-off steering wheel has an interesting setup of buttons that display their function on the digital screen when you softly touch them before pressing the button. There appears to be several touchpoints of the button pads that are not used, which could be utilized later for other functions from over-the-air software updates.
The seating areas are plush, especially in my Black Label trimmed test vehicle featuring 24-way power-adjustable Perfect Position front seats with Active Motion massage and individual power thigh extenders. The heated, ventilated, and massaging front seats prove to be comfy after taking some time to find the optimal setting for a variety of power adjustments. However, the headrests remain to be manually adjusted instead of being like the 30-way seats in heavily optioned Navigator or Aviator models. There’s also a clever climate control digital scent/fragrance system that allows you to select one of three fragrances stored in the upper portion of the center armrest for your titillating your sense of smell. Such a luxury feature adds to the plush theme of the new Nautilus. You can later switch out the fragrances to your liking from a variety of selections at your local Lincoln dealership.
The rear seats are also comfy, with a good amount of accommodating space for most having heating for the outboard sets. Out back, there’s a good amount of legroom and overall space for three adults. The cargo room is also good, having just over 32 cubic feet of space with the rear seatbacks up. Fold the 60/40-split seatbacks down, which have a power release to fold them but not fold them up by power, gives you over 68 cubic feet of storage space all accessed through a power liftgate with a handsfree kick function.
Speaking of hands-free, the latest version of BlueCruise graces the new 2024 Lincoln Nautilus, which now features the lane change feature that nearly flawlessly changes lanes upon hitting the turn signal in that direction. Otherwise, BlueCruise seems to work the best it has ever in keeping its place in the lane after giving you a clear indication of the system running. I would still like to see a dedicated button for activating BlueCruise instead of relying on the adaptive cruise control function to automatically enable it when it wants after enacting the cruise.
Lincoln includes all of the expected active safety features in the new Nautilus. No stones are left unturned, and having a rather wide 48-inch screen opens up the ability to display a large 360-degree surround camera display, which is just what you get in the Nautilus. Apart from the camera system, you get the highlights of forward collision warning/automatic emergency braking, blind-spot warning, front and rear parking sensors, safe exit assist, automated parking system, rear automatic braking/rear cross-traffic warning, evasive steering assistance, and the latest BlueCruise handsfree semi-autonomous driving system.
While Lincoln has certainly changed its position in the automotive luxury landscape, all for the better, pricing somewhat reflects the new standing with higher pricing. As such, the new Nautilus has grown in its dignified presence with a price to match that starts at $50,415 for the base trim before any fees or options. Moving all the way through the midlevel Reserve trim starting at $54,850 to the Black Label trim, you’ll land at $74,350. Add on a few desirable options through a couple of option packages for the new Nautilus Black Label, and you’ll come out to my loaded-up test vehicle’s price of $80,845. Also, you can get a pretty good deal on a new Lincoln Nautilus from our local dealer network. While the initial look and feel of the Nautilus feels like $80K all day long, experiencing the performance may cause some pause. Still, the Nautilus is a valiant effort and a stunning approach to luxury in such a segment. Well done, Lincoln.
