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Lincoln Found the Sweet Spot of Understated Luxury
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The Nautilus hybrid is a gentle and efficient companion
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Prospective Lexus RX buyers should put the Lincoln Nautilus on their shopping list
Luxury crossover SUV buyers stepping down from a decade-old Lexus RX should turn their attention to Lincoln. My mother is and you might want to be too.
My mother, who has a 2013 Lexus RX, feels that Lexus has lost its way in terms of both design and refinement. She is rarely wrong.
An unexpected possible replacement for Lincoln arrives in the form of the Nautilus Hybrid 2024. Redesigned with an understated but stylish design, a fuel-efficient hybrid powertrain and easy-to-use controls put it on my mom’s list as a potential RX replacement.
But there is disappointment with the BlueCruise hands-free system, the technology is flawed and the driving controls are almost intolerable despite being set up for the future.
Here are the pros and cons of 2024 Lincoln Nautilus hybrid in my mother’s eyes and in my own eyes.
2024 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid
2024 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid
2024 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid
2024 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid
Pro: Lincoln Nautilus offers flash-free elegance
For a minute, my mom was excited about the idea of the Cadillac Lyriq. Going electric appeals to your “Let’s save the planet for my grandchildren” mentality. Your grandchildren thank you, Mom. Charging infrastructure aside, the Lyriq is simply “too noisy” visually, according to my mother. The Nautilus is discreet in a way that the Lyriq is not. But it doesn’t offend and it’s certainly not ugly, both of which are ways my mother describes the current RX, particularly on the front end.
The same goes for the interior of the Nautilus, despite the overall width 48.0 inch screen that stretches from A-pillar to A-pillar. Mom found the interior attractive and inoffensive, with gorgeous details like metal speaker grilles and wave-shaped LED lighting panels in the doors that wouldn’t look out of place in a Lexus . This is all different from the RX, in which she asked “Why is there fabric on the dash and door panels?”
2024 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid
Con: BlueCruise remains solidly in second place
Despite smoothing edgesBlueCruise just isn’t as good as GM’s Super Cruise found in Cadillacs. It’s not even close. In Nautilus (and even more recently in a 2024 Ford F-150 hybrid) I once again experienced the system struggling to “see” my eyes through my polarized sunglasses to ensure I was paying attention. I was, and Super Cruise doesn’t have that problem. This led to constant dings and dongs as the system screamed at me to pay attention to what I was doing. The end result was phantom braking, where the vehicle hit the brakes to try to get my attention, which it did. My wife asked me to turn off the system before she got sick. My dad thinks the Super Cruise is the bees knees and was dismayed when he witnessed the BlueCruise in action.
2024 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid
Pro: Lincoln Nautilus hybrid is a smoother, more efficient operator
The standard powertrain in a Nautilus is a 2.0-liter turbo-4 with 250 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque. It’s not who chooses. My tester had the hybrid powertrain, which combines the turbo-4 with a 134-horsepower electric motor for a combined output of 310 hp (Lincoln will not release the torque rating). It’s a smooth operator, quiet at low speeds and with seamless power transitions. EPA fuel economy ratings of 30 mpg city, 31 mpg highway and 30 mpg combined are easy to achieve. I calculated the average 30.6mpg over 193 miles of mixed suburban driving. On a 207-mile trip at over 70 mph, I averaged 30.1 mpg. Notably, this is significantly lower than the 36/37/34 mpg ratings of the Lexus RX hybrid.
2024 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid
Con: technological flaws in the Lincoln Nautilus
Throughout the week, not everything in Nautilus worked as it should, and this goes beyond BlueCruise. Sometimes the seat belt warning display would not turn off for no apparent reason, despite the occupants being buckled. Wireless Apple CarPlay froze several times and became unresponsive. And of course, there was the aforementioned BlueCruise that I didn’t always see my eyes on. For a luxury vehicle so dependent on technological integration, this was all very irritating. And this is just the beginning. Lincoln is underutilizing the 48.0-inch screen, with much of the content being duplicated from the 11.1-inch touchscreen almost all the time. No one needs to see the map or what they are listening to on two screens at the same time.
2024 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid
Pro: Lincoln Keeps Real Knobs and Knobs
Despite the 48.0-inch screen spanning the entire width of the dashboard and the 11.1-inch touchscreen, the Nautilus has buttons, toggles, and switches. There are actual controls that allow for easy-to-execute gear selections, volume changes, and drive mode selections. There are even dedicated buttons for the defrost function, cameras and parking assistance system. And yes, there are real windshield wipers and signal stalks.
2024 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid
Con: Nautilus’ squirrelly steering wheel touch-based controls
The squirrel steering wheel takes time to get used to and has features touch-sensitive controls for audio and cruise control functions. Even worse, these touch-sensitive controls are not labeled and can change functions based on situations. When the driver’s fingers touch the steering wheel buttons, the corresponding functions appear on the 48.0-inch screen on the dashboard. This is just a step better than the similar configuration of the Lexus RX, which has the functions displayed on the heads-up display, which cannot be seen when wearing polarized sunglasses. Lincoln did this so that the controls can be updated over time with more functionality. But today, functionality is limited to the infotainment and cruise control systems and is somewhat confusing to use.
Lincoln took the Nautilus and turned it into a formative competitor to what has long been considered the benchmark in the segment: the Lexus RX. With Lexus’ design mistakes, it would be a mistake for consumers to ignore their Lincoln dealership. My mother rarely makes mistakes and will test drive a Nautilus.
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2024 Lincoln Nautilus Hybrid
Base price: $53,510, including a $1,595 destination charge
Price as tested: $69,100
Transmission: 310 hp hybrid, AWD
EPA Fuel Economy: 30/31/30mpg
The successes: Sleek yet understated design, smooth powertrain, efficient interface
The misses: BlueCruise is in second place, problematic technology, unmarked tactile controls on steering wheel