Lincoln Nautilus | Difficult Choices

We do a quick review on the updated Lincoln Nautilus, a vehicle that has been re-branded and now re-skinned on the interior. This SUV sticks to the soft and quiet game plan and offers a great audio system. However, with choices like the Acura MDX, Audi Q5, Lexus RX350 and, BMW X5 would buyers consider this?

Okay so stereotype me i’m all working no play drive some kind of big cushy sofa on wheels and listen to big man right wrong because i do play hard can i drive a lincoln yeah it’s smooth roomy and comfortable but it’s also solid and responsive it’s almost like they had me and mine when they designed it now as far as big band goes the 2021 lincoln knotless for

The 21 model year lincoln has given this car another mid-cycle refresh its cabin is all new they’ve moved it in line with some of the other lincoln product offerings like the lincoln corsair aviator and navigator so a lot of this cabin is a carryover from those vehicles so this is going to be more of an overview of this space your push button gear selector the

Way they’ve tiered the dash design the way the leather looks and the way they’ve designed the dash with this nice wood veneer that’s separated by leather the door cards are reasonably unique and i actually really like what they’ve attempted with this cabinet it feels different than some of the german offerings and japanese offerings this has a lot of parts

Sharing in its switch gear and with its asking price of 68 000 it’s a shame that a lot of its steering wheel controls door controls and all of that other fun stuff feels remarkably cheap now the pros are this in the cabin this has some of the best seats i’ve ever been in the massaging function works great they breathe well and they’re very soft not to mention if

You appreciate a higher driving position and great frontward visibility this car provides that in spades plus again this being based on a ford edge there’s a ton of space in this car the back seats are comfortable and there’s a reasonable amount of trunk space particularly when you fold everything down however it offers less trunk space than something like an

Audi q7 or an xc90 next the other big pro is the revel audio system the audio system in this car is one of the best we’ve ever tested in this segment of say sub 70 000 cars the frequency responses in your textbook and the audio system is great so with that said let’s head to the shop and put this thing up in the air mark this is the lincoln knotless this is a

Refreshed version of what was already on the market they’ve now dramatically changed the interior of the nautilus to keep it in line with the rest of the other lincoln products moving this into a more modern direction and the knotless is actually a rebranded lincoln mkx which is based on the ford edge which means this is on the cd4 platform which means you get a

Steel front subframe with strut front suspension a multi-link rear suspension and adaptive dampers but with no air ride this is also a black label model which means it’s fully loaded and you get two drivetrain options with the knotless i had to think about what it was called for a second you get a four cylinder ecoboost which is a two liter which makes about 245

Horsepower then you get the corporate 2.7 liter v6 ecoboost engine which makes 345 horsepower you can get this as a front-wheel drive vehicle or a optional all-wheel drive vehicle you can get it front wheel drive only yes wow yeah this thing’s hot i mean it’s hot because the engine’s hot i’m starting to sweat uh it’s quiet it’s built around being soft compliant

That luxury cruiser i don’t know how i feel about this yet but i feel a lot more like matthew mcconaughey standing underneath of it who’s that he’s a god so mark we’re in lincoln’s answer to the rx350 acura mdx x5 q7 all the other premium mid-sized suvs and this is a incredibly competitive segment with a lot of very prestigious brands and lincoln in the last

Couple years has been trying to revitalize who they are and get a more youthful demographic is a hard sell and i this is a hard sell for many many reasons and my biggest issue with this is it’s drive train as i talked about in the interior segment they tried it’s a really interesting place to be dated lincoln interiors are way better than they used to be i mean

They could still use some fit and finish improvements like the knobs buttons and switches definitely still look and feel very parts been forward but i think they’re in the right direction this is this is the right direction on the interior space and the exterior does look good yeah so i guess the thing is is why would you buy this over those other competitors

That’s my big problem and i don’t have a good answer for you what was it what did this cost again this is 68 thousand dollars and it’s fully loaded which you know you get the black labels the most expensive trim you get more standard than you would say on a x5 or q7 but you don’t get the premium drivetrain you don’t get a rear-wheel drive architecture this is

Front-wheel drive based and yes it’s got on-demand all-wheel drive and your drivetrain options you have the generic ford 2.7 liter v6 that’s turbocharged which makes good numbers but it doesn’t deliver power in a way that you are accustomed to in this segment of vehicle there’s a lot of delay a lot of hesitation it feels very turbocharged or like the b58 it

Does it just it doesn’t feel like a luxury drivetrain but the same argument could be made for something like the mdx which is also front-wheel drive with torque vectoring in the rear if you get the sh but even the v6 and that feels more special it’s got a good resonance yeah yeah it definitely is a better feel and i’m thinking about the competitors and i would

Say probably six or seven out of ten times you’re going audi and you’re going bmw in the luxury segment i feel like the only people that are going to be getting this are the american car people that have come up with lincoln have come up with ford know this brand they’re gonna love this for those probably intangible reasons but in terms of an overall experience

This doesn’t have a lot going for it other than it is amazingly subtle it’s not a bad car that’s not what i’m saying this is a very very good car it’s a good car in a segment that other brands are doing better than this um and i think yeah you know the inside is you can forgive some of that you can forgive some of the technology and the technology is way better

Than it used to be i just i’m not quite sure i can’t put my finger on what why you would choose the other brands there’s just something lacking here and feel and prestige or perceived quality or something so before we head into the final thoughts i’m gonna quickly summarize what this thing is going for it is a very luxury based suv it’s very boat-like in a

Good way it’s it’s a total cruiser it isolates you well there’s reasonable body control however when you’re in comfort mode and you hit a big bump it kind of like yeah well wash wallows around it’s a giant couch on wheels and i think maybe that’s the best thing it’s go that’s going for it it’s super quiet and it is extremely comfortable and floaty and that’s

Something personally for certain vehicles like this that is a big pro these things do not need to be stiff sporty you don’t need to feel every bump on the road you want to be removed from all of that and traditionally if you’re driving this on the open highway or bad pavement i like that about this and that’s one of the top reasons that i would get this over

The other brands and the v6 offering that this car has is plenty powerful it does get the job done regardless how i feel about how it delivers power it’s it’s plenty fast i i will say before you get into the final thoughts jack you know we get caught up on drivetrain a lot because we’re in and all the we we’re out of in driving all these vehicles and i think

That the average person that’s going to get in here coming out of an older car there’s such a wow factor from the turbo the turbo motor because it is instant gratification people are going to be like oh wow that’s quick and i think that’s the only thing they’re going to think about it i disagree with you mark so with that let’s get into the final thoughts all

Right jack final thoughts on the lincoln knotless black label this is lincoln’s offering in one of the most competitive automotive segments and that is the premium mid-sized luxury suv and with an as tested asking price of 68 000 one might be asking why would i buy this over something like a bmw x5 audi q7 or lexus rx350 and well there’s a simple reason it is

If you value lincoln’s approach to a luxury car and you like their exterior and interior styling their approach is this a very luxurious soft car with no sporting pretensions tremendous seats and a very quiet cabin plus you have the added benefit of potentially lower running costs versus the german and japanese rivals because this is based on a ford edge and

With that here are its negatives because it’s based on a ford edge it lacks a premium architecture which you might expect for an asking price of 68 000 plus some of the switch gear and approach to the finer details is kind of lacking so with that said thanks for watching and i hope to see you soon you

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Lincoln Nautilus | Difficult Choices By savagegeese