I'm here in the 2019 Lincoln Nautilus now the nautilus name doesn't sound
familiar to you that's because it's a brand new name so this is going to
replace the MK X in the Lincoln lineup Lincoln says that they're not going to
use the sort of alphabet soup method for naming their vehicles anymore now
they're all going to get what they're calling exploration themed names so the
Nautilus joins the navigator the Continental and the forthcoming aviator
as the latest Lincoln to sort of fall into this motif now this isn't just a
name change for 2019 there's a plenty of new content to back it up so we're
talking new exterior and interior styling big updates to the powertrains
new standard safety features and some sort of general interior updates that
are worth calling out now we'll start under the hood where there's a new base
engine so the 3.7 liter v6 is gone and now has a turbocharged 2-liter
4-cylinder as the base engine and that makes 250 horsepower while the optional
engine is a carryover and that's a twin turbocharged 2.7 liter v6 that makes 335
horsepower also new for 2019 are two new 8-speed automatic transmissions
so both engine options come with their own 8-speed automatic Lincoln says at
the the engines have different kind of behavior and they weren't able to sort
of optimize one transmission to fit both models so each engine gets its own
8-speed automatic transmission also new for 2019 there are some changes to the
all-wheel drive system so they've added what they're calling an all-wheel drive
disconnect and this helps fuel economy so what happens is in you know
situations where you don't need a lot of power like if you're cruising on the
highway they will actually D couple the rear wheels and that sort of reduces
mechanical loss and helps the whole system to run more efficient and helps
fuel economy now I had a chance to drive both engines today and the base engine
the smaller drill charge 4-cylinder is it's what I would call competent it
suffers from a bit of lag and what that means is that when you hit you know the
gas pedal it takes a second for the engine to really get going the
transmission does a good job grabbing the right gear for you but the engine
doesn't really get into the power until around four or five thousand rpms so
there's a little bit of a disconnect between
the throttle in the car actually going forward however with the 2.7 liter the
the optional engine there are no such problems it has what I would call easy
power all the way up and down the rev range and the transmission always seems
to grab the right gear so whether you are you know launching from a stop or
you're trying to pass someone there's no hesitation in the acceleration you hit
the pedal and it goes immediately this powertrain combination is actually my
favorite single thing about the Nautilus and what it does is it makes it actually
a little bit fun to drive and that's not because you know the steering is great
and it's it's still an SUV but it's got such easy power and that power comes on
so consistently and so in tune with what you put into the throttle that it makes
the whole thing more fun to drive safety features this is another area where the
Nautilus sees peak upgrades what Lincoln has done is they've combined a bunch of
their different safety technologies and move them from individual options into
one package which they're calling copilot 360 and copilot 360 is going to
be standard up and down the Nautilus lineup so no matter what trim level the
Nautilus you end up getting you're gonna get co-pilot 360 and what it includes is
adaptive cruise control lane keep assist blind spot warnings and automatic
high-beam so those are now standard up and down the Nautilus which is a really
big upgrade and that's something that we'd like to see more automakers do
because you know these things shouldn't be optional they should be standard now
in 2019 on top of that there are also a couple new available safety features
that you can get on the Nautilus the first one being evasive steer assist now
evasive steer assist detects an object that's stopped in the road that you
would have trouble avoiding and it preloads the steering wheel so it
actually helps you to turn out of the way and avoid hitting the object the
second technology is Lane centering so this is only available when the adaptive
cruise control is on and set at a certain speed and it works to Center the
vehicle in the lane using the forward radar and the cameras to sort of tell
where the lane markers and things the lane centering system in our testing
today it was a bit of a hit or miss system there were times where it worked
really well and it was really smooth and there were also times like when the
lanes weren't super clearly marked that it seemed to get a little bit confused
and actually kind of tried to pull the car out of the lane that we were
traveling in more than once so this is definitely not a sort of set and forget
it system it's something that you're gonna have to pay very close attention
to while you're driving now the third area that we want to talk
about is the interior it has some new technology including a twelve point
three inch display in the instrument cluster which is standard and it's a
very clean high-resolution display the design is perfect it's not overly
cluttered and it kind of just shows you what you need to know and there's a few
different configurable displays that let you choose like you know speedometer or
like an eco driving coach things like that but it does a good job of not
overwhelming the driver with information as some of these systems will do another
interior highlight for me is the second row so the second row gets helped by
this giant panoramic sunroof that we have above us that reaches way back so
even if you're in the second row it'll feel like there's a lot of light and air
in the cabin and it also just has a lot of space to it there's a lot of headroom
and a lot of legroom and even for middle seat passengers even though this is an
all-wheel drive version of the Nautilus the seat hump only sticks up like maybe
two inches so you can actually fit three passengers back there and you'll have
enough room for everyone with legs now the Nautilus also have a lot of cargo
room so behind the backseat there's over 37 cubic feet of cargo room and that's
enough to fit you know two or three check bags it's a pretty large area the
only thing that it doesn't really have is covered storage so there's nowhere in
the vehicle really to hide like a backpack or a large purse so that's
something that you'll have to keep in mind as well what I'm in now is the top
trim level of Nautilus this is one of three black
label themed interior so this is chalet and there's also thoroughbred and gala
that are offered because you know the Black Label names always are things that
I can't afford this is definitely the nicest of the Nautilus interiors and it
has some real highlights like these 22 Way powered massaging leather seats the
leather is great on the steering wheel it's wrapped in the same kind of leather
you have leather on the dashboard with this sort of inlaid stitching and real
wood trim that looks and feels like the real thing but then you contrast that in
there are other parts of the interior that really don't live up to it so in
the center stack here you have a bunch of plastic controls that definitely look
like something you know right out of the Ford Edge rather than the Lincoln and if
you get on the doors kind of under where the leather ends it's just very hard
plastic so there's also like them some small fit and finish issues that I've
noticed on each of them like the gaps between the wood and the leather are a
little bit different on every Nautilus that I was in today so when you have
this interior that has these definite highs and it's also got these that kind
of like weird chintzy parts to it that don't quite live up to the rest of the
Interior and the reason that I mentioned that as a problem is that this vehicle
is definitely not cheap we are in you know again a Black Label Chalet and this
is the highest trim level you can get of the Nautilus and this also is pretty
much fully loaded so you've got the optional engine you've got all the
optional safety features you've all wheel drive and you add all those things
up the price tag jumps all the way up to 69 thousand and fifteen dollars
including destination so it's nearly 70 grand and that's a long way from the
base knowledge which costs just over 43,000 dollars and at that price range
you know there's level of expectation that comes along with it that I'm not
sure that this interior fully meets so if I was paying seventy thousand dollars
for a car I would be sort of disappointed with the center stack that
both looked and felt like this at the end of the day the way that I feel that
the Nautilus is kind of a mixed bag so like on the one hand you have this
optional power chain which is ex but then you have this base engine which
is a little bit disappointing and you have these added standard safety
features which are great then you have available safety features which aren't
you know necessarily executed that well I think that what finally tips you know
my opinion of the Nautilus kind of in one way or the other is sitting in this
Black Label model and it's sort of option exactly the way that I would want
you know it's got the optional powertrain it's got all-wheel drive and
it has this really nice Black Label interior you know it has these great 22
Way powered seats that I really enjoy and that's you know kind of how I would
want an option Nautilus but then I look at the price tag for this car and all of
a sudden it's 69 thousand dollars and I don't think that I could bring myself to
pay that kind of money for this vehicle so while ultimately the Nautilus is
better than the MK X and replaces and it does some things very well I look at it
and I just think that you know the price it isn't quite right now for those who
want to check out the NAS for themselves Lincoln says that they will start
hanging the dealerships in just a few weeks so you won't have to wait long
you