While most luxury automakers copy BMW, Mercedes-Benz or Bentley, Lincoln just makes better Lincolns – vehicles that embrace the modern age, but share a collective memory of past icons. They’re a little bit glitzy, unabashedly American, and artfully styled. Take as evidence the 2025 Lincon Nautilus Black Label mid-size crossover.
Ours wears the Jet Appearance Package that greets with a tall black grille, blacked-out roof and trim, and 22” black-and-alloy wheels. Thin expansive taillamps have long been Lincoln tradition. There’s a lot of tall crossover here, but angled lower moldings and sculpted bodysides diminish the mass. Our luggage easily fit behind the hands-free liftgate.
Lincoln introduced touch codes for keyless entry in 1980. This one has a touch screen on the door pillar, but you can also enter with a phone app.
One of my husband’s favorite cars is the 1978 Continental Mark V, the razor-edged land yacht with its runway hood and tire hump rump. Lincoln tapped designers Bill Blass, Cartier, and Pucci for fashion flair. Givenchy editions were especially disco-chic with green velour upholstery.
Our Nautilus is only slightly less garish wearing Redwood Venetian trim that flaunts tan suede-and-leather seats, wood applique on the dashboard, aluminum speaker grilles, and two-tone squircle steering wheel. Painted panels on front and rear consoles look like stamped sheetmetal from a post-war Lincoln.
Lincoln advertised 4-way power seats in 1953; seventy years later we settle into 24-way power front seats with individually adjusted split bottom cushions. Front seats are heated, ventilated, and…massage. Rear seats and steering wheel are heated. There’s no convertible, but there is a power-opening panoramic roof to welcome sunshine. Ambient lighting and a choice of curated scents render our drive a boutique retreat.
The 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan featured a one-piece panoramic curved windshield, but the Nautilus boasts an arching pillar-to-pillar display with a smaller touchscreen below. It’s like a wall of digital glass for displaying speed, navigation, safety systems, weather and audio. Use the smaller screen to conjure directions, crank up the Revel 3D 28-speaker audio, and wirelessly connect and charge phones. Some functions are too many menus deep, but this video arcade is surprisingly intuitive
And, buyers thought a miles-to-empty gauge was the height of computerization in the 1978 Continental!
The Nautilus is available as a 30-MPG hybrid, but ours came with the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine delivering 250 horsepower and 280 lb.-ft. of torque – enough to carry it 0-60 mph in 7.3 seconds. Combined with an eight-speed automatic transmission, it achieves 21/29-MPG city/highway.
By comparison, the titanic Mark V coaxed just 208 horsepower from a 7.5-liter V8. Weighing only 250 lbs. more than the Nautilus, it required another 4 seconds to reach 60 mph – and gets 8-MPG combined. Give me the turbo-four.
And unlike those old floaty boats, the Nautilus has a chassis to match its engine. In Comfort mode, its adaptive suspension lightens for compliant highway driving, but firms nicely in Excite mode. Safety is enhanced by automatic emergency braking, lane keep assist, and rear cross path detection. I’d like it better with a head-up display.
Over Memorial Day weekend, my family took the Nautilus to a state park two hours away. After conjuring tunes for my daughter and engaging massagers for my husband, I rubbed my finger over cruise controls. The functions appear on the screen accompanied by a small blue steering wheel. After setting the speed, I wait for the indication to go hands off, sit back, and sip a soda. The Nautilus is driving itself.
Lincoln channeled the best of its past and future with the Nautilus Black Label. Inflation-adjusted, a 1978 Mark V would have cost about $60,000. You can buy a Nautilus for “just” $53,940, but our gilded carriage came to a pricier $79,545. Competitors include the Acura MDX, Lexus RX, Genesis GV80, and Cadillac XT5.
Storm Forward!
If you’re into Lincoln history, check out “The Lincoln Story: The Postwar Years” by Thomas E. Bonsall. It’s one of my favorite books!
Send comments to Casey at AutoCasey@aol.com; follow him on YouTube @AutoCasey.
