2025 Lincoln Nautilus

The 2025 Lincoln Nautilus surrounds its occupants in luxury trappings, luring them in with a tempting combination of price, performance, and technology. From its massive 48-inch curved LED display and available Revel audio to its soothing fragrance-scented air freshener and massaging front seats, the Nautilus is a modern luxury vehicle throughout. Sweetening the deal is a roomy cabin with an accommodating cargo hold, a serenely comfortable ride, and several personalized services offered when opting for the Black Label trim.

We’ve logged hundreds of hours driving and evaluating this generation of midsize luxury SUVs, including the 2024 Lincoln Black Label Nautilus hybrid seen here in Blue Panther Metallic with a bottom-line sticker price of $80,895.

Lincoln got the Nautilus dialed in from the get-go, so there are only a few minor tweaks for 2025. BlueCruise now comes with a 4-year complimentary subscription, and the upgraded Reserve and Black Label trims gain the Lincoln Rejuvenate system as standard. Rejuvenate moderates the Nautilus’ screen visuals, massaging seat settings, interior lighting, and seat placement for a more soothing driving experience.

The base Premiere trim is surprisingly well-equipped and represents excellent value. However, buyers looking for cutting-edge features should gravitate to the Reserve trim, whose pricing slots neatly between the Premiere and Black Label.

The Nautilus’ closest rival in price and purpose is the Lexus RX, which starts just a few thousand shy of the Lincoln. At the top end of the lineup, the Black Label overlaps in price and equipment with European entries like the Mercedes-Benz GLE and BMW X5.

Before buying a Lincoln Nautilus midsize luxury SUV, check the Kelley Blue Book Fair Purchase Price to know what you should be paying. Resale values have not historically been a Nautilus strong suit, landing squarely in the bottom half of the ratings. Remember, recouping more money when you sell a vehicle can mean a bigger down payment and lower monthly payments on your next one.

The 2025 Lincoln Nautilus is as quiet and comfortable as a Lincoln should be but responsive and composed enough to deliver confidence. We like the added power (and improved efficiency) of the 310-horsepower hybrid powertrain, but power delivery and braking response aren’t entirely as sorted and seamless as what we’ve experienced in today’s best hybrids. Despite the extra power, fuel savings of about $35 per month, and minimal price premium, we might be happier sticking with the more polished manner of the 250-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. Switching gears, we hoped Lincoln would finally give up on the push-button transmission selector for the latest Nautilus, but no luck. We appreciate that it frees up space in the center console, but so do a lot of other, better approaches.

We’ve spent several multi-hour stretches in the Black Label’s 24-way adjustable, heated, cooled, massaging front seats and found them to be among the best we’ve experienced. Extendable thigh supports are a favorite of our taller reviewers, and the massage performance is on par with Mercedes. Combined with BlueCruise hands-free highway driving, we found the top-shelf Nautilus an exceptional choice for extended drives.

Fuel Economy

With its standard all-wheel drive, the Nautilus achieves 24 mpg in combined city/highway driving with the base turbocharged 2.0-liter engine. The hybrid drivetrain returns 30 mpg combined. That’s the same story for most of its rivals, give or take a few mpg, although the Lexus RX Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid do better, with the latter capable of driving up to 35 miles solely on electric power.

Open the door on any number of luxury SUVs, and if not for the emblem on the steering wheel, you’d be hard-pressed to tell one from the other. That’s not the case with the 2025 Lincoln Nautilus. The 2-row, 5-passenger cabin of the Nautilus SUV is attractive, full of quality materials, and assembled well. Many little details enhance the luxury experience, like soft-touch points wherever elbows rest. We especially like the virtually full-width screen and how the dashboard curves into the front doors. In front of the driver, the display shows all the usual and crucial information. Further along, it can be configured to show a variety of icons and readouts.

In addition to that extra-wide display, the Nautilus also features an 11.1-inch touchscreen in an otherwise minimal center console. Both screens are standard, as is wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto phone integration. The infotainment system also includes Amazon, Spotify, YouTube, and Google compatibility. Users can even play video games when the Nautilus is parked. We’re especially grateful for the large volume control in the center console — excellent ergonomics, Lincoln. The oval-shaped steering wheel looks different but works fine and takes little to no getting used to. In general, we’ve noticed that outward vision is great.

The lowest trim has simulated leather seating surfaces, with the real stuff coming in as an option or standard higher up the order. There are choices of interior decor themes, the opportunity for personalization, and an options list that contains a fragranced cabin air system. Necessary? No. Nice? You bet.

With 43 inches of rear legroom, the new Nautilus eclipses the competition by a wide margin, making it the go-to chariot for the long-legged. Those rear seats also slide and recline. Cargo space is plentiful, with 36.4 cubic feet behind the rear seats and 71.3 cubic feet when folded. That’s more space with the seats up than in the Lexus RX, Genesis GV80, and BMW X5.

Not wildly radical, the Nautilus nevertheless has an eye-catching appeal we quite enjoy. Each trim level gets a variation of grille design, and Lincoln’s Welcome lighting, which features puddle lights projecting the company logo on the ground, is standard. For any first-generation Nautilus owners looking to upgrade and wondering whether the new one will fit in their garage, this generation is about 3 inches longer but slightly narrower. It’s not so different sizewise from the BMW X5. To our bitter disappointment, the optional Jet Appearance package does not include wings. We’ll get over it. This package does include larger alloy wheels (20-inch with the Premiere, 22-inch for the Reserve and Black Label), black and body-colored exterior accents, and cladding for the lower sections of the body.

48-inch dashboard display
At first, we thought this unique configuration might be a gimmick at best and an annoyance at worst. But it grew on us rather quickly, and now we’re fans.

Phone as a Key
By using the standard Lincoln Way app, the Nautilus is accessible and drivable without having to use the conventional key. Better still, you can add up to four additional users, allowing you to share your car with family or friends even when you’re not around to hand them the keys.

Advanced Automated Park System
Part of the standard Co-Pilot360 array, this removes a lot of the stress involved with parking a midsize SUV by doing most of the work automatically.

BlueCruise 1.2
This hands-free and feet-free driving system (the eyes must remain engaged) works on specific North American roads, the number of which is growing all the time. Recent improvements include the ability to edge over if an adjacent vehicle veers a little too close for comfort. This feature is now standard across the lineup. We love it.

Revel(atory) sound
Revel makes awesome audio gear. A 14-speaker setup is offered in the Premiere. The Reserve has the choice of that one or a 28-speaker array, which is on the Black Label’s standard equipment list.

Perfect Position front seats
Massaging, 24-way power-adjustable seats are offered as an option in the Reserve trim or fitted as standard in the Black Label. What better way to stay relaxed after hours behind the wheel?

The base engine in every 2025 Lincoln Nautilus is a turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder unit making 250 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque, which is not a lot of muscle for a luxury SUV weighing more than two tons. The optional hybrid drivetrain raises the count to 310 hp. The gasoline-only drivetrain has an 8-speed automatic transmission, while the hybrid features a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT). All-wheel drive is standard across the lineup.

4-Year/50,000-Mile Warranty

Like most luxury marques, Lincoln’s new vehicle warranty lasts four years or 50,000 miles, whichever happens first. Powertrains are covered for six years or 70,000 miles, which is better than some. Hybrid batteries have a warranty of eight years or 100,000 miles. Lincoln is generous with its free scheduled maintenance — four years or 50,000 miles.

Safety

Standard safety features include forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection, intersection assistance, blind-spot monitoring with cross-traffic alert and rear cross-traffic braking, evasive steering assistance, a 360-degree camera system, and adaptive cruise control with a stop/go function.