How the Lincoln Nautilus surprisingly won me over with its ride, huge screen

OK, but that’s a giant screen

There are some interesting design touches throughout the Nautilus, but they're mostly overshadowed by that panoramic screen. It lives at the base of the windshield and is split into zones. In front of the driver, there's the equivalent of a main instrument display, which, in typical Lincoln fashion, is actually quite minimalist in terms of the information it provides. You see your speed here, as well as any driver assists and warning icons.

Next is the navigation map, which subtly blends in from the right. Google Maps is the default option since Lincoln's Digital Experience infotainment system is Android Automotive OS-based, but if you connect an Apple iPhone via (wireless) CarPlay and use Apple Maps, this will be projected into that space instead. The positioning of the map is well-placed in your line of vision so that you'll see the directions without taking your eyes far from the road ahead.

The remaining three zones are user-configurable, but none of the options are particularly information-dense. You can display widgets like a trip computer, the weather, a clock, what media is playing, and so on.

And happily, it actually works quite well. The info you can put on the far reaches of the panoramic display isn't the sort of stuff you'll constantly be looking at while driving, and you mostly take it in through the corner of your eye since the instrument panel is closer to your eyeline than most others.

And this makes the positioning of the 11.1-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system even more unfortunate. This screen, I found, was too close to me in the driver's seat, and compared to the panoramic display, not ideal for trying to follow navigation directions. Lincoln has built Alexa as well as Google's voice assistant into the infotainment system, although I still don't find either as capable as infotainment systems that use Terence's voice recognition technology.

The Nautilus includes the latest version of BlueCruise, a hands-free driver assist that will operate on geofenced highways, replacing the normal adaptive cruise control and lane keeping. In northern Virginia, at least, GM's Super Cruise appears to be able to be engaged in more places along the same routes, but I give points to BlueCruise for a UI that makes it very clear when the system is engaged and when it isn't.

I was oddly wistful to see the Nautilus leave after its week-long test, despite the fact that such a car is frankly too big for my lifestyle. I was never hugely enamored with the way it looks on the outside, other than the rather interesting door handles. But it was a pleasure to drive on mundane journeys, and that panoramic screen actually brightened my days. I hope Lincoln rolls that feature out to other cars in its range.