Lately, EV sales have slowed down as consumer preferences shift towards hybrids — including plug-in hybrids, which aim to offer the best of both worlds. You have the option of commuting or running errands around town in pure EV mode for a few kilometres, and you have a gas engine back-up for longer highway drives. The 2025 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring isn’t new to this sub-segment of luxury compact crossovers. Having been offered since 2021, it recently underwent a mid-life refresh. Can it still run with the best of them?
Exterior impressions: squint or you’ll miss it
You just need one glance at the Corsair PHEV to realize it looks pretty much the same as the gas-powered version. Having underwent a refresh for the 2023 model year, it carries into 2025 unchanged. It’s neither polarizing nor daring in any way, but it remains stylish, clean, and bears a strong family resemblance to any other Lincoln currently on sale. There is no mistaking this luxury sport-ute for anything else — not even the Ford Escape on which it’s based, which is more than what we could say about its predecessor, the MKC. Visually, it shares nothing from its lesser sibling inside or out; Lincoln’s large, signature grille is present up front, and the lightbar tail lights and dual exhaust tips round out the rear end. Sprinkles of chrome are found throughout on this top-trim tester.
Interior impressions: Ford who?
The Corsair’s interior is a bit more subtle compared to the likes of the new BMW X3, the recently refreshed Genesis GV70, and the Mercedes-Benz GLC, which saw its last refresh around the same time as the Corsair. Fit-and-finish is great, and it looks nothing like the Escape. I do think the dash is quite busy with several materials and textures used throughout — between the bright metallic accents, piano black trim, open-pore wood, and black upholstery, you encounter four different tones — but it does feel premium. The Corsair is also plenty spacious sitting up front or out back. Cargo space measures 941 litres behind the second row of seats; drop them and that figure jumps to 1,593 litres.
A crystal-clear 13.2-inch touchscreen sits front-and-centre on the Corsair’s dash. It smoothly runs a reskinned version of Ford’s Sync 4 system, but the built-in navigation system is part of a subscription package and after one year, you have to start paying for this option. Thankfully, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, so just use your phone and save your money. Another saving grace: our tester’s 14-speaker Revel sound system remains quite impressive after all these years. The gauge cluster is a 12.3-inch display that’s easy on the eyes and easy to navigate, unlike the Mercedes-Benz GLC’s.
Driving impressions: comfort first
Power in the Corsair PHEV comes from a 2.5-litre inline four-cylinder, working with two electric motors and a lithium-ion battery pack to pump out 266 horsepower. This sounds underwhelming, and in truth, it is. The hybrid is 253 kilograms heavier than the gas-powered Corsair. And with a leisurely zero-to-100 km/h run in 6.4 seconds, competitors like the GLC 350e, Volvo XC60 T8, and the Lexus NX 450h+ are not only more powerful, but much quicker as well. Sport mode does very little to wake up the Corsair, so leave it to its own devices. This is a Lincoln after all, and that means comfort first. The ride quality, suspension, and chassis tuning is quite comfortable and isolates you from the outside world very well in most situations.
Another strength of the Corsair Grand Touring lies in its ability to sip fuel. Bear in mind this isn’t a Toyota Prius, but it’s more than respectable for a small SUV. It’s officially rated at 6.9 L/100 km city, 7.4 highway, and 7.1 combined, and can do about 43 kilometres in pure EV mode alone. I did a lot of city driving with the Corsair and achieved a respectable 7.3 L/100 km combined, but highway driving depletes the Corsair’s electric-only range quickly. Most competitors also offer more EV range, most notably the GLC 350e and XC60 Recharge.
Is the Corsair plug-in hybrid worth it?
Starting at $59,990, the Corsair Grand Touring PHEV is competitively priced and would be considered a value proposition against its European rivals. Our tester is loaded up with more than $18,000 worth of options, bringing the total to $78,365 as-tested. That’s far from cheap, and the 2025 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring doesn’t change the game or bring anything new to the table. But it’s a good option for those seeking something efficient, luxurious, and above all, genuinely comfortable.
