I used to just tap the steering wheel and listen to music in my car while waiting for a McDonald’s order or to pull into the carwash. Thankfully, the 2025 Lincoln Corsair has the ability to do something far more entertaining: Watch YouTube videos right from the center display.
I’ve written many times about how entertainment options in cars are changing fast. I covered watching TikTok videos in a Mercedes not long ago, and I’m a big fan of how car companies have been slowly nurturing us off our phones in vehicles that offer Google apps with no phone needed.
The Corsair is the latest entry that I’ve tested anyway that provides a phone-free experience. The car uses Google Built-In services, so you can talk to the Google Assistant and play music, ask about the weather, or just engage in witty banter (as witty as it gets with a voicebot these days).
I decided I wanted to get the most out of the experience with YouTube, so I logged into my account which gave me access to my viewing history. I re-watched some podcast videos I like, a few mini concerts, and several trailers. The Corsair has built-in 5G service to make the connection work, and I never had any stuttering or pausing.
Fortunately, the Revel audio system made those trailers come alive. I’ve always viewed Lincoln as in a whole different league than most Ford vehicles from the standpoint of the sound system — rivaling or even beating what I’ve heard in many European luxury brands. Cranking up the volume and being able to watch a trailer for Fantastic Four and other films is really transportative while you are sitting in a parking lot on a rainy day.
I could see someone using this quite often during the times when we have to sit idle, waiting for the kids to come out of school as just one example. The interface is easy to use, and the bright and clear 13.2-inch display made everything pop.
Of course, there is some safety tech involved here. As soon as you disengage from park, you will find that you can’t watch the videos anymore. No problem, I like driving and don’t want to be distracted anyway. Stopping at a park again to wait for some friends who wanted to play disc golf and I queued up another podcast video from a speaker I like.
By the way, I rarely used this feature, but you barely even have to click the YouTube icon. You can also ask Google to bring up the app. Not having to use your phone is probably one of the best safety tech innovations of recent memory and likely the reason that GM cars chose not to even support Apple CarPlay for a while (even though I just noticed the 2025 Chevy Equinox added it back). Why bother? If the center display does everything you need it to do and more, using your voice or just tapping the app, it makes more sense to leave the thing behind or tuck it away in a cubby hole.
That’s essentially the goal here, to ween us from our phones and let the car itself manage our distraction level. Watching YouTube videos without a phone is a step in the right direction.