Lucid Air Grand Touring overview: a dream made actual

When you’re an automotive journalist, typically you spend a number of hours testing a automotive and are left with such a adverse impression that you simply surprise for days whether or not you have been possibly simply in a foul temper. Then, typically you drive a automotive and it leaves such an overwhelmingly constructive impression which you could’t assist considering you will need to have been blissed out of your thoughts, that the automotive can’t have actually been that good.

I used to be left with these types of doubts after getting some seat time in a Lucid Air sedan earlier this yr. It was a brief demo a number of hours from my house, early spring on roads nonetheless torn up from the winter’s worst. I couldn’t consider how nicely that automotive dealt with all of the frost heaves and potholes whereas nonetheless hustling and delivering ways in which no 5,200-pound sedan ought to. Later, on the drive house in my humble Subaru, I used to be already questioning myself. It couldn’t have been that good.

Fast-forward about 9 months and I lastly had an opportunity to take a Lucid house, a $139,000 Air Grand Touring to be particular. After a full week of placing this automotive via its paces on acquainted roads, hauling the whole lot from household to groceries and even testing it in chilly climate, I’m glad to report that I used to be not deranged throughout that first drive. My preliminary impressions have been on the mark. This factor is stellar.

If you’re unfamiliar with Lucid, you’re forgiven as a result of it’s hardly a family title. Founded manner again in 2007 however solely specializing in client merchandise since 2016, the California-based firm is led by Peter Rawlinson, who serves as each CEO and CTO. During his time at Tesla, Rawlinson was the genius thoughts behind the Tesla Model S — although Elon Musk is still loath to admit it. The Air is Lucid’s first product, inbuilt Casa Grande, Arizona. 

So, it’s American made and designed — albeit decidedly Saudi financed — however clearly, its home market consciousness is low. During my week with the Air, I used to be requested many instances what sort of automotive it was. Not a single individual had ever heard of Lucid. Granted, I do dwell out within the wilds a bit and far of my take a look at miles have been clocked in Vermont, however nonetheless, when you’re the kind who likes driving a dialog starter, this can be a good one.

What is the Air, then? It’s a luxurious sedan, which makes it a uncommon fowl amongst American firms to begin, however even then, it’s an uncommon one. While the general form isn’t that totally different from the various “cab-forward” designs that Chrysler marketed within the mid-Nineties, the lengthy and low impact right here is curious. The contrasting roof pillars, out there on the GT and better trims, make fairly a hanging impact, however I discover the whole lot else in regards to the automotive to be weirdly nameless, with nobody little bit of styling that basically stands out to me. 

While I can’t say I discover the Air enticing, it does have a kind of sophistication about it, and that elegant, scripted “Air” emblem has such a robust mid-century trendy vibe that I really feel like this factor will need to have been sketched by Eero Saarinen throughout some flight of fancy. The contrasting brown and black inside positively suits into that vibe, as does the open-pore wooden and woven materials. 

It’s an odd inside, door playing cards bending away from you, pull latches set low. The A-pillar, which runs in a steady sweep to the rear, is large and takes up a large portion of your ahead visibility, however that’s greater than offset by the way in which the glass roof continues up and over your head, like on the Tesla Model X. The impact is marred solely by the thin solar visors, which I want I might simply take away to benefit from the view a bit higher. 

The glass roof means loads of headroom up entrance. Things are a bit of extra restricted vertically within the rear however nonetheless enough, whereas the legroom within the rear is so beneficiant, it’s borderline obscene. The Air would make for a terrific limousine when you didn’t must fold your self like a pretzel to get into the rear seat. That roofline swings mighty low.

Touchscreens abound right here, they usually’re superbly positioned and laid out. The major interface is a portrait-oriented show that sits low within the middle stack, used for car settings and HVAC. Interestingly, with a mild sweep, this show swings up and tucks into the dashboard, revealing a semi-hidden cubby that’s good for stashing your cellphone after which forgetting about the place you left it. 

Immediately above that, 4 toggle switches enable easy accessibility to cabin temperature and fan pace, whereas a chubby scroll wheel offers a surprisingly nice manner of adjusting the quantity.

Up above that’s the actual point of interest of the inside: an enormous superbly curved 34-inch show that appears to hover simply off of the Alcantara and leather-based sprint. This is definitely three sections of show. The proper is nearly a continuation of the decrease show, used to toggle media, navigation, and make calls. The far left is one other touchable part for controlling headlights, wipers, and toggling the defrosters (plus the ultracool deicing mode). 

Finally, within the center is the gauge cluster, which truthfully seems a bit of pedestrian in comparison with the whole lot else. You get pace right here within the center, data and warnings on the left, and navigation prompts on the precise. It’s not customizable and it’s not visually participating, however it’s purposeful. 

Overall, the software program has progressed loads since I used to be final within the automotive, but it surely nonetheless wants some work. A giant grievance is that the massive central show down between the seats seems like wasted area. You can convey the navigation or media all the way down to that show, however when you faucet away from that part on the highest show, it disappears from the underside. It’d be good to have the ability to have media on the underside and nav on the highest or vice versa.

Far and away the largest situation, although, is the dearth of both Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. Lucid guarantees each are coming quickly, however we’ve been listening to that for some time now. 

To get the Air on the street, you merely press the precise stalk down to interact drive, like on a Mercedes-Benz, and away you go. The Air GT’s default drive mode is named Smooth, and that’s the proper title for it. This automotive is extremely calming to drive. The suspension is so good and the throttle curve so flat which you could gently inch this 819-horsepower rocket round parking tons, cruise via visitors, and glide over some actually terrible roads in full rest and luxury. 

Step as much as Swift and that throttle will get extra keen, whereas Sprint is the place you have to go to actually really feel the entire energy that the Air GT has to supply. Yes, once more, 819 horsepower, greater than a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. This is a remarkably fast automotive, zero to 60mph someplace within the mid-two-second vary. Weirdly, although, it doesn’t really really feel as neck-snapping as some equally fast vehicles, like a Model S. The Air nearly feels extra like a high-performance luxurious German sedan tuned for autobahn runs. The sooner you go, the extra the Air appears to wish to speed up, surging increasingly more till you run out of street or factors in your license.

That’s an enormous distinction from common EVs, which are likely to run out of steam simply as they rise up to freeway pace. 

The Air’s smoothness means misleading velocities. You’ll must keep watch over that speedometer, so it’s a disgrace that it’s so arduous to see. The weirdly chubby steering wheel utterly blocked my view of the gauge cluster. I believed it was simply me, so I had my (a lot shorter) spouse place the seat and wheel to her choice. She couldn’t see it, both. That wheel can also be uncomfortable to carry. If you’re within the 10-and-2 camp, you’ll be tremendous, however when you want 9-and-3 like me, there’s simply nowhere to comfortably suit your fingers. 

Another situation is the driver-assist programs. The Air is theoretically complete on this regard, with the whole lot from adaptive cruise, lively lane-keep on the freeway, blind-spot monitoring, automated emergency braking… mainly all the products. They don’t all work completely, although. The lane-keep help, for instance, nudged the steering wheel now and again, as if I have been edging too near the facet of the street though I wasn’t. Likewise, the Highway Assist mode had an inclination to disable itself solely to immediate me to instantly reenable it. Once reenabled, it might usually disable itself once more. 

Most annoying, although, was the motive force monitoring. The Air has an infrared digital camera hiding slightly below the gauge cluster, watching you to be sure you’re watching the street. If your eyes wander for greater than three seconds, you get a chime. Eyes lingering on the nav to identify the following flip? Chime. Trying to make up your thoughts about which of the (fantastic) seat massages you wish to pattern subsequent? Chime. You get the image.

But I really didn’t thoughts that because it’s this type of system which may really get folks to place down their telephones and drive. The half I did thoughts was the automotive concurrently warning me that my hand wasn’t on the steering wheel even when it very positively was. I needed to give the wheel the ol’ Autopilot Adjustment each minute or so, a bit of wiggle to let it know I used to be nonetheless holding on. That the automotive can observe the precise path of pupils however not the sheer presence of my arms is perplexing.

Other than that (admittedly minor) annoyance, and an nearly full absence of steering really feel, the Lucid Air GT is an actual pleasure to drive. Despite missing rear steering and having a beneficiant 116-inch wheelbase, it handles and corners remarkably nicely. It doesn’t really feel as participating as a Porsche Taycan — you have to actually push the Air for it to react — however if you do, it doesn’t disappoint. Grip, dealing with, and poise are excellent. 

That stated, I used to be happiest within the Air after I put it again to Smooth mode and simply kind of wafted alongside. I really like that this automotive can do each, however for me, de-stressing was its most popular technique of transport.

Music is a key stress reliever for me, and the Air is a good platform for that. It’s whisper-quiet, after all, and my take a look at automotive was configured with the 21-speaker “Surreal Sound” system with Dolby Atmos. I’d argue that it isn’t factually surreal, however I did discover it to be superb. With the in-dash equalizer balanced, it delivers sharp and correct sound, vocals coming robust and true out of the middle of the dashboard, heat and wealthy bass flowing from throughout. But those that need a extra full of life expertise is not going to be upset once they put the bass dial as much as its +6dB most. 

Perhaps the largest stress reliever, although, was the vary. The Lucid Air GT is EPA rated for an incredible 469 miles on a cost from its 112kWh battery pack. Go with the smaller 19-inch wheels, and you’ll convey that as much as 516. That’s astonishing. In my winter testing, I netted 3.2 miles per kWh, netting a theoretical 358 miles of most vary, however that included loads of arduous accelerating and different hijinks.

By manner of context, I put about 50 miles of testing on the automotive earlier than occurring a two-hour street journey out to Vermont. It was about 30 levels Fahrenheit out after I left, which is homicide on most EVs batteries. After returning from this 200-mile jaunt, the Air was nonetheless displaying 163 miles of remaining vary. That’s greater than a Nissan Leaf has when absolutely charged.

Few folks on the planet must go that far on a cost on a routine foundation. But you already know what? This is a luxurious automotive, and within the EV period, wide array will likely be a luxurious.

It is a disgrace that it’s priced like a luxurious automotive. The automotive you see right here is stickered at $139,000 plus a whopping $1,500 supply. But as is the way in which of issues, that’s gone up. Right now on Lucid’s web site, the most affordable Grand Touring spec begins at $154,000. 

That’s an enormous amount of cash, however when you like what you see, you will get right into a Lucid Air for as little as $87,400. No, it gained’t be this posh or this fast with a mere 480hp, but it surely ought to drive rattling close to as nicely and can nonetheless do 410 miles on a cost — 5 greater than the most affordable Model S, which begins at $104,990 and isn’t wherever close to this good.

I might go on and on about how good this automotive is, however there’s one roadblock to adoption, and that’s how extraordinarily contemporary Lucid is to the market. Though the corporate has been round for 15 years and has even been publicly traded (through particular objective acquisition firm, or SPAC) since final yr, I can perceive why of us can be nervous to fork over that amount of money to an unknown amount. Reliability is, after all, an enormous issue for vehicles, and I didn’t have practically sufficient time with this one to touch upon that. Likewise, whereas Lucid’s vendor and repair community is increasing by leaps and bounds, you’re unlikely to have a store simply across the nook.

And then, there’s the software program. While the Highway Assist weirdness was the one actual glitch encountered throughout my week with the Air GT you see pictured right here, you don’t must dig far into Reddit or consumer teams to search out complaints about miscreant door handles, glitchy infotainment, and clumsy software program deployments. And then there’s the latest gauge cluster wiring recall, too. For somebody who coated the launch of the Model S a decade in the past, all of it sounds a bit acquainted.

But if ever there was a automotive price stomaching a bit of danger for, it’s this one. I’m not a fortune teller, and it’s inconceivable to know whether or not Lucid would be the subsequent Tesla or the following Faraday Future. All I do know is that whereas this automotive shouldn’t be good, it’s stunningly good and nicely price no matter time it takes to elucidate to your mates and neighbors and plenty of, many strangers simply what the heck a Lucid is. 

Photography by Tim Stevens for The Verge