The Lucid Air Touring EV reviewed by common drivers

That is half 4 of 4 in our sequence testing the Lucid Air Touring, the brand new ‘midrange’ luxurious EV from Lucid Motors. Comply with the protection right here.

“It’s an asshole automotive,” a good friend laughed as I drove her round San Francisco. And I needed to admit, she had some extent.

Earlier that day, I used to be parked in a slim EV spot at Entire Meals, subsequent to an accessible spot the place a lady was getting one thing out of her automotive. After I approached with the important thing fob in my pocket, the automotive did what it at all times does, mechanically unfolding the facet mirrors. 

On this case, nonetheless, that unfolding blocked the lady’s path to the sidewalk, forcing her to stroll across the automotive. I apologized profusely and had started questioning whether or not Lucid founder (and Tesla Mannequin S designer) Peter Rawlinson’s engineers had thought of an on a regular basis metropolis state of affairs like this. 

However that wasn’t the one cause my good friend lobbed her loving insult. The highest-down encompass digicam view encourages you to take a look at the automotive and the few inches round it when pulling out of a parking zone; pedestrians don’t seem until they’re proper subsequent to it.

Annoyingly, encompass view additionally replaces the navigation display at speeds under 15 mph, usually stopping me from seeing the place my subsequent flip was.

Additionally, the way in which the automotive annihilates distance had by now inspired me to do all of the belongings you affiliate with efficiency automotive drivers, together with weaving impatiently round different visitors. There wasn’t an orange gentle the place I didn’t assume I might make it throughout the intersection in time, apparently. 

After which there’s how low the automotive rides. This helps with its aerodynamics but additionally makes it exhausting to get out. I assumed my legs would regulate – heck, I’m a runner, with thighs to match – and it could really feel much less awkward after per week. It didn’t. 

At the very least I didn’t do what my good friend did getting out of the passenger facet one final time, banging her head on the highest of the door, sending her sun shades flying. However, she couldn’t cease laughing. The automotive may very well be a privileged asshole generally, however it was additionally undeniably enjoyable. 

Lucid’s main indicators 

One other good friend within the tech world had taken a trip in one of many earliest Lucid Air prototypes years in the past, however hadn’t seen the ultimate product. So I drove us down Freeway 1 to Pacifica – a stupendous, windy stretch of highway it’s possible you’ll acknowledge from a number of automotive commercials – and he drove us again. 

His verdict? Total, “it was a pleasure to drive,” he stated. Suspension and traction exceeded his expectations, particularly on the curves. The acceleration, zero to 60 in as little as 3.4 seconds, is most noticeable once you’re merging onto the freeway and by no means fails to thrill. 

However there have been damaging factors I hadn’t thought of. My good friend famous that the roll cage – these bars to the left and proper of the massive glass cover – have been bigger and extra vision-obstructing than he’d anticipated. “Undecided I’d make that commerce off” in day-to-day driving, he added.

He wasn’t a fan of the non-intuitive navigation system, or the way in which that key data just like the automotive’s present vary appeared to mix into the show. 

He did a minimum of grasp the flip sign, the intense sensitivity of which had irritated me since my first Lucid take a look at drive. The Lucid’s left and proper blinkers cease mechanically after making a flip, however not when altering lanes – until you give the flip indicator a non-intuitive longer press down, apparently. The blinker noise is so quiet I failed to note it underneath music, and the blinker gentle blends into the show too simply.

I’d by no means fairly felt like an older driver together with his sign caught on prior to now.

Reluctant return

The top of the Lucid Air Touring.
Credit score: Lucid Motors

I didn’t fairly notice how a lot I’d fallen in love with the Lucid Air Touring till it was time to present it again. If I used to be the form of one who might drop a thousand Benjamins on a brand new EV, I’d give this one some severe thought. 

Although the hefty 4,850-lb automobile by no means fairly labored as a metropolis automotive – the turning circle is simply too small, the parking awkward even with the autopark setting (which appeared slightly too wanting to swing out into the oncoming lane) – the Lucid did give me an unimaginable sense of quick access to in every single place.

Random unplanned long-ish drives which may have in any other case appeared like a chore, like assembly my good friend at a convention the subsequent day to return the sun shades that the low door had knocked off her head, turned a pleasure. 

The Lucid can also be an ideal automotive to only sit in, one thing I’d discover myself doing increasingly on the finish of a drive. It’s not simply that the automotive doesn’t have an off button, which by no means stopped feeling bizarre (you’re presupposed to set it in park with a click on of the suitable gear stick and simply stroll away whereas it locks itself). 

It’s additionally the Dolby Atmos audio system, offering the clearest, crispest sound I’ve ever loved in any automobile. Even when the software program does require you to show the sound up from its midpoint each time you get within the automotive – one other bizarre selection – it’s simple to regulate by way of the steering wheel.

It’s a must to manually cease a tune for those who don’t need it blaring once you exit the EV (a very asshole automotive transfer), however who desires to cease a tune when it sounds this good?

After handing over the bizarre rubber key fob factor, I returned to my outdated vehicles with new eyes. In my Toyota RAV4, oddly, I discovered myself driving extra slowly. The Lucid Air hadn’t led me to be serious about velocity per se, however in electrical velocity, ideally generated by as equal an quantity of braking as attainable.

The Toyota has a dial that exhibits you when your braking is charging the automobile; I pay much more consideration to that dial now. 

The Fiat 500e, nonetheless, I discovered myself driving quicker round city. As a result of why not use the unimaginable torque that you simply’ve bought in such a lightweight EV? No level in sipping mileage when it might probably simply be plugged in each night time; the place charging on a primary degree 1 charger and filling it up isn’t a pipe dream. Missing the Lucid Air’s heft, I nonetheless felt considerably like I used to be driving one (the lighter city-friendly model, a minimum of). 

And that, finally, is why it’s price a minimum of taking a take a look at drive in any mannequin of Lucid Air when you have the chance, even for those who’d by no means take into account shopping for one. Its hyper-engineered options could not absolutely account for the true world but; its software program is a piece in progress; however basically, that is how all electrical vehicles ought to really feel, and hopefully all will quickly sufficient.

Even when Peter Rawlinson loses the long run battle with Elon Musk for the luxurious finish of the market, the Lucid legacy will dwell on in different designs — and in all drivers who bought to expertise it.