Live Thread: One week with a Lucid Air

I saw one parked on the street on St. Patrick's day. I had no clue what it was, but the gold body & silver roof were striking. 

I am not sold on EVs, but I drove the first stint. I have to say the quality, style, and power are off the charts. Build quality feels way better than a Tesla.

Driving this car is more akin to flying a space ship than driving anything else. Took me half an hour to get comfortable.

In reply to flistener :

Whisper quiet. Virtually no road noise. And rides well. So not like a Tesla.

I have seen two Air's driving around so far.  It would be my "money no object" pick for an EV, very striking and has performance and rance to back it up.

Tom Suddard said:

 

We're up! The Lucid supports plug and charge, so all I had to do was plug it in. Then the car handled payment and such without any other actions. 

I was recently in the presence of one.  These are a very striking car.  

Later, can we get a picture of that trunk open?  How much of the back half of the car lifts up?  Flat floor or is there an inner hidden lip?

I would love to hear your compare/contrast impressions with the Merc EV that you had a couple weeks ago.  Granted, this is a sedan not an SUV, but given the price-points, they're in the same market space, right?  One might cross-shop the two?

Interior photos! This thing is truly cavernous--it leaves you wondering where the infrastructure to support the car is, as it all seems to be interior and trunk space.

Not a fan of the Saudi connections to funding Lucid. Electric washing their oil money.

Tom Suddard said:

I plugged the car into a wall outlet to trickle charge:

Bro it looks like you plugged it into a USB outlet to recharge

We have a lucid showroom here so there are naturally quite a few around. I keep hearing that the quality seems to be much higher than Tesla. 

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

After some time it lowered its estimate to about three days. But yeah, 120v charging isn't the move if you're road-tripping one of these. I added about 40 miles over a 12-hour charge. 

Tom Suddard said:

Interior photos! This thing is truly cavernous--it leaves you wondering where the infrastructure to support the car is, as it all seems to be interior and trunk space.

I don't think I've ever seen a trunk opening shaped like that before. The bumper is part of the trunk lid?

It looks like one of those cargo planes where the whole nose lifts up :)

wae said:

I would love to hear your compare/contrast impressions with the Merc EV that you had a couple weeks ago.  Granted, this is a sedan not an SUV, but given the price-points, they're in the same market space, right?  One might cross-shop the two?

I wonder how many cross shop the Air and the Model S as well. There's a fairly significant price difference these days - the base Air is similar in price to the top-line Plaid. They are both big EV sedans, though. 

I think the lucid is the fastest charging ev out right now, but that is dependent on finding a 900 volt capable charger.  There are some 800 volt cars out as well, I am guessing they will have the same limitations.  It will be interesting to hear if you find a charger that will give the rated charging speed.

Oh hey, look what I just found...

Wow, the Lucid appears very wide

The lights are higher and the roof is lower than an E39. It makes the E39 look like an E30! 
 

I do like the styling, even if I'm a little disturbed by the proportions. 

So I spent all morning driving the Lucid and the M5 back to back, then waved goodbye to our friendly M5 owner (thanks Brian!) and pointed the Lucid towards downtown DC to visit the Air & Space Museum.

Honestly... the two cars are shockingly similar. And the more I drive the Lucid, the more I love it. Just like the M5, it seems to shrink around you on a twisty road, getting smaller and smaller with each corner. And the chassis isn't just adequate--it's really good, with neutral, predictable handling. And, of course, all the power you could ever want. The two cars seem to have similar peak acceleration force, but the M5 requires so, so many steps to reach peak acceleration. There's downshifting, then waiting for the engine to hit its powerband, then lots of noise, then a brief period of rapid acceleration... then you have to shift and start all over. The Lucid, in comparison, just goes at full tilt instantly every single time.

Depending on your age and preferences, you can interpret this in two ways: Either the Lucid is missing the heart and soul that makes the BMW great, or the BMW is weighed down by unecessary mechanical baggage standing between it and perfection. I'm not sure which camp I fall into.

After a morning of driving, I stashed the Lucid in a garage and found myself doing something I wouldn't normally do with a press car, especially not a four-door sedan: I turned back to admire it. 

Oh, interesting comparison. I can see how you could make the case for the two cars occupying the same market position 25 years apart. Or is the Lucid a 7 series?

As the kids say...why not both?

I got to spend a while driving one around the Great Falls, VA area on some fun twisty backroads, when my neighbor was ordering his. As you said, it gets smaller around you as you drive it, and a big heavy car like that shouldn't be able to dance as well as it does. And the power is addictive. I love the two tone interior in the one we drove, as well. Such a nice place to be, front or rear (though that low roofline does tend to be problematic for entry/exit...)

Tom Suddard said:

Depending on your age and preferences, you can interpret this in two ways: Either the Lucid is missing the heart and soul that makes the BMW great, or the BMW is weighed down by unecessary mechanical baggage standing between it and perfection. I'm not sure which camp I fall into.

That's a really interesting takeaway, and I'll admit that I'm kinda surprised the two cars feel so similar.

The one thing that makes me thing the Lucid is more BMW 7 than 5 is the length. I'd always figured them for long cars, and yes. 

Lucid Air dimensions:

Width w/o mirrors 76.2 inches, 1936.2 mm
Width with mirrors 86.4 inches, 2195.7 mm
Length 195.9 inches, 4975.3 mm
Height 55.4 inches, 1408.5 mm
Wheelbase 116.5 inches, 2960 mm

E39 dimensions (1995-04 5-series)

Width w/o mirrors:    70.9 in (1801 mm)
Width with mirrors: 78.3 in (1990 mm)
Length:    188 in (4775 mm)
Height:    56.5 in (1435 mm)
Wheelbase:    111.4 in (2830 mm)

E38 (1998-01 7-series)

Width w/o mirrors:    73.3 in (1862 mm)
Length:    196.2 in (4983 mm)
Height:    56.5 in (1435 mm)
Wheelbase:    115.4 in (2931 mm)

I posted this to the GRM forum the day I brought the Tesla home via a 300 mile road trip:

I also have an E39 M5, and it's remarkably similar to this car as a road tripper. The same effortless ability to maintain a given speed on the cruise control and the ability to instantly transform from a quiet cruiser to a maniac. The M5 is my usual road trip choice because it's like a small plane and the Tesla shares a lot of these attributes.

I've never felt the E39 to feel particularly small, but of course I have a very specific point of comparison there :)

I will say that accessing the M5 performance is a lot more work. Even trying to follow our middle-spec Tesla in the M5 is a challenge if Janel is feeling zippy, the car will launch off a corner hard with no concern about engine speed or gear selection. The M5 also needs to be nursed to full operating temp. It just makes a lot more fuss about everything. It still feels like a treat to drive - like I'm being allowed to drive it - but it also only gets taken out for specific situations because of that fussiness.

I'd love to know more about Brian's M5, though. It doesn't look like it's quite stock.

I've seen a couple locally, and they are really good looking and striking cars.

I wonder if things go well whether they'll follow the Air with a "5 series" to the Air's "7 series." It's just more than we want to do for a car. Which isn't a grouse, we just aren't the target for this car, though it's certainly working as a halo in the case they do continue downscale.

I haven't been a fan of the Lucid in pictures, they all seem to be grey on grey over grey/black and it always seems to be that lighter grey like the press car. For whatever reason that light grey just does nothing for me and visually cheapens any car I see it on for some reason. Even my beloved E30s I don't like in Delphin grey. The aerodynamic flat faced wheels that this type of car always seems to come with doesn't help things either.

The two tone interior looks pretty good though. And then I saw one in person for the first time. And it was blue, and it had different wheels on it. Now that I'm googling pictures, I think it must have been a Sapphire? Very striking car, and the blue color hides the awkward rear trunk seam pretty well. Still not the best wheels (do those E39 M5 wheels fit...?) but man what a difference they make.

Of course, even less of a chance I can afford this version.

I want one in this color exterior with the tan two-tone interior of the one I drove...