The Lucid Air Touring EV reviewed by regular drivers

This is the fourth part of a series of four testing Lucid Motors’ new “mid-range” luxury EV, the Lucid Air Touring.Click here to follow the news.

A friend laughed as I drove around San Francisco. And I had to admit, she had a point.

Earlier in the day, I parked in a slim Whole Foods EV spot next to an accessible spot where a woman was taking something out of her car. As I approached with the key fob in my pocket, the car automatically extended the side mirrors as usual.

However, in this case, the deployment blocked the path to the women’s sidewalk, forcing them to walk around the car. I apologized profusely and began to wonder if the engineers at Lucid founder (and Tesla Model S designer) Peter Rawlinson had considered such an everyday urban situation.

But that wasn’t the only reason my friend lovingly insulted it. Pedestrians are not visible unless they are right next to them.

Annoyingly, at speeds below 15 mph, the surround view also replaces the navigation screen, often making it difficult to know where the next turn is.

Also, the way the car vanished the distance was now emboldening me to do everything related to performance car drivers. It seems that there was no signal of

And then there’s how low the car rides. This helps with aerodynamics, but makes it harder to pull out. I thought my legs would adapt – I’m a runner and my thighs match – and then after a week it would be clumsy.

At least my friend didn’t get out of the passenger seat at the end and hit his head on the top of the door, blowing off his sunglasses. Still, she couldn’t stop her laughter. Cars can be privileged assholes at times, but they were definitely fun too.

Lucid Leading Indicators

Another friend in tech rode one of the early Lucid Air prototypes years ago, but didn’t see the final product. So I drove Highway 1 to Pacifica. It’s a windy and beautiful road that you often see in car commercials. I came back by car.

his verdict? Overall, “it was fun to drive,” he said. Suspension and traction exceeded his expectations, especially in the curves. The acceleration, which takes him from 0 to 60 in just 3.4 seconds, is most noticeable when merging onto the highway and is never satisfied.

However, there was a negative point that I hadn’t considered. A friend of mine noticed that the roll cage (the bars on either side of the large glass canopy) was larger than expected and obstructed his view. “I’m not sure I would make that trade-off,” he added, in everyday driving.

He wasn’t a fan of the non-intuitive navigation system and how important information like the car’s current range seemed to blend into the display.

He at least mastered his turn signals. Lucid’s left and right turn signals automatically turn off when turning, but not when changing lanes. The blinker sound is so quiet I didn’t even notice it under the music. Also, the blinker lights blend too much into the display.

Never have I felt like an old driver with a constant light.

reluctant return

I didn’t fully realize how much I fell in love with Lucid Air Touring until it was time to give it back. If I was the kind of person who could drop 1000 Benjamins in a new EV, I would seriously consider this.

The heavy 4,850-pound vehicle just didn’t work as a city car – the turning circle is too small. An incredible feeling of easy access anywhere.

A random unplanned long drive that might otherwise have seemed like a chore, like seeing a friend at a meeting the next day and returning a pair of sunglasses that the low door dropped off your head, turned into a joy.

Lucid is a great car to just sit in. Not only did the car not have an off button, it just didn’t stop feeling weird (you’re supposed to click the right gear stick to park and leave while it’s locked).

It’s also a Dolby Atmos speaker, providing the clearest, crispest sound I’ve ever enjoyed in any car. The software requires you to turn the sound up from the midpoint every time you get in the car (another odd choice), but it’s easily controlled via the steering wheel.

If you don’t want the song to play when exiting EV, you have to manually stop the song (a very bastard car moves), but who wants to stop a song that sounds this good?

After handing me the weird rubber key fob, I went back to my old car with new eyes. . Lucid Air made me interested not in speed per se, but in electric speed.

Toyota has a dial that indicates the vehicle is charging while braking. I’m paying more attention to that dial now.

However, I noticed that the Fiat 500e was faster around town. Why not use the incredible torque available in such a light EV? There’s no point in saving mileage just by plugging it in every night. Charging and filling up with a basic level 1 charger is no longer a pipe dream. Even without the weight of the Lucid Air, I still felt like I was driving it (at least the lightweight city-friendly version).

Ultimately, that’s why it’s worth at least test-driving any model of the Lucid Air when you get the chance, even if you’ve never considered a purchase. may not have been fully explained. That software is a work in progress. But basically, this is how all electric cars should feel, and hopefully all electric cars will soon.

Even if Peter Rawlinson loses the long-running luxury market war with Elon Musk, Lucid’s legacy lives on in other designs, and in every driver who went through it.