The Lucid Air seems to be the first car that can truly do it all. Not just the first electric car, but the first car full stop. While the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT and Tesla Model S tend to favor performance and the Mercedes EQS focuses on luxury, the Lucid Air appears to blend the best of both worlds. Never before has an almost 5-meter, tech-packed luxury sedan been able to handle like a lightweight sports car and accelerate like a Bugatti Chiron. The Air can seemingly function as a chauffeur-driven limo, family car and track toy all in one. But what's it like in reality? Edmunds found out in their latest video.
Reviewer Alistair Weaver first discussed the history of Lucid Motors. The company was founded by Tesla's former VP of Engineering, Peter Rawlinson, and backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
Alistair then gave his thoughts on the Lucid Air's looks. He likes the design, praising Lucid's efforts at making efficiency-focused styling look appealing. You get more leg room than in an EQS, there's plenty of luxury touches like massage seats and the driving position is perfect. Meanwhile you get physical buttons for several features. However, this is a startup and build quality could be better. The materials are nowhere near as good as those in the Porsche Taycan. The door handle actually stopped working briefly during testing. On top of that, the infotainment is laggy.
A 0-60 mph test was conducted, with the Air managing a 2.8 second time on 19" wheels. It managed a 10.3 second quarter mile time. Braking performance wasn't great, but not terrible given the Lucid's weight.
The Air handled well. Alistair noted a hint of Lotus, meanwhile the fundamental balance is really good. Steering is great too. That said, grip could be better. The 933 hp Air can feel a bit overpowered at times. Ride quality is good, but not superb.
In terms of real-world range, the Air managed 505 miles. For reference, the previous record holder, the EQS, managed 422 miles in Edmunds real-world test. The Air even beats the majority of ICE cars in terms of range.
In summary, Edmunds found the Air to fundamentally be a great car. However, it doesn't feel finished. More OTA updates are needed to fix up the software meanwhile improved build quality is also required to truly make it the vehicle it has the potential to be. Alistair dubbed it the "Proverbial Prodigal Son". The fundamental base is there, it just needs the finishing touches.
