{"id":248926,"date":"2023-12-18T22:20:40","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T22:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/?p=248926"},"modified":"2023-12-18T22:20:40","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T22:20:40","slug":"lucid-air-touring-owner-review-no-more-asterisk-for-the-ev-road-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/car-reviews\/lucid-air-touring-owner-review-no-more-asterisk-for-the-ev-road-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucid Air Touring Owner Review: No More Asterisk For The EV Road Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 11,000 miles in a Lucid Air Touring in under 11 months, I don\u2019t see anything coming on the horizon that could ever replace it. It’s a stunning car worthy of the <\/span>2022 <\/span>Motor Trend\u2019s Car of the Year<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/em> Still, if I had Harry Potter\u2019s wand, I\u2019d give it a wave and fix a few things. We\u2019ll get to those in a bit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Air Touring is my eighth electric car. I\u2019ve owned a self-built Miata conversion, three different BMWs, a Tesla Model 3, a Jaguar I-Pace, and a Hyundai Ioniq 5 (which is not mine, but my wife\u2019s daily driver).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jag is probably the most comparable in terms of the driving experience, although the Lucid is quicker, quieter, and has an even more confidence-building connection to the road. The Lucid is also just lovely to sit in. The interior layout and controls make more sense than any other car I\u2019ve ever driven. It strikes the right balance of tactile buttons for frequently used features versus the touchscreen. The Lucid\u2019s touchscreen works well and isn\u2019t \u201claggy\u201d like the Jag\u2019s and the menus are intuitive (very unlike the Jag\u2019s.)<\/span><\/p>\n

But by far, my biggest motivation for shelling out the most money I have ever spent on a car is for what I call\u00a0<\/span>drivability<\/span>. I loved to drive the Jag, but its poor efficiency coupled with slow fast charging meant that for every two hours of freeway driving, I needed to charge about an hour. This made any meaningful road trip in the Jag, especially with family, who weren’t deriving any fun out of the driving, simply painful.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Road trips are where the Lucid truly shines. With the supremely quiet cabin oozing a chill vibe, the Lucid makes the miles melt away like no other car I\u2019ve driven. Couple that with a very <\/span>efficient drivetrain<\/span> and among the <\/span>fastest charging on the planet<\/span>, and no one in the family can complain about too frequent or too long of stops to charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

From my home in the SF Bay Area, I\u2019ve driven the Air to Las Vegas once, Lake Tahoe a few times, and <\/span>many<\/span><\/em> trips to Los Angeles. The era of attaching an asterisk to EV road trips is over. My \u201casterisk removal requirement\u201d is when a car’s range exceeds my bladder’s range, coupled with a recharge to 80% during little more than a restroom break.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When considering the Air, the only car I cross-shopped was <\/span>Porsche’s Taycan<\/span>. <\/span>Drivability<\/span> was a top priority for me and that effectively limited my choices to the two premium sedans with 900-volt architecture available at the time. <\/span><\/p>\n

What led me to the Air over the Taycan? First, after owning more EVs than I have fingers on one hand, I\u2019ve become accustomed to the simplicity offered by one-pedal driving. Porsche just doesn\u2019t offer it. <\/span>Their reasoning<\/span> sounds perfectly plausible if your goal is top performance on the track, but I wasn\u2019t buying a car for the track. Perhaps most important, was the negative vibe I got from the client advisors at my local Porsche dealer. I walked in, opened a few doors, and sat in a few cars, but the staff were too busy looking at their phones and refused to make eye contact.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know Porsche makes a wonderful car, and I can still admire the Taycan, but those two simple things made me run straight into Lucid\u2019s arms and I have zero regrets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Careful readers may be screaming \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you cross-shop the Hyundai Ioniq 6 (or other <\/span>E-GMP-<\/span>based cars) or a Model S?” These should all make excellent road trip cars and compete with the Air and Taycan for stellar <\/span>drivability<\/span><\/em> at lower cost than either. <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I already had an Ioniq 5 in the driveway when I bought the Air. The Ioniq 6 was months away when I needed a car, and I had previously owned Teslas and soured on the brand for customer service reasons. \u2018Nuff said.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>The Lucid Air: What\u2019s Not To Love?<\/h2>\n

Frankly, all of my criticisms can be categorized as classical \u201cfirst-world problems\u201d and most can be remedied with software and are, in fact, on the <\/span>unofficial Lucid software wish list<\/span>. I <\/span>do <\/span><\/em>agree with the items on that unofficial list but would like to highlight my pet peeves below.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Software-Related Items That Need Improvement<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Slow to boot up the \u201cbird\u2019s eye view\u201d screen <\/strong><\/p>\n

A feature I can no longer live without is the awesome 360\u00b0 bird\u2019s eye view (described <\/span>here<\/span>). But on occasion, this screen is slow to boot and is unavailable right when I need it most.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HomeLink<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The backup camera covers the <\/span>HomeLink<\/span> screen. The geofenced HomeLink works great when pulling into your driveway. But it gets covered by camera views when the car is put into reverse. So backing out of your garage becomes a multi-step process:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Reverse out of the garage <\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Once out of the garage, put the car in park to get access to HomeLink<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Close the garage door<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Put the car in reverse to continue backing out<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    No user-configurable split-screen<\/strong><\/p>\n

    There is a lovely center console touchscreen, and above that, there is another touchscreen in the center of the dash. Known as the <\/span>floating screen<\/span>, you can ingeniously drag one screen down (or up) extending and expanding the menu between the two screens. But what you <\/span>can\u2019t<\/span><\/em> do, as one example, is have infotainment on one screen and navigation on the other. You <\/span>can,<\/span><\/em> however, have navigation on one screen, and even more navigation on the other screen. Which isn\u2019t useful.<\/span><\/p>\n

    No Android Auto <\/strong><\/p>\n

    Apple Car Play was added in March 2023, but Android users must suffer the indignity of working with Alexia for voice control, with no analogous feature for phone screen sharing. When I bought the car I was told Android Auto was in the works for the summer of 2023. I\u2019m getting a little impatient\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The GOM is topography ignorant <\/strong><\/p>\n

    The current GOM (Guess-o-meter) is accurate, so long as there are no elevation changes involved. When I drive to Lake Tahoe from the SF Bay Area I need to factor in 6 or 7 miles of range lost for every 1,000 feet of elevation gained. Depending on the initial and final destinations, that can be as much as 50 miles of range lost for a 200-mile drive. Driving to\/from L.A. over the Grapevine, I have learned that I\u2019ll lose about 20 miles as I ascend, and then I\u2019ll gain those back as I descend on the other side (due to roughly net zero elevation change). <\/span><\/p>\n

    As stated in pure physics, this is simply <\/span>mass times acceleration due to gravity times elevation gain and the only variable is the mass of the car’s payload, which frankly is a small fraction when compared to the total mass of the car. It\u2019s embarrassing that this is still an issue almost two years after the first customer cars were delivered.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If I had Android Auto and could use <\/span>A Better Route Planner<\/span><\/em> while driving I wouldn\u2019t care. In fact, I think OEMs should simply give up on in-house range estimators and install ABRP.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Key fob connection is too aggressive<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    If you store the key fob within 50 feet of the car, you\u2019ll want to invest in a Faraday bag to store your key in, or your car\u2019s vampire drain will be significant. My other cars have never needed this.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Special Mention Plug & Charge (via Electrify America)<\/strong><\/p>\n

    After a few rocky months, Plug & Charge now works flawlessly. Lucid and EA are giving all Air owners 3 years of free charging. However, my concern is that the account is tied to the car, not to me personally. I have an Electrify America account (in my name) and when the 3 years are over, will Plug & Charge still require the account to be tied to the car? I\u2019d like to avoid the scenario that is plaguing Ford owners where the Plug & Charge feature is tied to the car and <\/span>costs a premium vis-a-vis skipping the Plug & Charge experience<\/span> and using personal accounts the \u201cold fashioned way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Without question the buggiest car I\u2019ve ever owned. This is from one ~100 mile stretch of I5 north of L.A. In the last 30+ years I\u2019ve driven this same section of I5 at least a million times in all kinds of conditions and have never had a result like this.\u00a0 And this isn\u2019t a one-off, as it happens every time I take this car to L.A.\u00a0 Ceramic coating is the price we pay for vanity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    <\/svg><\/span>Hardware-related items to be aware of (or need improvement)<\/h3>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    The buggiest car I\u2019ve ever owned <\/strong><\/p>\n

    The Air has one of the lowest coefficients of drag in the industry, but to a flying insect, there is just something mesmerizing about that front slab of plastic that is like a moth to a flame.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Glass canopy<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    I was drawn to the sexy glass canopy that extends well past the driver\u2019s head. And I still see it as a compelling feature. But after living with it for a year, I\u2019ve come to\u2026 respect it. The Jaguar I-Pace has an all-glass moonroof so I assumed the experience would be similar. Not so. The execution in the Air is significantly different with glass in front of you, over you, and behind you. In summer months, it gets very hot, and even with the AC turned up to 11, the glass radiates enough heat to make it uncomfortable.<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Low clearance with significant overhang<\/strong><\/p>\n

    At first glance, the car does not seem that low\u2014certainly not like some sports cars. But it is low enough that when coupled with a considerable distance from the front wheels to the front bumper, even modest driveway inclines will cause the plastic chin guard to scrape. Approaching such driveways at a significant angle helps, but this cannot always be done, nor is practical to accomplish with speed bumps or very steep inclines, such as those found in and around San Francisco. An iir suspension would help to get a couple of extra inches of clearance for such cases.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Illuminated charge port<\/strong><\/p>\n

    I\u2019m getting nit-picky here and this problem is not Lucid unique. But <\/span>charge port<\/span>s should be illuminated so the user can see the port when it is dark. In a classic case of where <\/span>dogfooding<\/span> could help, every EV I\u2019ve owned has a light behind the charge port door that shines directly in the eyes of the user, effectively blinding them. At night, I find myself blocking the light with my hand so I can better see the port. For the love of all that is holy, point the light <\/span>at the port, <\/span><\/em>not in the eyes of the user. Or a backlit port would be freaking divine.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Conclusion <\/strong><\/p>\n

    When I was a small boy (before seat belts, let alone car seats) I remember standing behind the front bench seats on the driveshaft tunnel so I could see out the windshield of the car. I would excitedly jump up and down, annoying my parents, and say \u201cLet\u2019s go on a long, long bye-bye!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

    The Air reconnects me to that same excitement of seeing the road and all the possibilities that go along with it. Without any asterisks attached.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Owner Stories is a new feature on <\/span><\/em>InsideEVs<\/span> where real EV owners like you share their experiences with the crowd. Got a good story? Get in touch.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

    *John Higham is a retired\u00a0<\/span>aerospace engineer. John is a self-proclaimed EV activist, contributing to the local EV community and writing position papers supporting or opposing legislation for the Electric Auto Association.<\/em><\/p>\n

    In 2005, John traveled around the world with his family, with stories about them published in The New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, and others. John then wrote a travel memoir about the experience and it was first published in 2009 by Alyson Books, NY, NY. It is now used in public schools nationwide as a geography narrative. It was the first book ever published with a companion Google Earth layer.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    After 11,000 miles in a Lucid Air Touring in under 11 months, I don\u2019t see anything coming on the horizon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248925,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLucid Air Touring Owner Review: No More Asterisk For The EV Road Trip - AutoMotoBuzz.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/car-reviews\/lucid-air-touring-owner-review-no-more-asterisk-for-the-ev-road-trip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lucid Air Touring Owner Review: No More Asterisk For The EV Road Trip - AutoMotoBuzz.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After 11,000 miles in a Lucid Air Touring in under 11 months, I don\u2019t see anything coming on the horizon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/car-reviews\/lucid-air-touring-owner-review-no-more-asterisk-for-the-ev-road-trip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AutoMotoBuzz.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-18T22:20:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Lucid-Air-Touring-Owner-Review-No-More-Asterisk-For-The-EV-Road-Trip.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/car-reviews\/lucid-air-touring-owner-review-no-more-asterisk-for-the-ev-road-trip\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/car-reviews\/lucid-air-touring-owner-review-no-more-asterisk-for-the-ev-road-trip\/\",\"name\":\"Lucid Air Touring Owner Review: No More Asterisk For The EV Road Trip - 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