Spent some time w/ Lucid Air this morning… impressions

[FrozenBerries]

I actually had an order for a lucid and was looking past the fugly exterior (slightly less bad in white). I liked the spacious interior a lot, in a light color.

But, the things that killed it for me:
1. Build quality reliability issues
2. See #1. The forums and some reviews are full of random things not working, and an alarming number of cars dying on the street, leaving people stranded.
3. In spite of 1 and 2, it was hard to get an honest pulse on things because most owners clearly also own stock and don’t want to admit faults that could compromise their investments. I know the Taycan is not without issues but at least people here acknowledge them and say to complain to the nhtsa on safety issues.

then a very minor #4
The massaging seat was very comfortable, but you couldn’t spec it in the touring, which is $100k+… are you kidding me? I didn’t want the GT horsepower or range, or the price tag for the package

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[Dr Chill]

I'm going to take the opposite viewpoint. It may not have Porsche quality of construction being a new startup, but the engineering is innovative and the range is fantastic. I absolutely love my Taycan, but it's time for a change after 2 years. I am due to pick up my Lucid Air Touring within a week. I personally really like the way the Lucid looks and the interior combinations of are innovative and luxurious. Love the soft close doors and the audio system is great. I had an extended test drive in a Grand Touring for about an hour and while it didn't handle like a Taycan with the performance package, it drove really well. The interior room is comparable to my Audi A8L while the exterior is similar to my wife's Audi S6. The Touring is way less expensive than my Taycan 4S (sticker price of my 2 cars differ by $35,000), is faster than the Taycan 4S, and has almost double the range. And if you haven't noticed, Taycan resale values suck too (as I just experienced with my car).

And I am a PCA member and Porschephile. If I don't love the Lucid, I'll sell it and just buy another Taycan, this time a CT/ST though.

 

[Dr Chill]

Regarding the article online about the 14 phone calls, I asked the Delivery Operations Advisor at Riviera Beach yesterday about it and he stated this is a misinterpretation of the policy enacted in response to orders having being cancelled inadvertently when the buyer had not responded to emails or a phone call to confirm their order. The purpose was to get a manager involved to prevent orders being canceled when they weren't supposed to be.

 

[daveo4EV]

I'm going to take the opposite viewpoint. It may not have Porsche quality of construction being a new startup, but the engineering is innovative and the range is fantastic. I absolutely love my Taycan, but it's time for a change after 2 years. I am due to pick up my Lucid Air Touring within a week. I personally really like the way the Lucid looks and the interior combinations of are innovative and luxurious. Love the soft close doors and the audio system is great. I had an extended test drive in a Grand Touring for about an hour and while it didn't handle like a Taycan with the performance package, it drove really well. The interior room is comparable to my Audi A8L while the exterior is similar to my wife's Audi S6. The Touring is way less expensive than my Taycan 4S (sticker price of my 2 cars differ by $35,000), is faster than the Taycan 4S, and has almost double the range. And if you haven't noticed, Taycan resale values suck too (as I just experienced with my car).

And I am a PCA member and Porschephile. If I don't love the Lucid, I'll sell it and just buy another Taycan, this time a CT/ST though.

please share owner feed back on this tread when you’ve had some time with it!

enjoy your purchase!

 

[feye]

• build quality of the body panels - please stop giving Tesla crap - they are actually really good
  • and please please please don't tell me Tesla's are crap and then tell me you're buying a Lucid Air instead - you will lose _ALL_ credibility - it just means you hate Tesla (which is fine) but don't try and come up with a factual reason and then choose this piece of crap

So you mean we have a new baseline for junk?

 

[B61]

Yikes, looks terrible when side to side with the Taycan.
The Lucid looks like a 1960s chevy.

Ok, not from 60s, i’d say 80s, or late 70s

 

[FLT6LVR]

I'm going to take the opposite viewpoint. It may not have Porsche quality of construction being a new startup, but the engineering is innovative and the range is fantastic. I absolutely love my Taycan, but it's time for a change after 2 years. I am due to pick up my Lucid Air Touring within a week. I personally really like the way the Lucid looks and the interior combinations of are innovative and luxurious. Love the soft close doors and the audio system is great. I had an extended test drive in a Grand Touring for about an hour and while it didn't handle like a Taycan with the performance package, it drove really well. The interior room is comparable to my Audi A8L while the exterior is similar to my wife's Audi S6. The Touring is way less expensive than my Taycan 4S (sticker price of my 2 cars differ by $35,000), is faster than the Taycan 4S, and has almost double the range. And if you haven't noticed, Taycan resale values suck too (as I just experienced with my car).

And I am a PCA member and Porschephile. If I don't love the Lucid, I'll sell it and just buy another Taycan, this time a CT/ST though.

With all due respect (and I have regarded you highly for years on Rennlist) the reason your Taycan didn’t sell better is because you went on many threads and crapped on the 2020 model as if they had major design flaws. Anyone that read your posts would assume that your car must have had a myriad of issues. I say that as someone who was literally shopping your car and then bought another 2020 4S (not as nicely specced as yours either!). Overall Taycan resale value is very strong.
F6L

 

[Dr Chill]

With all due respect (and I have regarded you highly for years on Rennlist) the reason your Taycan didn’t sell better is because you went on many threads and crapped on the 2020 model as if they had major design flaws. Anyone that read your posts would assume that your car must have had a myriad of issues. I say that as someone who was literally shopping your car and then bought another 2020 4S (not as nicely specced as yours either!). Overall Taycan resale value is very strong.
F6L

That's interesting. I'd love for you to point out some of those threads to me because I think you are confusing me with someone else. I loved my Taycan and never found fault with it. I put over 34,000 miles on it as a daily driver in 2 years and had only 1 down day due to a bad power cord on the charger. Since I have several cars at my disposal, I did list it for sale over a year ago to try to take advantage of the high used car values but nobody came close to paying my high asking price.

 

[Dr Chill]

Regarding resale values, I am seeing local dealers selling used Taycans at prices well below the asking prices as they aren't demanding as much as they were hoping, same as I experienced. That comes directly from the general manager. His offer 3 weeks ago for my car was $8000 lower than what I actually sold it for. And that was as a trade on a 2021 911 C2S they had in stock s
selling at full market value.

Also, I think the large majority of potential Taycan buyers have no involvement with these car forums and would have seen my listing on Cars.com or eBay.

 

[Mr.Smith]

Well the Sapphire will do 9.1sec in the 1/4

 

[JRNJTAYCAN]

while at the dealership this morning I had some time to kill. Sales manager knows I'm an EV guys - walked me over to a Lucid Air and handed me the keys and suggested I check it while they dealt with some paperwork…

I was with a buddy so we decided to check out the Lucid…I did not drive it cause I was not interested in purchasing it - but did open/close/poke/prod/investigate almost everything I could with out driving it…

Highs

• spacious back seat
• software that is fast, usable, simple and across the board fantastic - way way way better than PCM
• best 3D surround view performance, quality, feature set I've seen in any vehicle - it was truly amazing how well they've done this aspect of the vehicle
• the main dash is a thing of functional beauty - big, bright easy to read, great features and display choices
• excellent massage seats - back and seat - good choices, good pressure - better than Porsche massage seats.
• seat comfort was ok - material colors/choices/mixture of textures/colors really really not my vibe.
• I didn't drive it - but I'll spot them it drives ok and has excellent industry leading range.
• 40 amp EVSE included with the vehicle
  • NEMA 14-50
  • 9.6 kW - has not been nerfed to 4.8 kW
  • smaller than PMC+/PMCC
  • lighter than PMC+/PMCC
  • apparently doesn't overheat or melt
• not really a "high" but the trunk is ok - but not great - but doesn't deserve to be in the "low" category

Lows

• it's even uglier in person than in photos - my opinion
• couldn't inspect the frunk - it wouldn't release
• you could NOT give me this car
• here is no way I'd spend Porsche money for this car, and it's not even Porsche cheap - it's more expensive than a Taycan
  • I wouldn't even spend Lexus/Acura money on this car - it's just so bad…
• it had 8,000 miles on it - dec. 2021 build according to the door sticker - vin #21xx
  • and the broken touch elements, knobs, dials, buttons etc's - were all loose, broken, dysfunctional or simply poorly design
• all the motorized elements (window shades, door handles, center screen retraction) were all wonky or disfunctional
• the key FOB has no obvious mechanism to operate it
• it took us 10 minutes to get the door handles to present - and we still don't know what we did to make it work
• the design pallet motif (colors, materials, textures, mixture) is an unmitigated disaster - OMG so bad
• build quality of the body panels - please stop giving Tesla crap - they are actually really good
  • and please please please don't tell me Tesla's are crap and then tell me you're buying a Lucid Air instead - you will lose _ALL_ credibility - it just means you hate Tesla (which is fine) but don't try and come up with a factual reason and then choose this piece of crap
• friend with me was appalled at the overall feel and quality - really really unfavorable impression
• many many elements of the car were worn/functional to a point that it seemed like the car had 150,000 miles on it - it only had 8,000 miles
• I just don't see how/why anyone would choose this car over: Taycan, BMW I7, Mercedes EQS, or Tesla Model 3 or Plaid
• it was traded in for a Cayenne Hybrid

after trade in - while sitting on lot for sale - it developed a leak - dealership sent vehicle to Lucid Service near Redwood City - it came back 4 weeks later - leak was supposedly "fixed" - started leaking again - back to the service shop - they have yet to fix it - asked dealership to take the car back while they wait for instructions/parts from Lucid (cause they are swamped) - but have no idea how to fix it - but it's a known issue and they are working on it - no ETA at this time.

I had a much better impression of Lucid Air before my time with an actual car this morning - I am no longer positive on the vehicle.

and I'm utterly confused by anyone that would swap a Taycan for this particular vehicle - I really don't see the appeal and while Taycan is not perfect - ummmm this is not the answer in my opinion.

if you don't like your Taycan - great - sorry to hear that - but I get ya - not yet perfect want something different - great - it's why we have choices - get rid of the Taycan and find something else - totally get it - right there with you! But your choice is Lucid Air? Now I'm confused - really really confused.

I looked at one of these and honestly although it may be a nice car for some for me it reminds me of my grandfathers Buick from the outside. It's a hard pass for me!

 

[JRNJTAYCAN]

Regarding resale values, I am seeing local dealers selling used Taycans at prices well below the asking prices as they aren't demanding as much as they were hoping, same as I experienced. That comes directly from the general manager. His offer 3 weeks ago for my car was $8000 lower than what I actually sold it for. And that was as a trade on a 2021 911 C2S they had in stock s
selling at full market value.

Also, I think the large majority of potential Taycan buyers have no involvement with these car forums and would have seen my listing on Cars.com or eBay.

I think the market is starting to adjust its just not Taycan's. I just traded my BMW for a new Q5 and got much less now for the trade than what I would have a month ago! I went to 5 dealers while shopping for a new SUV and each dealer (different brands)said they are seeing the market slowing and car prices coming down. Inventory of new and used cars where very low as the dealers said they are holding off a few months before buying with the prices dropping.

 

[Dr Chill]

Have had the Lucid Air Touring for 2 weeks now. Some impressions: It gets as many comments and reactions as the Taycan did 2 years ago. That will fade as more appear on the road. I'm shocked by the fact that 90% of people I know have no idea what a Lucid is. Interior room is dramatic. As much or more than my Audi A8L in the same size package as my wife's Audi S6. Trunk/frunk are both powered open and close and storage capacity is huge. When I charge to 100%, the range is listed as 375 miles, not the 425 as the EPA rated. I seem to get about 15% less than that but I rarely drive under 85 mph on the highway. When driving in Swift or Sprint mode the car is as fast if not faster than the Taycan 4S. Launch control feels similar to the 4S. The ride is very compliant and irregularities and bumps are swallowed up easily. Steering feel and handling is pretty good for a luxury sedan, but cannot compare to the Taycan.

Software update x 2 last week have helped with the responsiveness and addition of SiriusXM but it is a far cry from Porsche at the moment. That should continue to improve. Highway assist better than on the Taycan. Driver aides such as side cameras that show your blind spots on the main display and auto-park are nice but not necessary. The surround 360 camera does have really high quality imaging and is far superior to the Posche equivalent. The Homelink buttons appear on the screen as you approach the house, and differentiates between my 2 homes and only presents the location I am approaching. You might feel that is unimportant but it is something that is used twice a trip and does impact overall satisfaction. One gripe is that when backing out of my garage, the camera image stays on the main display and I have to manually close it to access the Homelink in order to close the garage. That needs to change.

Things aside from driving dynamics that are better in the Taycan: Porsches have better overall fit and finish. The Lucid has really nice interior materials and is very comfortable though. My car seems to be very well put together but there is a slight trim misalignment on a passenger door and the trunk gap on one side is slightly larger than the other side. Regen braking is much stronger in the Lucid but I prefer the brake pedal controlled regen in the Taycan. I definitely miss the two charge ports on the Taycan and the button that turns from green to white when you can disconnect the charger. The Lucid locks the charger handpiece in place so you cannot remove it without the key in your possession or unlocking it via the phone app. That's a PIA if you want to unplug when you are in the garage without either.

Overall, it has been a learning experience but the Lucid Air has been relatively flawless so far and is also a pleasure to drive. While some of you may not like the way it looks, virtually everyone that has seen it comments how nice it is. That will always be a subjective thing. I didn't care for the Taycan in pics originally, but when I saw my first one in the wild, I had to own it.

My Lucid Air Touring has an MSRP of $127k and I will be listing it for sale shortly as I ordered another one with a metal roof due in February/March because my wife really hates the glass roof which lets in more light and heat than we want (living in south FL). Two weeks of driving this car has supported the decision to move from the Taycan. The increased range, improved compliance with road irregularities, and dramatically larger interior are the true selling points of the Lucid.

 

[Mr.Smith]

Have had the Lucid Air Touring for 2 weeks now. Some impressions: It gets as many comments and reactions as the Taycan did 2 years ago. That will fade as more appear on the road. I'm shocked by the fact that 90% of people I know have no idea what a Lucid is. Interior room is dramatic. As much or more than my Audi A8L in the same size package as my wife's Audi S6. Trunk/frunk are both powered open and close and storage capacity is huge. When I charge to 100%, the range is listed as 375 miles, not the 425 as the EPA rated. I seem to get about 15% less than that but I rarely drive under 85 mph on the highway. When driving in Swift or Sprint mode the car is as fast if not faster than the Taycan 4S. Launch control feels similar to the 4S. The ride is very compliant and irregularities and bumps are swallowed up easily. Steering feel and handling is pretty good for a luxury sedan, but cannot compare to the Taycan.

Software update x 2 last week have helped with the responsiveness and addition of SiriusXM but it is a far cry from Porsche at the moment. That should continue to improve. Highway assist better than on the Taycan. Driver aides such as side cameras that show your blind spots on the main display and auto-park are nice but not necessary. The surround 360 camera does have really high quality imaging and is far superior to the Posche equivalent. The Homelink buttons appear on the screen as you approach the house, and differentiates between my 2 homes and only presents the location I am approaching. You might feel that is unimportant but it is something that is used twice a trip and does impact overall satisfaction. One gripe is that when backing out of my garage, the camera image stays on the main display and I have to manually close it to access the Homelink in order to close the garage. That needs to change.

Things aside from driving dynamics that are better in the Taycan: Porsches have better overall fit and finish. The Lucid has really nice interior materials and is very comfortable though. My car seems to be very well put together but there is a slight trim misalignment on a passenger door and the trunk gap on one side is slightly larger than the other side. Regen braking is much stronger in the Lucid but I prefer the brake pedal controlled regen in the Taycan. I definitely miss the two charge ports on the Taycan and the button that turns from green to white when you can disconnect the charger. The Lucid locks the charger handpiece in place so you cannot remove it without the key in your possession or unlocking it via the phone app. That's a PIA if you want to unplug when you are in the garage without either.

Overall, it has been a learning experience but the Lucid Air has been relatively flawless so far and is also a pleasure to drive. While some of you may not like the way it looks, virtually everyone that has seen it comments how nice it is. That will always be a subjective thing. I didn't care for the Taycan in pics originally, but when I saw my first one in the wild, I had to own it.

My Lucid Air Touring has an MSRP of $127k and I will be listing it for sale shortly as I ordered another one with a metal roof due in February/March because my wife really hates the glass roof which lets in more light and heat than we want (living in south FL). Two weeks of driving this car has supported the decision to move from the Taycan. The increased range, improved compliance with road irregularities, and dramatically larger interior are the true selling points of the Lucid.

Congratulations.

On reselling your car, I would use caution. The Air Grand Touring is is wholesaling for around $105k now.
They are not liquid cars in the used market

 

[Archimedes]

LOL at drawing conclusions after two weeks of ownership.

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