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Lucid Air vs Porsche Taycan

nck

nck

Active Member

Verified Owner
Joined
Jul 21, 2022
Messages
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Location
Phoenix, AZ
Cars
328i, Taycan, Air
There are a lot of complaints on this form, so I wanted to share something positive about my Lucid Air
We own a Lucid Air Touring and a Porsche Taycan RWD. My wife (She drives the Taycan) recently got a short-term work assignment to work on the Hopi reservation. The location of this reservation is very remote, with the nearest charging station in Winslow, AZ, about 70 miles away (140 miles round trip to charge :)). We took both cars up to see which one would work the best for her to keep. So this ended up being a head-to-head competition to see which car would get better range and charging speeds.
  1. Started from Phoenix, AZ
    1. Taycan - 100% SOC
    2. Air - 100% SOC
  2. First stop Flagstaff, AZ - 143 miles with a lot of elevation gain
    1. Taycan
      1. Reached with 33% SOC
      2. Charged to 70% SOC
    2. Air
      1. Reached with 38% SOC
      2. Charged to 70%
    3. Summary - The Air had more juice left, but the Taycan charged faster. Total time at the charger: 15 mins.
  3. Second stop, Winslow, AZ - 60 miles from Flagstaff. Had to stop and charge here because it's the last place to charge before driving to the reservation.
    1. Taycan
      1. Reached with 52%
      2. Charged to 95%
    2. Air
      1. Reached with 58%
      2. Charged to 95%
    3. Summary - We had to deep charge to enable a round trip with some extra juice. Here, the Air charged faster. We wanted to unplug at 90, but needed Taycan to catch up. The Taycan was charging faster on the top end from 85-95, so both ended up at 95 around the same time
  4. Reached Hopi
    1. Taycan
      1. Reached with 70%
    2. Air
      1. Reached with 73%
    3. Summary - Both cars work, but the Air edged out the Taycan. What's more interesting is the Air is Dual Motor vs Taycan's Single Motor, AND the wife does not like re-gen, so the Air ran the entire trip with re-gen off
I think both cars are great. Lucid's efficiency stands out on this trip.
 
Very interesting, thank you for posting your experience.
 
I had a Taycan 4S before my Gravity and although I loved the looks and performance on that car, I just couldn’t deal anymore with the smaller size and low ride. The Air seems like a great compromise and Gravity just kicks it up a notch with tremendous space and still really good performance.
 
That sounds like a fun trip, especially side-by-side like that. I'd have brought along some CB radios for the full experience :D

Did you happen to note any efficiency numbers in either car? I'm not familiar with the Taycan so the percentages don't give me much context. Also, which was deemed to be the more comfortable ride?
 
knewman said:
That sounds like a fun trip, especially side-by-side like that. I'd have brought along some CB radios for the full experience :D

Did you happen to note any efficiency numbers in either car? I'm not familiar with the Taycan so the percentages don't give me much context. Also, which was deemed to be the more comfortable ride?
Click to expand...
Taycan - 3.15
Air - 3.31

Taycan is a single motor with regen on (it's a blended brake regen), and Air is Dual Motor running with regen off
 
nck said:
What's more interesting is the Air is Dual Motor vs Taycan's Single Motor...
Click to expand...
I believe if you stay in Smooth mode, the car will use single motor whenever the driving pattern allows, like steady cruising. So dual motor just means carrying the extra weight of an idle second motor.
 
kurious said:
I believe if you stay in Smooth mode, the car will use single motor whenever the driving pattern allows, like steady cruising. So dual motor just means carrying the extra weight of an idle second motor.
Click to expand...
I do not believe this is true. Smooth still uses both motors to my knowledge.
 
nck said:
2023, so not the 2nd gen with the faster charging bigger battery.
Click to expand...
this makes it even more impressive for the taycan. they've cratered in value so i'm surprised it's actually that close. I had a 4s from that gen too and the estimates were wildly off base (in a good way, getting way more range from the taycan 4s than advertised).

I miss my taycan and now that we have an electric truck, i've been thinking of going back to it but the air has lost even more value and hasn't stopped dropping so it's not realistic to change it anymore :(

That being said, for another data point, the gen 1 taycan 4s I had (2022): range was about 220 miles in dead of winter (Canada), ~280 in the summer. This is where the air gt shines for me...I get the same mileage in the winter that I did on my taycan in the summer. I've been averaging about ~360 in the summer (last road trip was closer to 400, driving 70 on the highway).

The air is the second best driving dynamic EV there is....but the issue is taycan is the first ;). I also miss the looks and presence of the taycan...and almost most importantly, the service and software quality of the porsche.

It's gotten much better for me with lucid (they've fixed *some* of the support stuff for me and made things mostly right..so I'm now lukewarm to that, but it shouldn't have taken 6-7 months to get things fixed and fight every step of the way)....but the software quirks and cloudy future is making me a little uneasy. And with the service history, i'm scared of what will happen if something goes wrong again. Had issues with some of the porsches I've had, but it was 90-95% positive versus about 50-60% acceptable with lucid.
 
borski said:
I do not believe this is true. Smooth still uses both motors to my knowledge.
Click to expand...
My local lucid tech says it’s mostly FWD in smooth mode. Rear only kicks on when needed. Based on my driving in snow, is say he’s right. In smooth mode, my front will regularly spin when starting from a stop very briefly then everything kicks in and I go.

As far as the comparison with the Taycan, driving without regen absolutely destroys your efficiency. 3.3 is what you got, with regeneration you’d be closer to 4. The lucid doesn’t offer blended braking like the Porsche
 
I owned a loaded Taycan 4S for five years before moving to a Lucid Air Touring. You can't beat the handling and solidity of the Taycan, but the Air Touring is just as fast for practical use, more comfortable, much more space, and more range. The Air deserves much more love than it gets.
 
Great comparison & notes! Thank you for sharing.

The Lucid Air is beautiful, and the Tacan from many angles are just as beautiful in different ways. And uhhhh....that's about it as far as I'm concerned. My Taycan's steering feel might be just a little bit better feeling than my Air, but I think that just comes down to the tires on the Taycan.

Other than that, I don't think the Taycan does anything nearly as well as the Air, but that's just my own opinion.
 
I seriously considered buying a Taycan Crossturismo, glad I didn’t. Lucid is superior in every way, slight edge to Taycan in handling department, but not by much.
 
JGard18 said:
My local lucid tech says it’s mostly FWD in smooth mode. Rear only kicks on when needed. Based on my driving in snow, is say he’s right. In smooth mode, my front will regularly spin when starting from a stop very briefly then everything kicks in and I go.

As far as the comparison with the Taycan, driving without regen absolutely destroys your efficiency. 3.3 is what you got, with regeneration you’d be closer to 4. The lucid doesn’t offer blended braking like the Porsche
Click to expand...
Your front tires spinning have more to do with them being 19s (I'm guessing!) than which motor is being used. My 21s have no spin whatsoever when taking off from a stop, regardless of which mode I'm in, in my DE.

My 19s (when I had a set) will regularly spin if I take off aggressively, also regardless of the mode.

So just out of curiosity - which tires you on? :)

(You might be right that it favors the front motor; i'm not certain about that. My point was that it doesn't limit it to the front motor, but it doesn't look like you're saying that regardless, and I may have misread!)
 
borski said:
Your front tires spinning have more to do with them being 19s (I'm guessing!) than which motor is being used. My 21s have no spin whatsoever when taking off from a stop, regardless of which mode I'm in, in my DE.

My 19s (when I had a set) will regularly spin if I take off aggressively, also regardless of the mode.

So just out of curiosity - which tires you on? :)

(You might be right that it favors the front motor; i'm not certain about that. My point was that it doesn't limit it to the front motor, but it doesn't look like you're saying that regardless, and I may have misread!)
Click to expand...
Well I’m talking specifically about in snow, so I’m on 19s a time of year. But if I put the car in swift or sprint, there’s no wheel spin at all
 
nck said:
What's more interesting is the Air is Dual Motor vs Taycan's Single Motor
Click to expand...
first thing I noticed too! I think a lot of us compared those care, I know I did. I like Porsche build quality but thought the Taycan only looks good at certain angles. The Air is really spacious inside. I also hate regen. You could also check out the i7, it doesn't have heavy regen at all.
 
borski said:
So just out of curiosity - which tires you on? :)
Click to expand...
Good point. I forgot to mention, the Taycan is on 19 in wheels (best for range) and the Air is on 20-inch wheels.
 
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