2026 Lucid Air Pure at 12,000 Miles

Fathom Blue, Stealth, 19 inch Aeronaut wheels, Surreal Sound Pro, 20-way seats, Convenience package.

Delivered on September 15, 2025. Hit 12,000 miles on September 28, 2026.

Overall, the experience has been excellent.

The following are minor nits: Very very slight panel misalignment that probably wouldn’t bother 95% of the people. Fixed on warranty. Recall to replace cooling pumps. Fixed on warranty. Apple CarPlay quit unexpectedly on three occasions. Fixed by a software update last spring. Slow to wake up from iPhone app. The problem magically disappeared after I talked with a Lucid employee that I met at the software preview.

This car replaced a 2016 VW GTI. It’s considerably larger than the GTI, and it took me a while to get used to the size. Once I got used to it, no problem. However, I probably will welcome the Cosmos when it comes out. I kind of like smaller cars.

The car is a dream to drive. Pun intended. I’ve never before experienced a car that can have such a smooth controlled ride and razor sharp handling both at the same time. I normally drive it in Swift mode with regen on high. I got used to one-pedal driving very very quickly. I very rarely use the brakes. I would guess that I’ve used the brakes maybe 1000 times in one year of ownership, if even that. That includes using them once in a while just to keep the rotors clean. That would average to less than 3 times a day. And of course, instantaneous torque is addictive.

It’s equally adept at errands and long trips. It’s been down the coast to LA and back from the San Francisco Bay area, to and from the Big Sur and Sonoma and Mendocino County coasts, all over the Bay area, and to Lake Tahoe and back. And, you know, the grocery store.

I level-two charge at home and on rare occasions use Electrify America on long trips. No problem charging.

Power consumption on medium- to long trips is in the 4.10 to 4.65 mile/kwh range. Sometimes in the low 5’s. I use adaptive cruise control on freeway drives as much as practical. I normally set it to about 70-75 mph. With EVs, 70 is the new 80. I’m good with that. Lucid tracker stats for the past month are attached.

I recommend Lucid to anyone who asks. It is amazing to me after these cars have been on the road for five years that at least half the people I encounter have never heard of Lucid. Blows my mind.

But for me, best car ever.

Nice review.. I like those Aeronaut wheels, which are no longer an option.

donfenn said:

Nice review.. I like those Aeronaut wheels, which are no longer an option.

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Thanks very much. It’s really weird that it’s not an option because if you go to their website, several of the promo pictures show those exact wheels. When I was at the software preview, I talked to several people at Lucid about it. I think the Aeronaut wheels are the best looking wheels they make, and any size. They should reinstate them.

mwscan said:

It is amazing to me after these cars have been on the road for five years that at least half the people I encounter have never heard of Lucid. Blows my mind.

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Agree with you about the wheels. As far as the quoted statement, for me it's 99% of people. In my 15 months of ownership only one person knew what Lucid was, and that was 2 days after I bought it. Since then, no one. I get the same question every time. What is that car? Lucid. Well who makes it? Lucid.

Car looks fantastic!

Leftlane said:

Car looks fantastic!

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Thanks very much. I think those Aeronaut wheels are the best they ever made. I hope they reinstate them.

Solomente said:

Agree with you about the wheels. As far as the quoted statement, for me it's 99% of people. In my 15 months of ownership only one person knew what Lucid was, and that was 2 days after I bought it. Since then, no one. I get the same question every time. What is that car? Lucid. Well who makes it? Lucid.

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Yes. They really need to work on their brand awareness.

Trips for me: Northern CA trips up to Fort Bragg and more north. A lot of trips from the Central Valley to the Sierras and back either 80, 50 or 88. So fun to drive 88 and gotta love regenerative braking on the way down, only use 20-30 miles of battery to go 90-100 miles, but use 200 miles on battery going up. Same here how many people say (paraphrase): What kind of car is it, I say Lucid and they say, who makes it? DO'H!! They know a Tesla but not Lucid. Also, yup 71-73 mph is just fine, cops do not see you, go 80 and they do. Never did understand here in CA why one would want to keep looking over their shoulder for cops, favorite past-time?, (I know we have Waze but not always do they point out the cops) when can just cruise at a speed they do not see you, stealth is a beautiful thing.

chork said:

Trips for me: Northern CA trips up to Fort Bragg and more north. A lot of trips from the Central Valley to the Sierras and back either 80, 50 or 88. So fun to drive 88 and gotta love regenerative braking on the way down, only use 20-30 miles of battery to go 90-100 miles, but use 200 miles on battery going up. Same here how many people say (paraphrase): What kind of car is it, I say Lucid and they say, who makes it? DO'H!! They know a Tesla but not Lucid. Also, yup 71-73 mph is just fine, cops do not see you, go 80 and they do. Never did understand here in CA why one would want to keep looking over their shoulder for cops, favorite past-time?, (I know we have Waze but not always do they point out the cops) when can just cruise at a speed they do not see you, stealth is a beautiful thing.

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Theory submitted for your approval...

When I drive my Camaro, it feels more alive at 80+ mph then it does at 70. At 70 I just want to take a nap.
When I drive my Tesla, it feels pretty much the same across the speed range. Not bad, not great. It is what it is. There's no need to go faster to get that sensation of going faster.
When I drive my Lucid it feels exhilarating pretty much across the speed range. So on the highway, 70 feels just as much fun as 80, therefore no real need to push it to get driving enjoyment.

I'm thinking that for the Tesla and the Lucid, the constant availability of torque contributes to the drive enjoyment across the speed range. With the Camaro, a legit sports car, the "need" to get to the next torque level is what drives the need for speed.

Just tossing this out as a theory. Don't want to derail the thread. If this is worth discussing I can just start another thread.