2nd test drive of a Lucid Air (in Montreal).

[HRoussel]

Hello,

Following a very short test drive of a Grand Touring last September, in big traffic downtown Montreal, I scheduled a second test drive today. For reference here's the link to my first review Test drive of a Lucid Air GT

This time the vehicle tested was a Touring on the 19in wheels. This is much closer to my current vehicle on order, a Air Pure AWD on 19in, than the Grand Touring.

I was hoping that this time we could go on the highway, something that was not possible last time.

Well guess what, no highway this time either! My contact person mentioned the bad highway traffic as the excuse. So looks like I'll have to book yet another appointment later in the year, as I won't purchase a car I cannot even properly try. Is it possible they don't want me to go on the highway because I have a lower trim? Anybody here from Montreal area, with a Pure on order, managed to do a highway drive?

So to keep this short I'll just recopy the summary of my last drive, with some updates in bold following today's drive.

The good:

• Fit / finish / luxury (felt as luxurious as the GT, no complaints here!)
• Clean UI and sharp screens.
• Really good looking car.
• Very smooth ride (even in Swift and Sprint mode, maybe helped by the 19in?).
• 360 degree view (unfortunately it appears to be tied to DDPro? my contact will check and get back to me in this).
• Driving at 80km/h (50mph), the max I could do given the road I had to follow, road (tire) noise was non existent, very very impressive!
• Footwell for passengers at the back is excellent, due to lower floor.

The bad (could be improved):

• One pedal driving not as smooth as expected (ok, better than on my drive of the GT, but not as smooth as my current Tesla, but this is minor).
• Lack of responsiveness in initial acceleration (yup, still the same even in Sprint mode).
• Armrest too far back (ok, it's not far back, but the shape is such that even with the steering wheel extended to its max position, it was not totally comfortable).
• Trunk opening heigh limited (not a deal breaker; frunk is amazingly large anyway).
• Sun in the eyes due to extended glass roof at front (not a concern, the Air Pure has the solid roof).
• Laggy nav screen (still there; way slower than in my Tesla; not sure which version of the OS it was running but CarPlay was available).

The ugly (really, really need to improve):

• No info on chargers on navigation (less of an issue given CarPlay is now available).
• Need to fork an extra $12,000 just to get lane centering.

The bottom line is that while the car is very luxurious and drives smoothly and silently, the absence of lane centering (and 360 degree view?) at a reasonable price might be the deal breaker for me.

 

[Volund]

Hello,

Following a very short test drive of a Grand Touring last September, in big traffic downtown Montreal, I scheduled a second test drive today. For reference here's the link to my first review Test drive of a Lucid Air GT

This time the vehicle tested was a Touring on the 19in wheels. This is much closer to my current vehicle on order, a Air Pure AWD on 19in, than the Grand Touring.

I was hoping that this time we could go on the highway, something that was not possible last time.

Well guess what, no highway this time either! My contact person mentioned the bad highway traffic as the excuse. So looks like I'll have to book yet another appointment later in the year, as I won't purchase a car I cannot even properly try. Is it possible they don't want me to go on the highway because I have a lower trim? Anybody here from Montreal area, with a Pure on order, managed to do a highway drive?

So to keep this short I'll just recopy the summary of my last drive, with some updates in bold following today's drive.

The good:

• Fit / finish / luxury (felt as luxurious as the GT, no complaints here!)
• Clean UI and sharp screens.
• Really good looking car.
• Very smooth ride (even in Swift and Sprint mode, maybe helped by the 19in?).
• 360 degree view (unfortunately it appears to be tied to DDPro? my contact will check and get back to me in this).
• Driving at 80km/h (50mph), the max I could do given the road I had to follow, road (tire) noise was non existent, very very impressive!
• Footwell for passengers at the back is excellent, due to lower floor.

The bad (could be improved):

• One pedal driving not as smooth as expected (ok, better than on my drive of the GT, but not as smooth as my current Tesla, but this is minor).
• Lack of responsiveness in initial acceleration (yup, still the same even in Sprint mode).
• Armrest too far back (ok, it's not far back, but the shape is such that even with the steering wheel extended to its max position, it was not totally comfortable).
• Trunk opening heigh limited (not a deal breaker; frunk is amazingly large anyway).
• Sun in the eyes due to extended glass roof at front (not a concern, the Air Pure has the solid roof).
• Laggy nav screen (still there; way slower than in my Tesla; not sure which version of the OS it was running but CarPlay was available).

The ugly (really, really need to improve):

• No info on chargers on navigation (less of an issue given CarPlay is now available).
• Need to fork an extra $12,000 just to get lane centering.

The bottom line is that while the car is very luxurious and drives smoothly and silently, the absence of lane centering (and 360 degree view?) at a reasonable price might be the deal breaker for me.

I went on highway and got like an hour because my sister came with me and we both wanted to drive and they didn't seem busy. Very nice people at Scottsdale.

But you could tell them you want to test DreamDrive and are deciding on that to pull the trigger ans use that to see what they say?

 

[sk8ndad]

Hello,

Following a very short test drive of a Grand Touring last September, in big traffic downtown Montreal, I scheduled a second test drive today. For reference here's the link to my first review Test drive of a Lucid Air GT

This time the vehicle tested was a Touring on the 19in wheels. This is much closer to my current vehicle on order, a Air Pure AWD on 19in, than the Grand Touring.

I was hoping that this time we could go on the highway, something that was not possible last time.

Well guess what, no highway this time either! My contact person mentioned the bad highway traffic as the excuse. So looks like I'll have to book yet another appointment later in the year, as I won't purchase a car I cannot even properly try. Is it possible they don't want me to go on the highway because I have a lower trim? Anybody here from Montreal area, with a Pure on order, managed to do a highway drive?

So to keep this short I'll just recopy the summary of my last drive, with some updates in bold following today's drive.

The good:

• Fit / finish / luxury (felt as luxurious as the GT, no complaints here!)
• Clean UI and sharp screens.
• Really good looking car.
• Very smooth ride (even in Swift and Sprint mode, maybe helped by the 19in?).
• 360 degree view (unfortunately it appears to be tied to DDPro? my contact will check and get back to me in this).
• Driving at 80km/h (50mph), the max I could do given the road I had to follow, road (tire) noise was non existent, very very impressive!
• Footwell for passengers at the back is excellent, due to lower floor.

The bad (could be improved):

• One pedal driving not as smooth as expected (ok, better than on my drive of the GT, but not as smooth as my current Tesla, but this is minor).
• Lack of responsiveness in initial acceleration (yup, still the same even in Sprint mode).
• Armrest too far back (ok, it's not far back, but the shape is such that even with the steering wheel extended to its max position, it was not totally comfortable).
• Trunk opening heigh limited (not a deal breaker; frunk is amazingly large anyway).
• Sun in the eyes due to extended glass roof at front (not a concern, the Air Pure has the solid roof).
• Laggy nav screen (still there; way slower than in my Tesla; not sure which version of the OS it was running but CarPlay was available).

The ugly (really, really need to improve):

• No info on chargers on navigation (less of an issue given CarPlay is now available).
• Need to fork an extra $12,000 just to get lane centering.

The bottom line is that while the car is very luxurious and drives smoothly and silently, the absence of lane centering (and 360 degree view?) at a reasonable price might be the deal breaker for me.

Chargers on nav is easy, you just hit the little charging icon when on a trip and it will pop up all of the locations.

 

[HRoussel]

Chargers on nav is easy, you just hit the little charging icon when on a trip and it will pop up all of the locations.

Thanks. I wonder how well it's working here in Canada however. Maybe someone from Canada with a Lucid could confirm?

 

[Lucidairness]

Hello,

Following a very short test drive of a Grand Touring last September, in big traffic downtown Montreal, I scheduled a second test drive today. For reference here's the link to my first review Test drive of a Lucid Air GT

This time the vehicle tested was a Touring on the 19in wheels. This is much closer to my current vehicle on order, a Air Pure AWD on 19in, than the Grand Touring.

I was hoping that this time we could go on the highway, something that was not possible last time.

Well guess what, no highway this time either! My contact person mentioned the bad highway traffic as the excuse. So looks like I'll have to book yet another appointment later in the year, as I won't purchase a car I cannot even properly try. Is it possible they don't want me to go on the highway because I have a lower trim? Anybody here from Montreal area, with a Pure on order, managed to do a highway drive?

So to keep this short I'll just recopy the summary of my last drive, with some updates in bold following today's drive.

The good:

• Fit / finish / luxury (felt as luxurious as the GT, no complaints here!)
• Clean UI and sharp screens.
• Really good looking car.
• Very smooth ride (even in Swift and Sprint mode, maybe helped by the 19in?).
• 360 degree view (unfortunately it appears to be tied to DDPro? my contact will check and get back to me in this).
• Driving at 80km/h (50mph), the max I could do given the road I had to follow, road (tire) noise was non existent, very very impressive!
• Footwell for passengers at the back is excellent, due to lower floor.

The bad (could be improved):

• One pedal driving not as smooth as expected (ok, better than on my drive of the GT, but not as smooth as my current Tesla, but this is minor).
• Lack of responsiveness in initial acceleration (yup, still the same even in Sprint mode).
• Armrest too far back (ok, it's not far back, but the shape is such that even with the steering wheel extended to its max position, it was not totally comfortable).
• Trunk opening heigh limited (not a deal breaker; frunk is amazingly large anyway).
• Sun in the eyes due to extended glass roof at front (not a concern, the Air Pure has the solid roof).
• Laggy nav screen (still there; way slower than in my Tesla; not sure which version of the OS it was running but CarPlay was available).

The ugly (really, really need to improve):

• No info on chargers on navigation (less of an issue given CarPlay is now available).
• Need to fork an extra $12,000 just to get lane centering.

The bottom line is that while the car is very luxurious and drives smoothly and silently, the absence of lane centering (and 360 degree view?) at a reasonable price might be the deal breaker for me.

I just got my touring instead of pur AWD. Driving highway is amazing. The road noise and motor noise are at minimum. You can actually hear some motor noise at around 40 to 50. It could be annoying but once you break the 60, you dont hear them anymore. You should definitely try highway drive before purchasing

 

[HRoussel]

One additional note I forgot to mention.

I asked the sales person about the state of deliveries here in Montreal. He was saying they currently deliver Touring and GT. The Air Pure would start being delivered this summer, and that I should be amongst the first one since I reserved early.

For reference I reserved about one year ago, end of April 2022. If he's right then either few people have reserved a Lucid in the area, or at least few people have reserved the Air Pure. It's a good thing for me but I'm a bit worried about demand for the car (a long term viability of the company). I personally prefer sedans over SUVs, but given that even Ferrari has started producing a SUV, maybe choosing a sedan for their first vehicle was not the best strategic choice for Lucid.

 

[quantum]

Hello,

Following a very short test drive of a Grand Touring last September, in big traffic downtown Montreal, I scheduled a second test drive today. For reference here's the link to my first review Test drive of a Lucid Air GT

This time the vehicle tested was a Touring on the 19in wheels. This is much closer to my current vehicle on order, a Air Pure AWD on 19in, than the Grand Touring.

I was hoping that this time we could go on the highway, something that was not possible last time.

Well guess what, no highway this time either! My contact person mentioned the bad highway traffic as the excuse. So looks like I'll have to book yet another appointment later in the year, as I won't purchase a car I cannot even properly try. Is it possible they don't want me to go on the highway because I have a lower trim? Anybody here from Montreal area, with a Pure on order, managed to do a highway drive?

So to keep this short I'll just recopy the summary of my last drive, with some updates in bold following today's drive.

The good:

• Fit / finish / luxury (felt as luxurious as the GT, no complaints here!)
• Clean UI and sharp screens.
• Really good looking car.
• Very smooth ride (even in Swift and Sprint mode, maybe helped by the 19in?).
• 360 degree view (unfortunately it appears to be tied to DDPro? my contact will check and get back to me in this).
• Driving at 80km/h (50mph), the max I could do given the road I had to follow, road (tire) noise was non existent, very very impressive!
• Footwell for passengers at the back is excellent, due to lower floor.

The bad (could be improved):

• One pedal driving not as smooth as expected (ok, better than on my drive of the GT, but not as smooth as my current Tesla, but this is minor).
• Lack of responsiveness in initial acceleration (yup, still the same even in Sprint mode).
• Armrest too far back (ok, it's not far back, but the shape is such that even with the steering wheel extended to its max position, it was not totally comfortable).
• Trunk opening heigh limited (not a deal breaker; frunk is amazingly large anyway).
• Sun in the eyes due to extended glass roof at front (not a concern, the Air Pure has the solid roof).
• Laggy nav screen (still there; way slower than in my Tesla; not sure which version of the OS it was running but CarPlay was available).

The ugly (really, really need to improve):

• No info on chargers on navigation (less of an issue given CarPlay is now available).
• Need to fork an extra $12,000 just to get lane centering.

The bottom line is that while the car is very luxurious and drives smoothly and silently, the absence of lane centering (and 360 degree view?) at a reasonable price might be the deal breaker for me.

You dont need lane centering, 360 degree view. Tesla doesnt even have 360 or a proper blindspot monitor. Tesla doesnt have buttons, no intstrument panel. You are getting TOOOOO picky. You need to realize no car is perfect for anyone. There are always compromises. But not getting the Pure for these reasons means you are missing out on a fabulous car...the BMW 5 series of EV's!! World Luxury Car of The Year, Motortrend Car of the Year, Newsweek Powertrain of the Year!. Just get the damn car, drive it and enjoy!!!

 

[HRoussel]

You dont need lane centering, 360 degree view. Tesla doesnt even have 360 or a proper blindspot monitor. Tesla doesnt have buttons, no intstrument panel. You are getting TOOOOO picky. You need to realize no car is perfect for anyone. There are always compromises. But not getting the Pure for these reasons means you are missing out on a fabulous car...the BMW 5 series of EV's!! World Luxury Car of The Year, Motortrend Car of the Year, Newsweek Powertrain of the Year!. Just get the damn car, drive it and enjoy!!!

A 360 degree view is something I definitely miss on my Tesla. I can manage without it, but it would be a nice to have. Absolutely not a deal breaker though.

Lane centering is a deal breaker. You might not use this, but I do. I'm also concerned about the resale value of the car (I tend to keep my cars 3-4 years max). I can't imagine selling a luxury car in 2027 without it when even the most basic cars will have this capability by then.

I'm planning to test drive a BMW iX in two weeks, at the Montreal Electric Car auto show. That will give me a good comparison point, as the iX is apparently supremely comfortable on the road and very quiet as well. And it cost around 115,000$. If that's not satisfactory (too SUV like; since it's an SUV) there's always the BMW i5 coming up and the A6 e-tron.

I agree with you however that there are always compromises. In fact most of the negative points on my list are really nitpicking. Except for lane centering.

I would also add that the laggy navigation is a bit of a concern. I remember back in 2017 when I got my model S, navigation was similarly slow. After a couple of software updates it became almost unusable. I hope the issue in the Lucid is just due to software and not insufficient hardware.

 

[quantum]

A 360 degree view is something I definitely miss on my Tesla. I can manage without it, but it would be a nice to have. Absolutely not a deal breaker though.

Lane centering is a deal breaker. You might not use this, but I do. I'm also concerned about the resale value of the car (I tend to keep my cars 3-4 years max). I can't imagine selling a luxury car in 2027 without it when even the most basic cars will have this capability by then.

I'm planning to test drive a BMW iX in two weeks, at the Montreal Electric Car auto show. That will give me a good comparison point, as the iX is apparently supremely comfortable on the road and very quiet as well. And it cost around 115,000$. If that's not satisfactory (too SUV like; since it's an SUV) there's always the BMW i5 coming up and the A6 e-tron.

I agree with you however that there are always compromises. In fact most of the negative points on my list are really nitpicking. Except for lane centering.

I would also add that the laggy navigation is a bit of a concern. I remember back in 2017 when I got my model S, navigation was similarly slow. After a couple of software updates it became almost unusable. I hope the issue in the Lucid is just due to software and not insufficient hardware.

Every luxury car dumps its resale value, I wouldn’t buy based on resale. Buy the car you love! Lucid constantly improves software. The Germans don’t know how to build efficient well packaged EVs. No frunk, less range, handling not as good as the Lucid. There is a reason the Lucid was voted World Luxury Car by auto journalists!

I had mine for 3 months, best car I ever owned!

 

[Volund]

Every luxury car dumps its resale value, I wouldn’t buy based on resale. Buy the car you love! Lucid constantly improves software. The Germans don’t know how to build efficient well packaged EVs. No frunk, less range, handling not as good as the Lucid. There is a reason the Lucid was voted World Luxury Car by auto journalists!

I had mine for 3 months, best car I ever owned!

I agree, you don't buy a car of this value for resale purposes. You go with a budget car that can hold it's value at lower numbers and be desirable by the mass and average consumer.

 

[Steveinarizona]

A 360 degree view is something I definitely miss on my Tesla. I can manage without it, but it would be a nice to have. Absolutely not a deal breaker though.

Lane centering is a deal breaker. You might not use this, but I do. I'm also concerned about the resale value of the car (I tend to keep my cars 3-4 years max). I can't imagine selling a luxury car in 2027 without it when even the most basic cars will have this capability by then.

I'm planning to test drive a BMW iX in two weeks, at the Montreal Electric Car auto show. That will give me a good comparison point, as the iX is apparently supremely comfortable on the road and very quiet as well. And it cost around 115,000$. If that's not satisfactory (too SUV like; since it's an SUV) there's always the BMW i5 coming up and the A6 e-tron.

I agree with you however that there are always compromises. In fact most of the negative points on my list are really nitpicking. Except for lane centering.

I would also add that the laggy navigation is a bit of a concern. I remember back in 2017 when I got my model S, navigation was similarly slow. After a couple of software updates it became almost unusable. I hope the issue in the Lucid is just due to software and not insufficient hardware.

I have test driven the IX and it does drive well but you have to get past its looks and its immense size. I think the BMW I5 will be a real challenger to the Lucid Air.

 

[xponents]

I have test driven the IX and it does drive well but you have to get past its looks and its immense size. I think the BMW I5 will be a real challenger to the Lucid Air.

I mean, I would argue your definition of immense size is a bit smaller than others.

 

[HRoussel]

Well folks guess what. 3 days after my limited and unsatisfactory test drive I receive an email from Lucid about confirming my order.

WTF.

I just wrote to the sales advisor, cancelling my order. Let's see what they respond.

 

[xponents]

Well folks guess what. 3 days after my limited and unsatisfactory test drive I receive an email from Lucid about confirming my order.

WTF.

I just wrote to the sales advisor, cancelling my order. Let's see what they respond.

Uh.. you are supposed to receive a email prompting you to confirm.

 

[Steveinarizona]

Well folks guess what. 3 days after my limited and unsatisfactory test drive I receive an email from Lucid about confirming my order.

WTF.

I just wrote to the sales advisor, cancelling my order. Let's see what they respond.

I sent the message to Lucid to cancel my order and I didn't hear back for about a month when I got notice that Lucid had credited back the deposit to my credit card account. So don't expect a rapid response; on the other hand, I had absolutely no right to a refund and didn't ask for it. Lucid just decided to refund my deposit. So kudos to Lucid, which is cash constrained, to refund the deposits that were made final last year WHEN IT LEGALLY HAD NO NEED TO DO SO.

 

[HRoussel]

I sent the message to Lucid to cancel my order and I didn't hear back for about a month when I got notice that Lucid had credited back the deposit to my credit card account. So don't expect a rapid response; on the other hand, I had absolutely no right to a refund and didn't ask for it. Lucid just decided to refund my deposit. So kudos to Lucid, which is cash constrained, to refund the deposits that were made final last year WHEN IT LEGALLY HAD NO NEED TO DO SO.

So you mean no sale advisor tried to contact you and change your mind?

 

[Steveinarizona]

So you mean no sale advisor tried to contact you and change your mind?

Correct. I don't remember for sure but I probably said that one of the reasons was that I had acquired the GV60. If I had simply cancelled, I probably would have been contacted.

 

[HRoussel]

Correct. I don't remember for sure but I probably said that one of the reasons was that I had acquired the GV60. If I had simply cancelled, I probably would have been contacted.

In my case there was a followup call. Some apologies regarding the test drive. Then the unavoidable question of HA being part of standard DD or not. Today I got the confirmation in writing that it's not part of standard DD. I officially cancelled.

I have a reservation on a Rivian as well although this is longer term as they have not opened their SC yet here. I personally prefer sedans, but family is pushing for SUV.