Does Anyone Have Regrets? (non-owner asking)

[Bunnylebowski]

The MBUX system (Mercedes’ HMI software) is considered to be one of, if not the, the best in the industry. Owning it in an EQS, it out paces and classes anything I’ve owned or experienced (especially BMW)… I think even Doug Demuro has some comments around that.

I had MBUX in my car. It was very good, mostly better than the Lucid. The only thing I didn’t like was the excess of icons and scrolling, but the navigation was excellent, and the settings menus and ways to access key things from the steering wheel like tire pressure and trip data were great, and I miss that in the Lucid. But Lucid’s way of selecting drive modes, and controlling openings/cameras is better than MBUX and I like Lucid’s climate interface better where the seat heating/cooling and all vent modes are all in one place.

 

[Mountain Man]

I have zero regrets getting my DE. See my recent post in which I describe a brief moment of contemplating trading my Lucid Air for a Bentley Flying Spur. All it took was 2 hours in the Bentley to quickly dispatch any notion that any gasoline car could ever compete with the Lucid.

Once you’re committed to EV, then, it’s down to Taycan/E-Tron (terrible range, a little cramped), EQS (bfugly), Tesla MS (ubiquitous), and Lucid Air. The Air dominates all others. It is so fast, handles very well, is solid and well-engineered, is spacious, has great range and fast recharging, has luxury features like soft-close doors and power window shades and massage seats. And at least for now, it gets attention everywhere it goes. The only gripe (the weirdness with some of the software design like the radio and garage opener function), are minor things that are vastly outweighed by the greatness of the car generally.

 

[Slam08]

Ultimately, what I'd like to see is a tightening of the 5 cycle values and/or a loosening of the 2 cycle values. OR just a single cycle and then everything is properly relative.

The base model of the EPA testing is running a car on a treadmill. That’s fine for ice vehicles. But it’s honestly garbage for EVs. People should just stop using EPA estimated for EVs altogether unless they adjust their testing.

I know that real world tests are difficult. But I find real world tests that places like Edmunds and InsideEVs are much more useful.

 

[Steveinarizona]

My approach is to first take 20% off because car makers want us mostly only charging to 80%. Then take another 25% of EPA estimates to account for real driving. So with an EPA estimate of 400, I would get down to 400X0.8X.75 or a real life estimate of 240 miles. I think that is a realistic approach to not only the Lucid but other car makes. But if one starts at a higher point, then one still ends up much higher.

 

[Bbq9]

My approach is to first take 20% off because car makers want us mostly only charging to 80%. Then take another 25% of EPA estimates to account for real driving. So with an EPA estimate of 400, I would get down to 400X0.8X.75 or a real life estimate of 240 miles. I think that is a realistic approach to not only the Lucid but other car makes. But if one starts at a higher point, then one still ends up much higher.

I tend to think the same way - and as I am sure you’ve found - it is utterly irrelevant for normal driving. The range even where I have 50-60 miles each way means I drive any / every which way I can…

and for the road trips, I tend to want a human break after 250 miles.

 

[Bill55]

I tend to think the same way - and as I am sure you’ve found - it is utterly irrelevant for normal driving. The range even where I have 50-60 miles each way means I drive any / every which way I can…

and for the road trips, I tend to want a human break after 250 miles.

After 5000 miles and a variety of driving conditions I get .77 of EPA. That is without much effort at trying to extend the range. I would like Lucid to have a kWh remaining option in addition to the % of battery or (IMO the useless miles estimate). 3 miles per kWh or 3.5 miles per 1% of charge has been very accurate for me.

 

[Bbq9]

After 5000 miles and a variety of driving conditions I get .77 of EPA. That is without much effort at trying to extend the range. I would like Lucid to have a kWh remaining option in addition to the % of battery or (IMO the useless miles estimate). 3 miles per kWh or 3.5 miles per 1% of charge has been very accurate for me.

Me too.

both %SOC or KWH remaining AND estimated miles (which needs to be based on current average).
I also want To see a 5, 10, or even 15 min average miles/kwh in addition to the current miles/kwh since last charge

 

[DBV]

After 5000 miles and a variety of driving conditions I get .77 of EPA. That is without much effort at trying to extend the range. I would like Lucid to have a kWh remaining option in addition to the % of battery or (IMO the useless miles estimate). 3 miles per kWh or 3.5 miles per 1% of charge has been very accurate for me.

Does that mean in theory you could go almost 400 miles without a charge? At what speeds on the freeway are you traveling at? Thanks!

 

[Bill55]

Does that mean in theory you could go almost 400 miles without a charge? At what speeds on the freeway are you traveling at? Thanks!

I have the performance addition with 21 rims so 350-360 miles at 80.

Note I have been driving in temperature ranges from 40-90 with most being 50-80.

Also, if you want to try and extend the range it is in my experience better to drive conservatively when the battery is at a high state of charge to increase range.

 

[Tesla2.0]

Does that mean in theory you could go almost 400 miles without a charge? At what speeds on the freeway are you traveling at? Thanks!

Yes, theoretically. But you don’t really want to drive down to 5% then charge. So for 400 miles, I would say 1 charge around 10~15% for quick 15~20 min replenishment. I have driven 400 miles distance trial out with just 1 charge to have piece of mind. (You never know a fast EA charge station might have bad stalls). My experiment was before I found out about PlugShare app.

 

[Pete44]

Yes, theoretically. But you don’t really want to drive down to 5% then charge. So for 400 miles, I would say 1 charge around 10~15% for quick 15~20 min replenishment. I have driven 400 miles distance trial out with just 1 charge to have piece of mind. (You never know a fast EA charge station might have bad stalls). My experiment was before I found out about PlugShare app.

On my trip from Florida to CT, each leg indicated a 100% to 0% range of 350 miles to 400 miles, often at 85 mph. I'm going to find out how courageous I am on Thursday when I have a round trip to Philadelphia from Westport CT, a total of 315 miles, which includes 10 hours of idle time for the car. Any road near NYC has a max speed limit of 60 it seems so that will help for half the trip. I'll have a number of emergency backup stations in mind, just in case.

 

[hydbob]

On my trip from Florida to CT, each leg indicated a 100% to 0% range of 350 miles to 400 miles, often at 85 mph. I'm going to find out how courageous I am on Thursday when I have a round trip to Philadelphia from Westport CT, a total of 315 miles, which includes 10 hours of idle time for the car. Any road near NYC has a max speed limit of 60 it seems so that will help for half the trip. I'll have a number of emergency backup stations in mind, just in case.

Should be fine as long as the weather is decent and you don't query the car constantly with the app to wake it up. I was able to do 360 miles with the DEP on 21s. 100% -> 3%!

 

[thecodingart]

On my trip from Florida to CT, each leg indicated a 100% to 0% range of 350 miles to 400 miles, often at 85 mph. I'm going to find out how courageous I am on Thursday when I have a round trip to Philadelphia from Westport CT, a total of 315 miles, which includes 10 hours of idle time for the car. Any road near NYC has a max speed limit of 60 it seems so that will help for half the trip. I'll have a number of emergency backup stations in mind, just in case.

That’s disappointing. Sounds like the actual range is on par with the 580 EQS. I was honestly hoping it would exceed that range consistently (340-350 miles on a 100% charge).

 

[Steveinarizona]

That’s disappointing. Sounds like the actual range is on par with the 580 EQS. I was honestly hoping it would exceed that range consistently (340-350 miles on a 100% charge).

Are you comparing a real world report with official EPA type numbers? The test I have seen shows somewhat similar declines in real world:

Bjørn Nyland Range Tested The Mercedes-Benz EQS 580 4MATIC

The luxurious Mercedes-Benz EQS in the all-wheel drive 580 4MATIC version was recently range tested in cold weather by Bjørn Nyland.

insideevs.com

Your signature says you have a 580 EQS. What has been your real world experience?

 

[thecodingart]

Are you comparing a real world report with official EPA type numbers? The test I have seen shows somewhat similar declines in real world:

Bjørn Nyland Range Tested The Mercedes-Benz EQS 580 4MATIC

The luxurious Mercedes-Benz EQS in the all-wheel drive 580 4MATIC version was recently range tested in cold weather by Bjørn Nyland.

insideevs.com

Your signature says you have a 580 EQS. What has been your real world experience?

My real world results were from test drives between Orlando <-> Tampa and Orlando <-> Miami. My real world results in the 580 EQS was 340-350 miles on a 100% charge. I actually stressed tested this a few times averaging 80mph on I4 and a few other highways at a constant rate. Traveling slower has about a 20-30 mile range gain.

My Taycan 4S (without the extended battery) was hitting 230-220 miles in the same tests.

My 2013 Model S (85kw) (when I had it) was averaging 180 miles in the same test.

 

[Pete44]

My real world results were from test drives between Orlando <-> Tampa and Orlando <-> Miami. My real world results in the 580 EQS was 340-350 miles on a 100% charge. I actually stressed tested this a few times averaging 80mph on I4 and a few other highways at a constant rate. Traveling slower has about a 20-30 mile range gain.

My Taycan 4S (without the extended battery) was hitting 230-220 miles in the same tests.

My 2013 Model S (85kw) (when I had it) was averaging 180 miles in the same test.

Someone has better data than I do but I seem to remember there is a significant drop in mileage from 80 to 85. Maybe 10%? And mine was at 85 all the time rather than stress testing if a few times. I really was pretty happy with mileage the way I drove the car. And again this is before the "break in period" whatever that actually means.

 

[HC_79]

But you don’t really want to drive down to 5% then charge

I think you should go as low as you can get so 3% to 5% I would be comfortable with. The lower the % the faster your charge will start off.

 

[Rob Weiss]

I am pretty sure I am going to get a lot of heat from other members on this forum, but here is my question for the people who already have their Lucid vehicles and have spent some time living with them.
Do you have any regrets about buying the Lucid? What regrets do you have? If you love the vehicle in general, what do you wish was better?
What do you absolutely love about your vehicle?

Great vehicle but I am getting a real world range of only 300 miles, while not driving crazy… so that could be a deal killer.

 

[DBV]

Great vehicle but I am getting a real world range of only 300 miles, while not driving crazy… so that could be a deal killer.

What size tires are you using? Seems really low.

 

[thecodingart]

Great vehicle but I am getting a real world range of only 300 miles, while not driving crazy… so that could be a deal killer.

The past 3 weeks have been 3 trips up/down from Georgia on my end.

In Georgia, I'm averaging around 3.4 mi/kWh on my 21"s with New Aero Wheels in my AGT.
In Florida, I'm averaging around 2.9 mi/kWh.

My trips are ranging around 340 miles on a single charge.

The elevation seems to play a serious role in range on this particular vehicle as flatlands or near sea level definitely hurts my range. This was actually a really good time for a few range tests given the unfortunate heat waves where it's actually cooler in Florida then other states (for once).