Drive Comparison, GT, Touring, Pure??!

[joec]

Nice

I just had a loaner GT for a week, here's my general comparison between it and my Touring. For reference, the GT was manufactured 09/22, had 5k miles on it, and had 21" tires/wheels. My Touring was manufactured 11/22, has about 11k miles, and currently has the 19" A/S OEM tires/wheels, though I have driven with 21s on it in the past. The loaner was speed-limited to 88mph. I don't think the acceleration curve was altered below that at all though. It's weird and just a little unsettling how they limit speed, it doesn't just prevent further acceleration at 88mph, you hit 88 and it cuts your power, forcing you into a bit of regen.

Driving/handling:
The GT definitely felt heavier. Meaning both more planted on the road, but also less agile. It still feels incredibly powerful, but honestly, my Touring is a more exciting drive to me personally. To be clear on the planted-ness, my Touring has never felt lacking in that department, the GT just felt... well, heavier. I'm sure the GT has more power in the upper end, but having lived with both of them now, I can't say I care.

Seats:
The GT had the 20-way massage seats. What I didn't realize is that those GT seats actually have more of a side bolster. That was snug, it felt great in the corners, but personally I won't miss it too much back in my Touring. The other adjustment options don't really matter to me. Maybe I'm just too averagely shaped. The massage feature is fantastic, and the one thing I really wish I had in my Touring. You folks ordering now are lucky with the added customizability, Touring + massage would be my ideal combo. I wish the intensity went another level or two higher, and I wish it somehow extended up to my shoulders. But if the idea is to be a GT car and take the edge off of long road trips, rather than to beat the daily stresses out of me, it absolutely hits that mark.

Doors:
I carried the fob for the loaner the whole time, as that was the only option. I had zero issues with waiting to unlock it. Proximity unlock was on, and it managed to unlock maybe 50% of the time right as I walked up to it. The other 50% I pressed a door handle and it opened pretty much instantly. I have proximity unlock off in my car, maybe that makes the difference, but I often have to wait a couple seconds after pushing a handle for it to unlock. I said it elsewhere, but the new iOS mobile key works instantly with my car as well.

Unique issues - specific to that loaner car, but indicative of production differences between cars. I'm mainly including these in case they help someone realize they have an annoyance that can be fixed:
- It's raining lightly today. The windshield wipers in the GT were not very effective. I have a strong suspicion that this is because the wipers and the windshield were dirty. I could see kind of oily looking spots on the windshield getting smeared around. I don't think the wiper speed or detection were any worse. If you have wiper issues, clean your wiper blades and windshield. Regularly. With alcohol.
- The GT had a lot more squeaks and creaks than my car, even though it had half the mileage. One sample is not a trend, but I hope this says that the fit/finish was on an upwards track, even within 2022. I think the "Bobby foam" would have fixed the loudest of the issues, but not all.
- CarPlay freaked out on me in that GT once. The CarPlay button flashed up on the home screen, disappeared, flashed, disappeared, several times, then it just wouldn't connect despite me toggling wifi on my phone and toggling bluetooth in the car and all that. I had to do the Air logo reset for it to reconnect. I haven't had CarPlay issues in my Touring in months.
- The passenger footwell woofer may have been on its way to needing the tape fix, it had a bit of a rattle at times.
- I think the seat needed re-homing, it made an unhappy "trying-trying-trying-trying-nope" noise at the limits of its adjustment rather than just stopping like mine does.
- No idea why, but location in CarPlay was horribly slow to start working in that GT. Last night I drove probably 8 city blocks before the "me" on the map stopped spinning around getting confused in the spot where I started. I do think location is provided from the car through CarPlay, so it's not unreasonable for a different car to make a difference, but wow that was bad. Every time. It's never that bad in my car.

On a lighter note, this was the first Quantum Gray I've really paid attention to. I like colorful cars, but boy does that dark gray look good. Harder to clean than my Cosmos Silver though I think. Speaking of which, the light interior (santa cruz?) was, as you might expect, dirty. Love the walnut accents, but there's just no way that light footwell would ever be clean in my life and it would drive me mad.

Nice writeup.

I drove two different Touring rentals from Enterprise recently. (The first one had camera issues, so I returned it and asked for a second one.) I immediately Bobby foamed each of them. I don't know how anyone deals with that rear deck rattle. Once I did that, both rentals felt solid as a rock. At this point, Lucid should just foam the cars at the factory and be done with it.

I agree with you that Grand Tourings feel heavier. I was one of the early Tourings to be delivered, so I could only test drive with a GT before getting my car. I immediately noticed the difference when I got into my car for the first time. (I've since driven a Dream Edition as well, and it's similarly heavier.) I wouldn't say the weight bothers me so much, but it does make the car feel different in the sharp turns, especially. I, too, think the extra power would be lost on me. But I'd take it if you handed it to me, of course.

Makes me want to try the RWD Pure to see how much lighter again that one feels. I wouldn't want to sacrifice even more range, though.

I've always said Touring is the best balance of power / range / feel of all the Airs. But what do I know?

My next Lucid will definitely have massage seats, though.

 

[victoryroad]

I just had a loaner GT for a week, here's my general comparison between it and my Touring. For reference, the GT was manufactured 09/22, had 5k miles on it, and had 21" tires/wheels. My Touring was manufactured 11/22, has about 11k miles, and currently has the 19" A/S OEM tires/wheels, though I have driven with 21s on it in the past. The loaner was speed-limited to 88mph. I don't think the acceleration curve was altered below that at all though. It's weird and just a little unsettling how they limit speed, it doesn't just prevent further acceleration at 88mph, you hit 88 and it cuts your power, forcing you into a bit of regen.

Driving/handling:
The GT definitely felt heavier. Meaning both more planted on the road, but also less agile. It still feels incredibly powerful, but honestly, my Touring is a more exciting drive to me personally. To be clear on the planted-ness, my Touring has never felt lacking in that department, the GT just felt... well, heavier. I'm sure the GT has more power in the upper end, but having lived with both of them now, I can't say I care.

Seats:
The GT had the 20-way massage seats. What I didn't realize is that those GT seats actually have more of a side bolster. That was snug, it felt great in the corners, but personally I won't miss it too much back in my Touring. The other adjustment options don't really matter to me. Maybe I'm just too averagely shaped. The massage feature is fantastic, and the one thing I really wish I had in my Touring. You folks ordering now are lucky with the added customizability, Touring + massage would be my ideal combo. I wish the intensity went another level or two higher, and I wish it somehow extended up to my shoulders. But if the idea is to be a GT car and take the edge off of long road trips, rather than to beat the daily stresses out of me, it absolutely hits that mark.

Doors:
I carried the fob for the loaner the whole time, as that was the only option. I had zero issues with waiting to unlock it. Proximity unlock was on, and it managed to unlock maybe 50% of the time right as I walked up to it. The other 50% I pressed a door handle and it opened pretty much instantly. I have proximity unlock off in my car, maybe that makes the difference, but I often have to wait a couple seconds after pushing a handle for it to unlock. I said it elsewhere, but the new iOS mobile key works instantly with my car as well.

Unique issues - specific to that loaner car, but indicative of production differences between cars. I'm mainly including these in case they help someone realize they have an annoyance that can be fixed:
- It's raining lightly today. The windshield wipers in the GT were not very effective. I have a strong suspicion that this is because the wipers and the windshield were dirty. I could see kind of oily looking spots on the windshield getting smeared around. I don't think the wiper speed or detection were any worse. If you have wiper issues, clean your wiper blades and windshield. Regularly. With alcohol.
- The GT had a lot more squeaks and creaks than my car, even though it had half the mileage. One sample is not a trend, but I hope this says that the fit/finish was on an upwards track, even within 2022. I think the "Bobby foam" would have fixed the loudest of the issues, but not all.
- CarPlay freaked out on me in that GT once. The CarPlay button flashed up on the home screen, disappeared, flashed, disappeared, several times, then it just wouldn't connect despite me toggling wifi on my phone and toggling bluetooth in the car and all that. I had to do the Air logo reset for it to reconnect. I haven't had CarPlay issues in my Touring in months.
- The passenger footwell woofer may have been on its way to needing the tape fix, it had a bit of a rattle at times.
- I think the seat needed re-homing, it made an unhappy "trying-trying-trying-trying-nope" noise at the limits of its adjustment rather than just stopping like mine does.
- No idea why, but location in CarPlay was horribly slow to start working in that GT. Last night I drove probably 8 city blocks before the "me" on the map stopped spinning around getting confused in the spot where I started. I do think location is provided from the car through CarPlay, so it's not unreasonable for a different car to make a difference, but wow that was bad. Every time. It's never that bad in my car.

On a lighter note, this was the first Quantum Gray I've really paid attention to. I like colorful cars, but boy does that dark gray look good. Harder to clean than my Cosmos Silver though I think. Speaking of which, the light interior (santa cruz?) was, as you might expect, dirty. Love the walnut accents, but there's just no way that light footwell would ever be clean in my life and it would drive me mad.

Great writeup. I have not driven a Touring, only my AGT and a few AGT loaners. No squeaks or rattles. A useful perspective on CarPlay reliability., as I experience repeated CarPlay malfunctions and shutdowns. This is after several Bobby CarPlay reset procedures. 10/22 build. Nearly daily Air resets and checks of the iPhone control function that half the time connects to the car audio, not CarPlay audio. About half the time CarPlay starts upon entry but the other half requires the connection, device, start Carplay, which works sometimes. Other times I find that restarting my iPhone activates CarPlay. Otherwise a brilliant driving experience, short or long haul with 3.6 miles/kWh overall.

 

[MJAir23TheGoat]

Had a touring for two weeks while my GT was in service. The GT was better across-the-board. ( imo) . Touring was still a pretty solid loaner overall.

 

[ColonelBadger]

Nice

Nice writeup.

I drove two different Touring rentals from Enterprise recently. (The first one had camera issues, so I returned it and asked for a second one.) I immediately Bobby foamed each of them. I don't know how anyone deals with that rear deck rattle. Once I did that, both rentals felt solid as a rock. At this point, Lucid should just foam the cars at the factory and be done with it.

I agree with you that Grand Tourings feel heavier. I was one of the early Tourings to be delivered, so I could only test drive with a GT before getting my car. I immediately noticed the difference when I got into my car for the first time. (I've since driven a Dream Edition as well, and it's similarly heavier.) I wouldn't say the weight bothers me so much, but it does make the car feel different in the sharp turns, especially. I, too, think the extra power would be lost on me. But I'd take it if you handed it to me, of course.

Makes me want to try the RWD Pure to see how much lighter again that one feels. I wouldn't want to sacrifice even more range, though.

I've always said Touring is the best balance of power / range / feel of all the Airs. But what do I know?

My next Lucid will definitely have massage seats, though.

I have the rear deck rattle with heavy bass. Have Lucid coming to sort it this week. So this is a regular issue with the Air huh ?

 

[Lucken]

I have the rear deck rattle with heavy bass. Have Lucid coming to sort it this week. So this is a regular issue with the Air huh ?

After reading so many complaints about the lack of bass, I have to ask, 'what heavy bass?'.

 

[ColonelBadger]

After reading so many complaints about the lack of bass, I have to ask, 'what heavy bass?'.

Well maybe it’s the music genre but I can definitely get the bass going good in my Air. The bass is at least as good as my previous Audi S4.

 

[borski]

After reading so many complaints about the lack of bass, I have to ask, 'what heavy bass?'.

The kind that plays on any track with “heavy bass.” There are lots.

Most tracks don’t need/have “heavy bass.” Those that do still rattle bones though lol.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

Yea that’s what I thought. Unsure what @Cosmo Cruz meant

Yeah I don't know what I mean either.


...after 18 months of ownership I've never been in Sprint mode,
and only a few moments in Swift mode.
never seen the Blue Bear.

Driving home last night on the resurfaced PA turnpike. Just put on the 21's.

Out of the silence wife says: " Husband, this is a really nice car."

yes. yes it is.

some day I may let her drive it.

 

[Lucken]

The kind that plays on any track with “heavy bass.” There are lots.

Most tracks don’t need/have “heavy bass.” Those that do still rattle bones though lol.

I guess I should have put in a winky, I was being facetious.

 

[momo3605]

Yeah I don't know what I mean either.


...after 18 months of ownership I've never been in Sprint mode,
and only a few moments in Swift mode.
never seen the Blue Bear.

Driving home last night on the resurfaced PA turnpike. Just put on the 21's.

Out of the silence wife says: " Husband, this is a really nice car."

yes. yes it is.

some day I may let her drive it.

Sprint isn't as crazy as you think. You can still just drive it normally in sprint mode. The only difference you will feel immediately is the slightly stiffer suspension. Actually ironically, i think the throttle is more trigger happy in swift than it is in sprint. It's a similar design to what Porsche does. Sport is for aggressive street driving, so they make it super edgy, and Sport + is meant for track, so the pedal feel is backed out to be slower and more linear.

I can see not wanting to try launch mode. Unless you like the feeling of being hammered into your seat or roller coasters, probably not for you. But I would say you paid for 800hp...at least let the poor car stretch it legs at some point