Driving Comparison of the three "cheap" Airs (Pure, Touring and Grand Touring)

[petergottlieb]

So, I have a 2025 Air Pure, but through the wonders of a couple of trips to the shop, I have been able to put more than 100 miles on both the Air Touring and Grand Touring. TLDR: The absolute brute force of the Grand Touring is fun, but after driving all three, I like driving my Pure best. There is a caveat here of course, the Touring and the Grand Touring are 2022s and each have about 15,000 loaner miles on them, so they are a bit worn. So, what does the Pure do better than the other two?

1. It is significantly quieter on the road. Part of this is from the motor whine that both the Touring and Grand Touring have - though I think I have heard this has been addressed. But even so, the glass roof is pretty, but seems to increase wind noise quite a bit.
2. Steering feel. My Pure feels toss-able and light at the steering wheel. Both the Touring and Grand Touring feel heavier and even a bit ungainly. I'm not sure if this is steering tuning, if so maybe newer models feel lighter, or just the fact that there is a lot more weight in the front of the other two.
3. Efficiency. The Pure seems to be about 25 percent more efficient than the other two. No surprises here given the difference in the battery sizes, but I can easily hit 4 miles / KW in my Pure, the other two are closer to 3 on the same roads.
4. The larger wheels are nice to look at, but the 19s on the Pure are noticeably more comfortable in everyday driving.

So, what are some positives to the Touring and Grand Touring?

1. Holy Mother of Acceleration Batman!: The Pure is quick and very capable. If someone is not used to it, a 0-60 run in it is eye-opening. The Touring dials that up a couple of notches. The Grand Touring in launch mode will literally drain the blood from your face.

2. This is a packaging issue (things that are available on the Pure, but I don't have). But both cars have convinced me that even with its limitations, if I had to do it over again I would have purchased Dream Drive Pro. Highway assist isn't perfect, but really nice. It really does lower the workload on longer freeway travel.

So, I'm sure there is some of this that is about feeling good about what I already purchased, but that said, I remain really impressed by how well the base level Pure version of the Air stacks up to the other ones. If you are going back and forth between them, don't discount the Pure just because it's cheaper. Drive it next to one of the other ones and see what you think.

P.S. My local studio (Tyson's VA) service rep said they are expecting a Gravity display vehicle at the end of the month (March). May it be so!

 

[SaratogaLefty]

First of all I learned early in my career to never use the word "cheaper" in regard to any of my company's products! Use the term "less expensive" please. While I purchased the Dream Edition and have absolutely no regrets I am glad to hear you are happy with your Pure. Reality is the "less expensive" Lucid cars are the future for the company if we want it to succeed and become profitable, so it is very important that Pure buyers remain pleased with their purchase and spread the word to other potential buyers.

 

[Steveinarizona]

First of all I learned early in my career to never use the word "cheaper" in regard to any of my company's products! Use the term "less expensive" please. While I purchased the Dream Edition and have absolutely no regrets I am glad to hear you are happy with your Pure. Reality is the "less expensive" Lucid cars are the future for the company if we want it to succeed and become profitable, so it is very important that Pure buyers remain pleased with their purchase and spread the word to other potential buyers.

There is one place where I insist on using the word "cheaper". This is where an auto manufacturer puts every control on the info screen and falsely calls it "minimalist" design. The only word to properly describe it is "cheaper".

Luxury cars should have switches and buttons for features that one uses while using the car. I am okay with putting everything one does in prep for driving being on the info screen.

 

[hmp10]

I remain really impressed by how well the base level Pure version of the Air stacks up to the other ones.

You are in good company. Several professional car reviewers have felt the Pure may actually be the most desirable Air in the model lineup, and not just in terms of value. In particular, they have found it the best-handling model in the lineup outside the Sapphire.

 

[petergottlieb]

There is one place where I insist on using the word "cheaper". This is where an auto manufacturer puts every control on the info screen and falsely calls it "minimalist" design. The only word to properly describe it is "cheaper".

Luxury cars should have switches and buttons for features that one uses while using the car. I am okay with putting everything one does in prep for driving being on the info screen.

First of all I learned early in my career to never use the word "cheaper" in regard to any of my company's products! Use the term "less expensive" please. While I purchased the Dream Edition and have absolutely no regrets I am glad to hear you are happy with your Pure. Reality is the "less expensive" Lucid cars are the future for the company if we want it to succeed and become profitable, so it is very important that Pure buyers remain pleased with their purchase and spread the word to other potential buyers.

So, I didn't expect my use of "cheap" to be the most exciting thing about this thread...To say the obvious (at least I thought it was obvious), my tongue was firmly in cheek. Lucid doesn't make anything that's cheap, not even their baseball caps....

 

[AirQuality]

Great overview and one that I agree with completely! I test drove the Pure RWD and agree that it has a level of lightness and tossability that the higher trims don’t have. Of course, the AGT especially is like a guided missile (based on my own loaner experience) and there’s nothing wrong with that either.

I wound up getting a Pure AWD (a detuned Touring) for various practical reasons, and I love it, but there is something to the simplicity of the Pure RWD. I haven’t driven a Sapphire yet, but I understand the analogy. And if a Sapphire with its GT-like mass can drive like a Pure RWD, that is truly insane.

I guess all of the above was neither here nor there, but it’s discussions like these where the key fob, logo resets, etc fade into irrelevance.

 

[RM-S8]

Lol, talking about semantics.
Cheaper = less money.
So silly.

 

[borski]

Lol, talking about semantics.
Cheaper = less money.
So silly.

You’re right, but words do have implications. “Cheaper” does imply lower quality as compared to “inexpensive.”

As a more concrete example, saying someone is “cheap” vs “frugal” mean essentially the same thing but have very different implications. Frugality employs value as a bottom line, whereas cheapness uses price as the bottom line.

I have no dog in this fight, and what’s more important is that meaning was clarified and understood (that’s the whole point of language, anyway), but two words meaning almost the same thing doesn’t make them entirely interchangeable.

 

[illopp00]

The Pure is about 500-800 lbs lighter than the other two. My Touring is just under 5000 lbs with the 19in wheels and steel roof and I can definitely feel it compared to the GT loaner with 21in and glass roof. They both have the same 885 ft-lb torque, so all the GT power advantage is above 70 mph up top which you can see in all the Car and Driver testing.

 

[Zinee]

Pure RWD w/ 19" inch wheels owner here, I had a GT loaner for two months. Agree with just about everything from OP. I much prefer the handling and quiet cabin of the Pure over the GT. Yes the GT has eyeball-peeling acceleration, but for real world use the Pure has more HP than I'll ever need. Only thing I wish is that glass canopy was an option on the Pure trim.

 

[Blue Lectroid]

I have driven all three pretty extensively and all of them 2025’s. My dad has a 2025 Touring, I have a 2025 GT and I originally had a 2025 Pure on order before switching to the GT. For full disclosure, I have driven the Pure the least of the three…a total of just an hour or so over three test drives. I have 2000 miles on my GT and have driven a Touring several hundred miles.

I also drove a 2023 Touring for a test drive and had a 2022 GT loaner for 600 miles.

First off, for the OP, you cannot compare the 2025 cars to what came before. There have been a lot of meaningful changes to the cars…including the front motor mounts that significantly reduced the motor whine from earlier years. They are NOT as quiet as the Pure, BUT they are MUCH quieter than the earlier cars.

For efficiency, yes, the Pure is significantly more efficient than either the Touring or the GT. BUT, the 2025’s are also much more efficient than the earlier versions of the cars, so the difference you’ve experienced between the cars you drove is less when comparing all 2025’s. By way of example, based on EPA, the 2025 Pure is roughly 17% more efficient than the GT. That “feels” about right. I observed and almost 20% increase in efficiency between the 2022 GT and my 2025…

I absolutely loved the feel of the front end of the Pure…it does feel much more like a driver’s car of old and this was why I originally placed an order for the Pure. So why did I end up buying the GT?

The power of the GT makes for an incredible overall driving experience and when you push the car hard it really comes alive. The Pure is not underpowered at all, but it also lacks a level of real oomph the way the GT does. The reality in my driving (and this is where perhaps I am different than the OP), is that additional power is enjoyable to me more often than the nominally better steering feel. When the GT and the Pure are in Sprint mode, their handling is closer than in Smooth mode (at least IME).

But the biggest issue for me with the Pure was the reduced regenerative braking. I just did not like the one pedal driving anywhere near as much as on either the Touring or GT. So this coupled with the extra go-pedal fun, AND the excess range all added up to me choosing the GT.

In sum, my rank forgetting about cost is GT, Pure, Touring. Factoring in cost it would be Pure, GT, Touring.

Your mileage WILL vary and I love that we have all three models to choose from as IMHO, any Air is easily the best driving sedan on the road at present…

 

[petergottlieb]

I have driven all three pretty extensively and all of them 2025’s. My dad has a 2025 Touring, I have a 2025 GT and I originally had a 2025 Pure on order
before switching to the GT. For full disclosure, I have driven the Pure the least of the three…a total of just an hour or so over three test drives. I have 2000 miles on my GT and have driven a Touring several hundred miles.

I also drove a 2023 Touring for a test drive and had a 2022 GT loaner for 600 miles.

First off, for the OP, you cannot compare the 2025 cars to what came before. There have been a lot of meaningful changes to the cars…including the front motor mounts that significantly reduced the motor whine from earlier years. They are NOT as quiet as the Pure, BUT they are MUCH quieter than the earlier cars.

For efficiency, yes, the Pure is significantly more efficient than either the Touring or the GT. BUT, the 2025’s are also much more efficient than the earlier versions of the cars, so the difference you’ve experienced between the cars you drove is less when comparing all 2025’s. By way of example, based on EPA, the 2025 Pure is roughly 17% more efficient than the GT. That “feels” about right. I observed and almost 20% increase in efficiency between the 2022 GT and my 2025…

I absolutely loved the feel of the front end of the Pure…it does feel much more like a driver’s car of old and this was why I originally placed an order for the Pure. So why did I end up buying the GT?

The power of the GT makes for an incredible overall driving experience and when you push the car hard it really comes alive. The Pure is not underpowered at all, but it also lacks a level of real oomph the way the GT does. The reality in my driving (and this is where perhaps I am different than the OP), is that additional power is enjoyable to me more often than the nominally better steering feel. When the GT and the Pure are in Sprint mode, their handling is closer than in Smooth mode (at least IME).

But the biggest issue for me with the Pure was the reduced regenerative braking. I just did not like the one pedal driving anywhere near as much as on either the Touring or GT. So this coupled with the extra go-pedal fun, AND the excess range all added up to me choosing the GT.

In sum, my rank forgetting about cost is GT, Pure, Touring. Factoring in cost it would be Pure, GT, Touring.

Your mileage WILL vary and I love that we have all three models to choose from as IMHO, any Air is easily the best driving sedan on the road at present…

That's so interesting. I didn't mention it because I know it's very subjective, but my experience is opposite yours when it comes to regenerative braking and one pedal driving. I find it easy to do in the Pure. It stops quickly when I let off the pedal. In both the Touring and Grand Touring, I found myself needing to use the brakes a lot more. Both the Pure and the Touring/Grand Touring were set on standard regenerative braking. If I bumped regenerative braking up to high in them, it was about the same as my Pure (which only has a low and a standard setting for regen).

I thought and am glad to hear confirmed that there have been a lot of updates to the Touring and Grand Touring between 2022 - 25. Lucid has made a lot of progress in the last three years.

 

[Blue Lectroid]

That's so interesting. I didn't mention it because I know it's very subjective, but my experience is opposite yours when it comes to regenerative braking and one pedal driving. I find it easy to do in the Pure. It stops quickly when I let off the pedal. In both the Touring and Grand Touring, I found myself needing to use the brakes a lot more. Both the Pure and the Touring/Grand Touring were set on standard regenerative braking. If I bumped regenerative braking up to high in them, it was about the same as my Pure (which only has a low and a standard setting for regen).

I thought and am glad to hear confirmed that there have been a lot of updates to the Touring and Grand Touring between 2022 - 25. Lucid has made a lot of progress in the last three years.

Hmmm, are you sure you were comparing cars with the same state of battery charge? If the batteries are near full (or cold), Regen can be significantly reduced. From a pure physics perspective, the Pure cannot generate the same regen stopping power with only one motor. I found the difference very noticeable.

 

[petergottlieb]

Hmmm, are you sure you were comparing cars with the same state of battery charge? If the batteries are near full (or cold), Regen can be significantly reduced. From a pure physics perspective, the Pure cannot generate the same regen stopping power with only one motor. I found the difference very noticeable.

Yes, I'm definitely familiar with the "reduced regenerative braking." It is not this. I have also been surprised by this, so much so that the first time I just assumed it was a fluke related to a particular car, but both of the duel motor cars acted the same way. I definitely get more regenerative slow-down in my pure than either of the duel motor 2022 cars I spent time with.

 

[Blue Lectroid]

That is really odd, based on my understanding from a fair number of other owners, atypical.

 

[petergottlieb]

That is really odd, based on my understanding from a fair number of other owners, atypical.

Maybe so. My sample group is small, but it's bigger than one

 

[Blue Lectroid]

Maybe so. My sample group is small, but it's bigger than one

The best part? We each like our own version of the Air best, right? That’s really all that matters!!

 

[borski]

Are you sure all the vehicles were in high regen and not standard?

 

[Blue Lectroid]

Are you sure all the vehicles were in high regen and not standard?

@borski , that is what I was thinking too!

 

[petergottlieb]

@borski , that is what I was thinking too!

In standard, the Pure’s regen is significantly more noticeable than the standard regen in the 22 Touring and GT. Setting them to high regen made them about equivalent to the Pure. The Pure doesn’t have a high regen setting. Just low and standard. As I said above, this surprised me, and my sample size is small (two), but it wasn’t a one off thing. I have driven all three cars a significant amount of time and it was consistent and not related to charge level.

TLDR - “high” in the 2022 T and GT in the loaner fleet at my service center equaled “standard” in my Pure. Why? Don’t know. Is it supposed to be that way? Don’t know. But I’ll take an oath on a book of your choice that it was.