Initial user experience

[Temmrich]

I've just passed the 60 day point on my '24 Lucid Air GT. Initial reactions: Superb physical build - much more elegant and tight than anything in the Tesla lineup. Raw drive quality is also quite good. Speed, handling, feel. That said, the overall experience has been quite disappointing - better said, below expectations. I got in the queue in 2020 for an Air, came up for delivery in early 2022 and paused on shipment to let them get a little more mature. Leased the '24 60 days ago. It seems they are trying to reinvent baseline functions that have been in the market for literally decades. They didn't need to re-program how to operate the turn signal, or entertainment systems, or wipers, or proximity door unlocks.....the list goes on. The 2023 Genesis GV70 i sold to get this was orders of magnitude more sophisticated and tested in electronic operations....its just the engine that was ICE. It seems Lucid is unaware that any of this exists? With each software release there is a list of functions that become disabled as a result - - blind side cameras, door entry, etc. I get it if i was a beta customer, but this is a $126,000 vehicle sold at list price. This is a vehicle that i rely on for stability and safety, and yes, convenience (as-in things work) - I don't want to be part of a sophomore class software development project. Not sure why they would think customers would be infinitely patient on pretty basic quality assurance. Net, i would highly recommend leasing vs. buying. Much more maturation to go than i had expected - on things that are widely available and reliable in the market today. I truly hope they make it but they have a long way to go in change of approach and priorities. Musk says it all the time: inventing is pretty easy - production is hard.

 

[Bobby]

I've just passed the 60 day point on my '24 Lucid Air GT. Initial reactions: Superb physical build - much more elegant and tight than anything in the Tesla lineup. Raw drive quality is also quite good. Speed, handling, feel. That said, the overall experience has been quite disappointing - better said, below expectations. I got in the queue in 2020 for an Air, came up for delivery in early 2022 and paused on shipment to let them get a little more mature. Leased the '24 60 days ago. It seems they are trying to reinvent baseline functions that have been in the market for literally decades. They didn't need to re-program how to operate the turn signal, or entertainment systems, or wipers, or proximity door unlocks.....the list goes on. The 2023 Genesis GV70 i sold to get this was orders of magnitude more sophisticated and tested in electronic operations....it’s just the engine that was ICE. It seems Lucid is unaware that any of this exists? With each software release there is a list of functions that become disabled as a result - - blind side cameras, door entry, etc. I get it if i was a beta customer, but this is a $126,000 vehicle sold at list price. This is a vehicle that i rely on for stability and safety, and yes, convenience (as-in things work) - I don't want to be part of a sophomore class software development project. Not sure why they would think customers would be infinitely patient on pretty basic quality assurance. Net, i would highly recommend leasing vs. buying. Much more maturation to go than i had expected - on things that are widely available and reliable in the market today. I truly hope they make it but they have a long way to go in change of approach and priorities. Musk says it all the time: inventing is pretty easy - production is hard.

I completely disagree with a lot of what you said here I find the software to be elegant and, at this point, bug free. They have been adding enormous amount of features.

 

[borski]

It seems they are trying to reinvent baseline functions that have been in the market for literally decades. They didn't need to re-program how to operate the turn signal

They didn’t. It works exactly the same way as every other turn signal in every other car. In fact, you can now turn it off in either direction, since Tesla decided to buck the convention and make you turn off the turn signal in the same direction instead of the opposite.

Either way, you can do it either way in the Air.

or entertainment systems

They didn’t. It’s Android Automotive. Not sure what you mean.

or wipers

They didn’t. They’re wipers, and not the first to release windshield washer fluid from the wipers themselves. I have never had an issue with the wipers.

That CT wiper tho

or proximity door unlocks.....the list goes on.

Have you watched and tried the suggestions in Bobby’s video on mobile key? Have you tried reinstalling it?

Mine works fine. Alternatively, there is always the fob.

The 2023 Genesis GV70 i sold to get this was orders of magnitude more sophisticated and tested in electronic operations....its just the engine that was ICE.

Cool. Glad you liked your GV70. Not sure what relevance that has here.

I liked my Mazda 3. It was better in some ways than your GV70, and it blew cold air at my face faster and harder than my Air.

The Air does a hundred things better than either of those cars though, and vice-versa, because no car is perfect.

With each software release there is a list of functions that become disabled as a result - - blind side cameras, door entry, etc.

Come again? I have yet to have my blind side cameras, door entry, or literally any other function “become disabled as a result” of a software release.

Musk says it all the time: inventing is pretty easy - production is hard.

Musk says a lot of things, all the time. Hundreds of people have said “ideas are easy, execution is hard.” It’s literally the most common refrain of any startup.

Musk does not have some unique insight there. Tesla simply went through the learning process to get to scale. What they forgot was that once you’re at scale you can’t stop innovating, or you get beaten eventually as you do nothing but compete on price. It’s the death-knell of many large corporations who get beaten by upstarts.

I’m not saying Lucid has beaten them, by any stretch. But there’s a reason people are excited by what’s coming out of Lucid and not Tesla for the last 4-5 years.

 

[fisheral]

I do wish they hadn't tried to reinvent wipers though. Every other car I've had let me choose so many gradations of wiper speed.

 

[dcmw1]

As a

I've just passed the 60 day point on my '24 Lucid Air GT. Initial reactions: Superb physical build - much more elegant and tight than anything in the Tesla lineup. Raw drive quality is also quite good. Speed, handling, feel. That said, the overall experience has been quite disappointing - better said, below expectations. I got in the queue in 2020 for an Air, came up for delivery in early 2022 and paused on shipment to let them get a little more mature. Leased the '24 60 days ago. It seems they are trying to reinvent baseline functions that have been in the market for literally decades. They didn't need to re-program how to operate the turn signal, or entertainment systems, or wipers, or proximity door unlocks.....the list goes on. The 2023 Genesis GV70 i sold to get this was orders of magnitude more sophisticated and tested in electronic operations....it’s just the engine that was ICE. It seems Lucid is unaware that any of this exists? With each software release there is a list of functions that become disabled as a result - - blind side cameras, door entry, etc. I get it if i was a beta customer, but this is a $126,000 vehicle sold at list price. This is a vehicle that i rely on for stability and safety, and yes, convenience (as-in things work) - I don't want to be part of a sophomore class software development project. Not sure why they would think customers would be infinitely patient on pretty basic quality assurance. Net, i would highly recommend leasing vs. buying. Much more maturation to go than i had expected - on things that are widely available and reliable in the market today. I truly hope they make it but they have a long way to go in change of approach and priorities. Musk says it all the time: inventing is pretty easy - production is

I've just passed the 60 day point on my '24 Lucid Air GT. Initial reactions: Superb physical build - much more elegant and tight than anything in the Tesla lineup. Raw drive quality is also quite good. Speed, handling, feel. That said, the overall experience has been quite disappointing - better said, below expectations. I got in the queue in 2020 for an Air, came up for delivery in early 2022 and paused on shipment to let them get a little more mature. Leased the '24 60 days ago. It seems they are trying to reinvent baseline functions that have been in the market for literally decades. They didn't need to re-program how to operate the turn signal, or entertainment systems, or wipers, or proximity door unlocks.....the list goes on. The 2023 Genesis GV70 i sold to get this was orders of magnitude more sophisticated and tested in electronic operations....its just the engine that was ICE. It seems Lucid is unaware that any of this exists? With each software release there is a list of functions that become disabled as a result - - blind side cameras, door entry, etc. I get it if i was a beta customer, but this is a $126,000 vehicle sold at list price. This is a vehicle that i rely on for stability and safety, and yes, convenience (as-in things work) - I don't want to be part of a sophomore class software development project. Not sure why they would think customers would be infinitely patient on pretty basic quality assurance. Net, i would highly recommend leasing vs. buying. Much more maturation to go than i had expected - on things that are widely available and reliable in the market today. I truly hope they make it but they have a long way to go in change of approach and priorities. Musk says it all the time: inventing is pretty easy - production is hard.

As a potential new owner, I’m interested in your thoughts on the car so thanks for sharing them. I’m assuming you test drove a demo car prior to purchasing it. Were all of those issues present during your demo test drive or have they been introduced with new software updates after purchasing? I’ve test driven the Lucid twice and during the test drive I was impressed with pretty much everything. Obviously test drives don’t show the full picture, which is why I’m curious if your test drive experience was dramatically different than your 60 day ownership experience. Thanks again for your thoughts.

 

[HC_79]

I find the software to be elegant and, at this point, bug free

C’mon…. The software has vastly improved but saying it’s bug free is a pretty tall stretch.

 

[DeaneG]

I'm going to respectfully disagree on most of the OP's points, while realizing that everyone will have their own perspective.

The minor glitches I've experienced over the past 22 months have quickly sorted themselves out. I have no issue with windshield wipers, turn signals or other physical controls. They work just like those on our other cars. I am looking forward to the revised UX and hoping for improved navigation. I use the fob exclusively, and it has been reliable. The car's driving experience is truly outstanding. Software functionality is still a work in (so far modest) progress.

 

[Temmrich]

I completely disagree with a lot of what you said here I find the software to be elegant and, at this point, bug free. They have been adding enormous amount of features.

i'm glad you do and that your experience was different. my comments are not intended to be agreed with or not. they are the experience i have had. for example, for the last 3 days i cannot use my key fob after the last software update. it is what it is.

 

[jbawden]

Ok so you purchased/leased a car from a company that only started pushing product to market a couple of years ago and are mad that it's not on par with a legacy auto maker? These sorts of posts happen on all forums/brands but when someone complains about basic interface issues that could easily be evaluated on a proper test drive/studio deep dive its hard to have compassion. The pre-purchase experience couldn't be more targeted to apprehensive buyers, so all your complaints are 100% on you for not evaluating them before you signed the docs.

I have complained about the robustness of the software and it's sometimes flaky function on a day-to-day basis, but I knew going in what I was signing up for and have huge reserves of patience for Lucid to work it out because I was clear on where Lucid is in it's life cycle.

 

[Lucid510]

.. Musk says it all the time: inventing is pretty easy - production is hard.

This last statement summarizes your bias viewpoint. Contradicts everything you mentioned before about software shortfalls.

 

[Professor Y Cars]

It seems they are trying to reinvent baseline functions that have been in the market for literally decades. They didn't need to re-program how to operate the turn signal, or entertainment systems, or wipers, or proximity door unlocks.....the list goes on.

I will also respectively disagree with the OP on this. I've only owned my Air for 2+ weeks, but I don't understand what OP means by re-programing how to operate the turn signal or entertainment system or proximity door unlocks. It almost sounds like OP is talking about newer Tesla's. Turn signal, infotainment operations, wipers, and door locks all function like you'd expect in a modern vehicle, which isn't something I can say about Tesla's.

 

[Bobby]

C’mon…. The software has vastly improved but saying it’s bug free is a pretty tall stretch.

May be related to the fact that I use CarPlay 100% of the time so I don’t experience some of the more prevalent bugs for those who do not use it.

 

[RM-S8]

OP, having a time machine, what would you drive right now?