Motor Trend Living a Year with an Air

[Daniel2022AT]

I am a few days away from my 1 year anniversary with my Touring. 13,500 miles. No quality problems, I have a very well built vehicle. A couple crooked trim pieces that’s it. I have done several road trips and I have experienced very good results with EA. Recently I have been hitting 240kW from newer EA chargers. It has been a fabulous experience. I still get stopped in the parking lot almost daily with people wanting a closer look. Relatively few Lucid’s here in Wisconsin. Rivians outnumber Lucids here 20 to 1. Teslas outnumber Lucids 10,000 to 1.

 

[Lucken]

Consumer Reports had a ‘so so’ review of the Lucid GT in their annual auto issue. They praised the ride, handling, acceleration, fit & finish as well as the rear seat room. However they dinged the car for (surprisingly to me) a less than quiet interior as the result of wind noise and motor whine. They felt it was unbecoming for a car in this price range. I understand the motor whine but at least in my car, there’s virtually no wind noise. I thought cars that had this issue had been addressed, to a large extent, by service.

The car was also dinged for usability issues, which CR tends to do for many cars as the result of ‘complex’ infotainment systems.

 

[idiot900]

The motor whine complaint I can understand, it was a deliberate choice not to dampen the coupling between front motor and chassis apparently? The wind noise I understand less. My car seems quieter than my old W212 E-class at the same highway speeds, and in that car the wind noise was far louder than the motor. I can’t recall if anyone around here has a current generation ICE S-class or 7-series for comparison…

 

[hydbob]

Consumer Reports had a ‘so so’ review of the Lucid GT in their annual auto issue. They praised the ride, handling, acceleration, fit & finish as well as the rear seat room. However they dinged the car for (surprisingly to me) a less than quiet interior as the result of wind noise and motor whine. They felt it was unbecoming for a car in this price range. I understand the motor whine but at least in my car, there’s virtually no wind noise. I thought cars that had this issue had been addressed, to a large extent, by service.

The car was also dinged for usability issues, which CR tends to do for many cars as the result of ‘complex’ infotainment systems.

Didn't they also ding it for rear passenger space and trunk usability?

 

[Amster]

Consumer Reports had a ‘so so’ review of the Lucid GT in their annual auto issue. They praised the ride, handling, acceleration, fit & finish as well as the rear seat room. However they dinged the car for (surprisingly to me) a less than quiet interior as the result of wind noise and motor whine. They felt it was unbecoming for a car in this price range. I understand the motor whine but at least in my car, there’s virtually no wind noise. I thought cars that had this issue had been addressed, to a large extent, by service.

The car was also dinged for usability issues, which CR tends to do for many cars as the result of ‘complex’ infotainment systems.

It's rare that I've bought cars that CR likes. Actually I think only one of them, the 2013 Hyundai Elantra was their favorite compact that year. All the others were way down on the list, or even on the don't buy list.

 

[idiot900]

CR also once rated Michelob Ultra as the best beer. So while they are a useful publication, their recommendations arise from criteria that may not align with those of the crowd here.

 

[hmp10]

CR also once rated Michelob Ultra as the best beer. So while they are a useful publication, their recommendations arise from criteria that may not align with those of the crowd here.

Consumer Guide has traditionally looked at the value per dollar on the must-have elements in a product from the perspective of the average consumer. A car like the GT -- for which there is definitely a new-product-development premium -- is just not a product to which they're going to give top nods. The Consumer Guide viewpoint I can understand. It's Edmunds' constant trashing of the Air and casting every feature in the worst possible light that mystifies me. I still can't get past the fact that they keep racing a Lucid Air on narrow winter tires against hard-core sports cars wearing fat summer rubber and then ding the Air for less its lesser handling and braking.

Edmunds used to be my go-to place for starting research on a car. Those days are over now that they've been tucked into someone's pocket.

 

[hmp10]

Consumer Guide has traditionally looked at the value per dollar on the must-have elements in a product from the perspective of the average consumer. A car like the GT -- for which there is definitely a new-product-development premium -- is just not a product to which they're going to give top nods. The Consumer Guide viewpoint I can understand. It's Edmunds' constant trashing of the Air and casting every feature in the worst possible light that mystifies me. I still can't get past the fact that they keep racing a Lucid Air on narrow winter tires against hard-core sports cars wearing fat summer rubber and then ding the Air for less its lesser handling and braking.

Edmunds used to be my go-to place for starting research on a car. Those days are over now that they've been tucked into someone's pocket. Maybe something to do with the CarMax purchase of Edmunds in 2021?

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

To be fair, since they aren't going to put proper tires on the Lucid, they should do all the races on snow, with 4 passengers.

 

[hmp10]

Yeah. This is the downside to a long-term review with a brand new car. On the one hand, multiple articles mean consistent exposure. On the other hand, anything you improve in your manufacturing process does not get reflected in articles written long after.

I don’t think the article was unfair at all. I just don’t think it reflects my personal experience with my own car. Such is the nature of reviews.

As I've posted several times over the past couple of years, our Air, despite being an early unit from a new brand, was considerably less plagued than some other new models I've bought from long-established brands, the two worst being a C5 Corvette and a Mercedes SL55 AMG. And Lucid Customer Service has never let me down in getting problems resolved quickly and smoothly.

My main irritation with the car (software woes aside) was not its early build quality per se, but the disappointment I felt after all the promises Peter Rawlinson had made on that score. In interview after interview as the reservation waiting period stretched from months to years, Rawlinson pressed the point that the Air was not going to be released until it was of a quality that would fulfill expectations for its lofty price point. Even when the final production delay was announced in spring of 2021, Rawlinson pinned it on the need to do final quality tweaking.

Of course, having spent two decades of my career with a manufacturing company, I understood the impact COVID-related supply chains disruptions were having on Lucid, and Rawlinson's explanation that it kept Lucid quality engineers from going on site with vendors -- some of which I'm sure bailed during the pandemic -- resonated with me. But the assurances kept coming that the car would not be released until all those hurdles had been cleared, and the $169,000 Dream would be delivered at a quality commensurate with the price.

Lucid has now been producing market cars for coming up on three years. They have learned lessons from the Air. We're not in a pandemic environment. I'm hoping the Gravity will hit the market with the initial quality we were promised with the Air. I am still passionately in love with my Air . . . and I expect a repeat with the Gravity.

Although I sort of wish Motor Trend was not publishing a review today of a car they bought over a year ago from a new company, another part of me says that there is no reason they should not hold the car up against the standard that was repeatedly promised from the get-go.