- Joined
- Jun 29, 2022
- Messages
- 244
- Location
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Cars
- 2023 Lucid Air Touring
- Referral Code
- EZJAF0R7
Hello forum friends!
Welcome to yet another 1 year ownership review, this time featuring my 2023 Touring. Before I dive in I just want to note that this will likely be a pretty long, possibly tedious discussion of everything I’ve found noteworthy as an owner. Most of these points have been discussed at length in other threads or polls in greater detail, and I will try to merely summarize these as best I can. I’ll provide a very short summary of my feelings first for those that aren’t interested in reading everything, and I’ll be separating different topics into sections to hopefully make this more readable. Let's begin!
TL;DR:
I still very much enjoy owning and most of all driving my Lucid. The things I love far outweigh the things I don’t. The car is smooth and comfortable when I need it to be, and thrilling and fast when I want to be. While there are, of course, things I’d like to see improved upon, most noticeably with software functionality, the fact that this car is so enjoyable to drive makes me confident I chose the right car as my first EV.
The “Before Times” and First Impressions:
I thought it might be interesting to provide some context into my background as a car owner and driver, as well what my original expectations were when purchasing my Lucid. Like many other owners this is my first EV, but for me this is also my first luxury/performance sedan. Up until the last few years of my life I’ve never had much interest in cars, and I was content driving small, cheap, efficient cars. My previous two cars were a 2005 Honda Civic and a 2020 Honda Insight, and I really loved both of those cars for what they were. Fuel efficient cars have always appealed to me, and as I watched the rise of the Tesla Model 3 and its competitors, I decided I wanted to try an EV. As I was researching my different options, it originally felt very clear that I would end up with either a Model 3 or a Model S, as they seemed to offer the best range and day-to-day usability. And then I discovered Lucid…
I don’t remember exactly how I had first heard about Lucid, but I was instantly captivated. I loved (and still love) the styling, and how could I not want the most luxurious and longest range EV? It was pricey, to be sure, and many times more expensive than my last vehicle, but alas, my heart was set. I made my reservation on March 19th, 2022. Exactly one year later I took delivery of my 2023 Touring. Driving the car home was an absolute blast, and I thought it was beautiful inside and out. Life was good!
Thanks to the wisdom and knowledge of the Lucid Owner’s forums I was very well prepared for the trip home and for driving the car day-to-day. I believe all of my early expectations regarding quality and usability were met or surpassed. Even a year later there have been very few issues that have prevented me from driving or enjoying my car, but I’ll discuss that more in detail later.
Ownership Has Its Benefits:
Here’s a list of things I really enjoy about my car. While in my opinion the Lucid Air may not be the absolute best car in any single category other than range, the overall package is almost impossible to beat. Everything I care about I would rate as at least good to great, and I really can’t think of another car that fits everything I could want or need as well as my Lucid.
Picking Nits and Wishlist Items:
While there’s surprisingly little that legitimately bothers me about my car, in my opinion there’s still plenty of room for improvement and refinement, most noticeably in software functionality. I feel like that data we are given and the various options and settings we have is still a bit too simplistic, although I can appreciate that much of this is likely by design. I’ll try and give some specific feedback and suggestions below, in no particular order.
A Near-Miss and Ongoing Issues:
Thankfully this section will be pretty short. I just wanted to mention a nearly disastrous charging issue I’ve experienced in the past and some ongoing fit and finish issues I’m still having.
What’s Next and Final Thoughts:
Even considering the issues and complaints I’ve had about the car, I love my Lucid very much! In hindsight, I do wish I had been more patient and picked up a used GT or GT-P at a good price. I think I would have appreciated some of the upgrades considering how I’ve used my Touring over the past year. Also, part of me wonders if something like a Taycan is more my style and fits my own personal use-case better. Going forward I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for a good deal on a used GT, GT-P, or maybe a Taycan. In any case, I certainly do not regret becoming a Lucid Air owner. I really don’t think there was a better car overall I could have chosen as my first EV; it just does so many things so well. I have learned and experienced so many amazing things thanks to my Lucid, not to mention all the wonderful people I’ve met and interacted with along the way. I feel incredibly privileged to be a part of the Lucid community.
Thank you so much for reading! If you think there is anything I overlooked, anything that you think I’m way off base on, or if anything is factually incorrect please let me know. I hope I’ve made it clear that I’ve loved my Lucid Air, and that I’m looking forward to watching the car continue to improve and evolve. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Lucid in the coming years, and I’m excited to go on even more adventures and last minute road trips! A special thank you to everyone in the Lucid Owner’s forum for sharing your knowledge and experience, as it has been so invaluable at every step of my journey. Also, a huge thank you to the mods and supporters that keep things running. Without all of you and this forum I’m not sure what this past year might have been like. I look forward to seeing those of you I’ve already met again, and hopefully making some new Owner’s Club friends. All the best!
P.S. Some special shout outs!
@Tesla2Lucid - Thank you for making me feel welcome in the middle of a massive Tesla gathering. That trip to Tesla Takeover is especially memorable to me for several reasons, but I’m grateful that you were officially the first fellow Lucid owner I met!
@GMan - Thank you for helping organize the Lucid owner’s gathering in Las Vegas last year. This was my Lucid meetup, and for me it was surreal seeing so many Lucids together. I really enjoyed meeting even more owners and putting some faces to the names I recognized from the forum.
@Rogue - I really enjoyed meeting you and your wife and getting to chauffeur you around during the rally following the Gravity reveal. I hope I didn’t make you guys too carsick. In hindsight, I should have taken you guys on a nice, scenic sunset cruise instead. I hope to see you guys again some day, especially with you behind the wheel of your own Lucid again.
@Bobby, @Adnillien, @joec, @hydbob, @borski - Our wonderful moderator team - Again, thank you for supporting this forum and the owner’s community. I truly can’t imagine what my ownership experience might have been like without all of you keeping this going. And of course, thanks @Joe for hosting and making it all possible.
Welcome to yet another 1 year ownership review, this time featuring my 2023 Touring. Before I dive in I just want to note that this will likely be a pretty long, possibly tedious discussion of everything I’ve found noteworthy as an owner. Most of these points have been discussed at length in other threads or polls in greater detail, and I will try to merely summarize these as best I can. I’ll provide a very short summary of my feelings first for those that aren’t interested in reading everything, and I’ll be separating different topics into sections to hopefully make this more readable. Let's begin!
TL;DR:
I still very much enjoy owning and most of all driving my Lucid. The things I love far outweigh the things I don’t. The car is smooth and comfortable when I need it to be, and thrilling and fast when I want to be. While there are, of course, things I’d like to see improved upon, most noticeably with software functionality, the fact that this car is so enjoyable to drive makes me confident I chose the right car as my first EV.
The “Before Times” and First Impressions:
I thought it might be interesting to provide some context into my background as a car owner and driver, as well what my original expectations were when purchasing my Lucid. Like many other owners this is my first EV, but for me this is also my first luxury/performance sedan. Up until the last few years of my life I’ve never had much interest in cars, and I was content driving small, cheap, efficient cars. My previous two cars were a 2005 Honda Civic and a 2020 Honda Insight, and I really loved both of those cars for what they were. Fuel efficient cars have always appealed to me, and as I watched the rise of the Tesla Model 3 and its competitors, I decided I wanted to try an EV. As I was researching my different options, it originally felt very clear that I would end up with either a Model 3 or a Model S, as they seemed to offer the best range and day-to-day usability. And then I discovered Lucid…
I don’t remember exactly how I had first heard about Lucid, but I was instantly captivated. I loved (and still love) the styling, and how could I not want the most luxurious and longest range EV? It was pricey, to be sure, and many times more expensive than my last vehicle, but alas, my heart was set. I made my reservation on March 19th, 2022. Exactly one year later I took delivery of my 2023 Touring. Driving the car home was an absolute blast, and I thought it was beautiful inside and out. Life was good!
Thanks to the wisdom and knowledge of the Lucid Owner’s forums I was very well prepared for the trip home and for driving the car day-to-day. I believe all of my early expectations regarding quality and usability were met or surpassed. Even a year later there have been very few issues that have prevented me from driving or enjoying my car, but I’ll discuss that more in detail later.
Ownership Has Its Benefits:
Here’s a list of things I really enjoy about my car. While in my opinion the Lucid Air may not be the absolute best car in any single category other than range, the overall package is almost impossible to beat. Everything I care about I would rate as at least good to great, and I really can’t think of another car that fits everything I could want or need as well as my Lucid.
- The time and effort Lucid placed into designing a car that is a joy to drive in any scenario really shows. Whether it’s commuting to work, grabbing groceries, going on a long road trip, or ripping up the canyons, the car just feels capable and inspires confidence.
- I’ve really come to appreciate how well the Air handles for its size and weight. I absolutely love taking my car out for a track day or blasting it up a twisty canyon road. As someone with very little performance driving experience I still feel like I’m in complete control when I’m pushing the car to its limits.
- The amount of space inside the cabin and in the trunk/frunk is truly impressive. Even with four grown adults in tow it is very spacious and comfortable. I would have no worries taking 4 adults + luggage on a long road trip.
- Speaking of road trips, the Air is undeniably one of the best road trip capable EVs out there. The spaciousness of the cabin and the comfort of the seats goes a long way. I’ve spent quite a lot of my 20k+ miles on long road trips, and one of the only things that might have made it even easier would be massaging seats.
- While I certainly love the exterior styling of the car, there’s just something special about the design of the interior. The attention to detail and quality of materials is superb. I love how refined things feel without being overly flashy.
- Even though the software still has a way to go in many ways, I really do like the overall design and layout of the different menus. The important functions are generally very easy to select and adjust while driving, and I find the colors and design aesthetically pleasing. I’m really excited to see how things improve and evolve over time. Let’s go 3.0!
- By far my favorite thing about my Lucid is the way it makes me feel when I drive it. No matter what’s been going while not behind the wheel, all the worries and annoyances just completely fade away when I jump into the driver’s seat. Sometimes it may be easy to nitpick and wish some things were different, but when I hop in and go none of that little stuff matters. This car is just pure joy to drive!
- One really unexpected benefit of buying a Lucid was the community of owners that came with it. Watching the community grow and evolve over the last few years has been really interesting, and I continue to learn new and useful things from other helpful owners. The owners and Lucid employees I’ve been lucky enough to meet in person have consistently been friendly, caring, and interesting people. I’ve never felt unwelcome, despite being the most ordinary and least interesting owner in the entire Lucid Owner’s club, and despite being fairly quiet and shy.
Picking Nits and Wishlist Items:
While there’s surprisingly little that legitimately bothers me about my car, in my opinion there’s still plenty of room for improvement and refinement, most noticeably in software functionality. I feel like that data we are given and the various options and settings we have is still a bit too simplistic, although I can appreciate that much of this is likely by design. I’ll try and give some specific feedback and suggestions below, in no particular order.
- For charging, let me see the battery temperature and a more detailed preconditioning status. Is the battery cold and needs to be warmed up for fast charging, or vice versa? I’d love to see how much energy the car is requesting or can take versus what the charger is able to deliver.
- Let me change drive modes without having to mess with the Pilot panel. I’d love to be able to change modes without letting go of the wheel. Maybe clicking/holding both toggle switches? Also, do we really still need the confirmation message when switching to Sprint?
- Let us set up shortcuts or hotkeys. For instance, changing to a specific drive mode by holding down both toggle buttons on the steering wheel.
- Expand customizability of the Left Cockpit Panel. Maybe hotkeys or shortcuts could go here, or maybe a HomeLink button.
- I’d love to see more detailed widgets for the Center Cockpit Panel. For example, a trip widget that shows distance traveled, efficiency, and trip duration. For example, I really like how the Taycan display can be customized to show different information in different areas.
- Track mode would be awesome! Show me tire pressure, battery temperature, motor temperature, motor output, etc. Maybe show some metrics on the Pilot panel and some as a widget in the Center Cockpit Panel.
- Let me create a custom drive mode where I can adjust settings like acceleration, steering feel, and suspension.
- I’m still hoping that HomeLink implementation is improved. It has worked great for me when arriving home and pulling up automatically, but still would like to see it also pull up automatically somewhere when preparing to leave.
- The decorative silver strip on the dashboard causes problematic reflections when not wearing polarized sunglasses. I hope Lucid avoids putting reflective materials in this area in the future.
- Personally, I would have liked a different implementation of sun visors that allows better views with the Glass Canopy, but I understand that the current setup likely offers the best usability/safety.
- I’d like there to be a confirmation prompt when resetting Trip A and Trip B totals. Early on I accidentally hit the reset for Trip B and lost some data for my lifetime totals. In fact, I’d love a more detailed Trip menu in general with more visible data. Being able to name and save trips similar to what Tesla has would be nice.
- I think the friction brakes engaging/released with the Hold function could be a bit smoother. It’s not uncommon to hear a relatively loud thunk when the brakes release as I apply throttle after being stopped, and this can be especially annoying in stop-and-go traffic.
- Tidal integration and connectivity really needs some love. I hate not being able to easily find Dolby Atmos tracks, add songs to my collection, etc.
- I think the “Charge” and “Power” display bars are too difficult to see when Highway Assist or Adaptive Cruise are engaged, especially on the “Power” side. It’s difficult to see how much power is being used at a glance, and even looking straight at it it’s sometimes hard to see, depending on lighting.
- Please find a way to implement hands-free Highway Assist. I really, really, really dislike having to constantly apply steering input even when I’m driving on a very straight stretch of highway. I’ll often just switch to Adaptive Cruise to avoid the nagging. I realize this is tougher due to the lack of a capacitive steering wheel, but I really hope Lucid can figure out something.
A Near-Miss and Ongoing Issues:
Thankfully this section will be pretty short. I just wanted to mention a nearly disastrous charging issue I’ve experienced in the past and some ongoing fit and finish issues I’m still having.
- While traveling home from California I very nearly got stranded in Battle Mountain, NV due to charging issues. My car was unable to continue a charging session at the Electrify America station for more than a few seconds before stopping and causing a drive system fault with the car. Long story short, I was able to make it to Elko, NV after some careful driving, but it was unsettling to say the least. Luckily it was a very isolated issue and has not happened to me again, and it taught me some important lessons. For all EV drivers traveling long distances, always have a backup plan! Plan out your route and find alternate charging stops, and use PlugShare to verify the stations you need are working. For the full story, see: https://lucidowners.com/threads/my-tesla-takeover-adventure-part-2.6399/
- As of the time this is posted I’m still having issues with steering wheel clicking while driving. I’ve had the wheel replaced twice now, but the clicking has returned after a couple of weeks each time. I’m still working with Lucid to get this sorted out, but it really spoils some of the enjoyment of driving when I want to have some fun on a twisty road. If I’m not able to get this resolved this year I’m not sure what I’ll do.
- According to mobile service, the framing along the C pillar and rear windshield on the driver’s side has warped/bent slightly, causing some of the trim pieces to become visibly warped as well. While I’ve had issues with other trim pieces in the past, simply replacing those pieces has sufficed to solve those issues. Due to the framing itself being warped in this case, replacing the trim piece has not resolved this, and trying to repair it would likely do more harm than good. Luckily, it's only really noticeable from certain angles. While I understand that there’s not really anything that mobile service, at least, can do to fix this, I’m still disappointed and worried that this will become even worse in the future. If anyone else has seen something like this I’d be curious to hear about your experience.
What’s Next and Final Thoughts:
Even considering the issues and complaints I’ve had about the car, I love my Lucid very much! In hindsight, I do wish I had been more patient and picked up a used GT or GT-P at a good price. I think I would have appreciated some of the upgrades considering how I’ve used my Touring over the past year. Also, part of me wonders if something like a Taycan is more my style and fits my own personal use-case better. Going forward I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for a good deal on a used GT, GT-P, or maybe a Taycan. In any case, I certainly do not regret becoming a Lucid Air owner. I really don’t think there was a better car overall I could have chosen as my first EV; it just does so many things so well. I have learned and experienced so many amazing things thanks to my Lucid, not to mention all the wonderful people I’ve met and interacted with along the way. I feel incredibly privileged to be a part of the Lucid community.
Thank you so much for reading! If you think there is anything I overlooked, anything that you think I’m way off base on, or if anything is factually incorrect please let me know. I hope I’ve made it clear that I’ve loved my Lucid Air, and that I’m looking forward to watching the car continue to improve and evolve. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Lucid in the coming years, and I’m excited to go on even more adventures and last minute road trips! A special thank you to everyone in the Lucid Owner’s forum for sharing your knowledge and experience, as it has been so invaluable at every step of my journey. Also, a huge thank you to the mods and supporters that keep things running. Without all of you and this forum I’m not sure what this past year might have been like. I look forward to seeing those of you I’ve already met again, and hopefully making some new Owner’s Club friends. All the best!
P.S. Some special shout outs!
@Tesla2Lucid - Thank you for making me feel welcome in the middle of a massive Tesla gathering. That trip to Tesla Takeover is especially memorable to me for several reasons, but I’m grateful that you were officially the first fellow Lucid owner I met!
@GMan - Thank you for helping organize the Lucid owner’s gathering in Las Vegas last year. This was my Lucid meetup, and for me it was surreal seeing so many Lucids together. I really enjoyed meeting even more owners and putting some faces to the names I recognized from the forum.
@Rogue - I really enjoyed meeting you and your wife and getting to chauffeur you around during the rally following the Gravity reveal. I hope I didn’t make you guys too carsick. In hindsight, I should have taken you guys on a nice, scenic sunset cruise instead. I hope to see you guys again some day, especially with you behind the wheel of your own Lucid again.
@Bobby, @Adnillien, @joec, @hydbob, @borski - Our wonderful moderator team - Again, thank you for supporting this forum and the owner’s community. I truly can’t imagine what my ownership experience might have been like without all of you keeping this going. And of course, thanks @Joe for hosting and making it all possible.
