Here is the second part of the post -- continued...
- Homelink Garage Opener: LOVE the fact that there are 15 doors it can control. HATE the fact that the garage door can't be set to auto-open and auto-close upon arrival and departure. My 2014 Tesla can do this. Seems like an easier software fix to be done at Lucid. Just annoying. More annoying due to the Parking Camera issue above preventing access to the Homelink menu to close the garage upon exiting. When I reported this to Customer Service, I was surprised when the rep told me he had not yet fielded this concern or request, but was going to add it to the feature request queue.
- Glass Roof and Tinting: In general, the window glass has a reasonably dark tint, however, it is winter in Arizona so can't really tell anything about how good the heat resistance really is -- Arizona's summer will really test it. I did end up getting the side and back windows tinted to 20% with XPEL XR+ and it looks great. Given the all glass windshield and roof, I did find that there was a glare from the sun, especially at certain times of day where the sun is not obscured by the visor and comes in through the glass around the visor. Therefore, I opted to have my tint shop install a 5% visor strip that starts about 1 inch above the A-line and goes to about the end of the visor, and I find that it works great and has no impact on my forward visibility. You can't really even notice it from outside the car, but does decrease that "Airy" feeling a little from the inside, but that isn't a big deal to me.
- Mobile Key: In general it works well, however, I have not yet figured out how to consistently keep the App open in the background so it recognizes me approaching the vehicle without having to unlock my phone AND open the Lucid App and then waiting the 30 seconds for the car/App to wake up and recognize the mobile key and unlock the doors. I asked about this at the Lucid Service Center, and the Service tech said that it should work identical to Tesla's mobile App and stay open in the background (settings are correct to Allow Location Always) and they suggested I uninstall and reinstall the App, but this did not fix this issue. Hopefully this will be a software fix sometime soon.
- Cup Holders: Really a huge miss on the part of Lucid. Placement next to the main lower screen blocks access and the size is way too small. Same with the rear cup holders in the arm rest. Luckily, after much trial and error, I did find cup holders that work well on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BFW8TH42/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 and this has solved the problem. Not sure what the designers were thinking on this one with layout of the whole center area.
- Cell Phone charger: Very finicky and too tight (especially for phones with cases and those stick on credit card holder on the back). In reality, almost useless. The charging pad area is too small so the phone has to be at just the right placement for the charger to engage and no easy way to confirm that it is charging (would be nice to have a green light or something similar). Placement is also suboptimal and should have been placed where the cup holders are and vice versa.
Overall Impression: After some adjustment period from my Tesla S, and getting used to settings and button location, I really, really love the car. I think it fills the niche of the performance luxury electric car with all of the added features and amenities, like comfortable seats, and the 450+ mile range is critical for me. Do I really think it is worth the $150K ? Realistically, the value driven side of me says probably not, however, aside from the Mercedes EQE and EQS which fully loaded is around the same price point and is still slightly lagging on the mileage range, there is no other real contender out there that comes close. I do think that if Tesla opted to create a Tesla S sedan that catered to the more luxury minded consumer -- i.e. add an option for comfortable luxury seats like that of the Volvo, Mercedes, or BMW, and a more plush interior in conjunction with a range > 450 miles, then Lucid would have a much harder sell and have a real competitor. However, that doesn't exist at this point and all of the luxury makers right now can't seem to touch the efficiency and range of the Lucid. So, in conclusion, my answer for the present is YES -- it may be worth the $ 150 K in the current market ! However, my guess is that in the next 1-2 years, the other luxury automakers will catch up in technology and offerings and battery range, in which case, there is going to be stiff competition for Lucid and at that point, I would have to think twice unless the improvements and enhancements that I think will be forthcoming, keeps Lucid ahead of all its competitors.
Hope this helps anyone out there that is struggling with the decision, as I was a few months ago.
