Nervous new Lucid AT owner

[Leftlane]

Just curious - when you were trying to use voice control to navigate to LAX, did you literally say “LAX”, or did you say “Los Angeles International Airport”? I can see why the former might not work, but the latter should for sure.

 

[Steveinarizona]

CR tends not to be a fan of onscreen controls (I understand their perspective) and when owners complain about complexity, CR will generally downgrade their rating.

Steve, to be fair, I honestly believe there are far fewer issues reported on the two main BMW forums for the BMW i4 & i5 than what we find here. The BMW software is mature, reliable and virtually glitch-free. In nearly 3 years of i4 ownership I never encountered a software glitch or any problem for that matter. Thus far our i5 has been glitch-free and was delivered with typically flawless BMW fit & finish.

Of course that doesn’t mean there are no reported owner’s problems, but those tend to be random rather than issues revolving around similar problem areas. When you consider there are many more BMW i5, i4 and other BMW EVs on the road than Lucids, the delta in these reported issues becomes even more apparent.

This is certainly not meant to be a knock against Lucid, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that BMW has been building cars a lot longer than Lucid. With that said, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention in about 1 1/2 years of ownership my Lucid has only been to the SC only once, and that for a minor fabric separation on the driver’s seat back. Software glitches? You betcha, but they always self-resolve or resolve with a kickstart from a reboot. My only recurring glitch is the ‘no internet’ issue that’s very common.

Lucid is improving significantly as original owners of early models can attest to. I’m sure with time complaints will continue to dwindle (they already are) as software matures.

In general, I do agree that BMWs tend to be very reliable and I did love driving my BMWs. When I test drove them I thought the I4 and IX drove better than the Genesis. However, I couldn't get past the looks where you and I disagree about the current design ethos of the brand but otherwise, we probably mostly agree. One area where the I5 has been criticized is putting too many controls on the info system screen. This is a pet peeve of mine and one of the reasons I bought the GV60 which has lots of buttons and switches. I want my seat controls on the side of the seat; I want my HVAC controls permanently visible for quick adjustment; I want my garage door opener buttons on the rear view mirror (sorry lucid); I want my radio/media controls readily available to me; etc. I know it is cheaper to put everything on the tablet but these are "luxury" cars and cheap should not be the principal goal.

But I do agree that of all the non Tesla EV makers, BMW probably is the most reliable. As I said, one has to be comfortable with being an early adopter to go for the Lucid. BMW has been making electric and electrified cars for many years including the I3 in 2013 so it is NOT an early adoption.

 

[Lucken]

In general, I do agree that BMWs tend to be very reliable and I did love driving my BMWs. When I test drove them I thought the I4 and IX drove better than the Genesis. However, I couldn't get past the looks where you and I disagree about the current design ethos of the brand but otherwise, we probably mostly agree. One area where the I5 has been criticized is putting too many controls on the info system screen. This is a pet peeve of mine and one of the reasons I bought the GV60 which has lots of buttons and switches. I want my seat controls on the side of the seat; I want my HVAC controls permanently visible for quick adjustment; I want my garage door opener buttons on the rear view mirror (sorry lucid); I want my radio/media controls readily available to me; etc. I know it is cheaper to put everything on the tablet but these are "luxury" cars and cheap should not be the principal goal.

But I do agree that of all the non Tesla EV makers, BMW probably is the most reliable. As I said, one has to be comfortable with being an early adopter to go for the Lucid. BMW has been making electric and electrified cars for many years including the I3 in 2013 so it is NOT an early adoption.

Yup, we won't agree on the looks, totally subjective. I do agree that more hard buttons are a more friendly, ergonomically sound means of executing functions...at least IMO. In terms of hard buttons vs utilization of the info screen, there's not much difference between the i4 & i5. In actuality the i5 made some improvements in terms of ease of use of the info screen vs the i4. Fortunately audio functions can be controlled via steering wheel controls and the iDrive controller wheel does make things better rather than forcing you to input via the screen if you choose not to.

The highway assist on the i5 is rock solid with zero nags. Driving on the LIE on Long Island, proved to be totally uneventful with no drama using highway assist, which is certainly a compliment to the feature. I was actually surprised by this. However with that said, as I've said on the Lucid forum here, I'd rather drive the car myself than let the car drive. As good as the BMW highway assist appears to be or the Lucid version might be down the road, you still need to be equally alert to any quirks just as if you were driving yourself.

As far as I'm concerned you buy these cars to drive, not to be chauffeured, but I know others may differ.

 

[LATouring]

Just curious - when you were trying to use voice control to navigate to LAX, did you literally say “LAX”, or did you say “Los Angeles International Airport”? I can see why the former might not work, but the latter should for sure.

I said LAX just I used to when using my Tesla.

 

[LATouring]

I wonder if I delete my profile which was set up by default as the main driver, would that make my wife's profile become the main driver, hence less of the changes in driver selection?