Sad Farewell #3

3rdMotor

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2015 RAM Longhorn
I cancelled my Lucid preorder today. I’ve never owned an EV before. I am not interesting enough to deserve to post this but I wanted to give my rationale just in case anybody else is struggling with similar thoughts.

I really love the sophisticated aesthetic of the Lucid. I loved the idea of being in “something different.” I have been mildly disappointed with the lack of transparency between the different Air trim levels and when the different trims will be produced. I get why they are vague right now, but it’s nonetheless irritating to me. I’ve been following the forum for some time and have enjoyed everybody’s banter and the insights provided.

1. Buying a $100K+ car from a non established manufacturer causes some anxiety in terms of what happens if the company folds in three years. How would that affect resale? Service? Etc.

2. There have been too many complaints in this Lucid forum about the car software thus far, which is fair since they’re new vehicles and a new platform, but I don’t exactly want to spend that much cash and essentially be a beta tester. Lack of features I view as fundamental became a bit of a point of discontent for me (sentry and dash cam).

3. There have been some issues with the hardware on first production models, in terms of some (not a huge percentage, but still) of the cars having total system failures. When that happens, the car is out of commission for weeks and it’s happened on multiple units since launch, even recently. I don’t want to be driving on the highway only to have the car suddenly stop responding - and that’s actually happened to a few people.

4. The government screwing with the federal tax credit, and the unknown surrounding what constitutes eligibility under the old rules. Yes I had a no refundable deposit. Oh well. Point is, that is more than likely $7500 I’m now losing on the transaction.

5. For reasons as outlined above, I am going to go with a gently used Tesla (12k miles) 2020 Model S Performance with FSD - I’ll let somebody else take the initial depreciation hit on the Tesla I’m getting and if Lucid is still around in 3 years I can revisit getting a Lucid then. I’m definitely questioning Tesla’s decision to rely solely on cameras for FSD and think DD Pro has the potential to be far superior to FSD.

I have to stress that the Lucid Air is a beautiful car and a company I am rooting for. I had to come to terms with the fact that I simply am not the right buyer for an Air at this stage of development. I’m still looking forward to following along here with everybody’s Lucid journey and to see all the cool stuff they come out with that I’ll be missing out on - for now!
 
Thank you for your insight!
 
I cancelled my Lucid preorder today. I’ve never owned an EV before. I am not interesting enough to deserve to post this but I wanted to give my rationale just in case anybody else is struggling with similar thoughts.

I really love the sophisticated aesthetic of the Lucid. I loved the idea of being in “something different.” I have been mildly disappointed with the lack of transparency between the different Air trim levels and when the different trims will be produced. I get why they are vague right now, but it’s nonetheless irritating to me. I’ve been following the forum for some time and have enjoyed everybody’s banter and the insights provided.

1. Buying a $100K+ car from a non established manufacturer causes some anxiety in terms of what happens if the company folds in three years. How would that affect resale? Service? Etc.

2. There have been too many complaints in this Lucid forum about the car software thus far, which is fair since they’re new vehicles and a new platform, but I don’t exactly want to spend that much cash and essentially be a beta tester. Lack of features I view as fundamental became a bit of a point of discontent for me (sentry and dash cam).

3. There have been some issues with the hardware on first production models, in terms of some (not a huge percentage, but still) of the cars having total system failures. When that happens, the car is out of commission for weeks and it’s happened on multiple units since launch, even recently. I don’t want to be driving on the highway only to have the car suddenly stop responding - and that’s actually happened to a few people.

4. The government screwing with the federal tax credit, and the unknown surrounding what constitutes eligibility under the old rules. Yes I had a no refundable deposit. Oh well. Point is, that is more than likely $7500 I’m now losing on the transaction.

5. For reasons as outlined above, I am going to go with a gently used Tesla (12k miles) 2020 Model S Performance with FSD - I’ll let somebody else take the initial depreciation hit on the Tesla I’m getting and if Lucid is still around in 3 years I can revisit getting a Lucid then. I’m definitely questioning Tesla’s decision to rely solely on cameras for FSD and think DD Pro has the potential to be far superior to FSD.

I have to stress that the Lucid Air is a beautiful car and a company I am rooting for. I had to come to terms with the fact that I simply am not the right buyer for an Air at this stage of development. I’m still looking forward to following along here with everybody’s Lucid journey and to see all the cool stuff they come out with that I’ll be missing out on - for now!
We all took a chance when we ordered this car. Fortunately, I have had only minor problems so far.

However, once you drive this car, it is pretty fabulous.(minus software gremlins)

I can understand your viewpoint, but I feel you should take a test drive before making a final decision.
 
We all took a chance when we ordered this car. Fortunately, I have had only minor problems so far.

However, once you drive this car, it is pretty fabulous.(minus software gremlins)

I can understand your viewpoint, but I feel you should take a test drive before making a final decision.
Great advice, truly. To be fair I took a test drive in early August. Had to duck getting in (I’m 6’ 3”) and the A pillar seemed gargantuan, but those weren’t dealbreakers for me at all. The 360 camera glitched out at one point. But the car was a great ride. I might not be towards the front of the line any longer but as I said before, in a few years as things develop I’ll be in the mix!
 

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I can understand your viewpoint, but I feel you should take a test drive before making a final decision.
I personally think that if Lucid had allowed people to test drive, their reservation number may have gone up.
And possibly people may have upgraded their reservations, too.
I made 2 reservations back in Feb and was told to wait my turn.
I've not been back to the studio since that first time.
While I understand Lucid doesn't yet have a fleet of demos, it just didn't seem to me my local studio was interested in making extra efforts to accommodate potential buyers.
In my profession, people would pay me real money to participate in a survey. Here, Lucid could have had a captive audience for free, but this was apparently of little interest to the local reps/marketing department
 
I personally think that if Lucid had allowed people to test drive, their reservation number may have gone up.
And possibly people may have upgraded their reservations, too.
I made 2 reservations back in Feb and was told to wait my turn.
I've not been back to the studio since that first time.
While I understand Lucid doesn't yet have a fleet of demos, it just didn't seem to me my local studio was interested in making extra efforts to accommodate potential buyers.
In my profession, people would pay me real money to participate in a survey. Here, Lucid could have had a captive audience for free, but this was apparently of little interest to the local reps/marketing department
The problem was a matter of supply. Lucid didn't have cars to test drive for all the studios they opened up until very recently. They barely had show cars. Many folks did test drives on pre-production vehicles up until just a month or two ago. Some studios still only have preproduction cars on hand. None has a Touring or Pure yet.

When you've only shipped 1,400 cars to customers, you can't exactly afford to set aside 50 or 60 for test driving.

And let's not get into how bad the software was six months ago. As bad as it is now, the software was more likely to hurt sales than help during a test drive back then.
 
I personally think that if Lucid had allowed people to test drive, their reservation number may have gone up.
And possibly people may have upgraded their reservations, too.
I made 2 reservations back in Feb and was told to wait my turn.
I've not been back to the studio since that first time.
While I understand Lucid doesn't yet have a fleet of demos, it just didn't seem to me my local studio was interested in making extra efforts to accommodate potential buyers.
In my profession, people would pay me real money to participate in a survey. Here, Lucid could have had a captive audience for free, but this was apparently of little interest to the local reps/marketing department
I had to fly up to Scottsdale from Portland Oregon in March of this year in order to have my test drive.

It took well over 3 months for my SA to arrange a spot for me for our drive, so my wife and myself could properly evaluate the car I was ordering sight unseen.

It was definitely worth it and it reinforced that my decision to buy was a good one.(So far to date)

However, I can understand the uncertainty of those who have never done a test drive, about putting in an order.

It's hard to do, but for those who have not been afforded a test drive you have a wealth of information from those on this forum who have had their cars delivered and posted about their experiences.(good and bad)
 
I cancelled my Lucid preorder today. I’ve never owned an EV before. I am not interesting enough to deserve to post this but I wanted to give my rationale just in case anybody else is struggling with similar thoughts.

I really love the sophisticated aesthetic of the Lucid. I loved the idea of being in “something different.” I have been mildly disappointed with the lack of transparency between the different Air trim levels and when the different trims will be produced. I get why they are vague right now, but it’s nonetheless irritating to me. I’ve been following the forum for some time and have enjoyed everybody’s banter and the insights provided.

1. Buying a $100K+ car from a non established manufacturer causes some anxiety in terms of what happens if the company folds in three years. How would that affect resale? Service? Etc.

2. There have been too many complaints in this Lucid forum about the car software thus far, which is fair since they’re new vehicles and a new platform, but I don’t exactly want to spend that much cash and essentially be a beta tester. Lack of features I view as fundamental became a bit of a point of discontent for me (sentry and dash cam).

3. There have been some issues with the hardware on first production models, in terms of some (not a huge percentage, but still) of the cars having total system failures. When that happens, the car is out of commission for weeks and it’s happened on multiple units since launch, even recently. I don’t want to be driving on the highway only to have the car suddenly stop responding - and that’s actually happened to a few people.

4. The government screwing with the federal tax credit, and the unknown surrounding what constitutes eligibility under the old rules. Yes I had a no refundable deposit. Oh well. Point is, that is more than likely $7500 I’m now losing on the transaction.

5. For reasons as outlined above, I am going to go with a gently used Tesla (12k miles) 2020 Model S Performance with FSD - I’ll let somebody else take the initial depreciation hit on the Tesla I’m getting and if Lucid is still around in 3 years I can revisit getting a Lucid then. I’m definitely questioning Tesla’s decision to rely solely on cameras for FSD and think DD Pro has the potential to be far superior to FSD.

I have to stress that the Lucid Air is a beautiful car and a company I am rooting for. I had to come to terms with the fact that I simply am not the right buyer for an Air at this stage of development. I’m still looking forward to following along here with everybody’s Lucid journey and to see all the cool stuff they come out with that I’ll be missing out on - for now!
Coming from a Ram 1500 myself, I'll tell you that you probably wouldn't notice #2 very much. Everything is so manual with FCA, and UConnect is really pretty bad. But I definitely understand your other points.
 
It seems to me that test drives are easier to come by now. I drove one in Seattle a while back and asked if I could do so again. That has been arranged for Scottsdale soon after our return for winter. I had no difficulties.
 
I cancelled my Lucid preorder today. I’ve never owned an EV before. I am not interesting enough to deserve to post this but I wanted to give my rationale just in case anybody else is struggling with similar thoughts.

I really love the sophisticated aesthetic of the Lucid. I loved the idea of being in “something different.” I have been mildly disappointed with the lack of transparency between the different Air trim levels and when the different trims will be produced. I get why they are vague right now, but it’s nonetheless irritating to me. I’ve been following the forum for some time and have enjoyed everybody’s banter and the insights provided.

1. Buying a $100K+ car from a non established manufacturer causes some anxiety in terms of what happens if the company folds in three years. How would that affect resale? Service? Etc.

2. There have been too many complaints in this Lucid forum about the car software thus far, which is fair since they’re new vehicles and a new platform, but I don’t exactly want to spend that much cash and essentially be a beta tester. Lack of features I view as fundamental became a bit of a point of discontent for me (sentry and dash cam).

3. There have been some issues with the hardware on first production models, in terms of some (not a huge percentage, but still) of the cars having total system failures. When that happens, the car is out of commission for weeks and it’s happened on multiple units since launch, even recently. I don’t want to be driving on the highway only to have the car suddenly stop responding - and that’s actually happened to a few people.

4. The government screwing with the federal tax credit, and the unknown surrounding what constitutes eligibility under the old rules. Yes I had a no refundable deposit. Oh well. Point is, that is more than likely $7500 I’m now losing on the transaction.

5. For reasons as outlined above, I am going to go with a gently used Tesla (12k miles) 2020 Model S Performance with FSD - I’ll let somebody else take the initial depreciation hit on the Tesla I’m getting and if Lucid is still around in 3 years I can revisit getting a Lucid then. I’m definitely questioning Tesla’s decision to rely solely on cameras for FSD and think DD Pro has the potential to be far superior to FSD.

I have to stress that the Lucid Air is a beautiful car and a company I am rooting for. I had to come to terms with the fact that I simply am not the right buyer for an Air at this stage of development. I’m still looking forward to following along here with everybody’s Lucid journey and to see all the cool stuff they come out with that I’ll be missing out on - for

Software bugs are not a issue and it can be fixed via OTP update. As long as Lucid takes care of any issue we should be good.
 
I had to fly up to Scottsdale from Portland Oregon in March of this year in order to have my test drive.

It took well over 3 months for my SA to arrange a spot for me for our drive, so my wife and myself could properly evaluate the car I was ordering sight unseen.

It was definitely worth it and it reinforced that my decision to buy was a good one.(So far to date)

However, I can understand the uncertainty of those who have never done a test drive, about putting in an order.

It's hard to do, but for those who have not been afforded a test drive you have a wealth of information from those on this forum who have had their cars delivered and posted about their experiences.(good and bad)
Same here, reserved on January 3rd and waited till March for them to get a demo car in Oak Brook, IL, test drove on March 19th and my order was confirmed on March 26th.

The test drive sealed the deal for me, now admittedly I had thoughts about cancelling one or three times since March 26th with thoughts of an EQS 580 but at the end of the day I just knew the EQS wouldn't satisfy car my guy desires and needs like the Lucid will.
 
I cancelled my Lucid preorder today. I’ve never owned an EV before. I am not interesting enough to deserve to post this but I wanted to give my rationale just in case anybody else is struggling with similar thoughts.

I really love the sophisticated aesthetic of the Lucid. I loved the idea of being in “something different.” I have been mildly disappointed with the lack of transparency between the different Air trim levels and when the different trims will be produced. I get why they are vague right now, but it’s nonetheless irritating to me. I’ve been following the forum for some time and have enjoyed everybody’s banter and the insights provided.

1. Buying a $100K+ car from a non established manufacturer causes some anxiety in terms of what happens if the company folds in three years. How would that affect resale? Service? Etc.

2. There have been too many complaints in this Lucid forum about the car software thus far, which is fair since they’re new vehicles and a new platform, but I don’t exactly want to spend that much cash and essentially be a beta tester. Lack of features I view as fundamental became a bit of a point of discontent for me (sentry and dash cam).

3. There have been some issues with the hardware on first production models, in terms of some (not a huge percentage, but still) of the cars having total system failures. When that happens, the car is out of commission for weeks and it’s happened on multiple units since launch, even recently. I don’t want to be driving on the highway only to have the car suddenly stop responding - and that’s actually happened to a few people.

4. The government screwing with the federal tax credit, and the unknown surrounding what constitutes eligibility under the old rules. Yes I had a no refundable deposit. Oh well. Point is, that is more than likely $7500 I’m now losing on the transaction.

5. For reasons as outlined above, I am going to go with a gently used Tesla (12k miles) 2020 Model S Performance with FSD - I’ll let somebody else take the initial depreciation hit on the Tesla I’m getting and if Lucid is still around in 3 years I can revisit getting a Lucid then. I’m definitely questioning Tesla’s decision to rely solely on cameras for FSD and think DD Pro has the potential to be far superior to FSD.

I have to stress that the Lucid Air is a beautiful car and a company I am rooting for. I had to come to terms with the fact that I simply am not the right buyer for an Air at this stage of development. I’m still looking forward to following along here with everybody’s Lucid journey and to see all the cool stuff they come out with that I’ll be missing out on - for now!
We had the same Concern and ended up buying a gently used Tesla Model S 100D and have been very happy with our decision. The car works like a charm every time and have had no issues and have driven 6K miles in last three months.
I still have my Touring reservation though. We will likely buy it but not anytime soon to ensure initial bugs are fixed and I am not a beta tester.
Your decision to buy a Model S is a good one. You won’t go wrong.
 
Everything you just said I have been thinking. I have two reservations for a Pure. I did the second reservation on the last possible day before the prices went up to give me the longest possible time for them to get things working. That being said, the established car companies are revealing some good looking EVs for 2024 that fit my (Jeep) lifestyle better. No decision needs to happen now, but as time goes on and Lucid keeps faltering, the more I get tugged away. I believe in the company - I own the stock, but the competition is coming and they are running out of runway. I hope they can get things done in the next 18 months.
 
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