stiff steering

[kirpal]

i have a reservation for the Lucid Air Touring model. I just took a test driving of LGT (this was the only model available for test drive) in southern California. Overall, I liked the experience but the steering wheel felt little stiffer than expected. I choose standard regen and smooth driving option for the test drive. Acceleration was great. it was 'quieter' (SA had turned on the fan to auto which resulted in lot of internal noise). I only test drove smooth mode. SA was little hesitant to let me drive the other modes. It was both highway and city driving. It certainly was way better than the tesla model Y in both fit/finish, feel of luxury and driving dynamics (I borrowed TMY from my friend for a test drive).

I had test driven EQS couple months ago at a local dealership and really loved it. It was way quieter than Lucid. Regen was set to minimal and i could not feel that i am driving an EV for the first time (coming from ICE cars). Steering was very smooth. My wife was in the passenger seat in both the test drives (EQS and LGT) and she loved absolutely loved EQS feel/experience better than the LGT. Even the base model- Air Pure would meet our family's needs from the number perspectives (0-60, HP, torque, storage space, leg room etc); only thing we were looking for in LAT was the higher range than other EVs and possibly better tech than EQS but the LGT i drove was a pre-production model (with version 1 of software). I am sure this will only improve going forward. Almost all reviewers of Lucid on you tube rave about this car. The company appears to have a great potential but there are lot of uncertainties. Initial years of Tesla were probably no different.
I am willing to spend little bit more on Lucid than i would spend otherwise on Model Y but my wife is not 'completely' convinced to shell out 100K on this and is leaning towards EQS. I do see her point of view and i am torn. This is going to be our primary car (family car) and used for city driving-picking up kids, groceries, and local trips and occasional long trips (hence, i need the range of 400 miles). May be i should wait for the Air pure model with available dual motor which would bring down the cost quite a bit (considering it is our second car) but still meet all our family's needs? My wife would rather want me to spend the difference in upgrading Taycan or Etron GT or other potential competitor models in the future which i will be using for commute to work (2-3 times a week). We have solar at home with enough capacity to charge two EVs-we net exported 4.2MWh last year. So most of our charging will be at home other than longer trips.

I am sure some of you have considered EQS or TMY. what made you chose LAT/LGT over others? early adopter? just didn't want tesla? or purely you loved Lucid? Did any of you feel any issues during the test drive? were there any other concerns during the test drive but pulled the trigger anyway? I understand some of these are personal choices/preferences but i am sure some of you have weighed in on this before ordering/reserving Lucid.

Thanks for your feedback or nudge

 

[hydbob]

Everyone who comes and read and tests and talks have their own personal needs, but Kyle Connor probably put it the best in this regard:

Ultimate driver's car - Taycan
Ultimate tech car - Tesla
Ultimate luxury experience- EQS
A really good blend of the 3 with Ultimate range - Lucid

 

[DeaneG]

I've had a model 3 performance version for almost four years, our third EV. It's been a good experience, but frankly the car rides rough, is noisy, and is more like a well-developed kit car than a mature production vehicle. It's missing important (to me) features that are common on other cars - 360 degree cameras, blind spot warning in side mirrors, automatic rear cross traffic/pedestrian braking. It just received a software update that added waypoint capability to GPS navigation, 20 years after other cars had it. "Full Self Driving", which I paid for, still appears to be a scam. I test drove a Model Y and found it to be pretty much the same animal as my Model 3.

I wanted a powerful car with a design that showed some maturity in product definition compared to Tesla. I have owned one Mercedes, and it was terrible, the worst new car I've ever owned. So that was out. Liked the range and looks of the Air GT, even though it's a little large. I have confirmed an order but am also waiting to see how the Polestar 3 turns out - if it is introduced before my AGT ships.

 

[EVCar]

I also considered the EQS but was dissuaded by the added “market adjustment.” The interior space for Air is better for us, too, albeit not as luxurious. Also not sure MB is mature in the EV business. I’ve seen postings of EQ cars having a few significant issues, too.
We’ve owned MBs for the last 3 decades and have had ups and down with them, but overall better than average experience. So, if anything, I’d be more partial for them.

 

[MoniputerLM]

+

i have a reservation for the Lucid Air Touring model. I just took a test driving of LGT (this was the only model available for test drive) in southern California. Overall, I liked the experience but the steering wheel felt little stiffer than expected. I choose standard regen and smooth driving option for the test drive. Acceleration was great. it was 'quieter' (SA had turned on the fan to auto which resulted in lot of internal noise). I only test drove smooth mode. SA was little hesitant to let me drive the other modes. It was both highway and city driving. It certainly was way better than the tesla model Y in both fit/finish, feel of luxury and driving dynamics (I borrowed TMY from my friend for a test drive).

I had test driven EQS couple months ago at a local dealership and really loved it. It was way quieter than Lucid. Regen was set to minimal and i could not feel that i am driving an EV for the first time (coming from ICE cars). Steering was very smooth. My wife was in the passenger seat in both the test drives (EQS and LGT) and she loved absolutely loved EQS feel/experience better than the LGT. Even the base model- Air Pure would meet our family's needs from the number perspectives (0-60, HP, torque, storage space, leg room etc); only thing we were looking for in LAT was the higher range than other EVs and possibly better tech than EQS but the LGT i drove was a pre-production model (with version 1 of software). I am sure this will only improve going forward. Almost all reviewers of Lucid on you tube rave about this car. The company appears to have a great potential but there are lot of uncertainties. Initial years of Tesla were probably no different.
I am willing to spend little bit more on Lucid than i would spend otherwise on Model Y but my wife is not 'completely' convinced to shell out 100K on this and is leaning towards EQS. I do see her point of view and i am torn. This is going to be our primary car (family car) and used for city driving-picking up kids, groceries, and local trips and occasional long trips (hence, i need the range of 400 miles). May be i should wait for the Air pure model with available dual motor which would bring down the cost quite a bit (considering it is our second car) but still meet all our family's needs? My wife would rather want me to spend the difference in upgrading Taycan or Etron GT or other potential competitor models in the future which i will be using for commute to work (2-3 times a week). We have solar at home with enough capacity to charge two EVs-we net exported 4.2MWh last year. So most of our charging will be at home other than longer trips.

I am sure some of you have considered EQS or TMY. what made you chose LAT/LGT over others? early adopter? just didn't want tesla? or purely you loved Lucid? Did any of you feel any issues during the test drive? were there any other concerns during the test drive but pulled the trigger anyway? I understand some of these are personal choices/preferences but i am sure some of you have weighed in on this before ordering/reserving Lucid.

Thanks for your feedback or nudge

I bought the Lucid DE without the opportunity of a test drive. I have since driven the Taycan, BMW iX and the EQS 580.

The Lucid is by far the fastest and has much better range. The iX has the best overall driving experience, to me, and the EQS drives the worst, again to me.

IF I ever get the AMD EQS that I am waiting for, my opinion of the EQS may change.

 

[Not Sam]

I personally share your view of the interior of the EQS and its quietness, and that actually almost tipped me to Mercedes. I ultimately went with the Lucid for a number of reasons:

• I had horrible experiences with Mercedes dealers. People occasionally complain here about their experience after ordering and before delivery, but looked at as a whole my experience with Lucid is head and shoulders over what I got at Mercedes, and more importantly to me what I expected to get with Mercedes service. Dealing directly with Lucid instead of a dealer is a real tangible benefit.
• I do appreciate a good driving car and the Lucid is IMHO far better in this respect
• I like the Lucid story -- better tech driving better cars, and I like supporting upstarts in general
• The Lucid's outside is way prettier than the EQS to me

IMHO it comes down to your personal values -- if your primary concern is luxury and the rest doesn't matter much, the EQS might be a better choice. But hydbob's post above summarizes it for me.

 

[borski]

I hated the EQS interior, and especially the hyperscreen. It felt like screen for the sake of screen rather than intentionally designed. There was also so much plastic, and I disliked the overall interior design. I also hated the way it handled; it “floated” too much and didn’t feel confident. I also wanted a frunk, as part of the excitement of EVs to me is way more space.

The Taycan is great, but lacks the range I wanted.

The Lucid drives like a dream (to me), has insane amounts of space, and I really like the story and tech.

 

[Psymac]

I’ve driven both, and they are very different cars with very different perspectives on what an electric vehicle should be. The Mercedes is I think a transition for those who are used to traditional luxury and so it’s not rocking the boat so to speak. As for cost, with dealer markup, the Lucid GT is nearly the same price as the EQS 580 and the Touring less than the EQS 450. If you haven’t yet, check out Hagerty‘s Lucid review (infomercial lol).

 

[Thehack]

I love the Hagerty review. Having the Canadians (Throttle House) make a cameo was just the icing on the cake.

 

[Steveinarizona]

i have a reservation for the Lucid Air Touring model. I just took a test driving of LGT (this was the only model available for test drive) in southern California. Overall, I liked the experience but the steering wheel felt little stiffer than expected. I choose standard regen and smooth driving option for the test drive. Acceleration was great. it was 'quieter' (SA had turned on the fan to auto which resulted in lot of internal noise). I only test drove smooth mode. SA was little hesitant to let me drive the other modes. It was both highway and city driving. It certainly was way better than the tesla model Y in both fit/finish, feel of luxury and driving dynamics (I borrowed TMY from my friend for a test drive).

I had test driven EQS couple months ago at a local dealership and really loved it. It was way quieter than Lucid. Regen was set to minimal and i could not feel that i am driving an EV for the first time (coming from ICE cars). Steering was very smooth. My wife was in the passenger seat in both the test drives (EQS and LGT) and she loved absolutely loved EQS feel/experience better than the LGT. Even the base model- Air Pure would meet our family's needs from the number perspectives (0-60, HP, torque, storage space, leg room etc); only thing we were looking for in LAT was the higher range than other EVs and possibly better tech than EQS but the LGT i drove was a pre-production model (with version 1 of software). I am sure this will only improve going forward. Almost all reviewers of Lucid on you tube rave about this car. The company appears to have a great potential but there are lot of uncertainties. Initial years of Tesla were probably no different.
I am willing to spend little bit more on Lucid than i would spend otherwise on Model Y but my wife is not 'completely' convinced to shell out 100K on this and is leaning towards EQS. I do see her point of view and i am torn. This is going to be our primary car (family car) and used for city driving-picking up kids, groceries, and local trips and occasional long trips (hence, i need the range of 400 miles). May be i should wait for the Air pure model with available dual motor which would bring down the cost quite a bit (considering it is our second car) but still meet all our family's needs? My wife would rather want me to spend the difference in upgrading Taycan or Etron GT or other potential competitor models in the future which i will be using for commute to work (2-3 times a week). We have solar at home with enough capacity to charge two EVs-we net exported 4.2MWh last year. So most of our charging will be at home other than longer trips.

I am sure some of you have considered EQS or TMY. what made you chose LAT/LGT over others? early adopter? just didn't want tesla? or purely you loved Lucid? Did any of you feel any issues during the test drive? were there any other concerns during the test drive but pulled the trigger anyway? I understand some of these are personal choices/preferences but i am sure some of you have weighed in on this before ordering/reserving Lucid.

Thanks for your feedback or nudge

Happy wife, happy life. Get the EQS.

 

[MoniputerLM]

Happy wife, happy life. Get the EQS.

My wife likes the AMG EQS too so "IF" we get it, she will drive it.

 

[kirpal]

Thank you all for your feedback. This is helpful. We will take another round of test drives in both vehicles and as we get closer to finalizing on the design options for Lucid, I better make up my mind by then

 

[SDHacker]

steering wheel felt little stiffer than expected.

In this age of over boosted power steering, it's easy to feel there is more resistance in the steering wheel than you normally feel. So many cars feel numb because it is so easy to turn the wheel. The Air provides enough resistance to give you some feel for steering on curves. I did note the heaviness in the steering wheel but it was a comfortable feel, not the over boosted numbness of other cars.

The SA wanting you to stay in Smooth mode could be due to the previous customer not staying within a reasonable speed zone and being a little frightened. On my test drive, the SA didn't have any issues changing to Swift but asked to keep it under 90 when testing acceleration. Stated that Lucid is looking at setting a speed governor for max speed of 85 on test vehicles due to some customers going well into triple digits.

 

[borski]

In this age of over boosted power steering, it's easy to feel there is more resistance in the steering wheel than you normally feel. So many cars feel numb because it is so easy to turn the wheel. The Air provides enough resistance to give you some feel for steering on curves. I did note the heaviness in the steering wheel but it was a comfortable feel, not the over boosted numbness of other cars.

The SA wanting you to stay in Smooth mode could be due to the previous customer not staying within a reasonable speed zone and being a little frightened. On my test drive, the SA didn't have any issues changing to Swift but asked to keep it under 90 when testing acceleration. Stated that Lucid is looking at setting a speed governor for max speed of 85 on test vehicles due to some customers going well into triple digits.

Yup. My guy had no issues with me going into Sprint, but did ask me to stay under 100 haha.

 

[MoniputerLM]

In this age of over boosted power steering, it's easy to feel there is more resistance in the steering wheel than you normally feel. So many cars feel numb because it is so easy to turn the wheel. The Air provides enough resistance to give you some feel for steering on curves. I did note the heaviness in the steering wheel but it was a comfortable feel, not the over boosted numbness of other cars.

The SA wanting you to stay in Smooth mode could be due to the previous customer not staying within a reasonable speed zone and being a little frightened. On my test drive, the SA didn't have any issues changing to Swift but asked to keep it under 90 when testing acceleration. Stated that Lucid is looking at setting a speed governor for max speed of 85 on test vehicles due to some customers going well into triple digits.

I let a friend "test drive" my DE and we were going 120MPH without realizing it. The car was perfectly stable and still handled very well at that speed. I find the Lucid steering feel good but the BMW iX better and the EQS a little too “soft”.

My C8 Corvette adjusts the steering and brake pedal effort based upon the driving mode, Touring-Sport-Track. Maybe Lucid will add this.

 

[Drendino]

I owned a C55 AMG and will never go that route. I own a Panamera GTS and love it, so I don’t see any downside if your most important need is 0-60 time. Lol

 

[hydbob]

I let a friend "test drive" my DE and we were going 120MPH without realizing it. The car was perfectly stable and still handled very well at that speed. I find the Lucid steering feel good but the BMW iX better and the EQS a little too “soft”.

My C8 Corvette adjusts the steering and brake pedal effort based upon the driving mode, Touring-Sport-Track. Maybe Lucid will add this.

They do already in the 3 different modes. It's quite a noticeable difference especially between smooth and sprint

 

[MoniputerLM]

My wife likes the AMG EQS too so "IF" we get it, she will drive it.

Well, we took delivery of an AMG EQS today. I do like it much better than the non-AMG EQS 580.

Give me a few days behind the wheel and I will update this post.

I like my DE interior better but all of the Lucid missing features are in the Mercedes and they work well.

Say tuned.

 

[copper]

Well, we took delivery of an AMG EQS today. I do like it much better than the non-AMG EQS 580.

Give me a few days behind the wheel and I will update this post.

I like my DE interior better but all of the Lucid missing features are in the Mercedes and they work well.

Say tuned.

That’s way sooner than I thought they’d launch the AMG. The configurator isn’t live either. How’d you get one so soon?

 

[SaratogaLefty]

That’s way sooner than I thought they’d launch the AMG. The configurator isn’t live either. How’d you get one so soon?

And if i can ask, how much premium over MSRP?