Test Drive Experience at Lucid San Jose (Valley Fair) - March 4 2022

[Codyroo]

Early on Lucid was showing a "Big Basin" interior palette that was beige based. I read somewhere recently that it's going to be brought back to the line up. It may be worth at call to your Sales Advisor if you're interested in something that's less black but not quite white.

It's shown in this article:

Lucid Air's interior colors are an ode to California's natural beauty

Lucid drew inspiration for its interior colors for the Air from the natural beauty of the company’s home state, California. While using different times of the day and different areas within the state to inspire colors, the company released its first production car on the birthday of California...

www.teslarati.com

I would jump on Big Basin in a second!

 

[air217]

I was Emory's first test drive customer! He is awesome.

 

[Bbq9]

This is a huge problem for Tesla owners as thieves have learned this and break the rear window so they can fold the seat down and grab items in the trunk so they are well aware of this issue.

never knew that. cool

 

[Psymac]

Test drove the GT yesterday at West Palm Beach. Certainly no comparison to the Mercedes EQS I drove a couple of days before and the Tesla X last year. Lucid is a far better combination of the two, minimalist vs ultra luxury, or 'Post Luxury' as Lucid has said. The comparison to Apple is difficult to ignore, as Lucid for cars is striving for the intersection of liberal arts and technology. The Lucid is phenomenal to drive, it is so tight and precise while at the same time presents with understated sophistication and luxury. My only difficulty now is can I hold off on buying the GT versus waiting for the Gravity.

 

[hydbob]

Test drove the GT yesterday at West Palm Beach. Certainly no comparison to the Mercedes EQS I drove a couple of days before and the Tesla X last year. Lucid is a far better combination of the two, minimalist vs ultra luxury, or 'Post Luxury' as Lucid has said. The comparison to Apple is difficult to ignore, as Lucid for cars is striving for the intersection of liberal arts and technology. The Lucid is phenomenal to drive, it is so tight and precise while at the same time presents with understated sophistication and luxury. My only difficulty now is can I hold off on buying the GT versus waiting for the Gravity.

Get both! The Gravity is the family car, the Air is the business car!

 

[DeaneG]

Interesting thread; I visited SJ Valley Fair for a test drive today and came away with contrasting impressions:
1) My Model 3 has the charge port on the left rear, and it supercharges just fine. I'd be worried about the Air's left-front location at Superchargers (when/if this happens) as it is opposite that on the Model 3 and S. Also with this location I'd need to back into my garage to charge, and run the cable across the front of the car and then back to the fender edge.
2) My impression of the ride was that it was a little loose feeling, underdamped. Maybe I should have spent more time in the middle driving mode rather than the softest.
3) My Volvo XC40 EV has a better, more confident and plush ride and was perhaps quieter on the freeway.
4) The Air's interior looked like a prototype.
5) Software development has a year or so to go before it's pretty much there.
6) Seemed like a hugely modern but unfinished version of our 1990 LS400.
I wanted to love the car, but the feeling I came away with was that for me, the car's only really strong point is its range. I'll plan to ask for another test drive in some months when I am invited to finalize a car. Maybe by then the Valley Fair location will have an updated tester-car that matches the online reviews' positive comments. For point of reference this would be my fifth EV. I've bought early on each one. Leaf and Kia Soul were flawless and competent, Model 3 Performance rough and clearly a beta product, Volvo XC40 P8 beautifully finished but with serious unresolved software bugs and missing functionality. Around and between these EVs I've had two Ferraris, a Maserati, a few Lexii, and a few SUVs.

 

[ddruker]

Same here. Nice detailed write up @ddruker . I believe the black front and grey back interior is the Mohave which is what I ordered with my Zenith Red AGT. I ended up with the 19 inch, mostly for the range but also for the comfort.

Thanks Pete - you are exactly correct - I got the color combination name wrong in my original post. It's interesting the feedback here is split between which interior goes best with Zenith red. I pinged my sales advisor asking if they have any data with more precision on how much wheel choice impacts range - is the hit 5 miles or more like 100 to go from 19's to 21's...

 

[ddruker]

Interesting thread; I visited SJ Valley Fair for a test drive today and came away with contrasting impressions:
1) My Model 3 has the charge port on the left rear, and it supercharges just fine. I'd be worried about the Air's left-front location at Superchargers (when/if this happens) as it is opposite that on the Model 3 and S. Also with this location I'd need to back into my garage to charge, and run the cable across the front of the car and then back to the fender edge.

Yep - I wish that EV vendors would standardize on charge port locations. I for sure will not ever be dragging a heaving charging cord across the paint on my $150k car if the charging station and my charge port are not adjacent. I expect this will be a real issue until the EV world settles down. In the most extreme example of this, Ford markets the F150 lightning for towing - but I've not yet seen an EV charger in a pull through layout where you could charge your vehicle while still connected to your trailer. Gas stations show the island model is flexible, but I understand why EV stations have gone with the parking spot model. It's just the parking spot model makes it more important where the charging port and charger are...

 

[hellolucid]

Thanks Pete - you are exactly correct - I got the color combination name wrong in my original post. It's interesting the feedback here is split between which interior goes best with Zenith red. I pinged my sales advisor asking if they have any data with more precision on how much wheel choice impacts range - is the hit 5 miles or more like 100 to go from 19's to 21's...

please do tell us if your sales advisor responds to that.

 

[Adnillien]

Lucid EPA Filing	DE R 19	DE R 21	DE P 19	DE P 21	GT 19	GT21
Combined Range	520	481	471	451	516	475.3
City	520.8	478.2	474.8	448.6	512.1	466.2
Highway	520	485.3	466.2	453.2	520.5	472.2

 

[ddruker]

please do tell us if your sales advisor responds to that.

He just replied. He said "Regarding wheel size affecting the range, the Official EPA range up to 516mi for the GT is based on the 19inch Range; as you go up an inch to 20inch wheels, you will lose roughly 23 miles of range; with the 21inch wheels, you will lose about 47miles of range, depending on driving condition and style. As the wheel gets larger, there is more ground to cover, which gives you better handling and feel of the road. Most of my customers felt the road much more on the 21inch vs. the 19inchs, where they felt less impact when going over rough roads with many holes or cracks."

This and the chart posted by Adnillien above are super helpful.

In my mind the tradeoffs are:
Handling - 21 best to 19 least (less sidewall = less flex so more crisp handling)
Road smoothness - 19 best to 21 worst (more sidewall = more flex to absorb road variations, also less road noise)
Mileage - 19 best, 5% penalty for 20, 10% penalty for 21 (more wheel diameter = more rotational inertia, more air resistance)

Based on this, and the look of the wheel choices, I'm thinking 20's.... I don't need all season tires, that could definitely change your decision.

 

[DeaneG]

IMO, even though I'm oriented toward practicality, the 21" wheels look spectacular, and the 19's are somewhat appearance challenged. I'm hoping the 20's are a happy medium but haven't seen them in person yet.

 

[borski]

IMO, even though I'm oriented toward practicality, the 21" wheels look spectacular, and the 19's are somewhat appearance challenged. I'm hoping the 20's are a happy medium but haven't seen them in person yet.

I do have to say, if you remove the Aero covers from the 19s, they look a lot less fugly. (but you'll lose some range)

 

[pam4_AGT]

I do have to say, if you remove the Aero covers from the 19s, they look a lot less fugly. (but you'll lose some range)

Have a seen a pic or do you have one? I can't wait to see how that would look.

 

[borski]

Have a seen a pic or do you have one? I can't wait to see how that would look.

I have the 19's, but car is currently in service. I can pop them off later and show you when I get them back.

 

[pam4_AGT]

I have the 19's, but car is currently in service. I can pop them off later and show you when I get them back.

Why is your car in service? Is there an issue?

 

[borski]

Why is your car in service? Is there an issue?

Just a bunch of super minor fit and finish things that they were waiting on parts for since I got the car - nothing major. Also, join the Bay Area Owners telegram once you get your car!

Bay Area Lucid Owners

t.me

 

[Codyroo]

Have a seen a pic or do you have one? I can't wait to see how that would look.

Look up the Throttle House video on the Lucid Dream edition, in it Thomas takes off the black plastic thingys and shows off the rim.

 

[hydbob]

Look up the Throttle House video on the Lucid Dream edition, in it Thomas takes off the black plastic thingys and shows off the rim.

The ones in that video are the 21s, not the 19s

 

[Codyroo]

Oh sorry, I didn't realize there were Aero Covers on the 19" too. I thought only the 20" and 21" had them.