Torn between Model S Plaid and Lucid Touring.

[lucidukan]

I have a Lucid Touring booked getting close to delivery. But really torn between that and a Model S Plaid. Performance vs Comfort. Roughly same price +/- 10K.

Any thoughts? What would you get?

Thanks in advance!

 

[joec]

I have a Lucid Touring booked getting close to delivery. But really torn between that and a Model S Plaid. Performance vs Comfort. Roughly same price +/- 10K.

Any thoughts? What would you get?

Thanks in advance!

I can tell you what I did get. The Touring.

I feel like Lucid might have some ways to go, but they are a company who is definitely on their way up. Tesla, on the other hand, is much more established, but I can’t say I’m impressed with where they’re going.

I think in a few years any advantages the Model S might have in software now will be minimized. Meanwhile Touring will always have more interior space, better materials and build quality, and slightly better range.

It’s a very personal decision. If you’ve driven both, and you’ve made a list of pros and cons for each, there’s not much else to do but weigh it all and make up your mind, I guess. Easier said than done, I know.

 

[Lucidfan22]

Having owned both brands, I would question if you wish to buy hardware or software?

As others have mentioned on this forum, Lucid has superior hardware, build quality etc. Tesla has better software. Software can be upgraded OTA, hardware not so much unless you replace the vehicle. If you are willing to go through the pains of software evolution, then Lucid 100%. If you wish to have things working out of the box on day 1, then Tesla 100%.

Tesla is all about numbers though, horsepower, 0-60 times, torque, etc. It's a very bland car on the inside. They are not luxury or a comfort car. Most people consider Tesla a luxury car, but I would consider it far from luxury. It's very minimalistic and that is appealing to most folks now days, but with a Lucid, you feel like the $100K car is worth the $100K. Even the more refined Tesla Model S feels bland and poorly built.

I took delivery of a Model Y earlier this year and right of the bat, the screen had a dead pixel (the screen was replaced under warranty, but how do you deliver a car with dead pixels?), needed some paint correction, passenger door needed to be slammed to shut closed. Of course, you are asking about Model S which is a more "premium" car, but Tesla has its fair share of issues even after 12 years in the market. I am not bashing on Tesla as Tesla is the first car to bring Electric vehicle revolution in the automobile industry. They have been a monopoly for a very long time, but Tesla is not the only "cool kid" on the block anymore.

No matter how far Tesla's software has evolved, they still cannot seem to fix the phantom braking issue. You cannot even use basic cruise control without having the fear of being rear ended. One of the reasons I moved on from Tesla. I always had to have my foot on the accelerator to override the phantom braking. Even basic Toyotas, Hondas now days have adaptive cruise control and Tesla cannot seem to engineer this.

 

[Lucidfan22]

Another thing I forgot to mention, you asked for Plaid specifically. The only thing Plaid offers over most Lucid's model is acceleration? How often do you see yourself accelerating so quickly as opposed to driving majority of your time driving in comfort, style, quiet cabin, etc?

I think it also depends on if you really care about the ludicrous acceleration from light to light, tracking the car?

But if it will be a daily driver, I rather sacrifice the crazy fast acceleration over tons of other things I would get with Lucid such as 3 years of free charging, range, more interior space, better build quality, luxury, comfort, future proof hardware with Lidar, list goes on and on.

 

[billvb]

I have owned a Model S since 2016, first a P90D, then a 2019 ‘Raven’ P100D+. There is a lot that I love about the Model S, but I have an Air Grand Touring on order. As others have said, the interior is very minimal, and I feel that they are actually making the driving experience worse for their customers - both by hiding important controls in the UI, and physically with things like the yoke and moving to steering wheel toggles and buttons instead of stalks. I used to really enjoy and trust the early autopilot, and even more so in the early days after they’d recovered from their transition from Mobileye, but now I only use it as an ACC because whatever logic they’re using for lane changing seems insane and is incredibly frustrating, and the phantom braking is both unsafe and awfully embarrassing. Frankly, the thing I will miss the most from the Model S is the hatchback - I’ve always loved how the car has about as much storage as most mid-sized SUVs.

 

[LucidNJ]

The one other area where Tesla has an advantage is the charging away from home. The Tesla charging network is quite robust while EA and other third-party systems are still lacking both in reliability and locations. Tesla destination/superchargers in my area of NJ are much more common compared to EA. In fact, I've seen groups of Tesla chargers in malls or gas stations only a few miles apart from each other. Also, where Tesla has chosen to build, there are 10+ chargers in each of those locations, whereas the two EA locations closest to me have 4-6 chargers each.

I have never owned a Tesla and I just received my AT 10 days ago, so I am not speaking from experience here, just observation. There are many threads on this forum dedicated to some of the shortcomings of EA, but none of that is really on Lucid. Hopefully with some of the government mandates, the charging infrastructure will improve in the future. With that being said, the drive of the Lucid is just so enjoyable overall. You just have to make the decision based on what's right for you.

 

[speed]

I replaced the Plaid with a Touring and it was a decision that I made without ever setting foot in a Lucid. After having it for 3 weeks, I miss a lot of things about the S, but I'm enjoying the Lucid. The software is a bit buggy, but I'm hopeful they will fix it in due time. In terms of interior and exterior, the Lucid is superior. Tesla is more mature software and features wise.

 

[Grnr92663]

I have a Lucid Touring booked getting close to delivery. But really torn between that and a Model S Plaid. Performance vs Comfort. Roughly same price +/- 10K.

Any thoughts? What would you get?

Thanks in advance!

Among our extended family, all together we own ...21 Teslas (Yes, see pix when we gather at our grandma house). We're slowly transition to Rivian and Lucid - due to performance, decent EV tech, great look, and best of all - much better build and customer service quality. Many of our relatives refused to drive the Plaid, due to the lame yoke hence it was one of the first in our extended family that we let go.

We will never buy an EV from existing US & Japanese & European car makers, so-so EV tech, hideous look & awful dealer experience

 

[Tesla2.0]

In fact, I've seen groups of Tesla chargers in malls or gas stations only a few miles apart from each other. Also, where Tesla has chosen to build, there are 10+ chargers in each of those locations, whereas the two EA locations closest to me have 4-6 chargers each.

That is because for every 20 EVs on the road, 17 of them are Tesla. But the scale is tipping recently and will be more next few years. In 2021 Tesla produced 71% of all EVs made in USA, in 2022 produced 65%. Tesla has head start and therefore more EVs on the road and more charging stations. But if you compare CCS charging stalls, the ratio is actually not bad. EA just need to get its act together and we need more charging stations brands to compete. EVGo is ramping up. Mercedes and Rivian both just announced to introduced their own CCS stations anre also good signs.

 

[DryFLyGuy]

We took delivery of a Touring a week ago. We started with an 850 mile drive the 2nd day. This was probably not a good idea since we have never owned an EV. We made it with me believing we had a better experience than my wife thinks we did. Here are my observations along with those of a good friend of mine who purchased a new Tesla Plaid this summer.

My car has been far from perfect. We had a lot of charging issues at EA that required anywhere from 25-50 minutes with Lucid support and EA on the phone to get the car to charge. EA had to give us a complimentary charge as we get an “authentication error” each time. The navigation system had some serious glitches, including an inability to find charging stations and voice commands working/not working along with odd rerouting to much longer travel choices. The cameras have been glitchy sometimes working, sometimes not. The Dolby Atmos is not working, though we can now get music. So, not all roses. I have been driving Mercedes Benz/AMG and Porsche products for the past 30 years. Never had a car with as many problems. They do all appear to be software problems and I hope Lucid will get them all fixed. That being said, the car itself is fantastic to drive. I realize the Plaid accelerates faster, as do the AGTs. In no way can I use the all of the acceleration/speed the Touring has on public roads. Not on a regular basis. It is a parlor trick to accelerate as fast as these cars (and others) can. Often fun to stun friends the first time. In daily driving, I simply don’t need more power/speed/acceleration than either the Touring offers. All of them (AGT and Plaid included) offer acceleration, to quote Rolls Royce, that is “adequate”. Unless, you are big into stop light racing. Never been my thing. Now, if you are taking your car to a track, you may want the the extra power of a Plaid or a AGT.

The car is comfortable, fast, handles better than a 4 door sedan should, and extremely quiet. The Hiway Assist worked well for me. I have read other postst on this forum suggesting th the assist should move the car to the left side of the lane when passing trucks and I agree. Some of those big trucks seemed to get too close to me. The Air feels like it was put together by german engineering. To be honest, it feels more solid than my AMG coupe. It is great fun to drive. Inspite of the software issues, I am trying to make up reasons to take it on a long road trip again. It is a great driver’s car. A long road trip currently, may be a tough sell to my wife. She is very concerned we will be left on the side of the road unable to get the car charged.

I had it in to Lucid service for 2 days last week. I will say this, the service manager, (John), and all of the people I have had a face to face encounter with at the Scottsdale service center were very nice and helpful. They all really seem to care about Lucid, the cars, and the customers. They believe they fixed most of the problems with a “hard reset”. I tested the navigation today, it gave voice commands,and found charging stations. I drove to an EA station today and the after plugging in, the car began charging. The cameras seemed to work just as they should. I also performed the Dobly Atmos test. My car is definately not playing back Atmos music correctly. Perhaps it has not been activated by Lucid? Perhaps I have something set up incorrectly on my end? I will phone the service center tomorrow.

My Plaid owning friend had this to say. “The Lucid interior is much nicer, the car feels much more solid, and I think It is a better looking car than my Plaid. I do like the Telsa supercharger network. Other than that I don’t really see any reason to choose the Telsa over the Lucid”. His wife thought the interior and exterior are nicer than their Tesla. I haven’t spent any time in his car. I have experienced the Plaid acceleration and it is mind blowing. Just not real useful to me on public roads. Your desires may be different.

I have hopes, my Lucid software issues will be, for the most part, put behind me. The hardware and driving experience is amazing. If the software issued can be fixed quickly, the Touring is a bargain for what it offers in range, build quality, and driving characteristics. There are a lot of good automobiles available for purchase. I think Lucid is the premium EV at the moment. If Lucid can improve the software/reliability I don’t see why they would not remain a top consideration.

 

[chinesejpl]

I agree with what's been said here...Plaid acceleration is useless in real world driving. Anything that accelerates 4.5sec 0-60mph or faster is more than enough to pass slower cars or merge easily, especially when all that torque is available immediately. I have a gen 1 Model X 90D since new 6y ago and never once did I even for a second wish I ordered the performance version for whatever the difference in cost was (in actual fact, even if it was a free upgrade I probably wouldn't have taken it just because of the hit in range for something I'd never use, but I digress).

I have an AGT now and have rarely driven it in Sprint mode, which is the only mode that unlocks all 819hp because my range takes a hit and I don't have any easily accessible mountainous roads to go on a spirited drive on here in BC (at least nothing that isn't constantly being patrolled by police and here in BC we have an anti-racing law that automatically impounds your car for 7d + hefty fine if you're caught driving more than 30km over speed limit)

I like the Air better because:

• looks better IMO
• suspension/ride quality is way better
• interior much more spacious and much much better quality materials (feels more luxurious vs tesla)
• sound system much better sounding (not operating)

What I miss/perfer in the Tesla:

• software - much more refined and responsive
• GPS enabled automatic homelink
• Auto-pilot NOT FSD (in Canada highway assist is not yet released so all I have is adaptive cruise control)
• Supercharger! This is a huge advantage. In Vancouver, BC I have 3x fast DC charging stations (>=150kw) with 2-4 stalls each within a 20km radius (and zero Electrify Canada)! Within that same radius there are probably 50 supercharger stalls. Furthermore, actually getting the car to work with the 3rd party DC charging stations is not a straightforward experience (e.g. orientation of car in relation to charger so the cable can reach, communicating with the charger to actually get it started, using the bulkly CCS charging cables can be difficult)

The way I looked at it is the advantages of the Tesla will be addressed with future OTA updates and improved EV charging infrastructure whereas the advantages of the lucid cannot ever be taken away by tesla unless it is with a new car.

 

[DBV]

Among our extended family, all together we own ...21 Teslas (Yes, see pix when we gather at our grandma house). We're slowly transition to Rivian and Lucid - due to performance, decent EV tech, great look, and best of all - much better build and customer service quality. Many of our relatives refused to drive the Plaid, due to the lame yoke hence it was one of the first in our extended family that we let go.

We will never buy an EV from existing US & Japanese & European car makers, so-so EV tech, hideous look & awful dealer experience

If the yoke bothers people, you can now order the Model S with a normal stereo wheel. I love they yoke, but seems like many would rather have a round wheel.

 

[joec]

If the yoke bothers people, you can now order the Model S with a normal stereo wheel. I love they yoke, but seems like many would rather have a round wheel.

Worth noting, the round wheel still lacks standard stalks. So it’s the same weird turn signal buttons and touch screen for changing drive modes.

 

[hmp10]

Worth noting, the round wheel still lacks standard stalks. So it’s the same weird turn signal buttons and touch screen for changing drive modes.

I think the comparison of the new Model S steering wheel with the Lucid Air steering wheel really captures the difference in the overall vibe of the two interiors:

 

[Tesla2.0]

If the yoke bothers people, you can now order the Model S with a normal stereo wheel. I love they yoke, but seems like many would rather have a round wheel.

Toyota are going for yoke, so is Sony Honda Mobility. There are some merits of it, such as autonomous driving implication and full visibility of instrument cluster. But I believe it should be optional just like automatic or standard transmission. Tesla is now changing some of its absolute policy such as no ultrasonic sensors, etc.

 

[hydbob]

Toyota are going for yoke, so is Sony Honda Mobility. There are some merits of it, such as autonomous driving implication and full visibility of instrument cluster. But I believe it should be optional just like automatic or standard transmission. Tesla is now changing some of its absolute policy such as no ultrasonic sensors, etc.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the yokes for Toyota/Lexus completely different in how much turning you get compared to the Tesla yoke? The Tesla yoke was just a wheel replacement whereas the Lexus yoke modulates the amount of rotation you get right?

 

[Steveinarizona]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the yokes for Toyota/Lexus completely different in how much turning you get compared to the Tesla yoke? The Tesla yoke was just a wheel replacement whereas the Lexus yoke modulates the amount of rotation you get right?

correct.

 

[DeaneG]

After owning a Tesla for four years and an Air for three months, I'm going to offer my opinion without nuance as usual: If you're planning to track the car frequently or very often take long road trips with children (supercharger vs CCS), buy the Tesla. In any other situation, the Air is a much nicer (and cooler!) car with far better comfort and convenience: quiet with a beautiful interior, blind-spot warning in side mirrors, 360-degree parking cams, automatic rear cross-traffic/pedestrian braking, among many other things that make the car a joy to use on a daily basis. The Air has a way to go on software development but this is improving rapidly.

 

[hmp10]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the yokes for Toyota/Lexus completely different in how much turning you get compared to the Tesla yoke? The Tesla yoke was just a wheel replacement whereas the Lexus yoke modulates the amount of rotation you get right?

Even if you might like a yoke configuration, part of the problem with the Tesla yoke (which we have on our Model S Plaid) is that it is so poorly executed.

As you mention, the few other cars (including race cars) that use yokes also have variable steering ratios that reduce how far you have to turn the yoke at low speeds. The Tesla yoke requires unnaturally wide sweeps for small turns at low speeds. And the yoke is wider than the diameter of most steering wheels, making the moves even more exaggerated. Trying to do a U-turn with the Tesla yoke almost amounts to aerobic exercise.

As does Tesla, the Ferrari yoke has buttons instead of a stalk for turn signals. However, Ferrari puts each button on the side of the wheel corresponding to the direction of the turn. Tesla stacks the buttons on the same side of the wheel, which is counterintuitive in the best case and utterly confusing if you try to engage the turn signal when you're steering through a curve.

Horns are for meant for emergency use, and most steering wheels have large, easily-located means of blowing them. The Tesla yoke has a tiny black button on a black yoke in a spot that seems randomly chosen. Tesla claims that in panic use the horn will honk if you simultaneously hit several of the surrounding buttons with a broad stab. After an incident where I needed to honk the horn but couldn't find the button, I experimented with this method. No go, at least for me.

All the buttons except the rotary controls on the Tesla yoke are the same small, poorly marked black buttons on a black yoke that require a lot of motor memory to consistently locate readily.

It really is a messed up piece of design/engineering.

 

[tmilone103]

If the yoke bothers people, you can now order the Model S with a normal stereo wheel. I love they yoke, but seems like many would rather have a round wheel.

Glad to see they are finally adding the round wheel but what pissed me off the most with my latest Tesla is the blinker buttons on the steering wheel and finding the horn button when you need the horn. Removing those was some of Tesla's stupidest decisions.