Update: 2500mi/4000km review

chinesejpl

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Joined
Nov 23, 2022
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144
Location
Vancouver, BC
Cars
Air GT
I wanted to update my review of my AGT after logging in more mileage since my initial review. I hope this will help others who are new owners or contemplating ownership.

  • Ride quality has improved and it now is much smoother over bumps. I like it a lot now
  • Steering was initially very heavy and now is much better (i.e. not so heavy/hard, more middle again, like the suspension). I am waiting for the ability to adjust steering resistance (e.g. comfort, sport) which would be even better.
  • Audio - initially I thought Burmester in Porsche was better but I have really come to appreciate this sound system. Now I probably think it is the best OEM that I have heard. Needs a good source though (e.g. Tidal Dolby Atmos) otherwise, spotify doesn't utilize the systems fidelity enough.
  • Range - still a big disappointment. For reference, I have aftermarket, non-aerodynamic winter wheels + Bridgestone Blizaak LM005 winter tires, inflated to 49 psi, 50% hwy 60-70mph, max regen. Below freezing I was getting 1.8-2mi/kwh. At 8-10 degrees celcius I'm getting 2.8-3mi/kwh. Honestly, a big downer for me
  • Fit & finish - except for the constant rear shelf noise issue, mostly in the cold (which has been attempted to be fixed 2x already by SC), interior is a wonderful place to be. Materials are very high quality and fit and finish are great. The leather is some of the nicest feeling leather I've encountered vs porsche (911s, cayennes, taycan, panamera), benz S class, BMW, Ferrari, Lambo. I would go as far as saying it is closer to bentley quality than the aforementioned list. A minor issue in the back seat is that the floor is quite high so despite lots of leg room in front of your knees, it can be a bit uncomfortable because it almost seems like the seats are too low on the ground and knees are not supported
  • Navigation - As I use it more I am finding it isn't as bad as I thought. Miles better than other OEM systems that don't use carplay/android auto or google maps natively. Not as good as tesla but useable, although I always double check with google maps on my phone so I don't trust it completely yet
  • The car sits so low that you are more likely to scratch or bottom out than any other sedan I've driven (except maybe the performance sedans like M5, c63, etc, although I'm not sure). You'll bottom out going over larger speed bumps and steep driveways. I would compare it to driving a sports car like R8, Corvette, Lambo, Ferrari - given it's longer wheelbase, it bottoms out more frequently than a 911
  • Still no highway assist in Canada, which sucks, and no timeline for arrival. All I have is adaptive cruise control, which functions essentially the same as $30k cars.
  • Charging - fastest I've got is 168kw @ 10% SOC, preconditioned for 20min, but I'm not sure if this is more a function of our immature rapid EV charging here in BC (Canada)
Issues I've found that came about as I lived with and drove the car:
  • clamshell trunk isn't a very good design. It looks super wide but it's very low so you are always having to duck into the trunk and it's height opening is quite small. Lifting the false floor reveals a larger cargo area underneath but then you are literally bending over to pick up anything you put in there (e.g. briefcase) and I'm only 5'8"! The car sits so low which wosens this whole experience. Also, when it rains, the design of the trunk is such that the water beads off and drops on my head if I'm getting something from the trunk as the lip is directly over the opening of the trunk! If you go to costco and need to shove things to the back, getting it is akin to climbing through the cylindrical tubes in a playground where you almost have to disappear into the trunk to fetch the bags.
  • Software - unfortunately, with time, I think all owners will fall victim to the software gremlins that continue to plague the car. I was in honeymoon phase until recently when I reset the car to try to reactivate the voice navigation guidance and audio text message and all the gremlins are coming one after another. I've made my opinion before about the software; to me, it is inexusable for lucid's software to be so far behind. Think of it like blackberry releasing an OS similiar to their original but far inferior to the experience of iOS or android - they'd get eaten alive. No excuse to not be at least equivalent to Tesla, the market leader, with some additional "thoughtful" features to make it feel special.
  • Rear camera occasionally has a very short lag such that it risks you/me bumping into something if we are too fast
  • Regen in reverse - who needs such aggressive regen when reversing? It should be programmed to be lighter to make parallel parking, backing up into spots, easier rather than being a jerky processes
  • Seat comfort - this is subjective but I find it a bit hard to get totally comfortable in the seats. Initially they feel very comfortable but there is something there that makes my back ache. Seats in the EQS SUV are more comfortable for me but maybe it's just my body shape? Don't know - again very subjective (for reference, I'm comparing the seats to tesla model X, MB EQS SUV, Porsche Cayenne sport seats, sport cars and even rented hyundai/kia small SUVs and vans like sienna and pacifica. For some reason, I just have trouble not hurting in these seats)
  • Intermittent wipers - just as bad as tesla - far inferior to accurately determining when to turn on or off or frequency of wiping than Toyota, honda, hyundai, etc.
  • Servicing/bugs/warranty issues - I've had my car for 3 months and it's been in the service centre for 1.5 weeks total, which I think is a lot for a new car. I would worry if this was my only car and I had to rely on it as dependable transportation, which when I think about it is stupid because isn't that primarily why we buy cars?!
  • homelink integration is the worst that I've experienced in a car. I have my physical garage door opener in my car and don't use homelink at this time until they fix the geofencing/rear camera issues
  • Still not sure how to have the mirror/seats automatically adjust for my profile vs my wife's. When I arrive to the car with my linked key, it changes the profile to me but doesn't adjust anything despite me setting it to adjust all settings when the profile is detected. So I sit sideways in the car with my head crouched (in my wife's seating position) then go to seat settings to "restore" my seating position and then I can fit but sometimes mirrors don't adjust to my saved settings. Gremlin?
  • BEWARE the frunk lid - it will close on your head very fast if you're not careful and aware
  • Headlights are great - very bright at night, providing excellent vision
  • App - It's tesla's app from 2011-2016 (i.e. limited functionality). Better than most/all legacy maker but quite far from Tesla
  • Vampire drain - quite significant in the cold. I can lose up to 10+ miles overnight in a nonheated, insulated garage with ambient temperatures of -5 celcius. Much more than my tesla
These are just my "real world" experiences so it may be unique to me, my car or even where I live. The more data points we have the better we can understand the capabilities and limits of this car.
 
Thanks for great feedback, as it really helps potential owners. The bottoming out/scraping over speed bumps/steep driveways is worrisome. We have a steep driveway and my Model S almost bottoms out on the very high suspension setting. It will on the medium setting every time.
 
Quick speed bump tip; set the drive mode to Swift in parking lots. It stiffens the dampers so the car doesn’t bounce nearly as much. I haven’t bottomed out on one since I started doing this.
 
Thanks for great feedback, as it really helps potential owners. The bottoming out/scraping over speed bumps/steep driveways is worrisome. We have a steep driveway and my Model S almost bottoms out on the very high suspension setting. It will on the medium setting every time.
I've posted somwhere else that I had to redo a part of my garage in order to prevent/reduce this bottoming from happening... That's how low this car is. Would have been beneficial for lucid to have offered a front/nose lift option like sports cars given that the car sits as low as they do.
 
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Quick speed bump tip; set the drive mode to Swift in parking lots. It stiffens the dampers so the car doesn’t bounce nearly as much. I haven’t bottomed out on one since I started doing this.
I'm going to try this. 🤞
 
Excellent, well balanced, objective review, thank you. It does help those of us who are still waiting, even if it does get us a bit nervous.
 
Quick speed bump tip; set the drive mode to Swift in parking lots. It stiffens the dampers so the car doesn’t bounce nearly as much. I haven’t bottomed out on one since I started doing this.

This is a good recommendation. I've found that I switch to Swift in several situations - on roads that have a lot of "float" to them - Swift helps to make the ride a lot more solid. It'd be nice to be able to cafeteria the ride settings.
 
This is a good recommendation. I've found that I switch to Swift in several situations - on roads that have a lot of "float" to them - Swift helps to make the ride a lot more solid. It'd be nice to be able to cafeteria the ride settings.
Okay, I’ll bite. What does “cafeteria” mean?

Also, I agree. I tried the speed bump trick recently, and it was great.
 
Okay, I’ll bite. What does “cafeteria” mean?

Also, I agree. I tried the speed bump trick recently, and it was great.
Selecting specific ride/performance configurations instead of fixed configurations as they are currently. For instance - lower performance with a stiffer ride. Or A softer ride with better performance.
 
Selecting specific ride/performance configurations instead of fixed configurations as they are currently. For instance - lower performance with a stiffer ride. Or A softer ride with better performance.
Ahh. Thanks for the clarification. In that case, I agree with that, too.
 
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