You'll be on YouTube a lot.
The car, simply put, is unintuitive. I was still struggling to grasp the control scheme after a week. Settings frequently reverted to factory defaults, and most notably, the seat inexplicably reclined fully every time I got in and out, becoming an annoyance rather than a luxury feature. Speaking of luxury, doors not opening and cars not starting is something I expect from a recalled car. Even with the app enabled, the car would just sit waiting for the right time to unlock and open the handles.
On top of that, the valet key has no indication of where to start the car. I was sitting with the valets on my phone watching a tutorial on where to tap the card during dinner rush. As it's a lucid, it's not near the center console nor the driver side, it's attached to the glass ceiling on the hazard lights. Not a good look for the lucid.
Screen you Later
For all the screen real estate the Lucid Air Touring boasts, it surprisingly struggles to use it effectively or intuitively. Compared to industry standards like BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz, whose user interfaces are highly customizable and clearly organized, Lucid's UI feels underdeveloped and unrefined. Essential driving information, such as kWh/mile or motor temperatures, is inexplicably missing for the front screen, making it difficult for the driver to stay informed about the vehicle's status. Moreover, a substantial portion of the central display remains unused, a glaring oversight that results in wasted screen space. Rather than enhancing the driving experience, this design choice leaves the interface feeling incomplete and the driver disconnected from key aspects of vehicle performance. For a luxury vehicle built around screens, more will always be more. Major credit, however, to the interior design for the buttons we do have. With real AC and fan speed controls, you will not be left dying for air when you need it most. Moreover, an intuitive roller bar for the volume control is a welcome addition to the many ways sound is controlled in any car.
The upper heights of Range
The Lucid Air Touring is a range champion. From its sleek, long exterior to low-slung frame, it excels at the long-distance, high-speed drives that most EVs struggle with. Even in somewhat mountainous Salt Lake City and Deer Valley, the Model 3 extended range's efficiency was significantly compromised during our testing. Moreover, we were able to achieve 450 miles of range when starting from the top of the mountain for the week, so your mileage may vary pleasantly. A massive achievement for this yacht on wheels. With the curbside weight of 5,050 pounds, this yacht makes the ride smooth for the entire cruise.
With all this weight, long sleek frame, and low ground clearance, the Lucid Air Touring struggles tremendously as a daily city car or even a suburban vehicle. You will be using your 360 cameras 24/7 with this car on even the mildest of parking lots. This isn't an issue for a week-long trip, but when combined with the tight steering, it'll feel like docking a boat every time you line up for a free charge in town. A major issue we encountered was visiting our friends' country club house, where we hit a metaphorical roadblock: a raised driveway. Utah's most popular vehicle is the Jeep; with that in mind, many developers do not spend a great deal of time matching the incline of the road to the driveway. Your city may have parking garages or grocery stores with steep ramps; you'll be lucky to scrape by and likely hit the front. We had to park on the street next to the bump, mocking me in its fresh concrete way. It's a pity because we had a brand new Tesla Model X in the driveway, we could have had a head-to-head competition. We were left in the gutter on the access test.
However, the drive up the mountain to this house would put a Porsche to shame. With infinite grip and extremely sensitive throttle body control response, it made racing up the winding mountain roads a dream. Even with sharp turns, the heavy-duty motors can quickly wind the car down to safely hit any apex.
End of the Road
The 2023 Lucid Air Touring initially promises luxury, high performance (620 hp), and exceptional range (~425 miles), featuring futuristic styling and a spacious, tech-forward interior. In reality, the car delivers strong acceleration, high-quality materials, and impressive long-distance range, even surpassing expectations in mountainous areas.
However, significant drawbacks emerged:
Unintuitive controls: Settings often reset unexpectedly, seats auto-reclined inconveniently, doors failed to unlock reliably, and valet key placement was confusing, requiring tutorials.
Poor UI implementation: Despite abundant screen space, the interface lacked essential vehicle data, such as driving efficiency metrics, and much of the center display was unused, feeling incomplete compared to competitors like BMW, Audi, and Mercedes.
Limited practicality: Due to its size, weight (5,050 lbs), and low ground clearance, the Lucid struggled greatly in daily urban driving, especially with parking and navigating driveways. Maneuvering required constant use of 360-degree cameras.
Exceptional driving dynamics: On the upside, handling on winding mountain roads was outstanding, providing superior grip, smooth control, and responsive braking.
In summary, while excelling in highway cruising and performance driving, the Lucid Air Touring falls short in user interface design, daily practicality, and intuitive functionality, making ownership more complex than its luxury promise suggests..
