I'm Headed To A Lucid Event in LA: Stream and Questions?

Alrighty, y'all. I'm back, after far too long, and maybe one too many Sapphire blue cocktails. Sorry, I couldn't respond quicker, I learned as I got dressed for the Lucid gala, that I had somehow left my computer charger back home, 2,000 miles away.

Woof. It was a bit of a struggle to find a store that carried a charger for a Microsoft Surface Book, but I did it!

Anyways, unfortunately, Lucid wasn't bluffing, the Gravity was not in attendance at the gala, which I think was a miscalculation. The entire Air lineup was there, however - from Pure, all the way up to the Sapphire. Would've been nice to get some seat time, or at least look at the Gravity up close, even if it were to be a basic clay styling buck that can't moved or sat in.

So, as spoke with Justin Berkowitz, I learned that a lot of Lucid's reservation holders for the Air, are for the Pure and Touring models. It's a pretty big deal that these models are finally on sale, it seems like they'll be Lucid's bread and butter since the higher-trimmed models are so much more expensive. In fact, Lucid delivered three of the first run of Lucid Air Touring models to customers who had been invited out for the event.



After a welcome speech from Derek Jenkins and Peter Rawlinson, I sat down in the Lucid Air Pure. Remember, the Pure has the 18-module battery pack instead of the 22-module pack, and it comes with the Pureluxe leatherette interior, and a body-colored metal roof. The roof was probably the most significant change, in my opinion. The metal roof completely changes the vibe of the car, it's not as airy and open, but a little coccoon-like, especially with the dark grey Alcantara headliner. Some might like that, I don't know if I had enough seat time with the car to say whether or not that choice was good or bad.





Purelux is great. I think that most laypeople wouldn't notice it isn't leather; I'd put it above Mercedes' MBTEX, and on par with whatever Cadillac puts in their interiors. It's nice to know that if you don't opt for the Nappa leather, you're still getting a high-quality finish. Right now, the Purelux is only on the Pure trim (it's the only option), but Lucid didn't rule out the Purelux interior making its way to the Touring model as well.



The Touring model felt basically identical to the Grand Touring and Grand Touring performance, except, the rear seating position had definitely been improved with the new carveouts for the smaller battery.



I schmoozed around with a few of the Lucid HQ staff, and more than one said "Hey, we've got a Lucid Air Touring prototype rolling around, you want to come back tomorrow and give it a spin?"

"Heck yeah," I said.

This morning, I made my way back to the Lucid Beverly Hills studio, to get better pics of the Air Pure and Touring, and get some seat time with the Touring model. Unfortunately, Lucid didn’t have a Pure ready to drive, but it did have the Touring.



Yet again, Justin Berkowitz was pretty adamant that car I’d be driving is a prototype “somewhere between pre-production, and maybe series production,” meaning there were some elements on the car physically that likely wouldn’t be 100%. Still, he assured me the car would be pretty good, and was unlikely to do anything weird on the 30 minutes or so I had with the car.

In theory, the Touring is less car, but less being a relative term. It’s still got two motors and 661 horsepower, so its still lighting quick. On paper, though, the touring is about a second slower from 0-60, but like, 3.8 seconds is nigh imperceptible compared to high 2’s of the Grand Touring and Grand Touring Performance.

On LA city streets, the Air Touring still feels as agile and smooth riding as the higher trims. It appears the smaller battery hasn’t affected ride or handling much at all. That’s great, though.

Out of all the variants I’ve had seat time with, I think the Pure and Touring models have the strongest value proposition, especially the Touring.



Yet again, this was a prototype, so I can’t really speak too much on noise etc, although it did seem about the same as any other Lucid Air variant.

Lucid also had a refreshed version of the UX in the Touring prototype I drove. Not sure if this has been pushed to customers yet, but it’s definitely better than the initial version I tested back in July.

Like, we’ve finally got album art via Bluetooth.



Also, I can navigate my music library via Bluetooth; the bottom screen finally does something important rather than just show a pretty map or HVAC controls.



Overall, responsiveness is way up. You still can’t view the map and song titles at the same time, which seems to be a simple fix and a weird oversight from the brand. Yet again, the Lucid team assured me that it was coming soon.

Oh, and the Sapphire was there. Didn’t realize there were so many body shell changes! The fender flares and carbon fiber spoiler are slick. Very subtle, but also really mean looking.