10,000-Mile Update
If there were a reality show called When Costco Trips Go Wrong, our Lucid Air Pure could be the focus of an episode. Through no fault of its own, mind you—well, depending on whom you ask.
The drama started back in October. An editor took the Air for a lunchtime Costco run. This is a common occurrence. First of all, Costco is close by, and there isn’t a better dollar-to-calorie deal (save maybe the Little Caesars Hot-n-Ready meal) than the $1.50 Costco Glizzy. Second, the Air has a huge trunk and an ample frunk to hold all the large items one might buy at the big-box store.
The trunk isn’t just long and wide; it’s also deep. There is a shelf that divides the vertical space, but two deep and largely blind openings remain. (The travel charging cord lives in the middle section covered by the shelf.) Stashing something there, like an 18-rack of free-range quail eggs, is pretty normal. So it’s easy to understand how the 20-ounce Pepsi that came with the hot dog was temporarily placed there. But by the time the editor realized they forgot to retrieve the soda from the trunk’s side pocket, the cup was empty, and the well was wet. They sopped up what they could with some newly purchased microfiber towels ($20 for 36, another screaming deal). It wasn’t the first time some liquid was spilled in a long-termer and probably won’t be the last.
Except that just beneath that side of the trunk well is, it turns out, a junction box that controls all kinds of things. Soon the stereo started cutting out. Then the trunk wouldn’t open, and the car wouldn’t unlock itself. Of course, once a service tech arrived, the trunk opened and the car would start working (so typical, right?). But once the spill came to light, we learned that there was a fuse panel of sorts in that area. Lucid took the car to its service center and replaced the now-tacky-to-the-touch low-voltage junction box, a $693 whoopsie that caused the offender to wonder, “Why isn’t that waterproof?”
That’s been the only dark spot so far in the Air’s stay with us. Well, there is a grayish haze clouding its connectivity. In brutally cold January, the key fob stopped working. Fortunately, we had the mobile app setup that allows you to use a smartphone as a key. At first, you think how nice it is to carry one fewer object in your day-to-day, but then you realize that there’s a company out there tracking your every move (Lucid isn’t the only one). Anyway, keys don’t work, then they work, then they might work. And when we’d park, the grille shutters would attempt to close repeatedly, clicking like a countdown timer ready to blow. They likely were stuck due to a subfreezing carwash.
Marc Urbano – Car and Driver
Similarly, the Bluetooth connection sometimes goes in and out. It’s frustrating but hard to pin completely on the Air. After all, we have a few dozen drivers who cycle through, and the reliability of the connection seems to increase when unused phones are deleted.
The complaints about the key not working have stopped after the first scheduled service (due every year or 12,000 miles), because part of the service includes changing the batteries in the key fobs. Other things included: new wiper blades, a tire rotation, a new cabin air filter, and the ubiquitous multipoint inspection. Another oddity on the service chit is new batteries for the lights in the sun-visor mirrors. Why aren’t they hardwired? If you recall, the Air launched with a giant glass roof, so hardwiring the vanity light would have created an unsightly line. With tax, the service cost $371.
After Dolby came out and gave us an Atmos demonstration, we immediately signed up for a Tidal account (one of the few native apps that stream Atmos files). We’re paying $14 a month. If you have a car with Atmos capability, once you hear the fidelity, you’ll deem it necessary. Testing director Dave VanderWerp is really into it. “Dolby Atmos is so mesmerizing that I sit in my driveway for a half-hour listening to music after getting home,” he says. “It adds so much depth and life to otherwise flat streaming files. Every car needs this ASAP.”
Marc Urbano – Car and Driver
And of course, we still love the 10Best-winning Air for how well it handles and drives. At $81,350 out the door for the rear-drive Pure, this is one of the best deals in a luxury car. Its range took a bit of a hit (our running average observed fuel economy dropped from 110 MPGe to 92) on winter tires in the cold weather, but not so much as to spike anxiety. For all of the Air’s little glitches, it has never stranded anyone.
Months in Fleet: 10 months Current Mileage: 15,870 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 92 MPGe
Battery Capacity: 88 kWh Observed Driving Range: 280 miles
Service: $371 Normal Wear: $0 Repair: $0
Damage and Destruction: $693
Marc Urbano – Car and Driver
Introduction
It isn’t often that Car and Driver gets this excited about a base model, but the 430-hp Lucid Air Pure is one that deserves as much praise as the 1234-hp Air Sapphire. Not so much for its 4.3-second dash to 60 mph or its 419-mile EPA range—both solid performances—but for the exceptional value and truly luxurious experience behind the wheel. Winning a 10Best award for 2024 all but guaranteed we’d request a long-termer for us to live with and test for 40,000 miles.
The well-appointed cabin is quiet and coddling in this $81,350 spec, a price we could prune by omitting the Stealth Appearance package (black exterior trim, essentially, for $1750) and striking Zenith Red Metallic paint ($800), though everyone agrees that the curb appeal is tough to beat. On top of the $71,400 base price, we also added the DreamDrive Premium package ($2000), more for the surround-view camera system than the ADAS tech, and the Comfort & Convenience package ($2500 for soft-close doors, power sunshades, four-zone climate control, heated rear seats, and a heated steering wheel). Since we ordered our car, Lucid has made the DreamDrive Premium setup standard on the Pure, leaving the more expensive DreamDrive Pro system as the only ADAS option. But seeing as we enjoy driving the Air so much, we don’t feel like we missed out on the Pro’s more advanced hands-free highway assists.
Marc Urbano – Car and Driver
We did, however splurge on the $2900 stereo upgrade. The Surreal Sound Pro option has 21 speakers (up from the standard nine) and features the first automotive integration of Dolby Atmos. Everything from movie theaters to living-room soundbars uses this technology, and for those who are of a certain age, no, it isn’t the latest in noise reduction. Atmos is a digital audio format, which means you have to have the right source and hardware to take advantage of the immersive sound experience. After years of our ears being accustomed to compressed audio, old songs sound brand new in Atmos. Not all your favorite artists have Atmos formatting, but more are being added all the time. Tidal is the only Atmos-enabled app on our Lucid’s infotainment for now. It runs $14 per month.
The initial response from our editors has been overwhelmingly positive, and it seems as though editor-in-chief Tony Quiroga found his new commuter of choice. The 430-hp powertrain isn’t a headline grabber, but it’s got more than enough passing power to shock passengers into attention. A few drivers dug deep into the nitpick trough to complain about the seatbelt chime that rings as soon as you get in the car (a side effect of no true start button). But there’s not been a single comment on the faux leather, which suggests that it’s pretty convincing.
Marc Urbano – Car and Driver
We haven’t had too many problems with the car. It’s mainly just been us getting used to the 21st-century features, such as using a smartphone as a key. This occasionally creates some anxiety should, say, your daughter decide she needs to watch every episode of Sesame Street. Smartphones need power to work, after all, so it’s just one more thing to be conscious of. The nearest Lucid service center is in south-central Michigan, about 90 minutes west of our Ann Arbor base. When we do get around to getting the Air there for some service—or more likely a repair because we did something silly—we will request they adjust the frunk release. It is a little sticky and often requires a few tries to get the hood fully ajar. Upgrading to the roughly $10,000 pricier Air Touring (now the least expensive way to get dual motors and all-wheel drive) nets an optional power frunk.
We’ve had the Air for a few months, and a common theme when discussing it is how it surprises editors when they get in it for a second or third time. Normally, there is a familiarity that breeds complacency, but we are still amazed at how well it executes the luxury-car mission: quiet, smooth, comfortable.
Marc Urbano – Car and Driver
Our Air hasn’t traveled anywhere notable just yet, but its soon-to-come access to the Tesla Supercharger network should make for convenient road tripping. We did put it on one Tesla DC cord already, but it could draw only 48 kilowatts because its 900-volt architecture doesn’t play nice with Tesla’s 400. It’s always something with EV infrastructure, isn’t it?
Months in Fleet: 4 months Current Mileage: 4885 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 110 MPGe
Battery Capacity: 88.0 kWh Observed Driving Range (C/D est): 290 miles
Service: $0 Normal Wear: $0 Repair: $0
Damage and Destruction: $0
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