An accurate review and in-depth examination of the 1,200 horsepower released by the 2023 Lucid Air supercar
The 2023 Lucid Air luxury sedan is one of the few that has made a noticeable impact in the automotive world. Although many startups are launching electric cars, the Lucid Air’s large battery and compact motors – both designed in-house – allow it to deliver unrivaled range and impressive performance. The Grand Touring performance model can sprint to 60 mph in just 2.6 seconds.
Driving a quiet and smooth 2023 Lucid Air , you can travel up to 516 miles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The range varies, depending on the model, between 653 km and 837 km on a single charge. Which is more range than any other electric vehicle currently offered. The new Sapphire is faster, reaching 60 mph in less than 2.0 seconds. The sleek exterior design and spacious cabin add to the Lucid Air’s 2023 appeal.
And for its price tag, we expect to find softer materials inside. Almost all of the car’s controls are controlled by one of the many displays dotting the cabin. The four-door luxury sedan’s performance, driving range, and general performance prowess make it competitive with high-end electric cars such as the Porsche Taycan, Mercedes-Benz EQS, or even a Tesla. Have you reached this level? Let’s review it together.
New Lucid Air for 2023
An appearance package called the Stealth Look has been added to the Air’s options list for 2023. Worth $6,000, it gets you a custom-fit 20- or 21-inch wheels. It is available for all lineups except the base model. A new performance model called Sapphire has been added with a powertrain that includes three engines that provide more than 1,200 horsepower.
Lucid Air 2023 models
Lucid Air offers the same previous lineup, and the 2023 Lucid Air is available in five trim levels: Pure, Touring, Grand Touring, and Grand Touring performance, in addition to the new ruby, and the Sapphire performance model has been added to it.
The exterior design of the Lucid Air 2023
The exterior design embodies the company’s approach to technical innovation, based on the simplification of elements. “The Air delivers Lucid’s strongest case yet for boldness through simplicity,” said Derek Jenkins, senior vice president of design, Lucid Group. It has clean lines and sophisticated details important for increased aerodynamics and efficiency.
Aerodynamics have given the Lucid Air a drag of just 0.21 cd. At the front, the delicate, precision-lensed headlights and soft, low-profile hood look aircraft-inspired, while French curves around the rear lend a distinctive, unmatched look at the rear. It looks like a stylish Dodge Charger.
Lucid Air comes with a distinctive exterior design with a fully metal roof. Made entirely of aluminum, to reduce weight and give the car a unique personality, the roof is the perfect complement to the wide glass canopy familiar from other 2023 Lucid Air variants.
A new paint color has also been introduced to the 2023 Lucid Air family , called Fathom Blue. Inspired by the Pacific Ocean, this color is multi-dimensional, with subtle, cool tones that change with the daylight. Depth and sophistication give Fathom Blue the perfect finishing touch to showcase the long horizontal lines and curving exterior shapes of the 2023 Lucid Air.
The interior cabin design of the 2023 Lucid Air
Lucid Lucid Air 2023 has a multi-detailed craftsmanship cabin, carefully selecting every stitch, shade and material. It features a Mojave PurLuxe interior, a combination crafted and detailed from remarkably soft and durable leather.
It is a unique and high quality fabric called Dune. Inspired by mid-century modern furniture, Dune is made from 100% recycled woven fabrics. Overall, these materials give the Air Pure a warm and timeless style.
Lucid Air 2023 dashboard
Air has kept important information displayed at a height, so it’s never out of line of sight. I kept the font used on all displays. Displayed in crisp white letters on a charcoal background, the tools are quickly and easily readable and easy on the eyes. The switches are familiar. The gear lever control is Mercedes-Benz.
Some of the controls are unnecessarily weird, adjusting the mirror requires repeatedly tapping four buttons. And some of the controls I did not like. The switches on the steering wheel feel cheap and difficult to operate at times. Although I liked the Lucid Air’s multi-touch screens, its management software was frustratingly slow and I didn’t like it.
The quality of materials in the cabin of the Lucid Air 2023
This startup offered the best build quality. Not close to the build quality of the Porsche Taycan. Its elegant interior is outfitted with rich-looking materials and advanced technologies. Lucid is proud of the spacious passenger space in this sedan, highlighted by the large rear seat.
There are plenty of luxury touches like massage seats and the perfect driving position. Design director Alistair said he loves the design, praising the design’s focus on functionality and looks attractive. But I met a problem, the door handle stopped working for a while during the test.
Lucid Air 2023 car seats
The front seats are distinctive and well-equipped with massage, and different positions, and the rear seats are comfortable, accommodating three adults, and gives them an optional executive rear seat that adds a reclining function to provide maximum comfort.
The glass roof helps to give it more ventilation, and also helps to see the outside. And access to the seats is easy, as the doors open wide, facilitating entry and exit to car seats better than competitors. You can also install child safety seats on the rear seats of any size.
Driving position in the Lucid Air 2023
Taller drivers may not find the driving position ideal. The seat drops inadequately, and visibility is a mixed bag. Large side windows and a large glass roof let in plenty of natural light.
Everything might look nice inside the glass bubble, but there are thick front pillars, and the relatively wide but short rear window obstructs outside vision. Where you need a tall window to convey the view behind you.
The spaciousness and spaciousness of the Lucid Air 2023
The interior of the 2023 Lucid Air is massive and has more passenger space than any other electric car on the road. You get more legroom than in the EQS, there’s plenty of head and elbow room in both rows, and rear legroom is particularly generous. With more leg room than the Mercedes EQS. It’s where you can really stretch out, and the spaciousness is backed by those wide-opening doors that make it easy to get in and out. Some models with larger battery packs have their floors slightly higher.
Storage space in the 2023 Lucid Air
The company made good use of the available space, giving us impressive interior storage thanks to large door pockets and a clever center console. The front center console provides ample storage space within the large center console box, and the Air includes a range of cup holders. A stowage box is hidden behind the electrically retractable lower center screen.
Lucid Air 2023 Luggage Box
The extra-large deep trunk gives you a large opening the entire width of the vehicle. The loading height is also nicely low, and trunk space comes with 26.1 cubic feet of total cargo space split between the two trunks, with 16.2 cubic feet of trunk space and 9.9 cubic feet of front trunk space.
Technological features in the Lucid Air 2023
In terms of Air technology inside the car and driver aids. Our test car had constant Bluetooth connection errors on both our iPhone and Android devices. Lucid does not currently offer integration with Apple PlayCar or Android Auto for smartphones, and they will come in the future, the company said.
The car found quite a few voice commands, and we struggled to get them to work in our tests. As for the navigation system, I found it to be good, although it was slow to respond, and I could not mute the volume of the voice guidance system.
Lucid Air infotainment and connectivity system 2023
The Air is equipped with a sophisticated infotainment system that includes a large upper touchscreen that flows from the all-digital instrument cluster and a lower, tablet-like touchscreen that handles additional functions and can be retracted into the dashboard. The company says the system’s voice recognition software will respond to natural speech patterns.
The system features a 34-inch cockpit glass screen that curves smoothly in front of the driver. Divided into three sub-screens, it includes a gauge display directly in front of the driver, media and communications screens on the far right (cleverly placed not out of line of sight to the road ahead), and various accessory switches and controls on the left.
It contains a lower screen called the Pilot Panel, which is used when stopping, and includes deeper controls for climate, driving modes, navigation, charging, and more. This entire panel is retractable. While the physical heating buttons for temperature, fan speed, and volume are conveniently located.
Lucid Air 2023 engine
The lowest model of the 2023 Lucid Air packs a single engine with 480 horsepower to spur the rear wheels. It produces 480 horsepower. While other models are launched with the support of dual electric motors and a four-wheel drive system, all-wheel drive
The lineup is offered with different outputs, with the Touring model producing 650 horsepower, while the Grand Touring producing 800 horsepower. There’s the 933-horsepower Dream Edition range, and the Dream Edition model makes 1,111 horsepower, and I rated it for the quarter mile in just 9.9 seconds. Depending on the design and configuration.
As for the new top model called Lucid Air Sapphire, it comes with a power of 1,200 horsepower and contains three electric motors. Mounted in the rear, the plug-in motor claims to deliver insane acceleration performance to rival the Tesla Model S Plaid. Lucid also claims a top speed of 200 mph.
Driving impressions of the 2023 Lucid Air
We tested the Air Dream Range Edition. All-wheel drive and 933 horsepower help it accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in a brisk 2.8 seconds. That’s faster than most vehicles we’ve tested, with the exception of the Tesla Model S Plaid (2.3 seconds). The quarter mile time was, if you’re interested, 10.3 seconds at 132.2 mph.
The main limiting factor was our test car’s 19-inch wheels with relatively narrow all-season tires. These are great for efficiency and allow the Lucid to travel over 500 miles on a single charge, given the vehicle’s hefty weight. Grippier summer tires, which are a no-cost option for this model, improve the Lucid’s braking and handling.
Driving modes in the Lucid Air 2023
Different levels of power are available depending on the driving mode selected, and even the basic Smooth setting provides more than enough power for the street and around town. The Air also provides excellent single-pedal ride, allowing you to accelerate and decelerate with just the accelerator pedal. You can also adjust the amount of regenerative braking to suit your preference.
Despite riding on traditional steel coil springs rather than air springs, the sedan felt quiet and smooth in the aptly named Smooth Driving mode. Our main complaint was the 21-inch wheels in our example had low-performance tires that made noticeable road noise on a section of rough pavement.
Riding comfort in the 2023 Lucid Air
The Lucid Air’s interior is pleasant, but we’d expect more than that from a luxury car at this price point. For example, the seats offer plenty of adjustment and are comfortable on long flights, but the overall support is a bit lacking. The ride quality is generally smooth but can be a bit crowded on rough roads.
Noise in the Lucid Air 2023
The vehicle uses Active Noise Cancellation technology to improve the three sounds that are generated during normal driving: powertrain noise, road noise, and wind noise.
The company said it works to provide a smooth, luxurious ride that is isolated from noise. I found wind and road noise to be minimal on the highway, but there was some creaking on some parts on the doors.
Suspension in the 2023 Lucid Air
The maker pauses to consider the design for a moment: Lucid considered air suspension, like the Tesla Model S, but left it out, right, instead. It placed a five-link front suspension, with an integral link setup at the rear, with solenoid-controlled active dampers at all four wheels.
I liked the insulated configuration and suspension response, while some testers said the coil-spring and air setup was sluggish, and sometimes made compromises in damping that affected ride and handling.
It is designed to purify torque vectoring and ensure that understeer and weight transfer remain the same whether under regenerative braking or basic (friction) braking. The Air has a mechanically variable steering rack that has a very confident and comfortable feel in the center.
Braking in the 2023 Lucid Air
The Air system delivers up to 0.3 grams of regenerative braking. It is sufficient to slow the vehicle to near a stop in most situations. And based on what I’ve seen in some limited stop-and-go situations,
You will need the brake pedal for the last few feet. And Lucid isn’t involved in mixing brakes. Like Tesla, when you hit the brake pedal, you’re using friction pads.
Lucid Air 2023 battery
The 112 kWh battery has super fast charging capability. It can charge from 0-80 percent in just 37 minutes when using a DC fast charging station, which is faster than a Tesla Model S or Porsche Taycan. This means that you can add 30 kilometers per minute of charging.
Lucid Air 2023 battery charging
A sedan hooked up to a fast charger is capable of restoring 300 miles of range in 21 minutes. For the 112.0 kWh battery pack, Lucid gives Air owners three years of free express charging at charging stations in some countries. Without a maximum number of times as long as it is used for personal, non-commercial purposes.
The range of the Lucid Air 2023
And according to EPA estimates, the Air offers a longer range than any electric car currently on the market. Range varies by model, with the Pure having an estimated range of 410 miles, while the Touring has a medium range and travels 425 miles per charge. The Grand Touring and Grand Touring Performance models offer up to 516 and 446 miles of range. And when tested, the Grand Touring covered 410 miles, the longest range I’ve ever tested.
The fuel economy of the Lucid Air 2023
The most efficient Air is rated at 131 mpg, and the Performance version is rated at 111 mpg. But during our test drive, we only scored 82 mpg.
Safety and driver assistance features of the 2023 Lucid Air
The Air is offered with a suite of driver assistance technologies and the company is working on Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities. It will not be available initially, and may be available through updates in three years. Key safety features include:
- Forward collision warning.
- Forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking are available
- Blind spot cameras, blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert
- Adaptive cruise control with lane keep assist is available
More advanced driver aids are coming with a future update. I also found the blind spot cameras slow to activate, and we also had multiple issues with the collision alert system that required a restart. We were kept from using the closest adaptive cruise setting for fear of closely following the vehicle ahead. We hope Lucid will work out these bugs over time and release over-the-air updates, for now we’re just reporting on what we’ve noticed.
Maintenance and warranty costs for the Lucid Air 2023
Lucid is a startup automaker with no previous products, but its warranty coverage is very similar to Tesla’s. Neither brand offers free maintenance.
- The limited warranty covers four years or 50,000 miles
- The powertrain warranty covers eight years or 100,000 miles
- There is no free scheduled maintenance
Features of Lucid Air 2023
- An electric drivetrain ready for road trips
- Genius design and packaging
- Sports car-like acceleration and handling, supercar-like
- Excellent set in the real world
- Comfortable and smooth in everyday driving
- Spacious cabin with plenty of storage space
Disadvantages of the Lucid Air 2023
- Technology can be spotty and inconsistent at times
- Braking and handling are below class standards
- Complex and cumbersome technology in the car.
Finally, you can watch the full video that the company showed on its website
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