2022 Lucid Air Dream Edition R Review: First Drive

2022 Lucid Air Dream Edition R Review

There’s been a lot of hype about this one. The story at the back of it is eerily familiar; a monstrously effective electric powered sports activities sedan that hails from Silicon Valley and which arrives with convention-busting 0-100km/h instances and monitors galore. And but you’re now not searching at a auto that used to be laser-focused on taking down Tesla, however California’s reply to a new-age Mercedes S-Class. One conceived earlier than Stuttgart’s personal EQS had viewed the mild of day.

2022 Lucid Air Dream Edition R Review

The Lucid Air appears like a automobile of contradictions on the face of it. If the large declare is that it’s a luxe limo with one of the chunkiest vary figures we’ve but viewed from an EV – up to 837km from a full cost – then why can you spec one with over 1,000bhp and a 2.5sec launch manipulate run? But power it and your confusion will in all likelihood evaporate shortly into the ether. It’s the vehicle with a convincing reply to any query you dare ask.

2022 Lucid Air Dream Edition R Review

Priced at $169,000 US bucks in its launch Dream Edition trim – about $235,000 AUD – you’d hope it would have an reply for everything. A 113kWh battery powers all versions, and the vary kicks off at round $70,000 USD (almost $100,000 AUD) if you component in federal supplies and can cope with a rear-driven auto with beneath 400kW and a whisker over four hundred miles of range. There’s a mildly dizzying array of power, vary and spec selections earlier than you get to the wholly stacked vehicle we see here. It’s one of two Dream Editions; the R (for Range) combines 696kW strength with that headline grabbing 837km claim, whilst the P (for Performance) pointers the see-saw in the different direction, peaking at 828kW and 758km. Both value the same, and each hit 100km/h in beneath three seconds. For what that’s worth.

See, on paper it’s slower than a Model S Plaid. In actuality you’ll no longer provide two hoots. These extra fast Airs come with three using modes – the cutely editorialised Smooth, Swift and Sprint – and in the latter, when the traction manipulate works its witchcraft for a launch manage start, you’ll now not for a second desire for an EV that can propel you into the center distance any faster.Rest certain that Lucid spent cash tempting chassis engineers from Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover – as nicely as Red Bull Racing’s aerodynamic guru – to make this behemoth force properly

You’ll nearly truely attempt it as soon as then settle into the different two modes, which every restrict electricity to round 500kW and range the steerage weight, suspension tautness and all-wheel-drive strength unfold as you cycle between them. The steadiness manage can be loosened – and became off nearly totally – through a separate button. Lucid had aimed to be the first carmaker to introduce such frivolity to the plug-in world, however delays to the Air’s launch supposed the pesky Porsche Taycan nipped ahead. If that bothers you, then relaxation guaranteed that Lucid spent a chunk of cash tempting chassis engineers from the likes of Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover – as properly as Red Bull Racing’s aerodynamic guru – throughout to California to make this 2.3-tonne behemoth power properly.

And they’ve solely long gone and nailed it. Our route takes us from Lucid’s HQ, in a Newark industrial estate, up into some tight, twisting canyon roads. On the first hour of limited-access highway I can barely fathom how clean and hushed this auto is. Almost all EVs hence a ways have struggled with suppressing each and every decibel the street noise typically masked via interior combustion, but the Air is as tranquil as a library. And regardless of this upscale model driving on glitzy 21in wheels (which do knock a few km from the vary – go for the non-compulsory 19s if you desire the full figure) it looks to amble alongside notably effortlessly, too. There’s a tangible shift between these three using modes, however it’ll be rear passengers who moan about any extra stiffness earlier than the driver; you’ll possibly admire the greater alertness it brings.

Those canyon roads name for Swift, which can ship up to 70 per cent of the torque to the rear wheels, with a supplementary loosening of the digital nannies through a separate button if you’re in the mood. I can’t deny that it continually feels chunky – physics can’t precisely be overwhelmed – however the work these Aston and Jag people have performed to make it deal with like a overall performance sedan have to is evident. It tucks into corners neatly and will supply you extra than a trace of oversteer out of them, even though solely if you’ve requested for it.

If you certainly ask for it, we’re informed the Air will “drift all day long” via chassis man David Lickfold, an ex-pat Brit who’s spent the final six years growing each the Air and a West Coast tan. Power continually feels prodigious, adequate that I suspect the lower-rung Airs will sense greater than sufficient as highly brisk street vehicles and can also show the wisest choice. A very short dalliance with Sprint on the equal avenue each excites and terrifies – no one desires this a good deal power, really. But it’s childishly appealing to recognize it’s there.

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