Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance Tested: The Code Is Cracked!
Pros
- Absurdly quick
- Handles like a heavyweight sports car
- Unbeatable range
Cons
- Takes forever to boot up
- Proximity key is infuriating
- Safety tech needs more work
Making an EV quick in a straight line is easy, so much so it's been one side of Tesla's calling card for a decade. Making an EV drive like sports cars has proven incredibly difficult, in no small part because batteries are so heavy. Various automakers with plenty of experience in sports cars have tried, and although they've made their cars go around a corner quickly, none has really captured the feeling of driving a world-class sports car. The 2022 Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance, though, has cracked the code.
If you've read our First Drive story on this electric luxury sedan, you already have a feel for what we're talking about. You'll also know the back story: Lucid's director of chassis and vehicle dynamics, David Lickfold, personally retuned the Air's chassis for this Grand Tour Performance (GTP) model by benchmarking a last-generation Porsche 911 GT3 RS, one of the greatest sports cars on earth.
Now we have the numbers to add to the equation.
You already know the Air is quick, so we'll start with the handling stats. The Air GTP pulled 0.87 g on our skidpad, which is a shockingly low number compared to other high-performance EVs like the Tesla Model S Plaid and Porsche Taycan Turbo S, which both pull more than 1.00 g. Similarly, the Lucid's 24.8-second figure-eight lap at a 0.80-g average is a full second or more behind the other two.
But How Does It Drive?
It's moments like this we remind ourselves why we do what we do. Numbers don't always tell the story. It's why we created Best Driver's Car and Performance Vehicle of the Year. If you could tell which car drove the best purely via bench racing, we'd just publish charts and fire all the writers. You can't. This car proves it.
Put the Air GTP on the same mountain road as the Model S and Taycan, and no unbiased driver will pick the Porsche or the Tesla. As good as they drive, the Taycan in particular, neither comes close to the Air GTP. The Tesla is roughly 450 pounds lighter than the Lucid, but the Lucid feels as if it ought to be the other way around. The nimbleness of this massive car, the response from the front end, and the feedback in the steering, all make it feel like a classic high-performance sport sedan, not a big heavy EV with sticky tires.
It's really worth emphasizing here, because automakers have been trying to capture the sheer driving delight of a good sports car in an EV chassis and so far have come up at least a little short. There's a lot of weight for the suspension and brakes to deal with, not to mention the handoff between regenerative and mechanical braking. Putting huge amounts of power to the front axle in all-wheel-drive setups makes it harder to get the steering feel right, and the traction and stability control have a lot of work to do with this kind of power on hand.
Lucid cracked the code. Even more so than Porsche. The Air GTP is the new handling benchmark for EVs. If they all drove like this, all the enthusiasts wringing their hands about the all-electric future would have to move the goalposts again. This is the EV we've been asking automakers to build.
With 1,050 horsepower going to all four wheels, you'd be forgiven for thinking it might be a handful. We went easy on the accelerator in the early corners, just in case the software didn't have what it takes to cheat physics, but that was unnecessary. In a matter of seconds it was clear this car has the grip and poise to use every last electric pony. Get on the power hard and early exiting a corner, and the Air GTP sticks and goes. You can force the GTP to drift, but you have to be very deliberately trying.
It'll Impress Your Friends at a Stoplight, for Sure
It does the electric vehicle "super quick in a straight line" thing, too, of course. We clocked this 1,050-hp cruise missile at 2.7 seconds to 60 mph followed by a 10.0-second quarter-mile trap at 145.3 mph. That's a half-second quicker than the Porsche and 0.7 second slower than the Tesla, which is pretty impressive considering the Air GTP is the heaviest car of the bunch.
More than winning bracket races and showing off to your friends, though, that accelerative acumen is life-altering on a mountain road. We've driven a lot of high-horsepower supercars on Angeles Crest Highway, and none of them has shortened the time between corners like this one. None of them has required us to back up our braking points as far as this one, and not just because it's heavy. The rate at which this car gains speed and the incredibly short distance needed to do it has you arriving at every corner much sooner and much faster than any other car we've driven. Critically, it doesn't slack off as you approach or exceed triple digits. It just keeps pulling like crazy up to at least 150 mph (where we ran out of test track, not power).
Braking for those corners—always remember they arrive much sooner than expected—is another example of the numbers not telling the whole story. On the test track, the Air GTP needed 118 feet to stop from 60 mph. That's as much as 15 feet further than the other two EVs we've mentioned. When you're up the mountain hurtling at a hairpin, though, it has no problem stopping in time, and then doing it again at the next corner, and the next, and the next. What's more, the blend of regenerative and mechanical braking is an excellent recipe, allowing you to lift and activate the regen to slow the car slightly or just settle it, or to get on the brake pedal hard for the serious corners.
Is It Also a Good Luxury Car?
When it comes to the fundamental engineering of being a good car and a good sport sedan, Lucid has it nailed. The luxury side of things is well in hand, too. The materials are impeccable, the design inside and out is stunning, and the construction all around is superb.
We've rattled on before about how much we like the interior of our 2022 Car of the Year, and we're going to do it again here. The front seats provide an excellent balance of comfort and support, and the massagers are no joke. The rear seat, meanwhile, is absolutely massive. Futuristic as all the big screens look, everyone's favorite trick is power-stowing the largest one up in the dash.
It's Not Perfect, Though
What's on those screens looks good, too, but the functionality leaves something to be desired. Whereas most cars' screens boot up in the time it takes to fasten your seat belt, the Lucid's need a solid 12 seconds just to come off the loading screen (a beautiful sunset landscape, it must be said). It's another 12 seconds before the car is actually ready to drive, and 10 more before everything is fully loaded on every screen. Thirty-four seconds doesn't sound like a lot, but when competitors are fully booted and ready to work in less than five seconds, it's an eternity.
Lucid says an over-the-air (OTA) software update is coming that'll address the load speeds, but it wasn't part of the update we ran while we had the car. That one made a bunch of little background fixes we didn't notice. We couldn't help but notice, however, that the scheduled installation failed to start; after that, the manual installation failed to finish properly, leaving a massive warning on the instrument cluster that read, "Software update failed, vehicle may not be driveable" along with a customer service number to call. As it happens, the car was driveable, but we had no instruments because we couldn't clear the message. After following the customer service rep's instructions to, in essence, turn it off and turn it back on again, the message cleared and the car was fine. Apparently, the update was fully installed, after all.
The software update also didn't fix some of the latency issues with the screens. Most of the time, response times to inputs were good, but sometimes it took several seconds for the screen to change. It was especially annoying when bringing up the navigation system, which apparently doesn't always load when you start the car but rather when you actually open that app. It even affected hard controls like the volume rocker switch on the steering wheel, which didn't always register a press and doesn't tell you when the volume is muted but still raises and lowers the volume bar on the screen.
We had a similar issue with the video blind-spot monitors. Activating a turn signal brings up a video feed of the appropriate blind spot on the corresponding side of the instrument cluster. The cluster is mounted high enough to put the video near your line of sight, so no issue there. The problem, rather, is that we haven't seen lag like this since we played Counterstrike at LAN parties in 2005. There's no reason for video frame rate to be this bad in 2022.
Latent Latency
In fact, nearly all the issues we had with the Air GTP had to do with latency. The other was the keyless entry system. The best cars wake up and unlock as you're walking up to them, before you're close enough to reach the door handle. The Air GTP almost always required us to stand next to the driver door for several seconds before it realized we were there, and on occasion it didn't recognize our presence at all. At that point, pressing the center of the buttonless key fob is supposed to unlock the doors, but we couldn't get it to work. It just reaffirmed the car was locked, as if we'd only pressed it once (and that's after we finally figured out there was even a button in the fob to begin with by accidentally squeezing it too hard).
Non-latency issues were limited to the driver safety aids. We love that automakers are incorporating advanced driver monitoring systems into cars with semi-autonomous driving features to make sure people are still watching the road, but Lucid's system is wildly overzealous. Maybe it just didn't like our sunglasses, but the system regularly warned us to keep our eyes on the road when we were looking straight out the windshield, and more often than not, it almost immediately escalated to a second, much more disruptive warning.
We also took exception with the lane departure intervention. Although the overzealous warnings seem to have been reined in since the last time we drove an Air GTP, the way the system intervenes to keep the car in its lane needs work. When you drift too close to the lane line, it feels as if the steering wheel locks up to correct and get back to the middle of the lane; you have to wrest it free. We're fine with the system preventing you from steering farther out of your lane, but it shouldn't fight you when you try to steer back to the proper spot.
The only non-software—and thus un-over-the-air-updateable—issue was the glass roof. Lucid says it's coated in all sorts of high-tech chemicals to keep out UV rays, but for a company that builds cars in Arizona, it feels like they didn't test much in the summer sun. When the thermometer approaches triple digits, you need a physical cover. Lucid could also offer a metal roof on this model like it does on the less expensive Airs. The glass roof and suspended sun visors sure do look cool, though.
What About Range and Charging?
We can't talk EVs without mentioning range and charging, and it's good news on that front. With an EPA-estimated range of 446 miles, it takes forever to run the battery down on this thing, even when you're driving it hard. Replicating a story we did with the Taycan, we took the Air GTP for a run from the beach up into the mountains and—starting with only an 80 percent charge—got there with more than 50 percent left. The Taycan, which started with a full battery, was down to 30 percent, and we drove it on a much cooler day so the battery-, motor-, and interior cooling systems had less work to do.
Driving like a normal person, a 50 percent charge is still good for more than 200 miles of range. With a lot of EVs, you feel like you need to keep them at 70 percent or better all the time, just in case. This one you just don't worry about. Plug it in whenever. Only charge it to 50 percent at home so you spend less time tethered to the wall. And shoot, it charges pretty quick. On our 240-volt Level 2 wall charger, it pulls down 25 miles of range per hour, the charger's maximum. Our long-term Rivian R1T tops out at 13.7 miles of range per hour. Hit a high-speed 350-kW public charger, and the Air fills up crazy fast.
Curiously, though, its reported efficiency doesn't match its promises. Lucid says it'll do 3.8 miles of driving per kilowatt-hour, but the best we saw cruising on the freeway was barely better than 3.0. Most of the time we drove it around town, it hung around 2.5. Our Rivian averages just over 2.0, and it's a truck. Our long-term 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV consistently did 3.4 miles per kilowatt-hour. It still took forever to run down the Lucid's battery, so we didn't mind this inconsistency as much.
The Bottom Line
The Air GTP may not be perfect in every way, but it's so damn good at being an EV, a luxury car, and a sport sedan, we have no second thoughts about naming it our 2022 Car of the Year. Even more so than when we bestowed that title eight months ago, the GTP model sets the bar for all other EVs, from its already incredible range to its newly transcendent handling. If you're the chief EV engineer at a rival automaker, get your order in now and prepare your benchmarking and teardown teams. You all have work to do.
Looks good! More details?2022 Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance Specifications BASE PRICE $180,650 PRICE AS TESTED $180,650 VEHICLE LAYOUT Front- and rear-motor, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan MOTOR TYPE Permanent-magnet electric POWER (SAE NET) 1,050 hp TORQUE (SAE NET) 921 lb-ft TRANSMISSIONS 1-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 5,256 lb (50/50%) WHEELBASE 116.5 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 195.9 x 76.2 x 55.4 in 0-60 MPH 2.7 sec QUARTER MILE 10.0 sec @ 145.3 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 118 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.87 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 24.8 sec @ 0.80 g (avg) EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 109/110/109 mpg-e EPA RANGE, COMB 446 miles ON SALE Now Show AllYou may also like
aston-martin dbx Full OverviewMeet the 2023 Aston Martin DBX707, the world's fastest, most powerful gas-fed SUV. What you need to know up front is that when Tobias Moers left AMG to take the top job at Aston, he almost immediately set the company's sights on Lamborghini. Not, as you might expect, by announcing a new supercar. No, Moers instead figured Lamborghini's first ever SUV, the Urus, presented a juicier target.Moers had liked what he'd seen of Aston's own SUV debutante, the DBX, during his due diligence prior to making the jump from AMG. The DBX's fundamentals were good, he thought—all it needed were some powertrain and suspension upgrades, plus a couple of other changes, and Lamborghini's snarling, extrovert Urus could be knocked from its perch as the world's fastest, most powerful SUV.The suffix in "DBX707" refers to the number of European ponies under the shapely Aston's hood. In America, that's 697 hp, 56 more horses than the Urus musters. (Though shy of the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat's 707 hp, remember: That SUV was a one-and-done 2021 model that lacks a 2022-or-beyond followup. Also, we specify "gas-fed" because Tesla's Model X Plaid and Rivian's upcoming R1S pack much more hp.) And Aston Martin claims this DBX707 has a top speed of 193 mph, making it 4 mph faster than the Urus (and far faster than a Model X Plaid, which tops out at 163) at full throttle on an empty autobahn. Take that, Lamborghini.With its 697 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque, the 2023 Aston Martin DBX707 packs a significantly bigger punch than the regular DBX. The extra power and performance come courtesy of a revised spec of the M177 4.0-liter V-8 used in the exhilaratingly rapid Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4-Door Coupé. The GT 63 S version of the engine, which has twin-scroll ball-bearing turbochargers for faster response, makes "only" 630 hp, but its torque output is identical.The Aston Martin DBX707 engine drives through the same Speedshift MCT wet-clutch nine-speed automatic transmission used in high-power, high-torque Mercedes-AMG cars. The transmission includes a Sport+ mode with launch control and a full manual control mode. A new e-diff has been fitted to the rear axle to handle the high torque loads and deliver a quicker locking rate. The final drive ratio is shortened by 7 percent compared with the regular DBX to help get the DBX707 to 60 mph in less than 3.5 seconds.Suspension upgrades include compression and rebound damping that is increased by 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively, on the front shocks, and 15 percent and 5 percent on the rears. The electronic active roll system is recalibrated to deliver 50 percent more torque on low body motions, and the roll control is now more rear-biased at higher cornering speeds to reduce understeer.To ensure the stiffer suspension works effectively, the stiffness of the front shock top mounts is upped by 55 percent with the addition of a cross brace, and the front control arms are fitted with hydraulic bushings to improve ride comfort and bump isolation without compromising dynamic performance. A 0.16-inch-thick underbody panel improves torsional stiffness by 1.3 percent for better steering response and impact control.As you'd expect in a 5,000-pound-plus SUV capable of 193 mph, the standard brake setup features carbon-ceramic rotors: 16.1-inch units clamped by six-piston calipers up front, 15.0-inch items at the rear. Standard wheels measure 22 inches and are shod with Pirelli P Zero tires. You can order all-season tires if you want, but that means the Aston Martin DBX707's stop speed is restricted to a mere 186 mph. Exclusive to the DBX707 is a new and optional 23-inch wheel, though you can't get all-season tires for it.Grafting iconic sports car graphics onto a big two-box SUV is a challenge—just ask Lamborghini—but Aston Martin chief creative officer Marek Reichmann's team of designers has, by and large, succeeded in making the regular DBX look as glamorous as the rest of the Aston Martin family.The new DBX707 adds muscle to the glamour. The roof spoiler is bigger. A new front fascia features a bolder grille, larger cooling intakes for the brakes, and a more aggressive front splitter. The rear fascia is new, too, with quarter-panel vents integrated into the bumper, and a large diffuser underneath flanked on either side by dual exhaust outlets. The sportier styling details don't compromise practicality, though: Front and rear departure angles remain the same as the standard DBX, and the 707 can be ordered in Europe with a retractable tow hitch.Inside, the 2023 Aston Martin DBX707 can be had with either sport or comfort front seats, the former offered with a unique herringbone perforation pattern on the backrest and squab. A vertically mounted rotary controller is added to the center console to allow rapid selection of drive modes.The 2023 Aston Martin DBX707 is expected to arrive in the U.S. in the middle of 2022, with prices starting from $235,086.Looks good! More details?2023 Aston Martin DBX707 Specifications BASE PRICE $235,086 LAYOUT front-engine, AWD, 4-door, 5-passenger, SUV ENGINE 4.0L/697-hp/664-lb-ft twin-turbo direct-injected DOHC 32-valve V-8 TRANSMISSION 9-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT 5,000 lb WHEELBASE 120.5 in L x W x H 198.4 x 78.7 x 66.1 in 0-60 MPH 3.4 sec (MT est) EPA FUEL ECON (CITY/HWY/COMB) 14/20/16 mpg (est) EPA RANGE (COMB) 360 miles (est) ON SALE Summer 2020 Show All
A Definitive End to the Malaise Era Inside the 1986 Acura Integra: Like, Totally Tubular! The Engine of Tomorrow, TodayBack in the '80s, the Integra's 16-valve 1.6-liter engine really turned our heads. It's easy to chuckle at the oversized DOHC PROGRAMMED FUEL INJECTION decal on the Integra's flanks, but in 1986 this was exotic stuff. Detroit's four-cylinder engines were awful eight-valve lumps that were only just beginning to be tamed with throttle-body fuel injection, a cheap single-injector assembly bolted into the same spot as a carburetor. Even Honda, already known for the best four-bangers in the biz, still offered only single-cam 12-valve engines, all with carburetors (with fuel injection as a new-for-1986 option).Of course, MotorTrend was no stranger to two-cam multi-valve heads; we tested plenty of European supercars, but to see such exotica on a reasonably priced car was a novelty. Same for multi-port fuel injection, which in 1986 was only just making its first appearance on Chevrolet's Corvette and IROC-Z. To see such hardware put together with Japanese precision and refinement, though, was something new, even for us."The Integra's four-valve-per-cylinder 1.6-liter engine proved much more than anticipated," we wrote, "with a blend of flat-torque-curve power-on-demand, quick throttle response, and effective NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) damping unsurpassed in engines of its kind on the market today."In the muscle-car '60s—not too distant in 1985's rearview mirror—1-horsepower per cubic inch was the Holy Grail. The Integra drew a righteous 113 horsepower from a mere 97 cubic inches, this at a time when GM's 231-cid (3.8-liter) V-6 only delivered 110. We clocked the then-new 1986 Acura Integra to 60 in 8.9 seconds, just 1.8 seconds behind a 1985 Ford Mustang GT.The Engine of Yesterday, TodayToday we're driving this classic Integra amid fast-moving Los Angeles traffic, and it's a struggle. We're trying to keep up with KJ Jones from MT's Truck and Off-Road Group in his Banks-enhanced Chevy Colorado, and we need every last bit of the Integra's 99 lb-ft of torque. This example has 168,000 miles on the clock and feels appropriate for her age. But Jones knows where we're going and we don't, so museum piece or not, we've no choice but to flirt with the Integra's near-7,000-rpm redline. At least that's our excuse because we like pushing the Integra—and the Integra likes being pushed.With any luck, you are too young and/or fortunate to have driven a four-cylinder car in the early '80s. Trust us, they weren't great, with low and feeble torque peaks concentrated at low or mid revs. Few Americans had experienced anything like the Integra's engine, it's thin low-end torque gradually building and building before surging at 4,000 rpm into a crescendo of power delivered all the way to its exotically-high 6,700-rpm redline—and all the while accompanied by a wonderful sonorous snarl. Today's drivers might say, "So what? That's how every engine drives!" Sure, today they do—and we have the Integra's influence to thank for it.The Correct Tire Transforms the 1986 Acura IntegraBelieve it or not, in our original 1986 test report we complained about the Acura Integra's handling, fixing blame on its Michelin MXV tires which put low limits on the Integra's grip for both turning and braking. (Back in those days we had to modulate brake lock-up in panic stops; there was no ABS to do it for us.) "It was as if the chassis dynamics were tuned to a much more high-performance set of tires," we wrote, "only to be replaced at the last minute." We surmised that better rubber would make the Integra a handling gem.Thirty-five years later, our supposition is confirmed. Our classic Integra's 14-inch aluminum wheels are fitted with a modern set of Falken Azenis RT660s, and the car is masterful. Out on one of our favorite curvy roads, it simply refuses to relinquish its grip on the pavement. The suspension—struts and torsion bars up front, twist-beam in the back—keeps body motions under control, and despite a complete lack of electronic stability control, the Integra never does anything sudden or scary. The steering reminds us why people miss hydraulic assist; it feels alive and chatty with feedback. The effort to turn the tiller is light, and yet the power assist is dialed back enough that you almost forget it's there at all. If a brand-new car drove like this 35-year-old Acura, we'd have nothing to complain about.Lost in TimeAnd that, right there, is the conundrum we face in writing about this classic 1986 Acura Integra in modern times. Not long ago we drove another classic Honda, the foundational first-generation Accord, and there was no mistaking it was a disco-era relic. The timeline is a mind-bender: Only eight years separate that Accord from this Integra. Meanwhile, the time gap between the Integra and modern cars is more than four times as long. And yet it feels like 35 years separate the original Accord and this original Integra, which surely can't be more than a decade older than modern day cars, tape deck and gnarly upholstery notwithstanding.We understand why. In the wake of the Acura Integra's introduction, the 16-valve, dual-overhead-camshaft, multi-port-injected engine would become the industry standard, reigning right up until the recent adaptation of turbochargers, direct injection, and electrification. Detroit would give up its ribbon-style speedometers and one-finger-light power steering to better emulate the Integra. Thanks to Acura, upscale cars would soon be judged not by their size but by their performance, agility, and build quality.Indeed, Honda, Toyota, and the other Japanese automakers fundamentally changed what American automobile buyers wanted, and the 1986 Acura Integra was the car that pointed the way. And so, we can forgive this three-and-a-half-decade-old classic for feeling ordinary. After all, it defined what ordinary would become.
Volvo has updated its T8 AWD plug-in hybrid version of its scalable vehicle architecture underpinning cars like the XC90 and XC60 Recharge, adding more performance and a larger battery. The updates boost the all-electric range, and on top of that, now customers would also be able to redeem the federal government's full $7,500 electrified vehicle tax credit on any Recharge model. Previously, these models were eligible for smaller credits.The update will roll out to every vehicle on the T8 AWD plug-in platform, including the S60 Recharge, V60 Polestar Engineered, XC60 Recharge, XC60 Polestar Engineered, S90 Recharge, and XC90 Recharge currently on sale. Volvo says the extensive upgrades Driving the plug-in hybrid in EV mode—where the gas engine is shut off and you're running on battery and motors only for a limited range, like a BEV—will get you further now. The S60 Recharge and V60 Polestar Engineered gain the most, at 41 miles total, the S90 Recharge jumps up to 38 miles total, and The XC60, S90, and XC90 Recharge models all get 35 miles of total EV range.Volvo claims this is enough for most of its customers to get to work on electric power alone, without having to burn any fuel. If they can charge at work, then they can operate the car in EV mode on daily commutes. Volvo says its customer research reflects its plug-in hybrids mentioned above are already driven "around half the time" in pure electric mode, so the boosted range will likely only increase that estimate. Volvo calls them "part-time electric cars," which is cute.The engine and motor improvements have also slightly boosted low-speed traction and towing capabilities. Volvo says the Other updates include newly introduced, optional one-pedal driving in EV mode for XC60 and S90 models, and a new remote cabin pre-heat or pre-cool feature is now available through the Volvo Cars phone app. Show AllTable information provided by Volvo. Volvo isn't talking about pricing yet for these updated T8 models, but we have to imagine MSRPs will increase somewhat given the additional performance and capabilities. We'll update you when we get that information.
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