by Mike Gulett –
We bought our 2026 Lucid Air Pure new in December 2025. Eight months and about 2,900 miles later, I still love it. It was our first electric car and likely will not be our last. I know many of the things I like are common with most, if not all, electric cars but since this is my first one it is mostly new to me.
A short road test can tell me how fast a car accelerates, how well it corners and whether I like the interior. When I first drove a Lucid Air it impressed me as a 4-door luxury sedan that drove and handled like a sports car. Eight months of ownership has helped me decide whether I actually like the car for real.
I now have had enough time with the Lucid to discover what I like, what I don’t like and whether an electric luxury sedan can be interesting enough to satisfy someone who loves automobiles for more than just transportation.
Why Lucid?
Anyone who follows My Car Quest knows that I only want to own cars with character. I like cars that look distinctive and attractive, that have interesting technology and that make the driver feel something special. Power and performance numbers are interesting but they are not the whole story.
Electric cars can produce impressive numbers; instant torque makes even ordinary EVs very quick. But it takes more than quickness to be a really cool car. The Lucid Air appealed to me because Lucid seemed to approach the electric car in a different way than other manufacturers.
Lucid has focused on efficiency, aerodynamics, ergonomics and range, in addition to quickness. The result is a luxury 4-door sedan that doesn’t feel like an experiment or an appliance and also handles like a sports car.
The Air Pure is the entry point to the Air line up, but “entry level” is misleading in Lucid’s case. The rear-wheel-drive Pure produces 430 hp, reaches 60 mph in a claimed 4.5 seconds and offers an EPA-estimated range of up to 420 miles on some configurations. My car has a stated range of 372 miles.
Those are impressive specifications, but after 2,900 miles, the specifications are not what I find the most interesting aspect of this car.
It Still Does Looks Special
This matters to me and probably to most people. There are many technically impressive cars that I simply don’t want to look at, or be seen in, the Lucid is different. It has a very clean shape, without the exaggerated grilles, fake vents and unnecessary styling tricks that have become common on some cars.
It is low, wide and remarkably slippery. Lucid quotes a drag coefficient of just 0.197, the industry leader, which helps explain the impressive range numbers. But aerodynamic efficiency does not necessarily make a car attractive looking. The interesting part is that the Lucid Air looks aerodynamic without looking weird.
After eight months, I still love this design, maybe even more than when I bought it. And that passes one of my favorite tests of automobile ownership: I still look back at it after I park it and am walking away.
430 Horsepower Is Plenty For Me
We are at a strange time in automotive history where 430 horsepower can somehow sound ordinary but we all know it is not. This would have been supercar performance not so very long ago. And more important is how the performance is delivered. No waiting for a transmission to downshift, no waiting for an engine to reach its power band. Hit the accelerator and the car just goes, immediately with smooth power and acceleration.
Lucid makes faster versions of the Air – the Air Touring has 620 hp, the Air Grand Touring has 819 hp and the wild Air Sapphire is at 1,234 hp. But do I really need all that power? After eight months with the Air Pure, I find that 430 hp serves my needs just fine. Maybe more power would be fun but I am not sure I would notice it on most drives or most days. The slowest Air serves me just fine and is not really slow by any measure. But if I ever want more power I know where to get it.
It Is Enjoyable To Drive
Electric cars are usually thought of as efficient, quiet, fast, technologically advanced and good for the environment. But do car lovers think of an EV as fun? The Air Pure is rear-wheel drive, which seems comfortable while also having a low center of gravity. The steering is accurate, the car is planted firmly on the road and the power delivery is linear. I think that the engineers who designed the Air do care about driving. The Lucid Air seems to encourage being driven enthusiastically and I did not expect that from an EV.
Range Anxiety Is Not A Problem For Me
I drive around town and plug into my 110 volt outlet in my garage every day and the car is back to full charge the next morning. I know this may not be the way other people use an EV so it is important that the Lucid Air is a leader in range as well.
The Air Pure range estimate is up to 420 miles with the appropriate configuration, and Lucid says the Pure can add 200 miles of range in about 16 minutes under suitable DC fast-charging conditions. The Air Grand Touring has up to 512 miles of range (the longest-range EV available in the U.S.). For 2026, Lucid also gave Air owners access to more than 23,500 Tesla Superchargers using an adapter.
The charging infrastructure still isn’t as effortless as stopping for gasoline everywhere, but the gap is getting smaller, not just for Lucid but for all EVs.
The Interior
This may be one of the Lucid’s best accomplishments. The interior is beautiful, with great materials, great ergonomic design and lots of space for people and items. There is plenty of room for 4 or 5 adults with all occupants being comfortable with lots of leg room. It is very comfortable according to my number one passenger (Rebecca). The compact drivetrain allows much more of the car’s space to be devoted to passengers and luggage. The rear-seat space in particular can make the car seem much larger than it looks from the outside.
Lucid Air Interior – photo by Lucid Motors
There are screens, of course, but the interior still feels like the cabin of a luxury car (which it is) rather than a computer with four wheels. The screen functions are well thought out with different screens for different purposes with manual switches in perfect locations for those frequently used functions.
The 34-inch curved Glass Cockpit display is impressive, and it includes Apple CarPlay (which I use everyday) and Android Auto integration. After eight months of driving I care much less about the size of the screens than I did when the car was new. Eventually the technology stops being cool entertainment and becomes something you use as a tool and becomes invisible.
Software
Getting used to the heavy use of software in EVs is one of the more unusual adjustments for those of us accustomed to traditional automobiles. A classic car might need its carburetors adjusted but a modern EV may need a software update.
The Lucid Air can receive over-the-air updates, meaning aspects of the car can change while it sits in the garage. I know this is a normal feature of EVs but it was new to me. There are advantages to this capability, like the manufacturer can fix problems or make design improvements without a need to visit a service shop. But in reality the car design is never really finished. This isn’t a Lucid issue, it is where the entire automobile industry is heading.
Whether car lovers like it or not, software has become another important automotive component.
Photo by Lucid Motors
What I Like Most
Three things stand out after 2,900 miles.
First: efficiency and range.
Lucid has demonstrated that an electric car doesn’t necessarily need an enormous battery to provide useful long-distance capability. Efficiency is more impressive engineering than simply adding battery capacity.
Second: the combination of comfort and performance.
The Lucid Air can be an extremely comfortable luxury sedan one moment and a genuinely quick driver’s car in the next instant.
Third: it doesn’t look or feel like everyone else’s EV.
What I Like Less
No car is perfect. Lucid has had some software problems and my car has had a couple of software issues that happen once or twice and have gone away – nothing important or a safety concern but still annoying.
And while charging infrastructure has improved considerably, gasoline still wins the five-minute-refueling contest especially when on a road trip. But this is getting better and will continue to improve for EVs.
There is also the question of depreciation of EVs. Electric-car technology is developing so rapidly that today’s leading technology can become ordinary quickly. For anyone who changes cars frequently, resale value deserves some consideration.
None of these things, however, have changed my opinion of the Lucid Air Pure.
The Smile Factor
This is the category that interests me a lot. Many modern cars can be brilliant but also forgettable. The Lucid Air Pure isn’t that.
It doesn’t provide the mechanical theater of an old Lamborghini, Iso Grifo, AC Cobra, Bizzarrini or Aston Martin. There is no engine note to enjoy, no gear change to manage and very little mechanical drama (to enjoy or to worry about).
Instead, it provides a different kind of satisfaction – there is something fascinating about pressing the accelerator and experiencing immediate, silent power and torque. There is pleasure in driving a car that represents a genuinely different engineering solution to the automobile. As an engineer myself I appreciate what the Lucid engineers have done.
The Lucid Air has a real personality. But not the kind of personality we grew up associating with our cars but it is there anyway and it is endearing to me.
I also love the fact that Lucid is proud of their heritage — they are a Silicon Valley company and use the California Bear as their logo. Wherever they are from they should be proud as all companies should be and not run away from their heritage.
My Verdict
I do not believe the EV makes the internal-combustion car obsolete. Nor do I believe car lovers should choose one side or the other. A great V12 GT and a great electric sedan can coexist in the same car lover’s world because they provide completely different experiences.
After eight months, my Lucid Air Pure hasn’t made me stop loving classic cars or any interesting gasoline-powered cars. But it has convinced me that there is room for another kind of interesting car. The Lucid doesn’t replace the cars I already love but adds something entirely new.
After 2,900 miles, I still look forward to driving my Lucid Air and for me that is one of the best ways to judge a car.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
Research and some text by ChatGPT.
They don’t make attractive cars anymore. Lucid has a classy look about, something you want to arrive in. Something that would sit perfectly with Mercedes and other luxury brands. It doesn’t givecEV vibes. It gives advanced vehicle vibes, the kind of car we envisioned driving in the future. I guess the future is here.