Verdict
– Encino, California
Because of electrification, we’re in a brand new period of automotive data. Day-after-day, highly effective and torquey EVs redefine what it means to be quick, providing such blistering acceleration that it might break the principles of any NHRA-sanctioned occasion. However even with that in thoughts, there was no approach I used to be prepared for the outrageous thrust supplied up by the electrical world’s latest record-breaker.
The 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire has a three-motor powertrain doling out as much as 1,234 horsepower and 1,430 pound-feet, making it the world’s strongest manufacturing four-door sedan in historical past. Upgraded from the already-quick Air, it vaults to 60 miles per hour in 1.89 seconds, a tenth faster than the Tesla Mannequin S Plaid, and can attain a manufacturer-claimed high velocity of 205 mph. There was no technique to check that final quantity in my 25-minute first drive of the flagship Air, however relaxation assured, we launched the factor many times. After which as soon as extra for good measure.
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11 Photographs
Like Strapping Into A Rocket
With Lucid Director of Car Dynamics David Lickfold sitting within the passenger seat offering me with driving prompts, I assumed the transient spin within the Sapphire could be comparatively sedate. In any case, this is among the firm’s few production-intent examples, and we’d be motoring round in some unusually heavy mid-afternoon visitors for suburban LA.
I couldn’t have been extra improper. With the automobile set in its least aggressive “Easy” drive mode, there’s nonetheless 767 hp on faucet to provide the Lucid loads of shove whenever you dig into it – which David requested me to do in the course of a sweeping nook on a six-lane street.
Ignoring each intuition, I adopted his orders and was met with a butterfly-inducing shove to the decrease again. However surprisingly, the automobile demonstrated spectacular stability due to the tri-motor structure with a single motor on the entrance axle and a pair of motors for the rear, each controlling a wheel. This offers the Lucid real torque vectoring, and in Easy, the automobile will underdrive the skin wheel. This counter-intuitive conduct truly prevents the Air from feeling twitchy, unsettled, or tail-happy, even when giving it the boot by a nook. Pushed thus, the Sapphire feels very like another Air.
For our subsequent train, we toggled the drive mode into the middle-ground “Swift,” enabling extra dynamic torque vectoring from the rear motors. As we approached a freeway on-ramp with a good, 160-degree turnaround, David advised me to pin the accelerator simply previous the apex. As promised in our engineering dialogue, the Sapphire utilized extra energy to the skin rear wheel, tightening up the cornering line brilliantly earlier than the ramp straightened out and we rocketed towards triple-digit speeds. I received’t cop to something particular, however the expertise was gut-wrenching and addictive.
After a few exits – simply sufficient time on the freeway to note a touch of tire roar however spectacular straight-line stability – we headed towards the winding sweepers of Sepulveda Boulevard. Right here, David switched the automobile from Easy to Swift, then as much as essentially the most aggressive Sapphire mode, with every successive changeup bringing palpable modifications to the ability supply, torque vectoring, and adaptive damper tuning. But even within the hardest-core mode and its attendant, fixed 1,121 hp (or the headline-grabbing 1,234 hp when launching from a cease), the Lucid stays moderately genteel, with an avowedly agency trip however in any other case easy conduct.
The true check of its management got here as we conveniently approached a pink mild, first in line. Nonetheless in Sapphire, David had me maintain the brake, then pin the throttle to interact launch management, an apt descriptor when the sunshine turned inexperienced. With out a trace of wheelspin, the Lucid fired off the road like a 5,336-pound Olympic sprinter, but essentially the most superior a part of the expertise was the relentless shove because the digital speedometer twinkled into ever-higher numbers. Even at freeway speeds, the Sapphire is ready to ship longitudinal G-forces that might rival some sports activities automobiles from a standstill, with little of the tapering that’s turn out to be emblematic of EVs.
The expertise proved to be too addictive to withstand, and with the engineer’s permission, I launched the automobile from a cease signal as soon as extra, hitting a straightforward 60 mph inside a number of hundred ft. And the stopping energy, previously a blind spot within the Lucid efficiency portfolio, is outrageous. Not solely is there refined regeneration with one-pedal driving, however the upsized carbon-ceramic brake rotors additionally get pinched by 10-piston entrance calipers and four-piston rears. Extra of this, I say.
Electrical Love
Beneath the Sapphire’s superlative energy and acceleration lies the identical sleek luxurious sedan we first skilled final 12 months. In some way, including a complete Nissan Z’s price of horsepower hasn’t upset the Lucid’s easy around-town manners, with an acceptably agency, well-damped trip courtesy of the stiffer coil springs, adaptive dampers, and thicker entrance and rear anti-roll bars.
The revised efficiency credentials don’t come on the expense of fashion, both. Each flagship Air comes with an eponymous coat of Sapphire Metallic paint, with a black-painted roof that ditches the overhead glass to save lots of weight. Wheels measure 20 inches up entrance and 21 inches within the rear for extra brake cooling, and bolt-on aero discs will include every automobile for when vary is a better precedence. A deeper chin spoiler and carbon-fiber rear ducktail add downforce, with smoother underbody components to scale back elevate. Better of all, the Sapphire comes with a number of little California bears on the outside, a Lucid calling card that I like.
The faultlessly completed cabin comes completely in a grayish-black colorway that Lucid calls Mojave, with darkish blue stitching and lightweight grey piping so as to add just a bit coloration pop. Designers made liberal use of Alcantara upholstery, showing on the steering wheel rim, seat facilities, headliner, and inserts on the sprint and door panels. Real leather-based likewise makes an look on the seat bolsters and foremost sprint – Lucid might sometime supply a vegan inside, however it considers its sustainably tanned and processed cover to be about as environmentally pleasant as petroleum-based alternate options.
Just like the Grand Touring, the Lucid Air Sapphire will get a sweeping, 34.0-inch display screen that comes with driver controls on the left, a digital instrument cluster within the heart, and a touchscreen media show on the correct. The high-performance trim boasts a darkish blue display screen theme that matches its identify, however in any other case, the interface is about the identical as another Lucid. Fast contact response and interesting graphics are good, though the show’s nested menus is usually a bit complicated at instances. An over-the-air replace in March made Apple CarPlay normal, curing the system of its greatest oversight.
Go Quick, Go Far
Whereas some efficiency EVs sacrifice a lot of vary to fulfill their lofty velocity targets, the Lucid Air Sapphire can go 427 miles on a single cost. That’s down a bit on the 469 miles on supply from the Grand Touring trim, however the Sapphire can nonetheless cowl the space from the Golden Gate Bridge to Los Angeles Metropolis Corridor in a single cost. And like the remainder of the Air lineup, it has a most DC quick cost price of 300 kilowatts, replenishing its 118.0-kilowatt-hour battery from 20 to 80 % in simply quarter-hour.
Its closest competitor is the Tesla Mannequin S Plaid, which has marginally slower acceleration and a high velocity of “simply” 200 mph. The Mannequin S doesn’t go fairly as far in a cost, with an EPA-rated vary of 396 miles with 19-inch wheels or 348 with 21s. However then once more, it’s a full hundred grand cheaper than the Lucid, beginning at $108,490 and rising to $132,990 absolutely geared up.
Despite its hometown competitors from Tesla, the Lucid Air Sapphire appears like a way more fleshed-out thought. The cabin is richer, the suspension and braking upgrades are extra complete, and the driving expertise feels extra polished than any newcomer automaker has a proper to. With poise and charm round city giving technique to addictive thrust on the stoplight, my quick time behind the wheel of the Lucid Air Sapphire was the most effective form of tease.