Even the Base Mannequin Is Dear and Pleasing

The Lucid Air electric luxury sedan was impressive when it launched 18 months ago, and the new Air Pure version for 2023 is a further variation on the same theme. The Pure is the least expensive Lucid today, at a base price of $89,050, including delivery. All other Air versions start north of six figures, so this represents the entry level.

One of the Air’s selling points is its high EPA-rated ranges, with the pricier Air Grand Touring AWD rated at a whopping 516 miles on 19-inch wheels—the highest EPA range rating of any EV on the market today. We were curious to see how the Air fared with a smaller battery and a slightly lesser spec.

Smaller Battery, Still Fast

Buyers of the entry-level Pure can choose between rear- or all-wheel drive and 19- or 20-inch wheels. The all-wheel-drive version features a pair of motors good for 480 horsepower and 686 pound-feet of torque. Fitted with 20-inch Aero Lite wheels, our all-wheel-drive Air Pure carries an EPA range estimate of 384 miles from the 92.0-kWh battery pack.

In our 75-mph real-world highway range test, this Air Pure delivered 310 miles at an observed efficiency of 100 MPGe, against its EPA rating of 121 MPGe. The Air Grand Touring managed 410 miles in the same test.

A few deletions

The dual-motor Air Pure can’t quite match the acceleration of other Air models, but it’s only gone from shockingly fast to surprisingly fast. We measured 3.5 seconds to 60 mph, versus 3.0 seconds for the Touring model and just 2.6 seconds for the 1111-hp Dream Edition Performance. For a four-seat sedan weighing the better part of 3 tons, any of those results are remarkable; Air Pure buyers should be plenty satisfied with their car’s performance.

Against the Touring trim that’s the next step up in the Lucid Air range, the Pure sacrifices the option of a glass roof, power opening and closing for the front trunk, cooled front seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and heated front wipers. Its powered front seat plummets from 14 to 12 adjustments, and one zone is subtracted from its automatic climate control, down from four to three.

None of this presents a major sacrifice. Indeed, the only thing we missed was the glass roof found on the previous Air models we’ve tested. The solid roof makes the low cabin darker, and it feels subjectively closer and more confining—especially to larger occupants. No matter the size, though, every front-seat rider must learn to twist and duck into their seat to avoid whacking their head on the very raked windshield pillar.

Composed and relaxed

Any Lucid Air we’ve driven remains a joy to drive: well balanced and composed with sharp, sporty responses married to superb chassis tuning and damping that eliminates any extra oscillation. That makes this 4951-pound car surprisingly easy to toss through corners if you choose, while it still remains restful behind the wheel if you don’t push it.

Adding to the sense of luxury is a quiet exterior and an interior made up of unusual fabrics that contribute to a sense of soothing calm. Lucid design SVP Derek Jenkins has described the Air as “not a shouty car”—”shouty” being a British term that means calling attention to yourself. The Air is indeed quiet on the outside, though its low height, smooth lines, and ultra-slim lamps keep one’s attention once it does get noticed.

Inside, our Air Pure had the Mojave PurLuxe interior. Its most striking feature is the gray tweed fabric used on the dash and elsewhere. It’s an unusual, subtle choice, and it really works. Once inside, the legs-out driving position in front feels sporty, but rear-seat passengers enjoy footwells in the floor that correspond to recesses in the underfloor battery pack. The floor depression means rear-seat riders aren’t sitting legs up, as they do in top-spec Air models with the highest-capacity battery, making long trips more comfortable here.

Finding one-pedal mode

Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson was the chief engineer on the Tesla Model S a decade ago. The cockpit blends echoes of Tesla in its large center screen with only a few hard controls for selected functions (audio volume, ventilation). A smaller secondary screen for cabin controls can retract into the dash for a cleaner look.

The temptation for modern EV designers is to put as many controls as possible into the screen, reducing the number of mechanical switches, knobs, dials, and sliders that have to be engineered. Some of our editors prefer one-pedal driving mode, while others abhor it—so each time we switched test drivers, we had to find the one-pedal mode buried a couple of screens down in drive settings.

The car we tested, a 2023 Lucid Air Pure AWD, carried a base price of $94,550, which is $5500 more than the rear-drive car because of its extra front-mounted motor and semi-active dampers. Our car had the $2000 20-inch wheel upgrade, which mutes range from 410 to 384 miles. Three additional options were the DreamDrive Pro active driving assist and surround-view cameras ($10,000), the Surreal Sound Pro audio system ($4000), and the lovely Fathom Blue Metallic gray-blue paint ($1000). All in, its bottom-line sticker price was $111,550—well past the $100K threshold.

Thus, the Lucid Air Pure remains firmly in the upper tier of the luxury spectrum and expands the company’s product offering only slightly. At a time when the entire market seems to want SUVs, the company’s imperative is to get its second model, the Gravity electric SUV, into production as soon as possible. With Air sales lower than projected a few years ago, Lucid is now going back to the well to raise more capital: $3 billion, largely from the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Somewhat ironically, that oil-funded investment powerhouse now controls a majority of Lucid’s shares.

Starting a car company that survives for the long term is a very tough thing indeed. So far, only Tesla seems to have pulled it off in recent decades. Whatever Lucid’s ultimate fate, the Lucid Air is an exceptional electric car: stylish, comfortable, luxurious, and fast. Even in Pure form.

Contributing Editor

John Voelcker edited Green Car Reports for nine years, publishing more than 12,000 articles on hybrids, electric cars, and other low- and zero-emission vehicles and the energy ecosystem around them. He now covers advanced auto technologies and energy policy as a reporter and analyst. His work has appeared in print, online, and radio outlets that include Wired, Popular Science, Tech Review, IEEE Spectrum, and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” He splits his time between the Catskill Mountains and New York City and still has hopes of one day becoming an international man of mystery.