I drove the $180,000 Lucid Air and saw why it's one of the most impressive Tesla rivals yet

• I drove the Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance, a $180,000 (at the time of testing) electric car.
• The Air is the first model from Lucid, a startup based in California. 
• From its 446 miles of range to its stunning interior, the Air is extremely impressive. 

The race to become the next Tesla is on. And Lucid Motors is one of the top prospects. 

Against steep odds and unlike some fellow EV startups, the newcomer has managed to actually build vehicles and ship them to customers. I spent a few days with Lucid's debut model — the Air — and was blown away by the striking sedan's monstrous range, lightning-fast charging, comfy cabin, and mind-boggling performance. 

The basics

Founded in 2007, Lucid started making the Air in late 2021 at its factory in Arizona. With just 5,900 cars shipped so far, it's still a rare and cool experience to see one in the wild.

One driver, leaning halfway out of his SUV to snag a glimpse, encapsulated this idea quite nicely: "Lucid Air! Holy fucking shit!"

The brand is all about luxury, performance, and technology, so its cars don't come cheap. Prices range from $82,400 for the entry-level Air Pure to $249,000 for the Air Sapphire, a limited-edition, balls-to-the-wall speed machine. The more expensive models get fancier interiors, better performance, and longer range.

The Grand Touring Performance model Lucid lent me slots near the top of the lineup at a whopping $180,000, at the time of testing in May 2023. 

Garnering a 516-mile rating from the EPA, the Grand Touring is the longest-range electric car money can buy, beating out the best Tesla by more than 100 miles. 

Lucid may have taken a while to get here, but it arrived with a splash. 

What we like: Awe-inspiring looks and a lavish interior

What may not show through in photos is just how exceptionally long, low, and wide the Air is. But in person, it's a stone-cold stunner. 

Other style highlights: Slim light bars spanning the full width of the car's nose and butt, trapezoid-shaped door handles that sit flush when the car is locked, and functional inlets that redirect air around the car, reducing drag. (The Air's slippery shape helps it eke out so many miles from its battery.) 

The sedan's interior feels special and distinct, too, yet Lucid didn't reject all the things people love about their BMWs and Benzes. It's a nice mix of modern and old school. 

Its sumptuous and highly adjustable leather seats are built to eat up highway miles. Several different massage settings keep you loose and even attend to your glutes.

Bits of faux suede and wood here and there lend the cabin a refined feel. An expansive windshield that extends past the front seats adds some drama and a sense of openness to the already spacious cockpit. 

The back seats are a pleasant place to spend time too and offer oodles of legroom. But in the longest-range models (like the one I drove), an extra-large battery raises the footwells and leaves passengers sitting in a bit of a crouch. 

The Air offers trunks in front and rear. Both are enormous. 

Screens, screens, and more screens

Since it's 2023 and carmakers have basically kicked buttons to the curb, the Air serves up a smattering of screens for your tapping pleasure. Or perhaps frustration, depending on your feelings toward the increasing smartphone-ification of the automobile. 

An elegantly suspended 34-inch sliver of screens oriented toward the driver houses the speedometer and main infotainment display, where you can access the navigation system or hook up Apple CarPlay. The leftmost corner displays some static buttons for key functions like door locks, wipers, and headlights. 

A tablet nestled down low between the front seats offers access to most other settings, like the Air's various drive modes, seat heating and ventilation, and the glove box. Swipe up and the whole screen retracts, revealing a little cubby. Just above that, you'll find some switches for the fan speed and temperature, along with a scroll wheel for pumping up the tunes. 

It's nice that Lucid kept some important functions readily accessible rather than hiding them away in a maze of menus. Still, fiddling with the central tablet requires glancing away from the road entirely, which isn't fun. It's way easier to feel around for a button while driving than tap a screen, so it's a shame carmakers are increasingly getting rid of them. 

Credit where credit's due: I found Lucid's whole interface gorgeous and easy to use. Car touchscreens are often laggy and poorly designed, but this system felt straight out of Silicon Valley. I didn't experience any of the software glitches that some other reviewers have observed. 

What's the Air like to drive?

On the road, the Air is silky smooth and breathtakingly quick. Smooth, Lucid's version of a comfort setting, is already spry enough to get your heart pumping. Swift dials up the acceleration even more. 

Selecting Sprint, the most intense setting, prompts the car to ask if you're really sure you want to do this and unleashes every ounce of the Grand Touring Performance's 1,050 horsepower. Punch it and the Air instantaneously catapults itself forward with dizzying force, squishing you deep into your seat as you hold on for dear life. Lucid quotes a 0-60-mph time of 2.6 seconds. 

Even once you hit highway speeds, the Air feels like it's just warming up. Beware: It gets going so effortlessly that you'll be breaking the speed limit before you know it.

Flooring it repeatedly will drain the Air's battery quicker than calmly cruising along. But who cares when you have 446 miles of range at your disposal? All that range eliminates the standard EV anxieties of running out of juice or hunting for the next charging station. 

When I did start to run low, the Air charged up at lightning speed.

I stopped for 12 minutes and added 158 miles of estimated range, plenty to get me home and then some. That capability is a game changer for road trips, which can be a time-consuming bummer in slower-charging cars.

The Air comes with all manner of driver-assistance technology, like a crisp 360-degree camera that helps you maneuver in parking lots without dinging your extraordinarily expensive ride. This is especially welcome given the Air's beefy A-pillar, which creates a massive blind spot. Another nice touch: When you hit the turn signal, a live camera feed of the relevant blind spot pops up in the driver-facing display. 

DreamDrive, Lucid's adaptive cruise control system, kept pace with traffic and confidently centered the car in its lane. If I glanced away from the road for too long, the car's driver-monitoring system took notice and scolded me. I did take issue with the aggressive lane-keeping feature, which forcefully took control of the car and was tough to wrest the wheel back from. 

Our impressions: A stunningly good luxury EV, for those who can afford it 

The Lucid Air is an extremely impressive product, offering all the range, performance, and charging convenience you could dream of — and more — in an incredibly novel and special-feeling package. But it faces increasingly stiff competition.

When Lucid started up, it wasn't clear yet that practically the entire auto industry would place its full might behind the EV revolution. As a result, there are plenty of capable and luxurious EVs on offer from time-worn companies like Mercedes, Porsche, BMW, and Audi — companies that have decades of experience building quality vehicles and the vast dealer networks to support them. 

Against that backdrop, buying from Lucid — or Rivian or Lordstown or Fisker — is a bit of a gamble. I can't tell you whether to support the old guard or place a bet with an up-and-comer. But I can confirm that the Air is tremendous.