2025 LUCID AIR

LUCID SEDAN EASES FEARS OF RANGE ANXIETY AMONG ELECTRIC VEHICLES

If the fear of running out of juice with no charging outlet nearby — a concern commonly known as range anxiety — has been holding you back from considering an electric vehicle your next automotive purchase, a California-based automaker may have an answer cure for you.

Lucid Group offers both a sedan and SUV that provides between 400 and just over 500 miles between charges, depending on the trim.

But bring your wallet. Starting price for the least expensive sedan, the Lucid Air Pure trim, is just over $70,000, while the base SUV, the Gravity Touring trim, flirts with the $80,000 mark.

The top trim in the sedan line, the Lucid Air Sapphire, approaches Super Luxury territory with a starting price of $249,000. 

The Grand Touring trim also is in six figures ($112,400), but this review is based on my experience of a a week in the 2025 Lucid Air Touring model that starts at $78,900 (not including the $,1,500 delivery fee).

The Lucid Gravity SUV is new this year, but the Lucid Air sedan was introduced for the 2022 model year. The initial offering received mixed reviews, earning praise for its design and performance and criticism for software issues and build quality. Driving range, of course, also earned plaudits.

The company took those negatives head on and more recent models have  raised the bar for the luxury EV segment. The 2025 Lucid Air even earns the No. 1 spot in the analysis of 13 luxury EVs by US News & World Report over competitors like Tesla, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche.

My view, however, is a little less enthusiastic. 

Oh, I appreciate the roomy, premium interior and the exhilarating driving experience, and there are plenty of infotainment features to make techies happy.

But in an apparent desire to be for “futuristic” in its appeal, designers have confined operation of basically every function, tech or otherwise, to a 14-inch display touchscreen on the center console. Want to adjust the tilt-and-telescoping steering or side mirrors? Go to the touchscreen and make your way through a screenful of icons.

Yes, the longer you have the vehicle likely are to become familiar with all the proper places to touch, but there were times in my week with the car that sunlight reflection made seeing exactly where to tap difficult.

What usually would be called “normal or comfort, sport, or eco, or sport-plus” when it comes to driving modes in most vehicles the Lucid Air is marked “smooth (optional range), swift (balancing power and efficiency), and sprint (maximum power).”

Fortunately, those buttons are plainly marked on the main screen but early on in the week I had to call for help to find out how to turn the radio on. (The proper button was behind a link to my cell phone.)

Getting back to what to like about the vehicle, the Lucid Air is a kick to drive, The dual electric motors on the Touring trim produce 620 horsepower and 885 pound-feet of torque that result in a zero-to-60 mph sprint of 3.4 seconds.

All-wheel drive is standard and estimated driving range with standard 19-inch wheel is 406 miles. You can adjust regenerative braking from coasting to max for one-pedal driving.

The touring trim of the 2025 Lucid Air comes with standard features like a power open/close trunk in the rear and a spacious frunk in front,  LED lights, 12-way power heated front seats with massage functions, Bluetooth technology, wireless phone charging, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Standard safety features include adaptive cruise control, a -view camera, blind spot warning, lane-departure protection, park distance warning, automatic emergency braking, distracted driving alert, and front and rear cross-traffic assist.

In addition to the $80,400 starting MSRP, my test 2025 Lucid Air Touring model also included extras like Lucid’s DreamDrive Pro (hands-free driving), a 21-speaker Surreal Sound audio system, a glass canopy roof, 20-inch wheels and other items that ran the final bottom line to $102,600.

What I liked about the 2025 Lucid Air Sedan: Acceleration is brisk and smooth. The interior is spacious and comfortable. Excellent range alleviates fears of running out of juice, though EPA estimates may be as generous as some major league umpires’ strike zones. The spacious cargo capacity is divided between the frunk (10.0 cubic feet) and rear trunk (22.1).

What I didn’t like about the 2025 Lucid Air Sedan: Having pretty much every function operating off the big touchscreen sounds practical but there is a fairly steep learning curve and with so many operations it can be distractive to try to use it while driving. I would prefer pushing a button to start or turn off the vehicle (the car is ready to go when the driver settles in behind the wheel). Even smaller riders may bump their head getting in or out because of the low roof line. Rain-sensing windshield wipers operated sporadically on our test vehicle.

Would I buy the 2025 Lucid Air Sedan? No way. Designers simply have taken their desire to incorporate so many functions in the touchscreen too far. It detracts from what is a well designed, high-performing luxury sedan.