We have been wanting to try a Lucid, but scheduling a drive can be a pain with our schedules. We saw a few, and they looked like a minivan at first glance. I even got a picture the week before while running errands.
We saw a few driving around, and didn’t love the trim/two-tone on the roof. This wasn’t on our list really, but since we had time and the dealer was close, we stopped by the Millbrae dealer in SF.
The sales guy kind of said we might not get a drive because we hadn’t scheduled it, but he would look. We checked out the floor model, and it was interesting. It’s surprising how big it is, and yet, it’s not that tall. Shorter than the Volvo EX90.
The screens are large, like the Cadillac flowing from the driver to the middle of the car. However, there’s also a large screen in the middle of the dash. A cool review from Doug DeMuro shows how this works and it’s worth watching. I didn’t care a lot about this since I knew it was Tesla like, but watching the review made me realize how much I liked the idea of these (essentially) 3 screens that can be used. Maybe 4 if you count the small one for the driver.
We also loved the rear seats folding backwards into the lower space, making a long opening. This is mini-van sized, and it’s larger than other SUVs by a lot. We don’t need 7 seats, but the space is interesting. In talking about the floor model, we weren’t sold, but we wanted to try and drive it.
Test Drive
I went first, and it was a bit of a surprise. The weird steering wheel is interesting, but I quikly found I liked it since I can rest my hands on the top of it. I was surprised how well it felt.
The ride was very smooth. Cadillac-like or even better. It’s quick, like crazy Tesla quick as well, despite being a larger car. It also felt very spacious inside. It flowed down the road.
I didn’t try the Dream Drive, mostly because of time, but I did like the idea of this. Not sure that’s a decision point as it hasn’t been a thing in the Tesla I use a lot, but it’s nice to know it’s available.
A short drive, but one that was impressive coming off Optiq, Lyriq, and EX90 drives a few hours earlier.
Efficiency
We chatted about range. The Grant Touring is over 400 miles, while the Touring is 337. The idea of more range is appealing, but in 4.5 years, there have been 2 trips where we worried about range and didn’t take the Tesla. The Tesla was rated at 318, so 337 likely would have had us taking it on one of those trips.
Plus the Gravity charges faster. That might have made a difference as well.
The Model Y efficiency is hard to beat, but I checked the Cadillac v the Model Y and Gravity. Very respectible figures here.
Downsides
Overall, it’s great. Price aside, since this can be expensive with the long range version. A few things stood out.
One weird thing for me was the center console. It is large, and the armrest lifts, but there is a tray in the middle that covers the bottom. What I didn’t love is that the cup holders are at the front of the tray, so if I want to slide it forward to get below, I’m going to have to empty them.
Not something I love, but it’s a minimal thing overall.
When we got in, it was hot. About 85F outside and starting the car had the fans blowing loudly. We kept trying to turn down the front ones, but it was still loud. I almost said this wasn’t the car for us, as the loud Tesla fans are annoying as well. However, we realized that the rear fans were on, and asked the sales guy to turn them down. It was better when he did, but something to think about is if you have people back there wanting rear air, it’s loud.
The other strange thing is the way the seats work. From one of their promo videos, you can see the side view here. Notice the space behind the second row.
It’s a gap. When you fold things down, the rear seats disappear into the floor, and the second row goes down, but there is a gap there. I guess we could get some firm floor liner but haven’t seen one. More I thought this might be a place I stick a few duffel bags of spare clothes and then have a soft liner above. We’ll see.
We loved it and ordered one, so I’ll continue thoughts and experiences in the Lucid Project.