Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
After reviewing Lucid’s most luxurious variant in June, the tech Youtuber Marques Brownlee (who is also known as MKBHD) published late Monday his review on the cheapest variant of Lucid’s debut model, the Lucid Air Pure.
In a previous video, MKBHD compared the $249,000 Lucid Air Sapphire with the $89,990 Tesla Model S Plaid.
In this review, however, the comparison between the entry-level Lucid Air Pure and the Tesla Model S is more equitable, as the prices are comparable.
The Pure rear-wheel drive variant of the Lucid Air starts at $69,900 in the United States while the Tesla Model S all-wheel drive starts at $74,990.
MKBHD noted that, despite recognizing the quality and the performance of two distinct variants of the Lucid Air, the price was always a barrier when he compared it to models from other manufacturers.
However, with the recently announced price base price of $69,900 for the Air Pure, he thinks that’s no longer an issue.
“It is really, really impressive that Lucid is actually now shipping a car that is not crazy expensive. They’re getting down into the realm of price of other attainable… I mean this is going to be cheaper than the rear-wheel drive [Porsche] Taycan. It’s going to be cheaper than a lot of other competitors like a [Mercedes] EQS,” he said.
“So props to Lucid for getting there. They’re making it available and then hopefully walking people up the price ladder and maybe somebody else will get a [Lucid] Sapphire as a result of seeing this car,” he added.
Regarding the interior, the tech reviewer admitted he preferred more physical buttons than the minimalist interior style from the Tesla vehicles.
“There’s a lot more physical controls in a Lucid. So, real HVAC controls, love that. You have a volume knob here. You have your fan control, temperature, speed, fan speed… that’s advantage for Lucid,” he stated.
Making a direct comparison with the driving and the performance of the Model S, the YouTuber said the Lucid model “drives better, handles better, is flatter through turns and cornering, and handles the poor roads of New Jersey better than every Tesla Model S”.
The Model S (not the Plaid variant) has an EPA estimated range of 402 miles and a top speed of 130mph. It can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.1sec.
Regarding parking-related features, Brownlee praised Lucid’s top-down camera view which Tesla opts to not offer “for some reason,” according to the YouTuber.
“The Lucid Air also has a top-down view when parking, and for some reason Tesla still doesn’t like to implement a camera version of the top-down view. They’ll do a sort of advanced park assist where you can see how far things are from you, but it’s not a camera view. So I must give the advantage to parking directly to Lucid,” he said.
While noting that Lucid also offers an all-wheel drive version of the Pure variant, MKBHD reveals he would still choose Tesla over the Lucid model if he had a $75,000 budget.
“They [Lucid] do make an all-wheel drive version of the Pure, by the way, it just costs more. So which base car do you go for? The only factors that matter a lot to me for this are number one, how much am I going to road trip? If I’m going to road trip a lot, I’m taking the Tesla,” he stated.
“The peace of mind is just worth that much to me. The all-wheel drive quickness and the just the way that the the Tesla is just intuitive and works kind of all the time, works with my phone key, don’t have to think too hard about it, that is very very valuable for me and a lot of people. And the other factor is do you care about car play? Do you care about car play or not? Me personally, actually not really, not that much. So I think I would go with the Tesla, by a hair,” he added.
Earlier this year, Lucid’s CEO Peter Rawlinson criticized Tesla, suggesting the company is “distracted” and “losing its way” adding that it “really falls to Lucid to take the technology to a whole new level”.
In a new interview with the BBC program “Wake up to Money,” Rawlinson, who worked at Tesla from 2009 to 2012, commented again on Tesla‘s current direction.
“At Tesla, I was there for three years from 2009 through to 2012, and at that stage Tesla was truly at the cutting edge, developing the most advanced technology with a clarity of vision and purpose, and an absolute singularity of mindset,” Rawlinson said.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
