Video: 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire Review: Prepare to Swear

I mean, it is one of the quickest things with four wheels that carries humans that has ever been made. And after driving it for about a week now, there's a few things that have surprised me. I'm surprised I'm not in jail. I'm surprised I still have a driver's license. I'm surprised my eyeballs aren't flattened from the constant G-force This thing generates when you floor it. I'm surprised that they actually pay me to drive something like this electric stealth fighter, but mostly I'm surprised that I have an answer to a question I get asked actually pretty often. Aaron, what's the best thing you've driven all year? Well, it's this. It's this, folks. This is the best thing I've driven all year. And let me show you why. So what exactly is the Sapphire? Well, that is the tri-motor version of the Lucid Air. Two motors in the back, one motor up front for all wheel drive. Get this, it makes 1,234 horsepower and it puts all of that power down basically through software. There is no mechanical limited slip differential between the front and the rear wheels. It is using things like traction control and stability control and torque vectoring software that Lucid developed in-house to make sure that all of that power gets to the pavement and does so in a super controlled fashion. It uses 20-inch wheels up front, 21-inch wheels in the back, and it even uses custom Michelin PS4S tires that have a special compound developed just for this vehicle that allows for both really good straight line stability and efficiency but also exceptional cornering grip. It also makes the front track a little bit wider as well, but it also has a custom suspension that's very different from regular versions of the Lucid Air. It uses a 118 kilowatt hour lithium ion battery that's mounted very low in the chassis for a really good center of gravity, which is what you want, is something that can handle like this. Lucid says that it's good for a range of 427 miles according to the EPA, which is really quite a long distance for any electric car. It uses carbon ceramic brakes at all four corners and 10 piston front calipers with four piston rear calipers in order to haul this thing down from the speeds that it can generate. Overall, this thing in terms of its engineering, in terms of its suspension, in terms of the goods and greasy bits underneath is very different from a standard Lucid Air in that it has been heavily massaged to be stable at high speeds. So what does all this power and technology get you? Well, it gets you a five passenger luxury sedan that can go from 0 to 60 in what Lucid says is 1.89 seconds and it tops out at 205 miles per hour. I have actually a hard time conveying to you just how quick that is in words, but suffice it to say that it takes you longer to say 1.89 seconds than it does to go from 0 to 60 miles an hour in a Lucid Air Sapphire. First of all, it is pretty much impossible for me to convey to you accurately without the use of a dedicated closed track just how insane this car is to drive, just how quick it is, how responsive it is, how just mental this thing is. But suffice it to say that every person I have put in the passenger seat and done an acceleration test with has used a word that we cannot repeat here, or YouTube would pretty much ban this video in short order. That's the effect that this thing has on people. Now, in order to use the Sapphire correctly, you've got to know a couple things about the drive modes. First, you've got smooth mode and smooth is basically just your typical everyday comfort mode where things are calm and things are easy and quiet. It limits the horsepower to 767. Limits to 767, but it also keeps things pretty cushy. The next is swift mode. And swift mode just turns things up a little bit. It makes it a little bit more sharp, a little bit more responsive, still limits that horsepower, however to 767. Next comes Sapphire mode and that's pretty much as high as you want to go out on the street. It boosts that horsepower up to 1,121, not the full range of horsepower but still 1,121 horsepower, four figure horsepower for the street. It also sharpens things up in terms of the steering response throttle response, all of it. It's still incredibly usable, but that's as high as you want to go on the street. There is a track mode, however, and the track mode has three sub modes. Track mode number one, his drag strip, and that's where it unleashes all of the 1,234 horsepower. But that's meant for super fast acceleration and you know, 0 to 60 and quarter mile times that are approaching those record levels. That's not something you really wanna do out here on the street. You've also got two other track modes. You've got hot lap mode, which pretty much turns everything up, although the horsepower is still limited to 1003. But everything else like the powertrain cooling that it does the battery cooling that it does, the thermal management of the vehicle is meant to allow you to do consistent just balls to the wall hot laps in order to get a lot of those record times. You've also got endurance mode for your track settings as well, and that enables you to have more fun for a longer period on the track. It brings that horsepower back down to 767, but it still employs a lot of the power train and battery cooling in order to have that thermal management to allow you to be on the track for longer. So you're not using up the energy quite as rapidly and enables you to have a lot more fun. But for our purposes, we're gonna leave it in Sapphire mode because there's not really a whole lot of places out here on the street where you can use this kind of power. But getting onto the highway is one of 'em like this. My God, (laughs) that isn't even floored. You do have to be careful though, because you can very quickly run out of room in front of you. You will achieve speeds that you didn't think you could achieve in short order. 0 to 60 is 1.89 seconds, 0 to 100 happens in 6 seconds according to Lucid. And at a top speed of 205 miles an hour, the thing will also apparently run a quarter mile in the nine second range which is nuts. But thankfully you've got those carbon ceramic brakes at all four corners because you will need them in order to bring this car down from a halt, because you will very quickly be traveling at speeds you hadn't expect it to travel at. But the acceleration in here in any mode, let's be honest here, but especially in Sapphire mode when you've got 1,121 horsepower is just insane. It's brutal, but it's not brutal. I mean, brutal is not the right word. It's forceful, but it's also silent. This thing makes no noise, especially when you put your foot down and that's just kind of bizarre to me. I'm used to cars that make big power like a Dodge Challenger demon. That's just about as quick as this thing is, but it does so with a visceral roar that you feel in your chest. (car engine revving) The only thing that you're feeling in your chest here is the blood leaving the the atria because it's being squished back into your spine. I've had people in the passenger seat saying that they felt the blood leaving their legs and their eyeballs flattening, and that's not unrealistic because the scenery blurs when you push the go pedal in ways that it's just unlike anything else I've ever driven. And it's addictive. It's so much fun. And it also means that you can get past anybody in anything just like that. (audio beeps) I'm sorry, what was that? Yeah, yeah, that. Mm-hmm, yeah. It's a scream generator. They could have used this thing in "Monsters, Inc." in order to really, you know, get the kids worked up. I dunno that I wanna put the kids in here. I certainly wouldn't put my mother in here. She'd freak right out. But for someone like me who loves this kind of speed, it's just, you know, effortless point and shoot, you wanna be over there, bang, you're over there, you wanna be over there, bang, you're over there. But I think what's most extraordinary about this is the stability and the balance of it. You've got a lot of speed in here, you've got a lot of ability, but all of it is controlled by electronics that are extraordinary in terms of what they're able to do. There is no squirreliness in this car at all. There is no jankiness, there is no torque steer, there's no, oh geez, I'm, you know, on the hairy edge of losing control of it, nothing like that, it is eminently controlled. It is super stable even at higher speeds. It is just easy to drive and the balance that they've created in terms of the ride and handling, the ride quality in this car, despite the fact that it's got some serious sports rubber tires, it's supple. It's luxury car smooth. Even on the cratered hellscape that is southeast Michigan roads, it's just calm, and stable, and easy to drive, and smooth, and relaxing. They've created something here that is almost a perfect sports car. It can seat your whole family. You can take people along for their ride. It's entertaining to drive, it's engaging to drive. It's not just straight line acceleration either. This thing corners beautifully. It provides incredible feedback. It weighs just under 5,000 pounds, so it's not super light, but it's also not super heavy. But the electronic controls that they have in this thing have created something that's just so rewarding and so much fun. Yeah, this is extraordinary. The entire experience of this thing is just fantastic. And again, this is the first model from a brand new car company that's only been out for a couple of years and to be as good as this is is just jaw dropping. You know, kudos to everybody at Lucid. This is the the best thing I've driven all year, and it is extraordinary. But there are two things that I have to admit I really don't like about this car. First, the cost. This thing costs $250,000, which is three times the price of a basic Lucid Air Pure. But that one only has like 400 something horsepower and one motor. It's twice the price of a very well loaded Lucid Air Grand Touring `but again, that only has two motors and not the same level of power or ability that this thing has. I mean, truth be told, for 250 grand, this thing's ability is really do match its price and it does things that competitors at $250,000 actually can't even do. So it's out doing a lot of what the competition, yeah, really is delivering. And secondly, the thing I can't stand about this car is that every other car on the road, every other car on the road is slower than you are and in your way. I'm not a patient person. And so having this level of ability and agility and power and capability right at your fingertips and really not being able to use it because everyone is in your way is frustrating. And it also shows me why I should never actually own one of these things because I will end up in trouble in some form or another. But at least I now have an answer to that question, Aaron, what's the best thing you've driven this year? That's it, '24 Lucid Air Sapphire is the best thing I've driven this year, and it's not even close. If you'd like to learn more about the new Lucid Air Sapphire or any of the Lucid lineup of electric vehicles, you can look everything up at cars.com. (upbeat music) It's just stupid.