The all-electric 2025 Lucid Air Pure is the least expensive trim in Lucid's Air lineup, yet it's a dreamy, sexy car. Driving around, I felt understated, flashy and discerning, as if I were wearing designer sweatpants.
But does fantasy equal value? I spent about 10 days driving the Air Pure on two different coasts to find out. And here are the details: Yes, but only if over-the-air updates are sent continuously.
The Air Pure is a technological dreamboat in many invisible “under the hood” ways, including an ultra-efficient electric motor. And its spacious, airtight interior and high-end sound system will put you in a good mood.
This is the kind of car you'll want to spend time with, especially if Lucid continues to work on improving its technical features. This car's many high-tech features justify its far from affordable price tag of $69,900. However, we found that there is still room for improvement, especially with Lucid's voice assistant and DreamDrive's advanced driver assistance system. The good news is that these features have also seen significant progress from previous iterations.
nuts and bolts
Image credit: Lucid
With an estimated range of 420 miles and a single rear-mounted 430 horsepower motor, the Lucid Air Pure is an attractive alternative to the Tesla Model S, which has an all-wheel drive version with a range of 402 miles and a price tag of $79,990. It becomes a substitute product. . On one test drive, I traveled comfortably from San Francisco to Salinas and back, plus some driving around the city, all without needing to charge. Lucid provided Air Pure to TechCrunch in both cases.
For quick charging, Air Pure supports fast charging, adding 200 miles of range in just 15 minutes at stations owned by ChargePoint, EVgo, and Electrify America. Starting in 2025, Lucid owners will also be able to access Tesla's network, but this will require an adapter. Lucid's next Gravity SUV will be equipped with Tesla's NACS port from day one, but the automaker has yet to say whether future Air models will follow suit.
Sitting low on 19-inch wheels, the Air Pure is as aerodynamic as it looks, with an impressive drag coefficient of 0.197.
As you approach the car, the electric motor and infotainment system automatically switch on and the flush door handles pop out. The front and rear bar lights also illuminate in an outward motion, like the sound of rushing water, creating a high-tech yet understated atmosphere.
Lucid's signature lighting is instantly recognizable, giving the entire design a sophisticated “California New Money” feel.
broad and technology-focused
Image credit: Rebecca Beran
Sitting in Lucid Air Pure is a sensory experience. Sitting in the driver's seat, with 40 inches of headroom and 45.4 inches of legroom, it felt like I could breathe, and I found myself touching the various fabrics and textiles used in the interior. The oval steering wheel with ergonomic grip also fits comfortably in the palm of your hand.
Air Pure has ambient-level noise, like a soft electric hum to simulate engine sounds, giving it a futuristic spaceship feel.
A 34-inch curved glass cockpit floats just behind the steering wheel and features three distinct control zones. The touchscreen on the left manages quick-access features like the charging port and windshield defroster. The central display shows important driving information such as speed, gear, range and DreamDrive visualization. On the right side, you'll find connectivity and entertainment options, including Apple CarPlay integration, native navigation, media, and communications.
Below this, a 12.5-inch pilot panel sits above the center console. This vertical screen can be stowed away for additional storage space and handles climate control, parking, and driver settings. It also automatically provides a 360-degree camera view when navigating through tight spaces.
Adjustments to things like the rearview and side mirrors are only accessible through the so-called pilot panel, which some people may dislike. I didn't worry about it since it was a one-time setup. Another great feature is that you can adjust the lumbar support. For an additional $7,500, you can upgrade to a massager and ventilated seats. This is a luxury you definitely want to splurge on.
I appreciated Lucid's decision to maintain physical control. Above the pilot panel are tactile knobs for adjusting temperature and volume. The steering wheel also features physical buttons for activating advanced driver assistance systems, changing songs, and activating the voice assistant.
The center console has two plugs for the USB-C and Lightning cables, as well as a sliding cover to keep your items safe.
The rear seats are also spacious with 39 inches of headroom and 37.6 inches of legroom, and friends and family sitting in the back seats also commented on this. Rear seat passengers also have their own small touchscreen that allows them to control things like seat heating and temperature, as well as summoning and turning off the sunshade.
Speaking of space, there's 22.1 cubic feet of storage space in the trunk and 10 cubic feet in the frunk. Overall, Lucid passed Costco's performance test.
Lucid Assistant – Swings and Misses
Image credit: Lucid
Lucid initially launched the Pure series with voice assistance powered by Amazon's Alexa, but it wasn't very good. Within the past few months, Lucid has started rolling out an alternative version, a white-labeled version that appears to be from SoundHound AI. Lucid didn't approve.
Lucid Assistant isn't very good either. But really, is there a voice assistant in your car that doesn't make you want to scream from time to time? Lucid Assistant can process commands and answer questions about very specific things about your car. You can ask about the weather, get directions to the nearest charging station, or command the seat heaters to turn up.
There were limitations when it came to music commands. For example, the Assistant could turn on Spotify and play a specific song, but it often didn't recognize what I requested. I also couldn't play some types of music. For example, in a moment of panic and indecision, I asked him to play the top 40. Suddenly, Sublime's “40 Ounce” was playing. to Freedom” was playing from the speakers. Not complaining, but it wasn't what I asked for.
Speaking of music, the Dolby Atmos sound system somehow had the perfect balance of bass, treble, and mids, but connections to music streaming services like Spotify were often spotty. did. I lost connection several times and had to fumble with the pre-programmed Sirius XM options.
Native GPS and Lucid apps
Let's talk a little bit about Lucid's native navigation system with custom routing. Compared to Waze and Apple Maps, it doesn't always seem to take traffic into account, and the ETA difference could be as much as 20 minutes.
My eyes also took some time to adjust to how Lucid's native system appears. Lucid displays direct directions in the curved cockpit, and the panel pilot below displays a large map. I found my eyes darting between the two screens.
I had no issues with the Lucid app. It worked fine, opening the trunk, unlocking the car, opening the charging port, flashing the lights, checking for nearby chargers, etc. It's not as advanced as Tesla's app, but I hope it continues to improve.
mature handling
Image credit: Lucid
The Lucid Air Pure sits low to the ground (you can really feel it when getting on and off), giving you a centered grip when turning. Acceleration is solid, but you don't get the punchy boost of a Tesla or Ford Mustang Mach-E. Still, this car is no slouch, accelerating from 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds. The suspension was excellent, and I hardly felt any bumps in the road.
Air Pure has three drive modes accessible from the pilot panel: Smooth, Swift, and Sprint. Gives a smooth and relaxing feeling to daily driving. The Swift offers a little more oomph for when you want to have a little fun or are in a hurry on the highway. The Sprint is designed for “advanced drivers” with “maximum power and torque for short bursts of intense performance.” I didn't notice much of a difference between the modes.
If you want more control over regenerative braking, you can adjust it in the driver settings, including turning on creep mode, which allows you to drive without pressing the accelerator.
so many cameras and sensors
Image credit: Lucid
The 2025 Lucid Air Pure comes standard with 24 sensors, including six cameras, infrared, ultrasound, and radar used to power Lucid's ADAS brand called DreamDrive Premium. Masu. This includes features such as 3D surround view monitoring and blind spot display, lane departure warning, automatic parking, adaptive cruise control, and a driver monitoring system for distracted and drowsy driving.
For an additional $2,500 one-time fee, Lucid buyers can increase the number of sensors to 32 (including solid-state LIDAR, radar, ultrasonic sensors, and a whopping 13 cameras) and get Highway Assist. You can upgrade to DreamDrive Pro with A feature that combines lane centering and adaptive cruise control.
The benefit of purchasing this feature and the hardware that comes with it is that you are promised not what you can do now, but what you can do in the future. What this means is that Lucid's DreamDrive still has a ways to go, but if you purchase Pro ADAS, Lucid has all the hardware it needs to add self-driving capabilities in the future via over-the-air updates. is.
We found visuals like 3D surround view monitoring, forward and rear view visuals, and blind spot detection helpful, if not a little overwhelming, when navigating tight spaces or changing lanes. Ta.
I found Highway Assist to be most useful, especially in stop-and-go traffic on California highways. This feature essentially steers the car for you as long as you stay in the same lane and drive at a preset speed and following distance. On the highway, press and hold the turn signal to activate lane change assist.
Deactivating highway assist was easy and smooth. Just press the brake pedal and you're good to go. There are no weird jerky or awkward transitions that plagued older software versions.
Lucid cars equipped with standard DreamDrive or Pro will alert you to drowsy or distracted drivers, but it only occasionally worked for me. Air Pure monitors the driver via an infrared sensor mounted on the top of the steering column, capturing the shape of their face to determine if they are facing forward. However, it does not monitor your eyes like other driver monitoring systems. I think this is good from a privacy and surveillance standpoint, but it's not great for actually monitoring people who are falling asleep at the wheel.
I even tested fate a few times by closing my eyes for 30 seconds while the car was in highway assist mode. I pretended to nod off as if I had fallen asleep too, looked down at my phone, and stared straight out the window. Eventually, the car gave me an aggressive and repeated warning that it had detected unsafe driving, told me to take a break, and suggested a nearby coffee shop. However, those warnings were issued minutes into the experiment.
Finally, the automatic parking feature scans the area for nearby parking spots. Sometimes it worked, and other times we couldn't find any available parking spaces. I couldn't parallel park, but I was able to back up into a space and park. The feature also promises automatic unparking, but even after looking left and right, my Lucid couldn't quite figure out the trick.
Almost perfect EV
I absolutely loved Lucid. If TechCrunch only paid me double my salary, I can see myself and this car being very happy together. Especially if Lucid continues to iterate and improve its technology, as it has already done over the past three years.