New Lucid Air 2023 review

The tech on offer is deeply impressive, as you’d expect: we’re not just talking Apple CarPlay and a top-notch climate-control system here. The individual touchscreens contain endless amounts of information about the car, the conditions around it, the predicted range and, no doubt, the mood you might find yourself in tomorrow morning. And they each recede gracefully into the dash whenever you command them to do so.

Point is, although the Air’s onboard tech is extensive, breathtakingly so in places, it’s not baffling. Instead, the whole interior feels comfortably intuitive and relaxing to be in. You can delve into the tech if you want, but not because you have to in order to make the car go. It’s not thrust upon you from the get-go. That’s a rare and welcome discovery.

Downsides? The brakes have a lot of regen force behind them, even though you can tweak the strength of this on the move. Either way, you need to learn to drive the Air with one pedal most of the time, which takes some getting used to. The rear seats are also curiously thin on toys, given that this is where most Air owners will surely spend most of their time. And although the car disguises its 2.3-tonne weight spookily well most of the time, the big brakes still give off a right pong if you drive it hard – downhill – for any length of time. They don’t fade, though, which is the main thing.

Make no mistake, the Lucid Air is an extraordinary car, one that could alter car design forever – for lots of reasons. Some are practical (like its brilliant packaging) and some emotional (like its breathtaking cabin design). Fundamentally, though, it’s just a really great car to drive. And remember, for Lucid, this is only the beginning.