Electrical vehicles have strengths and weaknesses. Electrical motors can present loads of energy, however weight is an issue, and that’s a detriment to dealing with, particularly for a sport sedan.

And but, Lucid has not solely created an excellent electrical sport sedan, however a sport sedan benchmark—gasoline or electrical—with the 2024 Air Sapphire.

Lucid tossed Senior Editor Kirk Bell and I the important thing to an Air Sapphire for a couple of days in Los Angeles after destiny conspired in opposition to us within the remaining days main as much as Motor Authority Greatest Automotive To Purchase 2024 testing. We wrote off the Sapphire as a nominee going into the competitors as a result of it wasn’t obtainable to drive on the observe, however the automotive proved to be so rattling good on Angeles Crest Freeway that we had no alternative however to stroll that again and embrace it as a finalist.

Lucid Air Sapphire

Lucid Air Sapphire heaps on extreme energy

The Air Sapphire is the quickest manufacturing sedan cash can purchase. It conquers the 0-60 mph dash in 1.89 seconds, 0-100 mph in 3.84 seconds, and the quarter mile in 8.95 seconds at 158 mph, and it has a prime velocity of 205 mph. That’s straight ludicrous on paper, and even wilder in actuality.

It’s so quick due to its three-motor electrical drivetrain that’s rated at a complete output of 1,234 hp and 1,430 lb-ft of torque. That’s truly lower than the utmost doable output of two,010 hp as every motor is able to as much as 670 hp. Lucid solely runs every motor at about two thirds output, or roughly 411 hp—and solely in the proper mode—to make sure the 118-kwh battery pack nonetheless delivers an EPA-rated 427 miles of vary. 

Like different Lucids the Sapphire has three drive modes, Clean, Swift, and Sapphire, however it additionally provides a fourth, Monitor, which has three sub-modes of its personal. In Clean and Swift modes the powertrain places out 767 hp. Sapphire cranks output to 1,121 hp. Monitor mode provides drivers a alternative of Drag Strip mode on the full 1,234 hp, Sizzling Lap at 1,003 hp, and Endurance at 767 hp. Every of the sub-modes circumstances the powertrain for the supposed kind of driving. 

Flashback to 2021 when the Air launched and the Dream Version provided a Efficiency grade with 1,111 hp. That automotive had a twin motor powertrain, which required every motor to working more durable than the Sapphire’s three motors, and it did 0-60 mph in “solely” 2.5 seconds, which miraculously now appears…gradual.

Lucid Air Sapphire

Lucid Senior Director of Car Dynamics and Chassis Engineering, David Lickfold, instructed Motor Authority the Sapphire options the most recent evolution of Lucid’s electrical motors. In response to Wulfer de Bruijn, Senior Supervisor of Effectivity, Efficiency, and Techniques at Lucid, the updates to these motors make them generate much less warmth and allow them to higher redirect the warmth into the cooling fluid. This makes the motors extra environment friendly. A brand new coolant pump and oil cooler for the electrical motors assist maintain issues cool throughout high-performance observe driving. A newly added warmth pump additionally helps cut back pressure on the battery by conditioning the cabin as much as delicate ambient temperatures.

Lickfold mentioned that Sapphire’s growth was largely performed at Thunderhill Raceway on the three.0-mile East observe. There, the Sapphire can do about two laps at 9 or ten tenths tempo within the 1,003-hp Sizzling Lap mode, which chills the powertrain for a single high-power lap earlier than the powertrain will start to throttle down the ability. Working the automotive within the 767-hp Endurance mode will allow 4 or 5 laps at 9 or ten tenths, after which if the driving force backs off a little bit, the automotive will have the ability to get better and maintain going, in keeping with Lickfold. As soon as the powertrain will get too sizzling, Lickfold says it’s going to take 60-80 minutes plugged into a quick charger for the system to chill down and totally cost earlier than the automotive is able to get again on the observe. We’ve entered the electrical automotive observe period, however a full 20-minute session at full-tilt, and particularly a number of classes, is a problem, even for a quarter-million greenback automotive.

The facility is intoxicating, and might scare the hell out of an unsuspecting passenger and even the driving force. Merging onto Hwy 101 Kirk warned me this was an insane quantity of energy. I mashed the accelerator pedal to the ground anyway, slamming each of us into our seat backs and making use of strain to our chests. “Holy hell,” I mentioned. Kirk simply laughed. The facility hits more durable than in any automotive I’ve ever pushed. Passengers ought to beware.

Cruising alongside the freeway headed towards Angeles Crest the Air cruised like some other Lucid thus far. It rode a bit firmer than lesser Airs on its Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer season tires, however it was quiet, and nonetheless lined with leather-based and suede. It nonetheless sports activities a curved 34-inch display atop the dashboard augmented by the retractable 12.3-inch touchscreen, a tough quantity curler knob, and local weather management toggles.

Nonetheless, it lacks the glass roof of different high-end Airs I’ve pushed. After a mannequin lineup reshuffling for 2024 each Air now comes normal with a metallic roof, and the glass roof is now a $4,000 choice on Touring and Grand Touring fashions. The metallic roof is lighter, eradicating mass from the very best level of the automobile to help dealing with. It additionally makes the automotive quieter on the freeway, inducing much less cabin increase. Most significantly, the metallic roof blocks the solar, so the local weather management system doesn’t should work as onerous and waste power. Certain, the ooh and ahh issue of a strong piece of glass operating from the bottom of the windshield to the trunk lid is gone, however practicality reigns supreme, and this can be a critical automotive.

2024 Lucid Air Sapphire

Lucid Air Sapphire carves corners

The facility output and efficiency specs make nice headlines, however the true mark of a sport sedan is the power to go round a nook. Electrical vehicles are heavy, and the Air Sapphire is not any light-weight at 5,336 kilos, however it handles with one of the best sport sedans.  

As I snaked up the street stitching one nook with one other I used to be shocked at how a lot uncooked velocity the Sapphire carried across the corners. Like different Air fashions, the Sapphire lacks a elaborate air suspension and goes about its enterprise with coil springs and a solenoid-controlled semi-active set of dampers. The secret’s deft suspension tuning.

To deal with the additional energy and stay composed, Lucid stiffens nearly every thing a part of the Air’s suspension. The Bilstein dampers have been retuned, the springs are 17% stiffer up entrance and 25% stiffer within the rear, the rear anti-roll bar is 27% stiffer, and the bushings are 25% stiffer up entrance and 28% stiffer within the rear. The electrical energy steering’s been retuned with a quick 13.0:1 ratio.

Lucid additionally dialed in a further -1.0 diploma of camber up entrance by way of a brand new knuckle and -0.5 levels within the rear by way of a brand new management arm. 

By means of nook after nook, the steering had a little bit heft that felt acceptable, and a pure really feel that telegraphed what was occurring on the wheels by means of the suede-wrapped steering wheel. The identical pavement that unsettled the Honda Civic Kind R in Race mode a yr in the past did not upset the a lot heavier, a lot sooner Air Sapphire a yr later throughout the exact same Greatest Automotive To Purchase testing. The experience was agency, however not too agency, in any of the dampers’ three settings related to the three important drive modes.

Kirk and I threw the Sapphire into the corners, however we had been solely keen to push issues thus far on public roads. Strive as we’d, it was troublesome to really discern what the torque vectoring and stability management had been doing. As soon as, possibly twice, I assumed I may really feel the ability transfer aspect to aspect however it occurred within the background and felt pure. The automotive has two motors on the rear axle, and it makes use of constructive and damaging motor torque to assist the automotive flip with out the necessity for mechanical clutches. Like the remainder of the Sapphire, the torque vectoring is properly tuned. 

All that energy wasn’t an issue in corners, the place it may come on too onerous and disrupt the steadiness if it weren’t properly managed. Lucid has addressed this, too, tuning the in any other case instant torque of the electrical motors to part in regularly, making the automotive secure and unflappable mid-corner.

2024 Lucid Air Sapphire

The Sapphire’s upgraded aerodynamics additionally support dealing with, although that’s additionally onerous to really feel and pays off largely at greater speeds. The outside adjustments are refined. The entrance splitter and rear diffuser are bigger and jut out farther than on lesser Airs. Strakes are added to the underbody panels, they usually improve downforce whereas concurrently lowering drag, in keeping with Lucid. The trunk lid spoiler is bigger and provides a full Gurney flap that contributes 70% of the automotive’s whole downforce. 

Sapphires include wheel covers that add vary for every day driving and improve high-speed stability, however our take a look at automotive wasn’t fitted with them. Eradicating the covers helps enhance brake cooling. That’s a key component of this automotive, as a result of we hammered these brakes.

Time and time once more we ramped up the Sapphire to warp velocity earlier than hammering on the brakes to gradual issues down from a blur. In contrast to the Tesla Mannequin S Plaid, the Sapphire comes normal with brakes that aren’t about to catch on fireplace as we’ve seen on YouTube. The usual carbon-ceramic system options astonishingly big 10-piston entrance calipers and 4-piston rear calipers that seize pizza-sized 16.5-inch entrance and 15.3-inch rear rotors. Regardless of hours of hamfisted driving, the brakes by no means pale and even smoked. This automotive is heavy and might create loads of velocity. Appropriately, it has loads of brakes to regulate that velocity. 

Lucid Air Sapphire

Lucid Air Sapphire comes at a supercar price

The Air’s smooth roofline is unchanged, and meaning getting in generally is a chore. I whacked my head on the A-pillar after I first slid into the driving force’s seat. The touchscreen’s software program was slick and lag free this time round, however the automotive’s sensors nonetheless couldn’t determine if they need to lock or unlock the automotive after we went to lunch. Nor did it instantly acknowledge the proximity key upon returning to the automotive two separate occasions. Minor particulars. 

However the greatest difficulty with the Air Sapphire is its value. At $250,500 together with vacation spot, it’s uber costly. That’s true unique automotive territory the place Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and McLarens stay. The Sapphire isn’t any of these vehicles, and doesn’t look like it suits in that rarefied air. If this automotive price $150,000 we’d name it a steal, or a minimum of truthful. At $180,000, it may appear costly however justified. The Tesla Mannequin S Plaid can appear half baked with out the $15,000 carbon ceramic brake bundle, however it begins at $90,000, has virtually as a lot energy, and runs simply $106,380 with these brakes. The Air Sapphire is best appointed, extra agile round a nook, and a little bit faster, however a correctly geared up Plaid prices lower than half as a lot.

However, the Air Sapphire is quicker than any supercar, a minimum of in a straight line, and it holds up properly in corners. Whether or not anybody wants a automotive that goes from 0-60 mph in 1.89 seconds with out some form of particular driver’s license is a special debate altogether, however no person wants a supercar both.

For these with the means, that is the quickest sport sedan available on the market and among the best dealing with, too, regardless of its extra weight and lack of a gasoline engine. The long run is now, and it’s silent, costly, and quick as hell.

—with extra reporting by Kirk Bell