What It's Like to Live with a Lucid Air Sapphire (POV)

Hey crew, I've got the key to that Lucid Air Sapphire and today we're going to see what it's like to live with including a welcome of door handles unfolding and door mirrors unfolding to greet you. Starting with the spacing in my driveway which is 16 feet wide by 19 and a half feet long. I've got the Sapphire parked just a couple inches in from the edge sitting next to a new Genesis G70 that my wife is reviewing if you want to check out her content. It's at Mobile Mama on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. She's got that one parked but the rear tire actually about an inch and a half over the edge and that parking job might be necessary because the Sapphire is six and a half feet wide. It's a very wide vehicle so it takes up a lot of room in my driveway but with the parking job there is plenty of space to walk between the cars and even wheel a double stroller through for my kiddos. The nose of the Sapphire is right there at the beginning of my driveway and at the back there is plenty of space between the garage door and the car even enough room to squeeze in front of the hedge on the way to my front door. Now typically I'd actually have the Sapphire flip the other direction because the charge port door is on the front driver's side and my charger my level 2 charger is on that part of my garage but the vehicle is sitting here at 89% charge so I didn't really need to top it up last night and I showed you that the door mirrors unfold and the door handles pop out so I can just grab onto that handle again with the key fob in my pocket and bring it out to the first defined notch which is actually pretty far away from the car. I mentioned that because I was in a parking lot the other day and I had to get the door all the way out here or it kept closing on me and that was really close to the vehicle I was parked next to but anyway there's that one notch and that is two. I can go all the way out and the door is open nice and wide that gives me a great access point to the cabin and the vehicle isn't too low but the roof line is pretty low so I do have to duck my head getting in and the doors soft close themselves which is very convenient. Hello cabin crew thanks for joining for this day in the life in the Lucid Air Sapphire. In this video I want to see if after the excitement of the crazy performance numbers fades how much substance there is to the Sapphire. Before we get rolling here I just want to show you where I stash the items I bring with me. Typically sliding back on this wood panel that reveals a large area where you can stick your smartphone on a wireless charging pad as I will do right now and that holds that secure. I've got two cup holders and behind that is a space where I can just stash my sunglasses here. Inside the console there is a tray that'll hold my wallet and if you remove that there's a deeper cubby. There's also some hidden storage underneath this screen just hold on this for longer than I just did. That's the right amount of time and that reveals this massive area where I put my GoPro accessories and my Racebox zero to 60 timer and then I just tap that part of the screen it comes on back and it doesn't stop there because the door pockets are really large that can accommodate my 30 ounce water bottle with ease. The cabin space is terrific in this Sapphire. Now I'm going to throw on my seat belts and then pull down on the stock to go and to drive the vehicle is already on just sitting in the seat putting my foot on the brake and then it'll disengage the parking brake just tapping on the accelerator pedal. I'll roll forward I do have some curb ramps here to help with the clearance for the gutter in front of my driveway but it's not really necessary. The Sapphire isn't all that low. I will be starting my day with a cup of coffee but on my way to the shop I'll have a chance to familiarize myself with the around town ability of this Sapphire beginning with things as simple as the turn signal sound. That's a unique tone. It's like a metronome. I like it. And what about the turning radius? Wheel fully cranked. It's quite good for this size of vehicle especially one without a rear wheel steering system. And then here in the smooth drive mode the power output is limited to just 750 horsepower out of the total 1234 and that also restricts the sensitivity of the accelerator response and I appreciate that for around town so I'm not scaring the living daylights out of myself this early in the morning but let me be clear even in the smooth drive mode with throttle response and power all you need to do is put your foot a little bit further into the accelerator pedal and you will get up to speed quite quickly with potentially a g-force induced headache. One thing I did notice immediately hopping behind the wheel of this Sapphire is how unfortunately cave-like it feels in here because of the low roof and the thick pillars and the tall sills and therefore the shorter pieces of glass and the fact that I can't lower my seat any more than I am right now and so at six feet tall I do have head clearance but my head is very close to this pillar right here and I just feel like I'm sitting up in the vehicle and I'd rather sit more immersed inside the experience. The mild feeling of claustrophobia doesn't mean that the visibility is terrible though. That's a good thing. I can see out over that hood easy enough. It is downward slope so I can see just right in front of the vehicle easily. Wish the windshield was taller in the side glass as well but I can see out of those there is a small blind spot at the back pillar but I've got two things helping me. I've got blind spot monitoring and you might have seen with the turn signal test I do have a blind spot camera that shows up just in case I can't see for myself and right now the view out the back is obscured somewhat by the sunshade being raised up but I can easily bring that back down and then though it is a letterbox effect I can see all that I need to out the back. Now let's discuss regenerative braking in this vehicle because typically with EVs I experience either not enough regenerative force so that if I pull my foot off the throttle yes the slowing is smooth but I still have to go to the brakes to come to a full stop or it's so intense and brought on so abruptly that the instant my foot is off the accelerator it's a lurch forward to get the vehicle to stop. I've not had that experience in the Sapphire and there are two levels to choose from. If you hold on one of the drive modes you can see they're standard or high. I'll switch to high to show you how that works. Traveling at 45 miles per hour on a downhill pulling off from the accelerator I want to say a hundred feet before the stop brings me there perfectly and there was nothing like a lurch that was the high mode. Let's try out standard next. Same situation now I'm just going to peel off a little bit earlier and coasting on the downhill with the standard regen I'm going to stop well just a little bit earlier than I needed to but they're both helpful and they're both smooth so it kind of is just up to you and your preferences how much regen assistance do you want you're going to like either. The only downside is there's no way to turn regen off completely so there's no absolute coasting as you might want on the highway. Oh and when you do need to use the brakes these carbon ceramics are so easy to modulate and they don't squeal like some carbon ceramics do. It's just very easy to know precisely how much effort you should apply to smoothly come to a stop. Ride quality in the Sapphire is yet another victory here despite the big wheels and the low profile tires this car just absorbs the road blemishes with incredible grace. I feel ripples through my seat I don't feel harsh impacts and it just floats gently and that means if the road isn't going to move you around I guess you're gonna have to rely on the massaging seats but real talk these are some of the best massaging seats. There you go there's my notification that the traffic is cleared I should be paying attention I'm just so emphatic about this. Some of the best massaging seats I've ever enjoyed because even though there are not six options like maybe you get in a Mercedes-Benz S-Class the five you do have have such variation to them and such intensity that this immediately jumps to the top of my list for this feature. I just love it. The last leg of my journey to the coffee shop has me here on the highway so I'm gonna move into the Sapphire drive mode to unlock the full power of this car because I might need it to be able to move into a gap that I oh I mean teleport into gaps that I spot and just arrive. I can't think of a more precise mode of moving through traffic on the highway than this Sapphire. That's just nuts. Now coasting I'm gonna quiet up for a sec to listen to the cabin volume at these speeds. I mean this not being the quietest of road surfaces I don't get very much tire noise. Wind noise is so light. Passing cars are heard but faintly. This is a really well insulated cabin and since I'm catching up to some pesky traffic I'm gonna activate the highway assist features here. Setting my speed, increasing that and adjusting my following distance here so I don't have to work the throttle and brake to maintain this gap and even though it's not a hands-free system I'm just taking my hands off for a second so it wants my hands back on the wheel to show you how it stays in the center of the lane even as that lane marking jogs left and right. These features really help reduce driving fatigue for long highway commutes. It's a very relaxing environment and the quiet is zen but there's also a 21 speaker surreal sound system in the Lucid Sapphire and I want to hear that now. I've got the wireless Apple CarPlay system queued up here and a song to turn on. Yes that is terrific at about maybe seven eighths volume. It's not blowing out my eardrums but the clarity and the bass are terrific. What a good quality sound system. At last I have arrived at Lion and Lamb Coffee Roasters which yes is attached to a church and that means this coffee doubles as holy water. There we go I got my decaf latte and beans and let me cut you off right there. You're gonna say decaf coffee that's not real coffee. Well let me ask you is the Lucid Air Sapphire a real performance machine? The answer is yes and it's a very apt metaphor for decaf coffee because with decaf you're getting the flavor without the caffeine. So this EV performance machine you're getting the flavor or the speed without the noise of internal combustion. I like that. That one's a good one. As I back up out of here I can show you the high res camera system that we have in the Lucid Air Sapphire. There's this ultra wide angle view or a narrower view. The ultra wide is especially helpful when you've got vehicles parked right next to you. You can't see around them. You do of course have rear cross traffic but this kind of gives you that visual around those cars. There's also a front facing view and let me show you this when you go back into drive it won't just tell you with acoustic chimes about your proximity to an object. It actually gives you the inches of how close you can get. That allows you to be very precise without worrying about scraping the front splitter. There's also this top angle view and you can scan around the entire exterior where you're apparently parked next to an oversized Kia Optima. These are all very helpful when you're worried about doing damage to your $250,000 electric vehicle. Since I was just reminded of it for a brief moment the screen does get very hot especially on hotter days so your finger doesn't want to linger on the surface for too long for fear of scalding. Turning attention now to practicality I'm going to see how well a Costco trip fits inside the Sapphire. And this air is coming prepared with not only this huge trunk that opens from one side of the car all the way to the other and has a deep cubby underneath but also with the mega frunk that yes also has a deep cubby underneath. But is it going to be enough space for a very fully loaded cart? Well I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that all of my normal Costco goods were swallowed up easily inside the frunk and the trunk. Unfortunately for this lazy boy chair the frunk was neither deep enough and the opening of the trunk was not tall enough to fit the lazy boy chair in its box. So that means after I slide in the toilet paper and paper towels and close up the trunk I just had to take everything out of the box and load it into the back of the cabin. I was aided by the flat floor, the split folding rear seats so in theory I could keep a car seat installed during this entire process and the very wide door openings. So I guess in theory that does mean the Lucid Air Sapphire is Costco approved within reason. And fret not I did return my cart and I will dispose of my trash. I did charge up the Sapphire last night or rather I attempted to. It actually glitched with my level 2 charger last night and only accepted charge starting at 6am this morning. But thankfully the Sapphire can replenish 75 miles of range per hour from a level 2 charger. Though mine is a 40 amp charger so it's only like 35 to 40 miles of range per hour. Still we got it back from around 60% to 82% charge and that would be plenty for most daily situations. In fact you're not really supposed to go over 80 to 90% charge for battery longevity but I have a different use case for today. So I'm going to visit a fast charger and add back a little more range. Oh yeah look at that my Demon 170. The second most powerful production American car ever made. The Sapphire being the first. I wonder if I should compare them. You guys let me know in the comments. Okay I've got the Sapphire hooked up to a fast charger. Though this is not a 300 kilowatt fast charger which is the peak rate that the Sapphire can accept and if it was hooked up to one of those it would add back 300 miles of range in just 21 minutes. But this one is putting out 30 kilowatts. So a tenth of that. But even if it was the super fast charger it would still slow down the charge rate above 80% to preserve the battery's health. So me trying to get to 100% which would be the full 427 miles that the Sapphire can have is going to have me sitting here for a little longer anyway. 35 minutes right now and that's good time spent with a great massage. While I am zoning out here for a second let me just mention once again that going above 90% charge is not something you should do regularly. Just do it if you're going on a long distance trip and you need the full 427 miles or if in my case you're using it for a performance demonstration. Oh and the other thing is the key fob I showed you that's kind of the proximity sensor tells the car you're close and it can unlock the doors. But there's also an app from Lucid that can do so much more like precondition the battery for charging or you can set charge times and you can even have the climate control come on at the same time every day. That's if you've got a repeated schedule. All that on the app which I don't have because I don't actually own this car. Okay I charged up and then promptly drained range getting to this spot for part one of my performance demonstration which is of course launch control and a real world zero to 60 test with my race box set up here to record. To do launch control in the Sapphire couldn't be simpler. Sapphire drive mode, put in the brake, pin the throttle, launch control is activated, letting go 2.24 seconds to 60. I made my insides hurt. The fact that you could do that in theory at any time any stoplight and blow the doors off just about any car is baffling to me and then of course if you had more time you could go into the track drive mode and prime the battery for a peak launch and potentially get to 60 in as quick as 1.89 seconds. Unbelievable! But that's just part one. Part two is admittedly going to require more effort on your part either you'll have to take the long way home from work or you'll have to on the weekends go seek out a good curvy road to discover the other dimensions to the Sapphire's performance. Namely what this tri-motor setup can do with two electric motors at the back it can divvy up the torque in fractions of a second to overdrive the outside tire and even apply negative torque to the inner tire to create rotation. Meaning the Sapphire really doesn't need the rear wheel steering system nor does it need active anti-roll bars nor obviously any sort of limited slip differential to do any of these insane feats through curves all while giving you a great deal of feedback through the wheel providing that resistance appropriately to give me a great sense of the tire's grip and there is lots of grip from these specially developed Pilot Sport 4S's. Then you add in the typical EV stuff of a low center of gravity and braking regeneration to help you slow before curves and you compound that with these immense and impressive carbon ceramic brakes and the Sapphire is not just capable but it is truly entertaining to drive quickly very quickly I would spend the time to find the right roads heck I may even take it to a track to actually get to play with this in-house developed traction control system because the Sapphire is just too good not to let's spend a minute now talking about the life of a passenger in the Sapphire and just like those in the front seats if you're bigger you're gonna have to duck your head to get in and just like the front the doors will soft close for you now first for adult passengers at six feet tall behind my own seat I've got tons of knee room here that I would more enjoy if the floor wasn't so high with the batteries underneath and if I had foot pockets to slide my feet under because without that I have very little in the way of thigh support I do have headroom though that's a big win and the materials inside this cabin are just divine the feel of the leather the textile the Alcantara headliner and the woods bordering here feel so premium in addition I've got two zones of climate control back here you've got three stages of rear seat heating there are two USB-C ports there's some storage in here and I get sunshades for each side window to match the sunshade in the back and with the flat floor I can easily slide over to the middle seat and because this sedan is so wide I could fit back here with two other full-size adults at least for a shorter distance journey now what about kids in car seats the setup is pretty standard for a sedan two sets of lower latch anchors three top tethers the things that go above and beyond as I mentioned before the large and very wide opening doors make it easy to load or unload the car seats and there are adjusting headrests so I can get my arm underneath and really cinch down that tether easily wow installing car seats just being perfectly honest is typically one of the biggest pains in my rear end swapping vehicles in and out once or twice a week but if they were all like the Lucid Air I really wouldn't mind it because there's so much space back here I was able to move my entire body into the cabin to access the seat belt buckle I could get my arm back there to cinch down the strap easily enough I didn't have to move the seats at all my daughter is going to have tons of leg room on this side and then for our younger daughter's seat I didn't have to move this seat either and there was still tons of room between the car seat and the seat back so that means that the front passenger on this side is still going to have all the lounging room they could ever want this is so family approved right now massive thumbs up but let's see what the kiddos and Christina think on our way to Candyland yay which is an indoor playground by the way it's not a candy store it's really confusing I thought that so many times okay so Talia what do you think of this car I just like it you just like it just like matter of fact like it is there and it's low oh it's low so it's easy to get in yeah okay anything else you can think of easy to get out and get in okay I can think of one other thing you might really like about it when we blast off should we blast off yeah okay here we go three two one oh my gosh it's pretty fast it's super fast wow you're so hardcore Talia Romy says more Romy does this for more okay just one or two or three more okay ready three two one okay that's fun for the whole family just in small quantities uh Tali anything else jog your brain uh things you like about it that's what I was looking for we made it to Candyland remember Miles it's for the kids it's for the kids well crew at the beginning of this video I pondered whether the Lucid Air Sapphire had substance to match its speed and after living with this performance EV I can confirm there's a lot to enjoy about this $250,000 sedan the plush quiet cabin ample small and large item storage and top-notch massaging seats all work to relax passengers there's the obvious power and handling to make quick work of both the commutes and a canyon road but even charging is fast and the range is long I was less enthused with the cave-like cabin the heat-soaked screens and the high floor but none of those things seem to matter to my giggling toddler the Sapphire is a pricey purchase but this do-it-all sedan is a dream daily driver that not even supercars will want to mess with I hope you guys have enjoyed this day in the life and I will see you again next time