2026 Lucid Air Touring | MotorWeek Road Test

Motor Week is made possible by Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper and TireRack.com. In this wild west time of EV development and uncertainty it's certainly tough for a new company to launch. You need to attract as much attention and investment dollars as possible yet also make things attainable and desirable. Well so far it has worked for Lucid and with that in mind let's clear the air with an update from Lucid. The Lucid brand has been selling cars since this Air sedan arrived for 2022 and while the big news for 2026 is the arrival of their second vehicle the Gravity SUV the fact that the winds of refinement have been blowing through the air warranted us to take a second look before moving on. Launch sales featured the Dream Edition and other high performing variants to draw attention but it's models like this Touring just one step up from the base Pure that will speak more to the brand's longevity. Touring features a dual motor all-wheel drive arrangement rated at 620 horsepower and 885 pound-feet of torque and for 26 gets higher density battery cells pushing range estimates as high as 431 miles with Lucid's long-range battery. As configured our tester was rated for 396 miles. Our results were not quite there however as we were on pace for just 323 miles in our driving loop. We did another loop just to make sure and that one came in even lower though admittedly our drivers did tap into all of the air's power a time or two. And that's something you'll want to do too as Touring may not have the Sapphire's 1234 horsepower tri-motor insanity but it still takes off insanely fast and also very smoothly. At our test track we blasted to 60 in just 3.2 seconds and after slamming our head into the headrest that beastly power kept pouring on the whole way down the track with no signs of letting up until we eased off the accelerator at the end of the quarter mile. The whole process taking only 11.6 seconds finishing at 121 miles per hour. It charges quickly too 250 kilowatt fast charging adding 200 miles for every 16 minutes on charge. A naxx adapter is available for 26 and a mobile charging kit is now standard on airs. Hustling its 5,000 pounds through our cone course was a challenge. All that weight does help it feel incredibly planted and there was a nimbleness of cars half its size but the steering was slow to respond with a vagueness to it that had us unsure what the car was going to do at times. There was minimal nosedive in our panic braking runs and while it felt like it was skating more than hunkering down into the pavement stops averaged a fine 114 feet from 60. Even after being on the road for four years the air still turned heads everywhere we went and remains one of the most aero-efficient production cars ever. It clearly has a unique presence that draws people to it. Lucid trades on exclusivity and being better than Tesla and the interior is the best showcase of that. It's a space you actually want to spend time in and it's very expansive too. Four unique themes are available this being the Mojave Pure Lux which features a nice looking leather alternative along with carbon oak trim. Even with a huge 34-inch dash top display and control tablet it manages to not feel overly techie. You can even hide that tablet in the dash and Lucid's optional massaging seats are some of the best we've experienced. 426 a new AC compressor is both quieter and provides better cooling. Another example of the constant increasing of refinement also evidenced by eliminating all of the squeaks rattles and bugs we found in early editions. You can get into a Lucid Air for as little as $72,400. Touring trim is the next step up starting at $81,400. The Gravity SUV will probably be a much bigger indicator of Lucid's long-term potential but we're not betting against Lucid. Dreams do come true and the 2026 Lucid Air has become a jewel of a car seemingly taking a S engineering all of the weirdness out of it and creating one of the finest cars we've ever driven electric or otherwise. The Motor Week app which includes our latest reviews and feature stories is now available for mobile devices.