2026 Lucid Air Touring Evaluation: A Favorable Contrast to the Model S Experience

Each time I drive an electric vehicle, I have an internal debate, and it invariably revolves around that right pedal. Should I fully embrace this driving style and operate the vehicle with one pedal, despite it clashing with the instinct I’ve honed over 16 years behind the wheel, or should I stick to my habits, even if it results in a slightly less efficient drive? More often than not, I surrender to my old ways. However, the Lucid Air is a car that inspires me to change.

I believe it’s due to its strong character and numerous innovative features. It has a stunning appearance. The interior space is impressive, accompanied by a thoughtfully designed trunk that facilitates cargo loading. It boasts my absolute favorite screen I’ve encountered in any car this year. You don’t enter this vehicle and instantly feel resentment towards its differences; rather, you’re inclined to appreciate it because of the powerful first impression it makes. Thankfully, it generally improves from that point onward.

The Essentials

What you see here is a Lucid Air Touring, sitting one level above the base model in the lineup that stretches from the rear-wheel-drive $72,400 Pure to the extravagant $250,500 Sapphire. In comparison with the Pure, the Touring incorporates an additional motor for all-wheel drive, providing a total of 620 horsepower and 885 lb-ft of torque, along with a powered front trunk, and utilizes a 700-volt electrical architecture for expedited charging.

The Touring has a starting price of $81,400, though this particular model came with numerous options. Its Mojave PurLuxe “alternative leather” interior mirrors the upholstery of the Pure, but it offers 20-way adjustable heated and ventilated front seats with massage; Lucid’s 21-speaker Surreal Sound Pro audio system; a comfort and convenience package featuring a touchscreen for rear passengers and soft-close doors; and the purportedly future-ready DreamDrive Pro ADAS hardware.

The total MSRP was $102,000, which is undeniably a substantial amount. Personally, I’d opt out of DreamDrive (priced at $6,750) but retain the sound system and seats. I would also choose a different interior color, as the quality and materials in this Mojave-trimmed variant are premium, yet gray-on-gray is quite dull.

The Touring is rated by the EPA to cover up to 431 miles on its 92-kWh battery pack with 19-inch wheels, as seen in my loaner. That represents a 25-mile enhancement over the 2025 model. It can also charge at rates up to 250 kW, though I could not thoroughly evaluate that; the charger I utilized was theoretically rated for a peak throughput of 240 kW, but the maximum it reached was around half that, allowing me to recharge approximately 80 percent of the capacity in an hour. Lucid also thoughtfully provided a CCS-to-NACS adapter, which I did not use for reasons I will explain later. While the Gravity SUV is already available with NACS, the 2026 Air continues to feature a CCS port.

Pros and Cons

Nothing I’m about to express about the Lucid Air’s design is novel, but I’ll state it nonetheless: It may be the most aesthetically pleasing car currently available. The sedan’s exterior remains unchanged for 2026, and I have no objections to that; it’s challenging to top perfection.

I always appreciate how the rear window connects with the C pillar and aligns with the trunk shut line. Additionally, I adore the way the sedan’s sides and front fascia subtly curve inward, devoid of unnecessary creases or vents. Each aspect of the Air’s design comes across as graceful and intentional. My only slight grievance about my specific test vehicle was that it had the Stealth package, which replaces the standard tasteful elements of chrome and aluminum with uninspiring black.

This sentiment extended to the interior, which, despite its somewhat lackluster tones, was a delightful environment. I’m particularly fond of the fabric adorning the dash’s forefront and how the heather gray contrasts with the wood grain on the lower shelf. There are noticeably fewer physical controls in here. Nonetheless, Lucid understands the importance of a solid knurled scroll wheel, as the Air comes equipped with two on the steering wheel and one below the upper infotainment screen for volume adjustments. Temperature and fan-speed controls also remain toggle switches, allowing both the driver and passenger to avoid interacting with the lower tablet if they prefer not to.

Regarding that lower tablet: I’m not a fan, but it could certainly be worse. It is somewhat frustrating that important functions, such as the drive mode selector, can only be accessed through that display. If I must focus on a screen for extended durations, I’d prefer it to be positioned higher and closer to my line of sight. However, Lucid’s user interface is at least reasonably organized, so once you memorize the locations of various controls, the inconvenience lessens. When you prefer not to have a tablet glaring at you from below, you can simply swipe up to retract it into the dashboard, which is always a nifty party trick.

The open layout makes it easy to concentrate on driving, which I’m pleased to report I enjoyed considerably. According to Lucid, this vehicle weighs 5,000 pounds, yet it does not feel as heavy as it sounds. The precise and responsive steering, along with the spacious greenhouse and short front end, likely contribute to that feeling—not to mention the abundance of silent torque at your disposal. I was fortunate to accompany someone in a Sapphire model during a launch, and while the Touring cannot compete at that level with much less power, it still accelerates to 60 mph in under 3.5 seconds, and once you are in that realm, the benefits begin to diminish quite rapidly.

The Air Touring feels stable and assured on winding roads, achieving a nice equilibrium between comfort in its default Smooth setting and a flatter, slightly more jarring ride in Swift mode. The coil suspension does not absorb potholes quite like Porsche Active Ride can, but it performs adequately.

What I particularly appreciated was how the driving modes influence regenerative braking. Even if you leave regen to behave normally, as I preferred most of the time, the impact is automatically lessened off-throttle if you’re driving in Swift rather than Smooth, which is preferable if you’re looking to enjoy yourself. (Naturally, you can also opt to turn it off entirely.) This is simply practical.

And this highlights the core of the vehicle. Honestly, if it were my decision, I would provide users with traditional door mirror controls and an actual handle for the glove box. It would be refreshing to engage with something other than glass more frequently in this vehicle. Additionally, the Lucid Air certainly has one of the least favorable key fobs in the industry; if the car is off, it effectively only works when you’re next to it, and it feels cheap, to boot. But that is about the extent of my critiques.

The second row offers extravagant space; both the trunk and front storage are intelligently designed with compartments revealing deeper cubbies, and it genuinely feels as though every aspect of this vehicle was thoroughly considered. Perhaps Lucid didn’t always choose the optimal solution: for instance, the phone holder/wireless charger can be either snug or ineffective, depending on your device. However, there’s no denying they thought through the options and sought to address these challenges in an innovative way, making the Air especially refreshing.

Rivals and Conclusion

We’ve reached this point without acknowledging the Air’s remarkable efficiency, which truly left a lasting impression on me during my eight days with this vehicle. It was simply too cold here in Pennsylvania in late November to accurately test that 430-mile estimate, and even if conditions had been favorable, my driving style didn’t exactly align with achieving those numbers. Nonetheless, this is one of those EVs that should alleviate any range-related concerns.

The only obstacle is its charging scenario. Lucid provides a $220 CCS-to-NACS adapter for compatibility with Tesla’s network, but there’s a significant catch: While the Air can charge at a maximum of 250 kW using a compatible charger, it peaks at just 50 kW at Superchargers, since Superchargers aren’t designed for 700-volt vehicles like the Air. Thus, you’ll continue to seek CCS-equipped DC fast chargers, and those don’t always operate consistently.

But, in sheer numbers, the Air is a range leader. The Porsche Taycan might be a superior overall package, but it starts at a higher price and doesn’t come close to the Air’s longevity. In fact, no electric sedan really measures up, except for the Tesla Model S, but that model is simply too outdated and misaligned to compete with the slew of new entrants that have emerged since its launch.

There is just so much to appreciate about the Lucid Air, from its design philosophy to practical elements such as space and range, along with its driving performance, making it hard not to recommend, provided you can manage the entry cost. It truly piques my interest in what Lucid could achieve with a $50K EV; as fate would have it, that’s exactly what we should get a sneak peek of by the end of 2026. Unfortunately, it will be an SUV, but that’s what Lucid needs to produce to thrive. All I can express is that when I walk around the Air, I completely lose any rational justification for why consumers are shying away from sedans, especially when they are this attractive.

Lucid gave The Drive an eight-day loan of this vehicle for the purpose of crafting this review.