Lucid Sapphire vs Semi Truck?! - TheSmokingTire

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The Lucid Sapphire is one of the greatest performance sedans of all time. Making an unbelievable peak of 1,234 HP from its three motors to run an 8-second quarter mile, while simultaneously able to travel 400+ miles on a single charge is a wild accomplishment. And that doesn't even give credit to its chassis dynamics, which are up there with super-sedans like the Panamera Turbo S and BMW M5. In order to test all the Sapphire's abilities in 2 days, Matt and Zack take a 1,000 mile road trip to Sonoma Raceway and back for a trackday and a creative drag racing challenge.

Lucid provided the vehicle and trackside technical support for this video.

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Lucid Sapphire: Quickest Sedan Ever on Track, DragStrip, and 1,000 mile Road Trip! - TheSmokingTire
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[mogulmayhem]

idk who can afford these, but this brand needs to survive

[koonzietwo]

One of the best TST videos ever, well done. The Sapphire should be thought of as an example of what's possible with an EV. At that price they're not really worth buying as the enthusiast driving experience is going to be limited to drag racing. You could get the Air Touring and a GT3 for less than a Sapphire. And you should.

[TheMkII]

Best looking EV out rn and one of the best looking sedans ever imo. And the engineering behind it is absolutely incredible. I'm happy this car exists even if I can't afford one!

[terrytexas]

Air GT Owner, I have had mine for 1 year 7 months, and have yet to use the Nav system in the car. Not needed, but to complain about it when so many manufacturers are moving away from it seems petty and just a thing to gripe about just to gripe. The key/door lock / unlock feature is very simple, when you own one and deal with it each and every day you get used to how it works, and it is a non issue, but for someone who has one from time to time, I'm sure it is confusing....but in reality it isn't. BTW, you do give up range by getting the Sapphire. Personally I can't spend and additional $150K just to gain 1.2 seconds on a 0-60 and a top speed of 205, but give up over 50 miles of practical range. Range is King in an EV and to only focus on speed your are doing a dis-service to the concept of Long Range driving on an EV. I have never seen a single person who is thinking about making the switch ask...How fast is this 0-60....they always ask, what is the Range on a single charge. And that is the bottom Highway assist....You almost got it right regarding how it detects if your hand is on the wheel. It isn't a matter of position on the wheel, it is a matter of resistance on the wheel that the car monitors. If the car monitors resistance then it knows you are holding the wheel, if it doesn't detect resistance, then it will issue the warning that you should put your hands on the wheel and give it some force feedback to let it know you are there. So close to getting it right. ;)

I did appreciate your acknowledgement that there is a learning curve on track racing an EV vs a ICE car....I think this was the critical mistake MotorTrend made with their recent Lucid Sapphire vs McLaren 750s Coupe on a track. We really do not have an abundance of EV track racers to really go up against cars like the McLaren 750s so we are left with the reviewers who are not experts making comparisons unfair as they may be vs an EV. However, by suggestion that just because you are not used to how a performance EV handles after a life time of driving ICE cars that an EV doesn't give that "recreational feel", is quite honestly a bias opinion on the subject without full knowledge of both platforms.

Overall, I think you presented a nice review of the product and praised it where praise was due, but came down on it without full and complete knowledge of the platform as a whole.

Take care and Good Luck!

[tastytreats]

Of the 20 second head start, it took the semi 6 seconds to pass the Lucid (standing still). 🤣

[ericship]

The craziest part is that this 5300 pound sedan can beat track focused cars on the track so it isn’t even just a one trick pony

[spcneary]

They may not admit it, but even EV hating car enthusiasts immediately understand how amazing the 3 motor system on this car must be. If I had the money I would have one in the driveway.

[joshbrookes]

What many people who are new to this channel and maybe motoring in general don't realize is that Matt Farrah has driven every type of fast car imaginable and then some.
For several decades Matt has been driving hi performance vehicles to their limits and with all that unique experience has collated terabytes of extremely valuable data on every vehicles driving dynamics making Matt one of the only individuals on earth that can tell you the honest not holding back truth about vehicle brand X versus brand Y and the 10 reasons why you should purchase brand Z instead. Matt Farrah is like a walking talking encyclopedic knowledge base for all things AUTOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE plus so much more. This is precisely why newbies need sit up shut up and pay extra special attention to a car that MATT FARRAH himself is so incredibly impressed by. This is so exceptionally rare nowadays, he's driven so many truly exceptional cars outstanding cars that nothing impresses him anymore, until now

[stefndogg]

Thanks for the review Matt and Zack. As others have said, really want Lucid to survive as they make a seemingly well rounded product. Also, wow Sonoma looked so dry! Been a while since I was on track there(left the Bay Area a couple years ago) and I know they have had some heat waves lately, but still...that may be as dry looking as I have ever seen it.

[christopherhardy]

Great video. Excellent editing as always. Thank you.

[hagestad]

5:37 holly Orange peel on that paint Batman

[ZoneKei]

This video was fun. Hopefully Hyundai doesn't have any of their sound system/concept patented so Lucid can slap a similar system on their next track car. It needs a big sequential shifter stick.

[diyforlife]

My favorite part was the BMW 2002 on the back of the trailer...That's a proper car.

[abr]

5N style gears and sound are only an over-the-air update away, and would take the experience to the next level. I would be very surprised if they are not already working on it.

[dj_laundry_list]

The Cars - Just what I needed? Zach's G-Shock is just what I needed

[ArthurSperotto]

"after riding in some fast gas cars, I think I've forgotten how magical that is, and how important that is to the overall driving experience"
Well said Zack!

[bitkarek]

that is a good looking car inside/outside

[lowstrife]

For what it's worth, I rented a Lucid Air on Turo late last year. 2023 car.

With the systems fully on, it crossed a double yellow and nearly got into a head-on accident. I'm not really sure how it happened - I had to pull over and disable the lanekeep\autopilot before I continued driving because I utterly lost confidence in the system.

In other news - I love the concept of the electrified trailer. Ali is a boss too, love this! Him moving the trailer by hand is fucking sick as, what a useful ability. And those FPV drone shots were pretty dope too.

[WestCoastSupercarsandClassics]

Finally we're at the point where absurd levels of power are no longer a novelty and we can think about products that most people would actually want as their Daily.
This also reinforces the continued need for great ICE driver's cars and sports cars - the kind of thing you can enjoy at a track for all of the qualities. We're actually in a true Golden Era for that too!

[schmoopyboopy]

Great review guys - I like the drone work, it's nice addition to your usual excellent reviews!