• 5 months ago
Although it may seem like a foregone conclusion on the surface
Transcript
00:00This is going to be an interesting one, a track battle between these two beautiful cars
00:09behind me.
00:15On the surface at least, this one's over before it's already begun, right?
00:18What business do we have racing a mid-engine supercar against what is essentially a family
00:25sedan?
00:26As you may have guessed, all is not quite meets the eye because this is the Lucid Air
00:31Sapphire, the top of the tree Lucid Air, and it boasts pretty unfathomable numbers.
00:37Its three electric motors produce 1,234 horsepower and 1,430 pound-feet of torque.
00:45I've said those numbers many times and it doesn't get any less impressive the more you
00:50hear it.
00:51Of course, the McLaren boasts its own very impressive numbers.
00:54This beautiful twin-turbocharged V8 generates 740 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque.
01:02There's actually an interesting tale to tell as to why we're running this track comparison.
01:07When we first drove the Sapphire some months ago, we asked Lucid, what should we compare
01:11it against?
01:12And he said, whatever you do, don't compare it against a Tesla, that's been done.
01:15But they specifically said, compare it against a mid-engine supercar, we think it can hang
01:21with a McLaren.
01:22We couldn't make it happen then, but we can make it happen here at Performance Vehicle
01:25of the Year.
01:26So we're going to.
01:39Lucid kind of asked for this, right?
01:41This is what they suggested to us would be an adequate comparison of what they thought
01:46would end up reflecting really well on their £5,300 four-door sedan.
01:56So we've set the baseline here in the 750S.
02:00We're not doing lap times.
02:03What I'm trying to gauge is chassis feel, body roll, suspension, steering turning, braking,
02:11power delivery.
02:12And I'm going to say, across those disciplines, the McLaren is kind of hard to beat.
02:24I can really push it.
02:25You can really push it.
02:27And of course, with that proactive chassis control, their third generation of fully automatic
02:34chassis control, adaptive dampers, electronic anti-roll.
02:44This car ain't going nowhere.
02:46It's doing everything it needs to, to keep pointing the right way, to adjust the four
02:54corners of the car, ensure maximum grip, maximum power delivery, all that downforce from the
03:01wing.
03:02It's nimble, it's light, but it feels planted, it doesn't feel unsettled, it feels like it's
03:08at one with the asphalt, it's not dancing on top of it, it's cutting through it.
03:16Wow, gear changes are violent, something we won't have to experience in the Lucid, of
03:23course.
03:24Though, with 1234 horsepower, I hazard a guess that the acceleration will have a tendency
03:31to be more jarring.
03:34I'm losing my breath.
03:37Wow, OK, so we've established the McLaren is, you know, every bit the lethal track weapon
03:46you'd imagine.
03:48Let's get in the Lucid and see how it compares when you jump straight in, back-to-back them,
03:53give us the maximum amount of comparative time.
03:59Oh, gosh.
04:04The grip, the grip!
04:06If I make it through that corner with understeering in the Lucid, I'll be vitally impressed.
04:14If I thought the Lucid had a tough task ahead of it before, having driven the McLaren and
04:19having been thoroughly impressed by it, I now cannot imagine the Lucid being able to
04:24compete.
04:25Having said that, this car has impressed me every time I've driven it.
04:30So with that, right then, Lucid, let's see what you can do.
04:35Oh, listen to that!
04:39The turn-in, this thing is just too big and too wide.
04:43A little bit of understeer there.
04:45A lot of chassis roll.
04:48The power, the power is there.
04:50The power will kind of propel you through the corner and feels quicker than the McLaren.
04:55It has to be quicker, right?
04:57This is, in fact, the quickest quarter-mile production vehicle we've ever tested.
05:01It's 75 years of motor trend testing, which is, you know, miraculous, isn't it?
05:06OK, coming round the bowl, I mean, the suspension is holding up admirably, considering it's
05:13working with 53-odd hundred pounds of car.
05:18Brakes, yeah, brakes are OK.
05:21The brakes do a good job.
05:23Comparative to the McLaren, come on, of course, the McLaren is just sharper, right?
05:29Considering this thing weighs 53-hundred, these brakes do a good job.
05:35The pedal's dead, the pedal is DOA, there's not a lot of, there's no feedback.
05:40Listen to that, listen to that.
05:42Oh, yeah.
05:45So, quite a lot of understeer there.
05:49Then you get to a straight and the Lucid just, you know, does its thing.
05:53As predicted, I'm sliding around in the seat a little bit.
05:57Look, here's that corner we said, yeah, we're holding on to that double apex line,
06:02but, yeah, that got a little bit close.
06:05That got a little bit tasty for my liking.
06:07Pushing it, the power gives you the confidence to push.
06:11And then, between the weight, the body roll, and the limit of the tyres,
06:18they're good tyres but they have their limits,
06:21you kind of end up steering into no man's land.
06:26A little bit.
06:28Having said that, I can't look past the fact that this is four-seater.
06:36This is a four-door production vehicle.
06:41And I'm doing 100 miles an hour here and can steer with one finger, you know,
06:45it is remarkable.
06:48Comparing it to McLaren, is that a bridge too far? Possibly.
06:51Admirable effort, Lucid, very admirable.
06:54Can you imagine what it would be like if these guys made a sports car?
06:58They've given us the executive sedan, they've got an SUV on the way.
07:03What is next for this company?
07:06The party piece is the acceleration, right? Of course.
07:10And it's effortless, it's insane.
07:12The only thing that tips you off to the fact that you're crossing the line over into treble figures
07:18is the wind noise. There's nothing else.
07:21In case you can't tell, I have run out of steam.
07:25After driving that McLaren and then this Lucid back-to-back, I was ruined.
07:30Because wow, that is a lot of horsepower.
07:33In summary, the McLaren is phenomenal.
07:36A near-perfect supercar, completely at home on the track and, to my mind, without fault.
07:43That isn't to say that Lucid isn't a spectacular effort.
07:47It's a wonderfully liveable, premium-feeling luxury car,
07:52which also just so happens to have 1,200 horsepower.
07:56The Sapphire does a very, very good impression of a supercar,
08:00but electric Moses can only do so much.
08:03And of course, when it comes time to brake and corner, the physics catch up with you fast,
08:08as those squealing tyres will attest.
08:11By comparison, I never got close to finding the limit of the McLaren,
08:15and even if I were to have, I suspect the car would have found something extra,
08:19time-pushing me further than I could push it.
08:22Comparing it against the Lucid is unfair, but hey, this is what they wanted.
08:28And it's worth noting this thing would absolutely destroy the McLaren in a drag race,
08:32so whilst it doesn't have poise, McLaren can boast in the corners,
08:37in the straights, and Lucid would have its day.