Lucid Air vs BMW i5 | Battle of Electric RWD Sedans 

Why am I watching this video? I drive a $1000 shitbox

For as new as Lucid is, it's quite remarkable how well they got "driving" right.

What a day to be alive that BMW is called a luxury sedan and some other brand a sports sedan

Lucid has a great philosophy and hope they can survive. Wish they'd create a volume seller to help them on their mission.

Thanks for the audio testing - one of the few things that’s really hard to get info on.

"Hans...take me on the worm ride" 😂 you guys are f_____g hilarious!

Mark's nervous giggle as Jack threw the Lucid into the turn was hilarious.

After watching one of your videos I always feel like having a phd afterwards in that topic 😂😂

“You see it on a graph” - thanks, Mark, for believing in me…

You guys swapped the driving segment names FYI

I’m surprised that in your tech segments you haven’t discussed BMW being the only manufacturer using brushed motors in its EVs, needing service, brush replacements, and possibly cleaning out at some point. Since no other manufacturer is using brushed motors over magnets, I’m skeptical of it being the way to go

No other channel like this, not even close. Greatly appreciate your insight👍🏼 Very cool glimpse of the audio testing 🔊

Watched this earlier today while sitting at Lucid delivery center waiting to pickup my car.. had to wait 30 minutes they were backed up. Not a ton of people picking up new cars, but they had one guy total. Ugh. Like 5th time already saw some teething problems being a new company. Watching this video was a little afraid they were going to go "Lucid is a POS get the i5." but happy it was pretty much what you'd expect. My review of Lucid Touring after 8 hours of ownership: This car is really fucking nice, lol. My biggest gripe is no Android Auto. And like seemingly all cars, with wheel where I like it it obstructs view of instrument panel. Oh and no button on front to open the frunk. I'd actually prefer to use it but more annoying to open. But otherwise car drives great. Normal day-to-day driving great, and went out for a bit after family went to bed for a little more spirited and yeah it just lives up to hype.

It would be really interesting to see a Lucid Air vs Taycan comparison, as the best driving EVs that you can buy.

You guys are so good at this. Marc’s comments are 1000% spot on . I test drove the i5 and it was as boring as my Camry. I’ll have to try the Lucid.

This was an actual great comparison because of the talking points that could be had. Super informative and thought provoking. Great vid!

Just some real world data points. Last week recharged at a 350kw Electrify America station. I have an AWD Lucid Pure with the same 700+ volt 88 kW-hr battery pack as the RWD Pure. It was 52F and I started charging at a little over 250 kW. I charged for 30 minutes and went from 5% to 80% averaging over 132kW even though I was the fourth car connecting at a 4 bay station. So the higher voltage can help. I have also gone to a EA 350kW charger and even though I'm the only one there, have connected at only 50kW (I always have the battery preconditioning before charging). When that happens I take a quick hit (10 to 15 minutes) and then drive 50 -60 miles to the next charger) hoping that I will connect at higher speeds. The key is to just charge enough to get to your destination (with a margin of safety). Then complete your charge to 80% over night.

Thanks for the video comparing the two! Definitely helped me be a more informed consumer.

First time I see a real audio test in a car review, Bravo!

Great comparison guys. Just drove an I5 loner for 3 days and really couldn't put my finger on what was not so good. But you guys hit it. Thanks so much

Great review, guys, as usual. Thanks. 👍👍

Another top notch video Mark and Jack!

Thanks for thanking us for our time ❤

Great review... I have zero interest in either of these but I still ended up watching all the way through and feel like I learned something. Well done.

The glass roof on the Lucid really does it a disservice as a luxury car. Instead of absorbing noise, it reflects it.

What a great detailed review. One of my favorite channels for pure information.

The G60 5 series is basically a replacement for the SWB 7 series at this point, it's almost the same size and share the driving dynamics philosophy. I imagine the next 3 series will essentially be the 5 series replacement now.

Great blend of your normal, thorough review with details relevant to the EV side of these cars. I’m not an EV shopper but find Lucid fascinating. I want driving feel to connect to my car, even if it is my daily. Lucid is showing focus on drivers. I hope they succeed

Thank you for an honest review and more importantly, offering different perspectives. As much as I would enjoy the driving dynamics in the Lucid, comfort and refinement are now a higher priority for me. Keep up the great work!

In this Xanax inundated, Special K ingesting world, BMW knows its lease client, very well. With Lucid, it's made for DRIVERS. I am so happy to FINALLY see a Lucid every once in a while on the road away from the Phoenix area, where its assembled. To me, the Lucid is a masterpiece. A genuine work of art. The BMW is a product from a marketing company. To see the smiles on your faces while ripping it up with Lucid, it's so easy to see what is the more FUN, and in many ways, better car.

Styling wise- this is a battle between Hyundai and Rolls-Royce

So in this set up i definitely think as a drivers car the Lucid wins hands down. Excited to see where they take the EV world and I'm not an EV fan at all. However, it seems Lucid do actually give a damn about the driving feel and experience and wish them every success for the future! No other EV manufacture seems to be going this route yet. Great indepth video as always and love the channel!

As an European, who always appreciates old BMWs, there are no reasons to buy i5. Good job Lucid !!

Love the on-track seque @ 20:05. Nice touch. :-)

I would love it if you made a masterclass in audio technology

Nearly 80 grand for a bmw that is about as exciting to drive as a camry. What a world.

Maybe one of the best reviews.

Love this content

I’m not EV person. But if I did go EV, it be a Lucid for sure. It seems like a better fit and finish than a Tesla and does everything better than other brands.

Do one of these but do like a Camry vs Sonata when y'all get the new Camry Very well done as always. Best car channel in the biz

No B58 No buy

Great review, guys! I feel like I want to drive around your area just for a chance to see you celebrities.

Straight up the most thorough and thoughtful car review channel. Love the audio system and underbody analysis. Oh… the Lucid’s rear isn’t elegant.

the quantity of these cars that you're actually going to see on the road this month: somewhere between 0 and 1

Assuming it's reliable, it's gonna be so nice to get a Lucid Air for like $30k in a few years

Love how the Lucid says 30mph limit while on a racetrack. 😂 Love the choice of music on the dash. Quite appropriate 🎉

I always love your final thoughts part guys, you put so much thought in it combined with tech and industry knowledge. Great! Regarding those 2 cars - exactly the category where I am buying next. The underpinnings of the Lucid are very promising but its not ready yet for prime time, since they have unlimited Saudi Money it's only a matter of time. The BMW is great tech - but leaves me as a BMW fan warmish at best. I also like the iX to drive, inside but not to look at and it's a SUV....so I will chose something else which I never thought I would go for this time....thanks guys!

It’s remarkable how specifically these guys can describe what exactly the lucid does right

20:00 song is: ZORRO - Just Bones (Instrumental)

Did this Lucid Air have the base Surreal Sound system or Surreal Sound Pro?

For my money, the Lucid is the clear winner. Not that I can afford either of them, but the Lucid is a better driver's car, and I do love driving dynamics. I also love good design and, IMHO, the Lucid looks elegant. The BMW is fugly. I am a little disappointed that Lucid has so many QC issues, but for a startup car maker, that's forgiveable. BMW is certainly no paragon of long-term reliability, so the quality/reliability factor is a wash. And for me, the bottom line is emotional. I want Lucid to succeed because I want cleaner air and lower emissions, I respect what they're trying to achieve, I appreciate the fact that they're the only company matching Tesla on range, and I bought stock in the company and I want that investment to pay off, damnit! Okay, so maybe it's emotional and financial. :-). Thanks guys for another great video.

I hope lucid stays in the game. Both them and rivian are facing the mountain.

The Lucid really is the 90s BMW of the 2020s

So much for the Ultimate Driving Machine

Nice to see a legitimate smile on Marc's face in the Lucid!

0:54 - Savage Geese attack residue (just below the drivers side mirror)!!

Can you make a list of noise measurements for different cars?

8:00 Um did you condition the battery in either car?

I get it why people hate EV's. I used to until i learned about the Lucid Air in 2022. Since then i watched their videos. Followed their factory Amp 1 construction. Watched the tech talks that explained their superior technology and the reviews by countless people who praises the driving dynamics of the Air. Its a Technological Masterpiece worthy of buying. ❤. This coming from an M340i X5 M50 and Porsche GT4 owner. Wife also coming along in liking the Air.

I wonder if depreciation will hit these cars both the same. My money is on the BMW being the better vehicle to pick up off lease if that is your thing. I am not into paying for ANY new vehicle (waste of money!) so it will be interesting to see how reliable both of these cars are. After all, the EV-vangelists say that EVs are more reliable than their gas counterparts, and the horror stories associated with servicing BMWs have kept me from considering them as potential options for me. That said, I own VWs and have had almost zero issues with them, none which were show stoppers for me, so maybe a BMW could do well for me…

Did you mix up the chapters in the timeline? "Lucid Driving Impressions" with the BMW and vice versa?

So easy choice... Lucid over the i5. Can't remember the last time I was impressed by a new BMW model (as the current owner of 2 BMWs)

What about comparing to the M60? Wouldn’t that satisfy the sporty need compared to the Lucid?

Interesting video, kind of disagree, or not disagree but don't really understand the driving impression feedback, but loved it anyway. The driving impression time stamp titles are switched.

Not totallly sold on the Lucid pitch yet, but I do think they offer a unique take on the future of EVs and it would be a shame if they don't maintain solvency going forward.

I bet the general public would think the opposite would be true of these two vehicles

I know they were going for ultimate range and driving dynamics with coming out with a sedan first, but CUVs sell these days, just look at Model Y vs. S sales. They would have been much better served releasing a slightly cheaper Gravity type CUV out the gate and taken the slight hit to ultimate range numbers. That and just getting Android Auto / Apple Car play to work from the get go should be key for any non Tesla auto maker right now.

Lucid is the KING

Are you sure the lucid was preconditioned before charging? That's the only reason I could see for it to start at 55kw getting up to 139kw later. I've had terrible luck with the charging around Chicago, but if I get more than 80kw at any point in the charging session, it's because the charger was fully functional.

Fair report. Unfortunately BMW no longer makes drivers cars. Things started going down hill in 2009 by 2013 most BMWs had lost their dynamic adge. I had a 2012 x3 although it had no steering feel. It was still a fun to drive drift-able suv. I miss the non turbo straight six. What an engine. The electric motor before electric motors.

I would love to see the Lucid Air Touring AWD with the upgraded sound system and their driving assist professional vs the BWM i5 M60. These are the 2 EVs that made my shortlist, but went with the BMW because of the software. You didn’t mention how you crack your head getting in and out of the Lucid unless you remember to duck.

Mark, did you do an audio comparison between the glass and aluminum roofs? I'd imagine the aluminum roof model is SIGNIFICANTLY quieter at speed.

Lucid makes a better drivers car, but the fate of many of these electric car startups aren't guarenteed. I don't love bmw but at least I'm confident they'll still exist as a company in 5 years time

Another (well-deserved) brick-bat for BMW. I take your point WRT the interior fitments in the Lucid (no cigar for falling short on this score in a vehicle that purports to be a l-u-x-u-r-y sport sedan). Nevertheless, the Lucid looks much nicer on the outside (the BMW looks like an overweight parody of its ancestors). More importantly, the folks at Lucid seem still to believe that we who buy vehicles might actually be interested in driving them (and having fun while doing so). Heaps of kudos to Lucid for that. Unfortunately, the BMW will likely sell like hotcakes (a testament to the power of marketing and past legacy), when surely this burgermeister deserves to be shunned for its awful driving dynamics. I hope Lucid does well with this vehicle--and works out the shortcomings that mar the interior audioscape and the driver-interface. Thank you for another great review.

The only other potential competitor in the RWD EV space will be Porsche with their Cayman EV RWD, IMO. However, I doubt it will be as mechanical as the Lucid, it may make up though for it on weight distribution (batteries behind the driver) and lightness though.

The first Lucid Air was SO far ahead of the pack.

What's BMW's Moto? The Ultimate driving machine, Bravo Lucid 👏 A startup!! Drives better than a beamer, and beats it in packaging too!! Refinement comes with experience which BMW has decades of.

So we need a Lucid Air built by BMW. Really hope that the Neue Klasse will give us that, a great electric sport sedan: powerful, agile and efficient. I'm maybe the only one on the internet but I like new BMW style, so fingers crossed for their next EVs. And good for Lucid, they demonstrated the potential of good EV tech.

If they named the battery B58, would AI Jack halt, catch fire or become sentient?

Maybe revisit the Fiskar Ocean since they are having a fire sale.

FYI - "driving impressions" timestamp caption on YT was swapped for both cars

At this point I would only lease an electric vehicle due to their rapid progress and very uncertain resale value. Right now, you can easily lease an i5 for around $600 per month which is notably cheaper than Lucid's >$700 and they also require double the down payment vs BMW. The other question is will Lucid be even around in 5 years?

So basically it just comes down to whether you want to use turn signals or not

3:40 - BMW idrive 8.5 also has major issues with iPhone connections

I anxiously wait for the day Lucid comes to Europe

Why are you making good videos?

Great that Lucid still has physical switches for v frequent controls that need to be touch no sight.

Air GT owner. Comparing an established ICE car that has been converted to an EV, isn't a fair comparison, and you touched on this at the end of the video. However, not building the EV from the ground up, means that they are relying on their tradition of excellence in the ICE world and hope they can sway people to decide on them for a decent effort into the EV realm. The hypercharging testing you did, didn't provide any numbers nor limitation the station may be been limited to that day. Several EA stations even in the dead of night will throttle back and not allow the actual hypercharging that the user would expect considering the design of the car. I normally go to my local EA at 2 or 3am to charge up (always preconditioning the battery), and routinely get 325KW into my Air GT, for an fair amount of time before it levels off. But I can always get 300 miles added in 35 to 40 minutes, and that is because of the 900V design of the car. I call that a win every time! Sure their software design isn't the best, and I attribute that to the fact their software engineers come from every corner of the Automotive industry, and you have a hodge podge of spaghetti code that in the end really hurts the electronic performance of the user experience. However, their OTA software updates, are fast and have made many improvements to their existing platform. I call that a win too! One area I will agree with your overall review is in the luxury mindedness of the Pure. I personally think it is a bad design choice to have the base model still cost an arm and a leg, and not have all the features in it. I can tell you right now, that the level of features not included in the Pure vs my Air GT is dramatic, and IMO a mistake on Lucid's part. You gave a minus on the brand recognition, while fair and unfair at the same time I personally like how exclusive my GT is. It turns heads everywhere I go, and I have everyone under the sun asking me about it. How many people are even going to notice the EV-I5? IMO, this is a win and not just another "me too" car. In fact in my area of Dallas County, there are only 3 Lucid's, and I like that alot! The Second area I will agree with you on is the Audio system. Now the Pure does give the user the option to choose the 21 speaker system over the 9 speaker system, but hardly worth the $$ markup. But even in the GT's audio system, this is NOT an enjoyable platform to listen to any song and get excited about it. There is absolutely no bass response at all, and that bothers me to no end. The audio system I had the my Ford Fusion Energi was amazing. This is shit and that knocking noise you heard from the front bass speakers isn't the speakers. Myself my my service tech determined that the factory isn't installing the proper "metal tape" over a small hole in the door panel, which is causing the knocking sound, or rather the sound that the speaker is blown. Once my service tech added the proper Metal Tape, that knocking noise went away. It didn NOT improve the bass response or the audio quality of the sound experience. So while I don't hear the knock now, I still do not enjoy the music. A fairly good review on a lopsided comparison. Good Luck

"Your risk of being air lifted out is much greater in the Sapphire"...lol

Next time you're in San Diego you'll see a lot more Lucid around here, people seem to know.

Even I am a big fan of bmw cars. House hold actually has a x3 and i4 m50. I would choose Lucid.

does BMW have adaptive cruise and lane centering standard on a 60k vehicle yet or is a base model Corrola more technologically advanced still?

Sound insulation is often a good indicator of quality. Lots of cars try to wow their customers with flashy crap, but what matters in the end is how it drives and feels.

Two vehicles for the common man.

I would have loved to see the effects of Lucid‘s clever packaging resulting not necessarily in a big car but in the opposite: a sufficiently roomy interior in a car that is as small as possible.

I always thought the Lucid Air competes with the i7. I guess not. Thanks Savagegeese.

Whats up with Lucid stocks

Ride the Lightning- excellent choice! 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

Did either company say why they didn't include a differential? It's technically possible to do that with EVs. Is it cost, complexity?

It'd have been nice if you'd managed to throw in the EQE into this. They do luxury really well, but missed the boat on software and doing anything even a quarter elegant on the outside.