From the March/April issue of Car and driver.
Medieval alchemy practitioners theorized that the right combination of earth, air, fire and water would create a fifth element: the philosopher’s stone. They believed that the stone, described as brilliant blue, could turn lead into gold and allow its holder to defy earthly limitations. We’re not saying Lucid has discovered the secrets of the quintessence, but the 2024 Air Sapphire has alchemy in the name and is only available in a stunning metallic blue paint. Even more convincing, this 5,345-pound four-door accelerates like a chemical reaction and spins with the precision of a planetary orbit. It certainly feels like a transmutation of base metals into precious metals.
Lucid’s Air sedans feel more magical, faster and more agile than their large luxury car dimensions should allow. Even the entry-level rear-drive Air Pure can activate a quarter-mile timer in 12.7 seconds and circle our skidpad at 0.94 g. All Air trims are solid, well-equipped cruisers with impressive range and powerful electric powertrains. But the Sapphire outdoes them all with barely believable performance figures and design features that make it an elegant menace. To differentiate the Sapphire from the already impressive 819-horsepower Air Grand Touring, Lucid’s alchemists, er, engineers, added a second electric motor in the rear for a triumvirate, making a downright ridiculous 1,234 horsepower and 1,430 pound-feet of torque. .
It was pouring rain when the Lucid arrived, which only made it more incredible that not a single horse kicked out the back without request, even while fording a flooded intersection that left us wondering about the waterproofness of the 118.0 kWh battery pack ( that was fine). The Air has a stable platform to launch, with a wide stance and a long 116.5-inch wheelbase. The Sapphire rides on 20- and 21-inch wheels and Pilot Sport 4S tires that Michelin developed specifically for this version, with stiffer rubber along the center profile and a stickier outer shoulder for the best rolling resistance while being straight and a sporty grip in the bends when leaned on.
Although the Sapphire’s suspension is stiffer and tuned for the extra power, most of the car’s secrets lie in its wiring. The four driving modes (Smooth, Swift, Sapphire and Track) do more than just change the sensitivity of the accelerator pedal. They also bring noticeable changes to the handling, as the software sends more or less torque to the rear tires to provide the relaxed responses of a ’70s Cadillac or the friskyness of a smaller sporty machine. Additional options in Track mode can disable traction control or limit horsepower for a longer track session. There’s also a Hot Lap setting that gives you everything for one glorious attempt (we like to think of this as the Lightning Lap button; see how it performed at our 2024 event).
All these dance moves are made possible by an internally designed torque vectoring and traction control system that can recognize and respond to tire slip in one millisecond. For context, a lightning strike lasts 30 milliseconds. It takes a person 100 to blink. So while you blink, the Sapphire 100 can make small adjustments to all four corners. The result is an undisturbed romp through puddles or, on a nicer day like the one we had for testing, a lap around the skidpad that pulls 1.04g without a hint of push, a quarter-mile time of 9.3 seconds at 150 mph h, and a sprint to 100 km/h in 2.1 seconds. Talk about the blink of an eye. On a prepared track surface the Sapphire is even faster. Technical editor Dan Edmunds saw 60 mph in 1.9 seconds when he drove it around Sonoma Raceway’s sticky drag strip. Perhaps even more important is the bravado braking. The 16.5-inch carbon-ceramic rotors with 10-piston calipers at the front and 15.4-inch rotors with four-piston calipers at the rear bring the car to a stop from 75 mph in 164 feet. On the street you rarely have to touch them, because the Sapphire uses heavy regenerative braking, without the ability to coast.
When you do come to a stop, be prepared to talk to everyone in the area. That’s not because the Sapphire is flashy: the dark blue paint has an understated sheen, it saves weight by ditching the garish glass canopy roof of the Grand Touring and Dream variants, and it has only a small splitter and a ducktail spoiler on the backside. But people do feel that it is special. The Sapphire attracted attention from all ages, from a small child leaning out the window to get a better look, to an executive in a suit getting out of a Mercedes to come and ask about it. If you measure the value of a car by the compliments given, the $250,500 price for the Sapphire might seem right.
What that money gets you, aside from the ability to clean up at the drag strip, is an exclusive Sapphire interior in dark gray Alcantara, brightened with blue stitching and Lucid’s California bear logo on the headrests. Additional reinforcement in the heated, ventilated and massaging seats is a nod to racing ambitions, but nothing else in the interior says race car. The Sapphire is intended for the street and offers all the comfort a commuter needs from a luxury car. However, we’re still waiting for someone to invent a built-in screen cleaner. Like many modern machines, the Sapphire relies heavily on touchscreen menus. And while Lucid’s user interface is easy to navigate, its surfaces quickly become covered in greasy fingerprints.
In terms of charging and range, the Sapphire maintains its big and fast reputation with a 900-volt electrical architecture that enables 300 kW DC fast charging. An EPA-estimated range of 420 miles means you could visit any race track in the Los Angeles area without stopping to charge the battery – if only the tracks weren’t all gravel pits and strip malls. There’s something ironic about cruising through Los Angeles in a car where dead cars can complete a quarter mile in under 10 seconds and accelerate into the corner without breaking traction, while all the places you could have beaten and lapped the competition, have succumbed to suburban sprawl. Too bad one of the magical driving modes in the Lucid Air Sapphire isn’t time travel.
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