I Just Ordered a 2025 Lucid After Leaving Tesla, Now the Owner Forums Have Me Second-Guessing Everything

The Lucid Air is a vehicle so exquisitely engineered and maddeningly niche that it might as well come with a copy of War and Peace and a hotline to a therapist. 

Redefining Luxury Electric Sedans for a Modern Era

This isn’t your father’s luxury sedan, hell, it’s not even your older cousin’s Tesla. The Air is a rolling statement piece, a kind of automotive haute couture wrapped in California minimalism and Silicon Valley software smarts. It’s aimed not at the masses but at the meticulous, the buyer who refers to over-the-air updates like rules and discusses regenerative braking over single-origin coffee.

Still, reality has a way of catching up with romance. Consider the following anxious post from a newly minted buyer on the r/LucidMotors subreddit:

"Hey everyone! I just put my deposit down and secured financial approval for a 2025 Touring. While initially ecstatic, I’ve been scrolling through this community for the last week, and I seem to notice a large amount of complaints about so many different aspects of these cars.

It makes me nervous, as I’m coming from Tesla, who also came across as a quirky tech start up with good ideas at the time, which later turned into a horribly built car with tons of mechanical and software issues. I noticed quite a few panel gap issues on my car, which they agreed to immediately fix prior to delivery. Just rings familiar.. if you get my point.

If options matter, I opted for Fathom Blue, Stealth, and SSP (heard too many horror stories about the standard sound system).

I’ve gone from 'wow, Lucid, that’d be the dream' in 2023 to 'I hope I haven’t made a mistake' in 2025."

Lucid Air Owner Insights and Honest Reviews

You can practically hear the hesitation bleeding through the screen, an emotional cocktail of excitement, skepticism, and PTSD from years of Tesla ownership. And to be fair, it’s not entirely unfounded. Lucid, like its spiritual sibling Rivian, lives in that precarious in-between space, brilliant engineering hamstrung by growing pains. The Air drives like a symphony, smooth, silent, breathtaking, but it still exists in a world where service centers are as rare as honest politicians.

And when something does go wrong, the internet doesn’t whisper, it shouts. Every frunk sensor glitch or trim rattle becomes a Reddit headline, and yes, we in the media are sometimes complicit in magnifying what are, in many cases, early-adopter teething issues.

Lucid Air Owner Insights and Honest Reviews

But dive deeper into the subreddit comments and a different story starts to take shape. Owners like Best-Yogurt-3134 cut through the noise, “The vocal crowd is usually the one that has complaints, not praise… Lucid is really good at fixing those issues and actually cares about your ownership.” Others, like flugame206, gush about their 2025 Touring and its serene ride quality, well-appointed cabin, and overall satisfaction. The truth, it seems, is far more balanced than the loudest headlines suggest. It’s not a car without quirks, it’s a car whose owners are patient enough to see the quirks through. As one commenter aptly put it: “It’s like a Mercedes S-Class in comparison to Model 3.”

Peter Rawlinson Steps Down as Lucid Charts a New Course

• Peter Rawlinson, the founder and CEO of Lucid Motors, has stepped down from his role and transitioned to the position of Strategic Technical Advisor to the Chairman of the Board. Marc Winterhoff, the current Chief Operating Officer, is serving as interim CEO while the company searches for a new chief executive. This change comes as Lucid aims to double its production in the coming year, planning to sell 20,000 vehicles in 2025 compared to the 10,241 EVs sold in 2024. ​
• Lucid has unveiled its first SUV, the Gravity Grand Touring, in an effort to attract more customers and boost earnings. The new SUV, available for order starting November 7 at $94,900, claims a range exceeding 440 miles, positioning it among the top in its class. A less expensive model ($79,900) is expected to follow in late 2025. ​
• Lucid has commenced production of its new Gravity SUV at its Arizona factory, and the vehicle has achieved an EPA-rated range of 450 miles on a full charge, surpassing the initially advertised 440 miles. The Gravity SUV features three rows of seating and is the company's first model to include a NACS port for Tesla Supercharger compatibility.

This brings us to the heart of the matter,  the Lucid Air is a beta-test Bentley, a high-speed tech demo draped in luxury suede and brushed metal. The issues, whether real or perceived, are magnified not just because they exist but because of who they happen to. This isn’t a Camry owner noticing a creaky seatbelt; this is a six-figure buyer who expects perfection.

And yet, despite the occasional gripe about infotainment bugs or mediocre sound systems, the overwhelming feedback is positive, if you know what you’re signing up for. Lucid doesn’t build commuter cars. It builds halo cars for people who appreciate the subtle tactility of recycled alpaca wool on a headliner.

A Halo Car for the Elite, Not the Masses

Much like Rivian’s rugged-luxe R1T, Lucid suffers from what we might call the expectation gap. The product is excellent, and the service team is attentive, but the logistical network hasn’t caught up. Service centers are sparse, mobile technicians are stretched thin, and parts availability can be hit or miss. But when things do go sideways, Lucid’s customer care, by most owner accounts, goes above and beyond. Overnight parts shipments, concierge communication, and follow-ups that actually feel human. The catch? You might be waiting weeks for a fix, even if that fix comes with a latte and a heartfelt apology.

Balancing Innovation with Practical Service

Ultimately, the Lucid Air lives in the rarefied stratosphere of cars designed not to move the masses but to move the bar. It’s for those who want exclusivity, not ubiquity. For buyers who would rather endure occasional headaches than settle for compromise.

And in a modern car market where even a base Civic offers wireless CarPlay and adaptive cruise, Lucid’s true value isn’t in specs, it’s in identity. It’s a statement, a rebellion against the mainstream. The kind of car you buy when you want your vehicle to say something about you, even when it’s parked.

So to the new owner wrestling with regret, take a breath. You didn’t make a mistake. You just stepped into the future a little early, and that’s never a smooth road. 

Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.