We recently brought you a review of the new 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire, the upstart electric automaker’s supercar-killing flagship luxury performance sedan. With a quarter-million-dollar sticker price and performance numbers closer to an F-22 Raptor fighter jet than a passenger sedan, it’s accurate to say the exotic experience the Air Sapphire provides is one only a handful of people will ever experience. But we wondered what life was like at the other end of the Lucid showroom: How does the entry-level $70,000 Lucid Air Pure compare with the eyeball-flattening Sapphire?
There’s only one way to find out, so we drove a Pure model for a week to see if life is just as good in the base Air.
Related: 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire Review: Prepare to Swear
One-Third the Power
The 2025 Lucid Air lineup consists of the Pure, Touring, Grand Touring and Sapphire. The biggest differences between the lower trim levels are their powertrains and batteries. The Pure and Touring are fairly similar in terms of options and equipment; the Pure uses a single 430-horsepower motor that drives the rear wheels, while the Touring has a motor both up front and in back, good for all-wheel drive and a total output of 620 hp. Step up to the Grand Touring and you get 819 hp from two motors. After that, it’s a pretty big jump to the Sapphire, which uses three motors (two in back, one up front) for 1,234 hp total. Batteries differ, as well, with the Pure using a Long Range pack that’s good for up to 420 miles of EPA-estimated range. The Touring is rated for 406 miles of driving range due to its extra weight and two motors. The Grand Touring and Sapphire use a larger Extended Range pack good for up to 512 and 427 miles of range, respectively.
My test car was an Air Pure with only two options: 20-inch wheels and a Stealth appearance package that brings blacked-out trim. The grand total came to $75,150 (including destination fee) — less than a third the price of the Lucid Air Sapphire I tested a month prior.
So it’s a lot cheaper, but how much different is it to drive and live with?
You Won’t Miss It Much
The answer to that question is: not as different as you might imagine. The base Lucid Air is still a fantastic luxury car that’s beautifully trimmed inside, and slick and futuristic outside. It has the same excellent touchscreen interface as the Sapphire, which is one of the best user interfaces yet developed for any touchscreen-only car. It features massive interior space, which you wouldn’t expect given its long, low and wide dimensions. The Pure isn’t quite as opulent as some other versions of the Air, and its interior (but not exterior) color palette and materials choices are more limited. But it’s comfortable, silent, damned good looking and just all-around impressive even in its base trim. It still feels like an expensive luxury car.
The Air Pure’s driving experience differs from the Sapphire only when you really start putting your foot into it, which is a testament to how easy it is to drive the more expensive and powerful Sapphire variant despite its significantly different suspension, brakes, powertrain, tires and tuning. The Air Pure is extremely quick; Lucid says it can complete the 0-60 mph run in 4.5 seconds, which just a few decades ago would have been supercar territory. It doesn’t have the immediate, mind-bending, vision-blurring speed of the Air Sapphire, which can get from 0-60 mph in a claimed 1.89 seconds, but it’s certainly no slouch. What the Pure doesn’t have is the sharpness of the Sapphire; it’s much more a luxury touring sedan than a true track weapon. From its tires to its braking feel, it’s a lot softer than the Sapphire in just about all conditions.
But that simply means it’s more comfortable. Accelerator response is still excellent, accompanied by no noise whatsoever. Steering is less communicative and not as sharp, even in sport mode, making its responses a bit less quick and twisty roads a little less entertaining. Both the Pure and Sapphire ride beautifully, and that’s a true testament to the tuning that’s gone into both models’ adaptive damper suspensions. Both of them have smooth, quiet, beautifully damped ride quality around town — then, with the touch of a couple of “buttons” on the center screen, can become razor-sharp track monsters that still have impressively smooth ride quality.
The biggest difference between the performance of the two trim levels might be their braking. The Sapphire has monstrous 10-piston front, four-piston rear calipers gripping huge carbon-ceramic rotors, while the less extreme Air Pure has still-beefy six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers, but no high-performance brake pads and smaller rotors front and rear. The Pure’s brake system still hauls the car down to a stop with ease, but without the firm feel and extraordinary confidence the Sapphire’s system provides.
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A Fraction of the Price
What about in terms of content? If the Sapphire is so much more expensive, is it that much nicer, as well, or are you paying all of that extra coin for the Sapphire’s extra abilities over the Pure?
It’s a little of both. The Pure eschews some of the more unique options available in other trim levels in order to keep costs down. A glass canopy roof that’s available on the Touring and Grand Touring, for instance, cannot be had on the Pure. The Pure comes standard with 19-inch wheels, with 20s optional, while the Touring and Grand Touring make 21-inch wheels available, too. The Sapphire uses staggered 20- and 21-inch wheels, front and rear. The Pure also doesn’t get things like heated wipers or as many interior color options as you can get on the other trims.
There’s also a long list of things you do get on the Pure that might surprise you: the adaptive suspension, for one, as well as three-zone climate control, 12-way power-adjustable heated front seats, a power trunk lid, adaptive LED lighting and even illuminated door handles. Options include the Stealth appearance package, a comfort and convenience package, 20-inch wheels and tires, and DreamDrive Pro hands-free cruise control. The Pure and Touring are quite similar apart from their motor setups; stepping up to the Touring opens up more options, but sticking with the lesser Pure trim comes with few penalties. You still get an incredibly well-engineered, beautifully executed luxury car that’s quick, loaded with technology and easier to use than anything from a German brand. It’s silent, comfortable, good looking and, at $75,000 and change, isn’t even outrageously priced in today’s environment.
The 2025 Lucid Air Pure isn’t the rocket ship the Air Sapphire is, but it’s still an eminently satisfying vehicle that will please its owners — and you can take the $175,000 you saved by not getting a Sapphire and buy yourself a few spec Mazda MX-5 Miata racecars to get your thrills.
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