#278, Lucid Air takes best of 2023 honors

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:31 — 72.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | More

As co-hosts of The Weekly Driver Podcast, Bruce Aldrich and I have for the past several years picked the top cars of the year at the end of the calendar year.

This year, as we do most often, Bruce and I interview a guest on the podcast and then drive the week’s review vehicle to lunch. We often extend the day to further drive the vehicle, take images and share our opinions.

Bruce has certain interests and knows the mechanics of cars and trucks far better than I do. I write reviews of vehicles for several publications, including TheWeeklyDriver.com since 2004. I usually drive every week for a week.

Bruce has contributed images for dozens of vehicles and has produced every podcast episode.

Like we do every year, we selected best-of-the-year lists is based only on the model year corresponding to the same calendar year.

This year we individually chose our favorite vehicles of the year based on 2023 models of 37 vehicles fully reviewed.

As has also occurred several times, we both selected the same vehicle as The Weekly Driver Podcast’s best vehicle of the year. It’s the 2023 Lucid Air. The Lucid Air (Grand Touring) and Lucid Air (Pure) both were reviewed.

Here’s what I wrote in part in my review of the Lucid Air (Grand Touring):

“Available in Pure, Touring, Grand Touring, Grand Touring Performance, and the new-for-2023 Sapphire trims, the Lucid Air is a high-performance, handsome, and the-future-is-now vehicle that provides a new definition of a sedan.

“Spacious and wide-bodied, the reviewed Lucid Air (Grand Touring) has 819 horsepower and a 112-kWh battery that provides the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive wonder with a 516-mile range and acceleration from 0-to-60 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds.”

“For performance enthusiasts and the electric vehicle obsessed, the stats are industry-best numbers. For the rest of us, sub-three-second efforts may cause lightheadedness. Conversely, driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles and halfway home isn’t possible in many gasoline-powered vehicles. A recharge isn’t required for long hours behind the racing-styled Lucid wheel.”

Please join Bruce and me as we further discuss the upstart Lucid lineup and also reveal the rest of our respective Best-of-the-Year lists.