Will the two-speed gearbox give the Taycan an edge?
The Lucid Air is an astonishing electric vehicle. Not only can it achieve a government-verified 520 miles on a single charge, but with the Dream Edition Performance trim that sits atop the range, you also get 1,111 horsepower and a 0-60 mph time as low as 2.5 seconds. Top speed is rated at 168 mph too, so it's quite a hustler, but as we recently learned, the Tesla Model S Plaid is still quicker. However, the Lucid Air still managed a respectable quarter-mile time of 10 seconds. The Porsche Taycan Turbo S, with its 2.6-second 0-60 mph time and top speed of 161 mph has achieved a similar time, despite only producing a maximum of 750 hp. So can it defeat the Lucid Air in a heads-up drag race? Let's find out.
In the first race, it appears that the Taycan driver's responses are the cause for a bad launch, but the gap by which the Lucid Air wins makes it seem like having both cars launch at the exact same time would have a similar outcome. This theory is proven in the second race, where the Taycan driver launches well before the Air driver. Despite the Taycan pulling an early lead, the much more powerful Air comes past like a gust of wind, easily overtaking the Taycan before the 1,320-foot mark. How about a rolling race then? Again, even with the Taycan getting the hit, the Lucid powertrain powers past without breaking a sweat.
As we're sure some Porsche fans will be happy to point out, the Taycan wasn't developed to beat all other EVs in a straight line. Its focus is on retaining driving pleasure despite an electric powertrain, so the Taycan will be far more satisfying in the bends. We also think it looks better, but that's for each person to decide. If your decision will be based on price, the Lucid Air Dream Edition starts at over $160,000. If that sounds steep, look away now. The cheapest Taycan Turbo is over $150,000, while the top-spec Turbo S seen here starts at $185k. When we fiddled with Porsche's configurator, we got that price to over $240,000. If you're not a badge snob, the Lucid Air looks like the better deal, but who can put a price on driving pleasure?
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