Lucid Air Owner Drops a Truth Bomb: 'Most Frustrating Vehicle I've Ever Owned!' Ouch!

TL;DR: A big-shot engineer on YouTube just tore into his Lucid Air Touring, calling it the 'most frustrating vehicle' he's ever owned. Turns out, even brilliant hardware can't save you from software that's buggier than a motel mattress! You hear that, Lucid? This ain't no comedy show, this is real life!

Meta: A popular YouTube engineer slams his Lucid Air Touring as 'most frustrating vehicle' due to rampant software glitches and hardware defects after six months of ownership.

Alright, alright, settle down now, because we got some tea to spill in the luxury EV world! You know how sometimes you meet someone, and they look all slick and put-together, but then you get to know 'em, and it's just a whole lot of mess? Well, apparently, that's the vibe a prominent YouTube engineer, Jason Fenske of 'Engineering Explained,' is getting from his Lucid Air Touring. And when an engineer explains something, you better believe he's got the receipts!

After six months and 3,400 miles, Fenske didn't hold back, declaring his Lucid Air Touring the 'most frustrating vehicle' he's ever owned. And this ain't no small fry, folks; this man knows cars. He praised Lucid's engineering as 'brilliant,' calling the Air 'one of the best engineered vehicles the world has ever seen.' But, and it's a big but, the software, according to him, 'sucks.'

The Bug Parade: Frunk Fails & Phantom Audio

Fenske's 30-minute viral video laid out a laundry list of grievances. On the hardware side, his Air Touring's frunk played hard to get, slamming shut repeatedly until a misaligned striker was fixed. Then came the powertrain coolant pumps needing replacement and a left fan button assembly swap. Even mundane things like the charge door and cup holders were giving him grief, requiring a Hulk-like grip to operate.

But it's the software that's really doing the Electric Slide to Crazy Town. For three months, he was greeted by an 'unable to install update' popup every time he got in, despite the car claiming it was 'up to date.' Audio cutting out entirely? Check. Wireless Apple CarPlay connecting to the wrong phone, even yanking his music from his AirPods into his wife's car as she drove by? Get out of here! Some fixes even required a full factory reset, which, let's be real, is like hitting the 'undo' button on an hour of your life. That's not a car; that's a digital tantrum!

Driving & Debugging: A Distracting Combo

One of Fenske's biggest gripes is Lucid's decision to block driver-profile changes while driving, especially when combined with unreliable automatic detection and a facial recognition scanner that gets blocked by the steering wheel. When your seat, mirror, and steering adjustments are stuck behind a touchscreen, and you can't access them mid-drive, that's not just inconvenient; it's a recipe for 'incredibly distracted driving,' as he puts it.

He clarifies that he's not hating on Lucid to prop up any other brand, even a certain electric brand he previously owned and sold for principled reasons. He just wants competition to thrive because, ultimately, that's better for everyone. But a car that looks like a dream and drives like a charm but has software that acts like a prankster at every turn? That's a rough ride.

What’s Next

Lucid has a golden opportunity here to listen, learn, and implement fixes. The raw engineering talent is there, but the user experience is clearly lagging. Software updates need to become more seamless, more reliable, and less, well, frustrating. If Lucid wants to compete with the big dogs and justify its luxury price tag, it needs to iron out these digital wrinkles fast. Otherwise, all that brilliant engineering is just a pretty face with a bad attitude.

So, remember, just because it looks good on paper, doesn't mean it won't give you a headache in real life. Sometimes, you gotta laugh to keep from crying. And that's real talk!