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ALISTAIR WEAVER: Oh! (EXCITED, HIGH-PITCHED) Can we do it? Can we do it? JONATHAN ELFALAN: Come on! Come on! ALISTAIR WEAVER: Give me a little bit more! Give me a little bit more! Give me a little bit more! [SHRIEKING] JONATHAN ELFALAN: Woo-hoo! ALISTAIR WEAVER: Hi, I'm Alistair. That's Jonathan. This is "Edmund's" very own Lucid Air Grand Touring. And that is the new Mercedes AMG EQE. And this is "Edmunds U-Drags." Let's get on with it. [ENERGETIC MUSIC] JONATHAN ELFALAN: And we're back again. Today we have our very own long term 2022 Lucid Air Grand Touring with only 819 horsepower and 885 pounds feet of torque. Weighing a whopping 5,226 pounds going up against the 2023 Mercedes AMG EQE with 617 horsepower, 701 pounds feet of torque, and a hefty 5,587 pounds. Is this even a fair fight? These two battery-powered bullies are going head to head in our Edmunds U-Drags track, which starts with a quarter mile drag. Then they hit the brakes, do a 180, and power back to start-finish. At the end of the first run-- so you don't fight in the comments-- we'll swap drivers and lanes and do it again. And for everything else, check out edmunds.com/udrags. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Let's deal with the elephant in the room. The last time we ran the Lucid Air in an Edmunds U-Drag, we got a bit of banter from Lucid on Twitter, who said, why did we run the car on the 19-inch rims? Well, to be honest, we ran it on the 19-inch rims because those were the wheels which the car was provided. And they were provided so that we could maximize the range, and this very car did 438 miles in the famous Edmunds EV range test. But Lucid also offers a 21-inch wheel with a more aggressive tire that should perform better in conditions like this, but won't go as far on a single charge. We tried to buy some of those tires and failed. We also tried to borrow some from Lucid and failed there, too. So we're back running on the tires with which the car was provided, because that's an important rule of Edmunds U-Drags. We only run the car on tires that you can buy directly from the manufacturer. Long-winded explanation, but here we go. So how do you launch a Lucid Air? Well, to be honest, pretty simple. You have to set the car up and put it into Sprint mode. Confirm that I am, in fact, a skilled, advanced driver. Oh yes. Whatever the T-shirt says. Now to activate launch control, put the left foot on the brake, smash my right foot into the accelerator. A cute little bear for California will appear on the dashboard, and away we go. Let's do it. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I am in the new Mercedes AMG EQE. Pretty cool car. Electric AMGs are a new breed of performance Mercedes, so very impressive performance. Anyways, launch control, pretty simple. I'm going to go ahead and select the Sport Plus drive mode. So they have a nice convenient little AMG button down here. Sport Plus, that sets everything-- drive, suspension, sound for more drama, and a few other parameters-- to full sport. You can either leave the traction stability control in sport, or you can turn it completely off. I like it off. This is an all-wheel drive car. I like it as loose as possible. So yeah, those are my settings. I think this car has a really good chance of beating that Lucid. It's just a much more well-rounded package. It has the power. It has the tires. And frankly, it's got AMG handling. So yeah, I don't think it's going to be close. [ENERGETIC MUSIC] RADIO: Five, four, three, two, one. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Oh, we got a better launch, but surely, the Lucid can come fighting back. Go. And it is. The horsepower is taking over. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh, here he comes. Oh! [ENGINES REVVING] This is so fast. But he's not going to be able to stop. [GRUNTS] [TIRES SCREECHING] ALISTAIR WEAVER: Right. Turn it, fire it out. No, no, no, no-- BOTH: No, no, no, no! JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh, here he comes! Can we hold it out? ALISTAIR WEAVER: But he's coming back! [JONATHAN YELLING] He's coming back! (EXCITED, HIGH-PITCHED) Can we do it? Can we do it? Give me a little bit more! Give me a little bit more! Give me a little bit more! Woo-hoo! Sorry about the squealing. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh man, that's a photo finish. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Mate, who won? JONATHAN ELFALAN: Talk about coming from behind, man. That was-- that was impressive. ALISTAIR WEAVER: It was just like getting the thing stopped. And I overshot a little bit, but then I just got it turned, and got back on the power. And yeah, I just-- you could just see it kind of reeling it in. I was kind of squealing a bit. Didn't sound very alpha, to be honest. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Wait, you were squealing? Or the tires were squealing? ALISTAIR WEAVER: I'm afraid I was squealing. I was getting a bit excited. (SQUEALING) Give me a little bit more! Give me a little bit more! Give me a little bit more! Give me a little bit more! JONATHAN ELFALAN: I think I won that one, right? I don't know. It was really close, but I think I think I crossed the line first. But yeah, this thing is so easy to drive. It stops well. It corners well. It gets off the corner without any drama. Actually, I had a little bit of drama, a little bit of oversteer. But it was just a hint of it. - So I think we need to reset and go again. ALISTAIR WEAVER: OK. My first run in this probably wasn't super happy with it. We also think the fact that the Lucid's got a bit more heat into its tires might help it. But I guess we're about to find out. Let's do it. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Let's go. [ENERGETIC MUSIC] RADIO: Five, four, three, two, one. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh, that Lucid got a good launch. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Better launch! Better launch! Better launch. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh man, it's so fast. [ENGINES REVVING] All right. All right, all right. Brake. Brake. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Giving everything I've got. [TIRES SCREECHING] Turn her in. I'm at the apex. [TIRES SCREECHING] And fire it out. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh, not enough of a lead! ALISTAIR WEAVER: Here we go! JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh no! [JONATHAN GROANING] ALISTAIR WEAVER: Ah, she's pulling, she's pulling! Bye-bye! JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh my God, that Lucid. Too much speed! [DRAMATIC MUSIC] ALISTAIR WEAVER: Yeah, well, there we go. Can't beat 800 horsepower, it would seem. It takes a lot of stopping, and then it's a little bit crude. And you just got to turn it and fire it out. But once you've turned and fired it out, it really goes. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah. This one was a little behind, and so I think if you don't already have a lead in this thing, then I don't know. It's really hard to make that up. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Yeah, I would like to try this on bigger, stickier tires, because it's got so much inherent capability that it would be quite something. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Anyways, how about you say we switch cars? I think that that race was pretty exciting. [DRAMATIC MUSIC] ALISTAIR WEAVER: So swapping into the AMG. I'm going to run exactly the same setup as Jonathan. So let's not get too deep into that. So same premise. I'm going to give away a few horsepower. I expect the Lucid to come flying past on the run to the corner, but I'm hoping to make it back under-braking and through the corner itself. And then hang on down the back straight away. Still think that Lucid looks cool, though. JONATHAN ELFALAN: It's Lucid time. It's a big question mark here. We all know it struggles on the braking zone, namely because we keep it planted into the quarter mile. It's the U-Drag rules. It's just a matter of this finding the grip and making that turn. But if it does that cleanly, we've seen that it has the top end to catch that thing. So let's go. [ENERGETIC MUSIC] RADIO: Five, four, three, two, one. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Oh, got a good jolt. Got a good launch for the Lucid's right there. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Out ahead! ALISTAIR WEAVER: Oh, he's coming away. It just feels so much slower. OK, let's do it on the braking. [TIRES SCREECHING] [INAUDIBLE] Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! - Go, go, go! ALISTAIR WEAVER: I think he's going to win this comfortably. [CHUCKLING] JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh, man. Good job, Lucid. Woo! ALISTAIR WEAVER: That's an easy win for the Lucid. JONATHAN ELFALAN: That is power. That is power. ALISTAIR WEAVER: So I think basically, you just hooked that up beautifully that time. You got a better launch than me, and then I was really conscious that we were braking together, and I hoped to catch you back up. And then you just managed to fire it out of the corner. This thing stopped better, but you were just-- you were just gone in that early-- through that first quarter mile. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I don't know. Maybe the tires had a little bit more heat in them. But yeah, everything just felt like it was put together. And I didn't really feel like I overshot the corner at all. It was very clean, and this thing just has the power to just leave. And its best numbers. 0-60 was tight, but the AMG hit it 0.1 seconds faster than the Lucid at 3.1. In the quarter mile, the Lucid beats the AMG with a 10.7 at 130.6 miles an hour. In the corner, it was the heavier AMG that got it, pulling 1.09g. Finally in the end, it was close, but the W goes to the Lucid with a time of 33.2 at 139.9 miles an hour. Quit staring at my leaderboard. The Lucid couldn't beat its previous time of 33 seconds flat, so it stays in sixth. And the AMG EQE comes in right above the EV6 GT in eighth, with a time of 33.5 at 128.7 miles an hour. Ooh, data and video time! JONATHAN ELFALAN: No! That Lucid got a good launch. Oh man. It's so fast. All right. All right. All right. Just [INAUDIBLE] brakes. [INAUDIBLE] the brakes. [ENGINE REVVING] [TIRES SCREECHING] Oh, not enough of a lead! Oh no! [GROANING] Oh my God, that Lucid. Too much speed! ALISTAIR WEAVER: Better launch. Better launch. Better launch. Better launch. Right. Quarter mile. Give it everything I've got. Turn her in. Hit the apex and fire it out. Here we go! Yeah, she's pulling. She's pulling. She's pulling. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Oh, you can't beat horsepower. So pretty much what we expected. A tale of braking and tires. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Well, it wasn't what I expected, to be honest. I thought the EQE's tires and just well-balanced all-around performance would have trumped that. When you get that thing turned and pointed, and it just fires out like a missile. Anyways, I still feel good. I still love the way that the EQE drives. Like you said, it's very predictable. That is fast. I think we should get some real tires for it, and it will be a totally different contender on this stage. ALISTAIR WEAVER: It just needs better tires and maybe a little bit more-- a little bit more finesse in the stability control, which is-- certainly, if you're trying to push on, gives you a little bit more to play with. Yeah, it's nothing they can't do with over-the-air updates and a set of new boots. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah. Totally agree. ALISTAIR WEAVER: So there you go. Lucid beats Mercedes. That's it from today's Edmunds U-Drags. For all the latest on this series, head to edmunds.com/udrag. That's U-D-R-A-G. We've got the link somewhere on the screen here. If you want to sell your car, head to edmunds.com/sellmycar. We've got tons of reviews, news, everything you need automotive. That's it for today. The sun is setting. We're off for a much-needed shower. Thanks for watching. That's all for now.