2022 Lucid Air & 2022 Volvo V90 Cross Country

Hi, I'm John Davis and this is MotorWeek !

We're flying high in an all-electric sedan, the Lucid Air... Then, it's into the shop for a turbocharger checkup for "Your Drive..." We're treading "Over the Edge" to see what it takes to really test tires... Then, we head out to the byways in the Volvo V90 Cross Country...

So, come drive with us, next!

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TireRack.Com is proud to support MotorWeek .

First, there was the wheel.

Then, the tire.

"We'll call it TireRack."

Forty years later, we're not slowing down.

JOHN: One thing that's truly exciting about the emergence of electric vehicles is the new car makers that are arriving along with them, much like the dawn of the automobile when anyone with a decent design and some financial backing could get a car on the road.

And that brings us to California's Lucid Motors and their eye-popping first effort, the Lucid Air.

* You could say that this all-new 2022 Lucid Air dropped onto the automotive landscape out of thin air, but that wouldn't exactly be true; as the atmosphere from which this luxury sedan has emerged is quite dense with technology and performance.

"Well thought out" was the first thing that came to mind when sliding behind the wheel.

Rather than just plunk a big tablet on the dash and call it a day, the interior features a more traditional looking layout, and even some actual controls, though many of them are touch sensitive.

But, as techy as it is, it doesn't feel overly so; as its 34 inch dash-top display blends in well, and the infotainment touchscreen is low-mounted in the center stack.

But with items like the enormous windshield that blends into the roof, you can tell they spent a lot of time thinking of how to make the interior experience familiar but better.

Most things are well put together, though a few creaks and rattles do appear when you start driving it hard, and more adjustment to the steering wheel would be nice.

The rear seat is not the easiest to access, but once you get settled, there is a crazy amount of space inside this 5-seater.

Lucid began their journey as a battery manufacturer, so you know their power packs are well-sorted and capable of delivering enough juice to power more than 1,000 horsepower and sub-three-zero to 60s; not to mention the longest range of any EV yet, 520 miles.

Plus, chargers that put energy back in at a rate of more than 13 miles a minute.

And it seems to do more with less, as this Dream's battery, at 118 kilowatt hours is not significantly bigger than competitors.

Our particular test vehicle is the Dream Edition Performance with the 21 inch wheels; which means dual-motor all-wheel-drive, 1,111 horsepower, and a bit less 451 miles of range.

Like, many startups, key Lucid players are defectors from other more established automotive brands including a former Head of Design at Mazda.

So, they've created a unique looking sedan big on style.

Its smooth front, with tucked in headlights, is probably its least attractive angle, as it looks much more elegant from all others; and extremely aero-efficient without looking like it.

It's similar in size to Tesla's Model S, but stands out a little more from the traditional sedan with a bustle-back style clamshell trunk lid.

Like, most EVs in its lofty price range, it's so smooth and so fast, the driving experience quickly becomes intoxicating; and that "just one time" you push the throttle full becomes a regular occurrence, and you forget all about saving range.

We found regen braking to be very easy to get used to, but not as smooth as most when blended with the traditional friction brakes.

On back roads, it gets through corners okay; but really, blasting to the next one as fast as possible is the real treat here.

Suspension tuning is an ongoing process even for well-established brands much less startups, so not all Dreams have the same exact ride; but driven aggressively through our handling course at Mason Dixon Dragway, the Dream lived up to its name.

There's well over 5,000 pounds of weight to deal with, but it sure didn't feel like it, as the Dream delivered plenty of grip and very little body roll.

"Quite European" passed through our minds here.

But, as you can imagine, straight-line runs were the highlight of the track day, with consistent blasts to 60 in just 2.6 seconds and quarter-mile runs taking only 10.5 seconds at 133 miles per hour.

All of that power and performance, and the Dream Edition still gets a good efficiency rating of 30.5 kilowatt hours per 100 miles.

As mentioned, a limited-production luxury sedan with this much technology and performance naturally comes with a hefty price tag.

The Air Dream Edition goes for $170,500.

But, there's better news on the way, as soon the base rear-wheel-drive Pure will arrive, starting at about half that, $88,900.

You could say the Tesla Model S was a look to the future, but the 2022 Lucid Air Dream Edition does a better job of actually delivering it, with the longest range of any EV yet.

America is still full of wide-open spaces; and in similar fashion, the dawn of EVs has opened the automotive landscape wider than it's been in some time.

Will the Arizona-built Lucid have staying power or will it eventually fall victim to its own Grand Canyon-sized hype?

We think the odds are definitely in its favor!

* When you go to a dealership to buy a new car, you get to take a test drive.

But when you go to buy new tires, chances are you won't be doing any testing before you buy them.

Well, this week our Over the Edge reporter Greg Carloss does the hard work for you.

* GREG CARLOSS: At MotorWeek when we test cars, we're evaluating the sum of a whole lot of parts.

Well...today, I'm going to narrow my focus to the most important part of any car: the tires.

As I spend a day in the life of a professional tire tester.

Buying tires online is fast and easy.

But researching all the options is slow and stressful.

Thankfully, tire testers can alleviate that stress.

WOODY ROGERS: We test tires, so consumers don't have to.

We want to share the information and let the consumer decide what's most important to them and they can pick the right tire for their needs.

GREG: Given our shared interest in evaluating automotive products, we were invited to South Bend, Indiana, to review some ultra-high-performance all-season tires at a dedicated tire testing facility.

WOODY: So, we know that not all tires perform the same, so we're on a dedicated test track that evaluates how tires will perform in an emergency avoidance maneuver-type situation.

We also, evaluate tires out on the road because their ride and their noise comfort, and handling, and steering feel are also not all the same.

So, we evaluate all of those things between the road and here on the test track.

GREG: For the most accurate results, variables must be limited.

So, before they hit the test track, each tire being tested gets mounted on the same exact wheel, filled to the same exact PSI and installed on the same exact vehicle.

With that all squared away, we hit the road.

TJ CAMPBELL: For the road ride evaluation we're really just kind of determining what a customer is going to experience or a driver is going to experience in their everyday life.

GREG: What are you feeling now and taking note of in this car?

TJ: Well, this portion of our route-- it's interesting that you'd ask right now.

This is the absolute loudest section of road on our entire route, so I'm listening to the change in tone.

I'm listening to the frequencies.

Also, I'll do a little bit of just kind of, you know, very slight steering inputs for high speed responsiveness.

GREG: Once, we get a feel for how the tires behave on the street, it's back to the track where we start with a braking test.

Now, I feel like I'm at home.

After logging the stopping distance from 50 miles per hour for each tire, we head over to the skid pad to find the limits of lateral grip.

And I've already hit like, three cones.

TJ: You hit fewer than I did and I'm supposed to be the one who does this all the time.

Alright you're good.

GREG: Alright, unloading.

Tire number one feels predictable with good grip, so let's try tire number 2.

I feel like I'm having-- I have less traction.

TJ: You do.

That is...that is an accurate assessment.

You're pushing wider... GREG: Yeah, I keep pushing out, I can't stay in.

And me being the aggressive driver, I refuse to slow down, so... (TJ laughs) Wasting no time, we move onto the full circuit where we'll combine braking and handling.

Again, it feels like, tire number 1 out performs tire number 2.

And when we stop to compare lap times, the numbers don't lie.

TJ: So, you were, again, very, very consistent.

I just want to get that on camera.

Greg is an excellent tire tester.

GREG: Mom, I'm consistent!

TJ: .

14 seconds between your two laps, but your first tires were a 30.9 and a 31.0.

GREG: That's a pretty big difference.

TJ: Yes, yes.

Almost, 2.0 seconds in the dry around a tiny little 30 second track.

GREG: Wow.

So, now that we've done the dry, there's only one option left.

TJ: Turn on the sprinklers.

And make it rain.

(laughs) GREG: For tires, rain can be the great equalizer.

And once, the track is thoroughly soaked, we run all three tests again.

Unsurprisingly, the slick surface leads to longer braking distances.

Yep, never gonna stop.

TJ: Nope.

(car stops) GREG: Less lateral grip... (tire noise) TJ: You good?

GREG: And slower lap times... That was miserable.

But fun.

But that time is not good.

With the actual testing done, their findings are published online including the objective performance numbers as well as the subjective impressions which they use to generate a numeric score.

This allows customers to make a comprehensive and true apple to apples comparison for every tire tested.

So, all in all, being a tire tester for a day turned out to be a lot of fun.

And now, when I'm testing cars, I think I'll pay a little more attention to the rubber they ride on.

JOHN: "There's no replacement for displacement;" a phrase now being constantly challenged by smaller engines aided by a helping hand: turbochargers.

Well, they can only take care of you, if you take care of them, so here's Logan McCombs with vital turbocharger tech tips in this week's, Your Drive.

* LOGAN McCOMBS: Turbochargers have come a long way.

When they first came out, they were the performance upgrade you needed to have.

But, they had a lot of negatives and drawbacks to them, one of those being how they were actually cooled.

A turbo is cooled by having oil flow through it and lubricate those bearings, but when you would turn your car off there was no oil flowing throughout your system.

So, what most people ended up doing is they ended up using a turbo timer, a device that would keep your car running for a certain amount of time after you would turn it off to allow oil to continue to flow through the system, to cool off your turbo.

Another issue that they had was something called "turbo lag."

It's when you step on your pedal, but there was no throttle response until a certain point or once the turbo built up enough pressure.

Looking at it, a turbo is two halves put together with a shaft that goes throughout the entire turbo.

On one side, you have something that is called your "hot side" or "exhaust side."

And what happens is you have air or hot exhaust gases that flow up into the hot side of the turbine housing, and that spins a turbine.

As that turbine spins, on the other side of your turbo, or the front side, is your cold side, where air is pulled in and the turbine wheel spins and helps to compress that air because as the compressed air is pushed into your engine, that allows for better combustion to make the power and efficiency gains that you're looking for.

One of the things with turbo technology that has improved vastly over the years is how we actually cool these turbo's down.

No more are the days with turbo timers and having to let your car run because we still kept the oil to cool off those bearings, but we also added water ports, so that we can have water flowing throughout your turbo to help cool it even when the car is off.

Because with most modern applications, you have an electric water pump that will continue to pump water throughout the system once the car has been turned off.

One benefit that a lot of manufacturers have seen is adding a turbocharger onto a smaller displacement engine for better performance and increased efficiency, opposed to using a larger motor like a V6 or a V8.

Adding a turbocharger to a smaller displacement engine will allow us to get closer, if not better performance out of the smaller engine than we would with a larger engine.

A turbo is a great way to get well-rounded performance.

If you have a question or comment, drop us a line, right here at MotorWeek !

JOHN: Well, when we have the key FOBs you know what that means.

Time for another QuickSpin!

* JESSICA RAY: The TRD treatment was first applied to the Camry back in 2020, and we really liked what Toyota did to this benchmark midsize family sedan.

But, a lot has happened in the auto world in the last two years, so we're back to see, if we still have feelings.

It's still driven by a 3.5 liter V6, rated at 301 horsepower and 267 pound-feet of torque, sent to the front wheels through an 8-speed automatic.

A TRD catback exhaust is included for a little extra flair, but the whole experience, from engine to transmission, remains quiet and smooth.

It sits about half an inch lower thanks to the TRD shocks and springs, with new stabilizer bars for extra cornering prowess.

The lower stance matched with the bespoke aero treatment across the front, side, and rear, means you'll need to be a bit more mindful of bumps and curbs-- still, it doesn't quite flirt with impracticality.

Other race-mod changes include the gloss black spoiler and 19 inch matte black wheels; the latter of which shield red brake calipers.

The cabin continues the theme with red accents, from seatbelts to stitching.

The standard 7.0 inch or available 9.0 inch infotainment is paired off with plenty of physical controls, making for an "easy to live with" sporty experience.

And that might just be the best way to summarize the Camry TRD: underneath its boy-racer wrappings is an honest, livable commuter.

With a starting price of around $34,000, it might be great for those who want something a little spicier without sacrificing Camry practicality.

And we'll have more QuickSpins, soon!

* GREG: It's always Carnival season at MotorWeek , as we're 3-months and 5,000 miles into a long-term test of this 2022 Kia Carnival.

Now, Kia may refer to the Carnival as a multi-purpose vehicle, but we have no problem calling it a minivan, as there's no shame in this rig's game.

Ask anyone that owns one, minivans are still the most practical and flexible vehicles out there.

So far, this Carnival has proved to be not just a weekend family hauler, but a comfortable daily driver.

There's plenty of pep coming from this V6 engine and maybe a bit too much at times.

As even with a conservative right foot, the front tires like to spin when pulling away from a stop.

Naturally, that garners some looks from other motorists, but hey, that's okay.

They get to see the most stylish minivan on the market.

The 3.5 liter V6 is rated at 290 horsepower and with proper grip it gets things moving in a hurry.

Partnered with an 8-speed automatic transmission, it's delivered a good 23.9 miles per gallon so far.

Timing is everything, and the Carnival showed up just in time for summer vacations; so this family hauler has been put to use early and often.

While, it is a smooth highway cruiser, the seats are a little on the firm side, keeping it from being the ultimate long-distance getaway machine.

Stay tuned for more updates from the fleet, on the next MotorWeek Long-Term Road Test Update!

JOHN: Despite what you may have heard, Volvo still makes cars and SUVs with internal combustion engines.

And, one more thing, they still make station wagons, too!

And while, this V90 Cross Country may be bigger and certainly more beautiful than Volvo wagons of old, its mission remains much the same.

* For many Americans, it was a boxy station wagon that introduced them to Volvo.

But, like most carmakers, Volvo's current lineup has shifted mostly to utility vehicles to satisfy popular buying trends.

Thankfully, Volvo hasn't completely abandoned the wagon segment, they just call them "luxury crossovers," now.

This 2022 V90 Cross Country is an excellent effort of combining both the old and the new.

Like, all full and midsize Volvos, the V90 rides on their Scalable Product Architecture.

The Cross Country name first arrived in the late 1990s with the V70 XC, a pseudo-SUV to compete with the likes of the wildly popular Subaru Outback before both brands actually started building their own SUVs.

And much like that original Cross Country, this one still features a long wheelbase, taller ground clearance, and tasteful body cladding.

But recent updates since this V90 first arrived for 2017 include an updated face with revised grille and logo; plus, a new rear bumper that does away with the exhaust cutouts.

Nothing major has changed inside, just minor material updates here and there; which is okay with us, as we dig the Scandinavian design, and don't even mind the 9.0 inch Sensus touchscreen interface as much as some seem to.

Unlike, the original version, this Android-based system now features Google apps, is much quicker to respond, and easier to find things.

Seats, front and rear are as comfy as we remember; and continue to be among the best in the business.

Available in two trim levels, Plus, which includes a panoramic moonroof, 4-zone automatic climate control, and a great looking 12 inch digital driver display; And top Ultimate adds Harmon-Kardon premium audio, a head-up display, and a fantastic massaging function for the front seats.

Cargo room continues to be quite spacious as well; 25.2 cubic-feet behind the rear seats, and 53.6 with them folded.

The most recent and biggest change of all has taken place under the hood.

For years now, Volvo has gone above and beyond by both turbocharging and supercharging their 2.0 liter I4.

Well, they've now replaced that mechanical supercharger with an electrical one, thus what was the T6 is now the B6.

The e-Charger is actually a 48-volt mild-hybrid system, and it sacrifices a little horsepower to be both quieter and more responsive.

Output is now 295 horsepower, which is 21-less than before, but the stout 310 pound-feet of torque is up from 295.

All-wheel-drive is standard naturally; working through the same 8-speed automatic transmission as before.

Putting it all to work at our test track, the V90 jumps off the line hard enough to mildly push you back into your seat a bit.

The soft suspension makes for a fair amount of weight transfer, but this seems to enhance the grip, not hinder it, as we hit 60 in a quick 6.5 seconds.

There was no noticeable turbo lag, and power delivery stayed very linear the whole way down the track.

The 8-speed is not the smoothest, but the hard shifts happened quickly and kept momentum rolling throughout the 14.9 second quarter-mile, completed at 94 miles per hour.

The V90's integral link rear suspension setup with transverse leaf spring is relatively unique.

And while, it prioritizes an ultra-smooth and stable ride quality, it delivered a well-planted feel through the cones too.

There was quite a bit of body roll to deal with, and steering that was both vague and light; but overall composure was quite good throughout, as we were easily able to maintain a relatively quick and smooth pace.

Consistent with Volvo's longtime safety priorities, panic braking runs were quite impressive, with aggressively stable stops from 60 averaging a good 116 feet.

The base Plus starts at $59,745, Ultimate adds another $5,600.

One more thing, the Cross Country is the only full-size V90 wagon that's still available here in the U.S. As we've come to expect from Volvo, the 2022 V90 Cross Country is a beautiful-looking package that combines loads of space, practicality, and technology with all-weather capability and some sensible Swedish luxury, to deliver a driving experience that is more special than even, and still uniquely Volvo.

Well, that's our show, I hope you enjoyed it.

Now, for more MotorWeek , including daily news updates, podcasts, and even complete episodes, cruise on over to PBS.ORG/MOTORWEEK.

And I hope you'll join us next time.

We're plugging into a Scandinavian sedan with an all-electric view, the Polestar 2.

Followed by a "ready to work" pickup with a soft side, the Toyota Tundra Capstone.

We'll get a restomod rundown on the next, Your Drive.

and visit a ballpark car show that's an absolute home run.

Until then, I'm John Davis.

We'll see you right here on MotorWeek !

ANNOUNCER: To learn more about MotorWeek , television's original automotive magazine, visit To order a DVD of this program, call... MotorWeek has been brought to you by... For more than 30 years Lucas Oil products has helped people tackle mechanical problems in the automotive, marine, and industrial fields.

From our original four core products... Lucas Oil has developed over 400 custom products to help both professionals and do it yourselfers.

To learn more visit Lucasoil.com.

Lucas oil, keep that engine alive.

TireRack.com is proud to support MotorWeek .

First, there was the wheel.

Then, the tire.

"We'll call it Tire Rack."

Forty years later, we're not slowing down.

* This program was produced by Maryland Public Television, which is solely responsible for its content.

(car engine revving) * You're watching PBS.