Liability for carjacking with threat

I read the news about a man in Odesa who threatened a taxi driver with a pistol and took his car just to "take a ride," then left the car nearby, and it was returned to the owner. The police detained this man, and he now faces up to 8 years in prison for attempted illegal seizure of a vehicle with a threat. My question is: if a person did not intend to permanently appropriate the car, but just wanted to take a ride and return it later, can they really be imprisoned for such a long term, and is such motivation taken into account in court? Or is it still considered a serious crime by law?