The Press Embargo Has Been Lifted

[hmp10]

From the article: “The test drive route and my enthusiastic use of the accelerator pedal might have led to the less efficient result in what is admittedly a small driving sample.”

Yep, but 2.4 still strikes me as a bit low. I've watched every test drive video that's come up and, while I've seen plenty of frisky stints, none of them were really pushing the car hard for very much of the time behind the wheel.

I never worry about range for any amount of local or peppy "fun" driving, but I do worry about highway range on 80mph legs of long trips.

Our Air Dream is rated for 3.9 / kWh, but we've never seen better than 3.2 on highway legs, even in optimum traffic and weather conditions. If we see that kind of drop off in similar driving of the Gravity, we're right at 2.4 for road trips.

I'm hoping that the switch in EPA testing methods between the Air's rollout and the Gravity will yield something better with the Gravity.

 

[Bdr100]

JD Power posted its test drive review of the Gravity. Basically no surprises to us long-term Lucid owners.

They found the driving dynamics, space engineering, comfort, and materials to be top of the heap.

They liked the styling inside and out.

They found the software and UI to show promise but still to lag on delivery of that promise.

They found the EPA range to be, uh, optimistic.

https://www.jdpower.com/cars/expert-reviews/2025-lucid-gravity-review-first-drive

This review as well as the other reviews I have read on both Gravity and Air lead me to an impression that Lucid is a top tier mechanical/electrical engineering company but a less than top tier software company. The interwebs are full of videos and interviews with Lucid staff talking about innovative motors, batteries, suspension tuning, etc but virtually nothing on their innovative software. The good news is that getting the hardware right from the start of production is more important than having all software issues fine tuned at the start. Hopefully now that Gravity is officially in actual production, Lucid can shift focus to making the software rock solid reliable (first priority) and then deliver the promised future “features” such as a full featured ADAS system that justifies the high cost of Dream Drive 2 Pro, in a timely manner. At this time I am cautiously optimistic but look forward to future “long term” reviews and their experience in living with Gravity on a day to day basis.

 

[jered]

This review as well as the other reviews I have read on both Gravity and Air lead me to an impression that Lucid is a top tier mechanical/electrical engineering company but a less than top tier software company. The interwebs are full of videos and interviews with Lucid staff talking about innovative motors, batteries, suspension tuning, etc but virtually nothing on their innovative software.

I think this is more likely a matter of what gearheads are interested in hearing about. As a software engineer, I assure you that the *last* thing I want to hear about is their Scrum-based agile methodology which they have mapped into an ISO2626 V-model and maintained MISRA C compliance blah bah blah. The aspects of how you build the software are generally just less relatable and accessible than how you machine the motor.

I expect the functionality to speak for itself. Managing UX across a wide set of screens is a fascinating problem, but not the sort of thing that will excite Car & Driver (but maybe Coder & Sysadmin?)

 

[Bdr100]

You’re probably right. I am a (retired) civil engineer and the last programming class I had in school was in Fortran and was done with keypunch cards. So the mechanical and electrical stuff has more interest to me.

 

[DeaneG]

You’re probably right. I am a (retired) civil engineer and the last programming class I had in school was in Fortran and was done with keypunch cards. So the mechanical and electrical stuff has more interest to me.

I'm equal-opportunity between mechanical, electrical, and software architecture. For me, there has been a dearth of software detail and enthusiasm captured on video.

 

[illopp00]

So, when do we think we will get proper full testing from the magazines and OOS?

 

[Pragmatic]

Well the Gravity need to be released to them for for a week or two of unsupervised testing. Which means 8 - 10 vehicles so none of the major outlets are short changed. Not sure that has happened yet.

 

[WeighingGravity]

I've been wondering the same about OOS etc. I swore Kyle was alluding to getting the vehicle for a lot of testing back when he posted the detailed interior walkthrough and charging videos, but it wasn't necessarily crystal clear.

 

[hmp10]

I've been wondering the same about OOS etc. I swore Kyle was alluding to getting the vehicle for a lot of testing back when he posted the detailed interior walkthrough and charging videos, but it wasn't necessarily crystal clear.

In a podcast a week after Press Week, Tom Moloughney said that Conner's team tried to get a slot for the Press Week test drives but was told they couldn't be accommodated. He said Lucid had made a special accommodation to give him and Conner access to cars the week ahead of Press Week so that they would have the time necessary to do their charging tests.

 

[Bdr100]

I have a feeling that Kyle is going to have to hope to get hold of an early delivery customer’s car for a couple days of testing. I believe his early long term testing on Air was on one his father had bought. So he either buys one (which if not already on waiting list will take many months), borrows one from customer, or wait 6+ months for long term testing cars to be available.

 

[illopp00]

But what about press cars for testing, ie Edmunds getting 540 miles from the base model Silverado EV. Now those have been out a while.

 

[illopp00]

MSN

 

[jered]

MSN

Same author/text as the Engadget review. Hooray for syndicated content!

 

[JoeMa]

I'm wondering why Kyle Conner of Out of Spec Reviews hasn't posted a full driving review of the Gravity? Maybe Lucid will be providing him a long-term loaner to do a thorough review, but that's just speculation on my part. It's just odd (to me) since Kyle and his team have been posting the most comprehensive videos of the Gravity over the last year.

 

[9point81]

I'm wondering why Kyle Conner of Out of Spec Reviews hasn't posted a full driving review of the Gravity? Maybe Lucid will be providing him a long-term loaner to do a thorough review, but that's just speculation on my part. It's just odd (to me) since Kyle and his team have been posting the most comprehensive videos of the Gravity over the last year.

They don't have a vehicle yet to do any more testing. Once they do, they will be ALL over it I'm sure. If I had to guess, I'd say give Kyle another couple months to have a vehicle provided to them and have time to fully test it.

 

[JoeMa]

How do you know they don’t have a Gravity yet?

 

[WeighingGravity]

Is it true they haven't had a vehicle to do testing? In this video, posted Kyle specifically mentions that it's "gravity week" and that they'll be doing tow testing, road trips, and even a track day. Video posted below and clipped to where he mentions all of this....

 

[WeighingGravity]

I've wondered this for a while. Several others have made the comment that Kyle (and other reviewers) simply don't have vehicles yet. And on this site, often the people making those claims actually know the answer; there are a few people here who appear to be connected.

Kyle's video above seems to directly contradict this. But with that being said, it doesn't seem like OOS to sit on something like this for that long. Unless there's another embargo in place; maybe Kyle has to let Throttle House and Hagerty also have a week with it and have their edit time before all will drop together?

All sheer speculation here.

If none of these reviewers have vehicles yet, that does seem a little bit insane. I know there's pressure to get these into the hands of sales centers and early customers, but I'd think these in-depth reviews are crazy important....

 

[Bikerbill]

Con: Rear windows only open 2/3 of the way. Not buying this piece of Junk

Its becvause of the cutout on the door for the wheel well. MANY cars today have that same problem, not jus the Gravity.

 

[hmp10]

How do you know they don’t have a Gravity yet?

Is it true they haven't had a vehicle to do testing? In this video, posted Kyle specifically mentions that it's "gravity week" and that they'll be doing tow testing, road trips, and even a track day. Video posted below and clipped to where he mentions all of this....

I don't think we'll know until a video actually shows up. Here's what we do know from a podcast with Tom Moloughney (of "State of Charge") the week after the "Press Week" event.

Moloughney said he and Conner requested access to a Gravity to do charge testing. Since that takes considerable time, Lucid gave each of them access to a Gravity -- and to Emad Dlala and his team -- the week before "Press Week". (Those tests resulted in the videos that have already been posted.) Moloughney said that he was not interested in going back for "Press Week", as he is not really a test driver and the next test he wanted to do with the Gravity was a range test. He said that Conner's team, however, did want to go back for "Press Week" to participate in the driving tests. (This was probably the test driving Conner was anticipating when he made the videos we've seen.) However, as there were so many other journalists booked for the event and Conner had already been given preferential access the week before, Lucid declined.

I'm pretty sure Conner will do an extensive test drive of a production Gravity. It may even be underway now for all I know. But I don't think that is what he was referring to in his charge test videos.