All About That Squircle

[hmp10]

I. LOVE. THE. SQUIRCLE.

One of my chief worries while waiting for our Gravity was the squircle steering device. The yoke we had on our Tesla Model S Plaid was the most odious thing I had ever experienced in driving a car, and over a year of living with it never improved things. We finally replaced it with a steering wheel but still had to live with those ridiculous little black and unintuitive turn signal buttons.

Although I got a little more optimistic about the squircle after the brief test drive of the Gravity, I remained worried that it would be hard to live with over the long haul.

I've now driven around 1,000 miles with the squircle and can pronounce it the best car steering device I've ever used. It's intuitive. Hand-over-hand maneuvers are no problem. Holding your hands at either the 9-and-3 or the 10-and-2 positions is a piece of cake. If you like to rest your hand on top of a steering wheel, the squircle has such a place, and it's in easier reach. If you like to hook your thumbs over something to give your hands a rest you can do so over the touch pads. And . . . you have that expansive unobstructed view of the glass cockpit.

Throw the variable-ratio steering into the mix, and Lucid has a winner on its hands that I hope never to be without in another car.

IT'S. JUST. THE. BEST.

 

[9point81]

I. LOVE. THE. SQUIRCLE.

One of my chief worries while waiting for our Gravity was the squircle steering device. The yoke we had on our Tesla Model S Plaid was the most odious thing I had ever experienced in driving a car, and over a year of living with it never improved things. We finally replaced it with a steering wheel but still had to live with those ridiculous little black and unintuitive turn signal buttons.

Although I got a little more optimistic about the squircle after the brief test drive of the Gravity, I remained worried that it would be hard to live with over the long haul.

I've now driven around 1,000 miles with the squircle and can pronounce it the best car steering device I've ever used. It's intuitive. Hand-over-hand maneuvers are no problem. Holding your hands at either the 9-and-3 or the 10-and-2 positions is a piece of cake. If you like to rest your hand on top of a steering wheel, the squircle has such a place, and it's in easier reach. If you like to hook your thumbs over something to give your hands a rest you can do so over the touch pads. And . . . you have that expansive unobstructed view of the glass cockpit.

Throw the variable-ratio steering into the mix, and Lucid has a winner on its hands that I hope never to be without in another car.

IT'S. JUST. THE. BEST.

Agree 100%!!! I just had my wife's EV9 this morning to drive and was like good gawd! Was this steering wheel always so big and unweildy??? I love my squircle and never want to give it up!

 

[yadaBaga]

Will third that. Really loving the squircle. Was annoying to drive another car with regular steering wheel after it.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I. LOVE. THE. SQUIRCLE.

One of my chief worries while waiting for our Gravity was the squircle steering device. The yoke we had on our Tesla Model S Plaid was the most odious thing I had ever experienced in driving a car, and over a year of living with it never improved things. We finally replaced it with a steering wheel but still had to live with those ridiculous little black and unintuitive turn signal buttons.

Although I got a little more optimistic about the squircle after the brief test drive of the Gravity, I remained worried that it would be hard to live with over the long haul.

I've now driven around 1,000 miles with the squircle and can pronounce it the best car steering device I've ever used. It's intuitive. Hand-over-hand maneuvers are no problem. Holding your hands at either the 9-and-3 or the 10-and-2 positions is a piece of cake. If you like to rest your hand on top of a steering wheel, the squircle has such a place, and it's in easier reach. If you like to hook your thumbs over something to give your hands a rest you can do so over the touch pads. And . . . you have that expansive unobstructed view of the glass cockpit.

Throw the variable-ratio steering into the mix, and Lucid has a winner on its hands that I hope never to be without in another car.

IT'S. JUST. THE. BEST.

Yeah in both my test drives I realized it made driving easier than a big round wheel, they really nailed it.

 

[borski]

Yeah, color me surprised, but I like it a lot. With each drive, I find myself lowering the wheel a bit more, and now it’s entirely below the screen. It’s perfect.

It’s even gotten me lowering the wheel in the Air. I don’t care about seeing the top of the screen, now that I know the comfort of having the wheel lower.

 

[Neilnaples]

The squircle is fine - it’s very similar to the cybertruck “wheel” (which I traded in for the gravity) - except the cybertruck had steer by wire. One of the more interesting changes in the cybertruck. The cybertruck was more sensitive but the gravity is more responsive if that makes sense?

 

[timpossible]

They should release a squircle version for the Air!

 

[iThinkEV]

I'm surprised as well. Now when I drive other cars with wheels. 1st, the wheel feels so big now, like HUGE. and my usual seated positioning, now seems that the steering wheel is set very high, since I'm so used to the squircle being so low. It's weird. But I find myself missing the squircle when driving other cars. Maybe the cybertruck is onto something.

-iThinkEV-

 

[jered]

100% agree. I was concerned about this in the showroom, but it's great to drive. The only problem we've run into is that my husband likes to sometimes hold with one hand at 12 o'clock, which blocks the driver monitoring camera and causes alert nagging.

 

[hmp10]

100% agree. I was concerned about this in the showroom, but it's great to drive. The only problem we've run into is that my husband likes to sometimes hold with one hand at 12 o'clock, which blocks the driver monitoring camera and causes alert nagging.

True, but that would probably be the case with a conventional wheel, too.

But I thought the driver monitoring camera was not yet active. Or is it just the facial recognition software for automatically setting profiles that's not yet active?

 

[jered]

True, but that would probably be the case with a conventional wheel, too.

But I thought the driver monitoring camera was not yet active. Or is it just the facial recognition software for automatically setting profiles that's not yet active?

The driver monitoring is active, but afaict all it does is nag you to look at the road, stop for coffee, etc. Facial recognition doesn't exist in the production build yet.

 

[Ron_Burgundy]

I love the squircle. I am like “why doesn’t everyone do this”? I really like how it feels and it handles well and lets me see the entire display.

But, I often hold my hand at the top middle and the awareness camera gets upset quickly and says it can’t see me. So, it’s definitely quite active, but no Face ID, etc.