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Grand Touring without Dynamic Handling Package

Kairide

Kairide

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There’s not a lot of reviews or feedback on the standard Gravity suspension so I figured I’d share my experience. Just took delivery of a Grand Touring without the dynamic handling package (DHP) and it’s awesome. Everyone was saying DHP is a must add on option. I wanted to take advantage of the $7500 credit and $4000 on site credit but they’re weren’t any inventory models onsite with the other options I wanted. All were bare bones or fully loaded. I found one that met all of my wants except DHP and I took the plunge. The thing still rides buttery smooth with the single chamber air suspension. Still have all 3 drive modes and can manually adjust the height. Turning and maneuvering is fine without rear steering. Rear steering is only 3 degrees on the Gravity so it’s nothing life changing.
So if you’re on the fence on ordering DHP it’s a luxury, but not as “necessary” as others are saying. Especially if omitting it will save you the $2900 cost of the package and possibly the $4000 inventory incentive.
 
Nice. Congratulations.
Can you post your efficiency on GT and with what wheels and seats ?
 
Kairide said:
There’s not a lot of reviews or feedback on the standard Gravity suspension so I figured I’d share my experience. Just took delivery of a Grand Touring without the dynamic handling package (DHP) and it’s awesome. Everyone was saying DHP is a must add on option. I wanted to take advantage of the $7500 credit and $4000 on site credit but they’re weren’t any inventory models onsite with the other options I wanted. All were bare bones or fully loaded. I found one that met all of my wants except DHP and I took the plunge. The thing still rides buttery smooth with the single chamber air suspension. Still have all 3 drive modes and can manually adjust the height. Turning and maneuvering is fine without rear steering. Rear steering is only 3 degrees on the Gravity so it’s nothing life changing.
So if you’re on the fence on ordering DHP it’s a luxury, but not as “necessary” as others are saying. Especially if omitting it will save you the $2900 cost of the package and possibly the $4000 inventory incentive.
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Great to hear! Can you explain what you mean by ‘you can manually adjust the height’? Do you mean by changing the drive mode to Sprint it lowers the suspension a bit? My impression was that only the triple air suspension allowed for selectable heights.
 
RajD said:
Great to hear! Can you explain what you mean by ‘you can manually adjust the height’? Do you mean by changing the drive mode to Sprint it lowers the suspension a bit? My impression was that only the triple air suspension allowed for selectable heights.
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You have the ability to manually change the ride height to lowest, low, standard, high, highest, or set it to auto which is similar to the DHP 3 chamber air suspension. Changing the drive mode will also change the suspension height.

IMG_4474.webp
 
Interesting. Springs instead of air, but nice you can do that without the DH. (Though I love having it for that turn radius. ;-))
 
raleighone said:
Interesting. Springs instead of air, but nice you can do that without the DH. (Though I love having it for that turn radius. ;-))
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It's still an air suspension like the DHP comes with, just single chambered instead of triple chambered. Coming from a Model S no issue with a single chambered air suspension.
 
Very cool. For me the maneuverability in parking with our garage and parking lots has made the rear steer so much easier than our Model X. But would be interested to feel the difference in mechanical springs vs air.
 
RajD said:
Very cool. For me the maneuverability in parking with our garage and parking lots has made the rear steer so much easier than our Model X. But would be interested to feel the difference in mechanical springs vs air.
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Coming from a Model S and Toyota Tacoma maneuvering the Gravity is not an issue without rear wheel steering. I found it easier to back into my garage than the Model s for some reason.
In regard to your question about the difference between mechanical springs vs air; the non-DHP still uses air suspension.
 
Kairide said:
You have the ability to manually change the ride height to lowest, low, standard, high, highest, or set it to auto which is similar to the DHP 3 chamber air suspension. Changing the drive mode will also change the suspension height.

View attachment 36337
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Those are not the standard base wheels. Those are the middle size option, 21/22.
 
Kairide said:
Coming from a Model S no issue with a single chambered air suspension.
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Coming from two Model X LRs, I can state unequivocally that the Gravity with DHP is a far better suspension in many ways:

1) Turning radius. Gravity has a long wheelbase - 119.5 inches (it's partly how they free up so much interior space), so the turning radius and this report says the turning circle is about 3 feet larger without the DHP. My last Model X's wheel base was only 116.7 inches with a turning circle of 39.5 feet, so reducing that to 38.4 feet on the Gravity with the DHP is good considering the longer wheelbase. Going to 41.5 feet for turning radius would be bad for us - maybe if you're used to driving large vehicles it wouldn't be so bad.

2) 3-Chamber versus Single-Chamber handling. I found this on the internet:
With single-chamber air springs, the ride frequency (how stiff/soft or how responsive/relaxed the suspension feels) is inversely proportional to the square root of the spring height (fₙ ∝ 1/√h), and this relationship is fixed. This limits the achievable range of both ride frequency and ride height. The suspension feel is not that different between the lowest and highest settings.
With multi-chamber air springs, you can achieve diverse combinations of ride frequency and ride height by selectively inflating chambers, because the stacked chambers are like springs in series. The low sport mode (1 chamber inflated) can be very stiff and responsive, and the high off-road mode (all chambers inflated) can be very compliant. This means you lower the car more with less risk of bottoming out during bumps, and make it much sportier in that mode without affecting comfort in other modes. Also, you can take better advantage of increased wheel travel when off-roading, because the softened suspension allows the wheels to articulate more freely.

3) Edmunds says:
This package is a must-have and includes a trick rear-axle steering system and adjustable triple-rate air springs. The upgraded air springs allow for three selectable levels of stiffness, and when paired with the Gravity's standard adaptive Bilstein dampers, it makes for an SUV with a highly adaptable personality.
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4) Reddit says:
I tested a touring without dynamic and purchased a grand touring with it included. It’s significant in terms of maneuvering between tight parking row situations and maneuvers like U turns. I don’t know the exact radius but it is tighter than my model Y. I also noticed it at higher speeds when cornering which makes the car handle with more agility. I believe it also changes the suspension, if I recall, without dynamic, the minimum height is 2” higher and the max is 1” higher. If you have dynamic, the air suspension configuration is a 3 chamber multi rate air system for better control of suspension performance.
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5) I live in the Santa Cruz mountains above Silicon Valley, so I take curvy, switchback-laden roads frequently. On two of the switchbacks, both our previous Model Xs would have traction control activate, which caused a noticeable hiccup. At the same speeds in the Gravity with DHP (and the lower traction aero tire/wheel package), we never notice anything - it's just smooth all the way up or down. I don't know how much of that is DHP versus just the suspension design, however, as I haven't taken a non-DHP Gravity on those roads (yet).
I'll also state that the Gravity with DHP handles rough pavement better and more quietly than either of our X's.
But, in both cases I haven't driven a Gravity without DHP, so those comparisons to Model X may not be valid.
 
Curious: I have done about 3 trips on forest service roads here in NC that had a lot of bumps and washouts. I kept suspension in "Highest" but would occasionally hear/feel a pretty heavy clunk when coming down from big bumps.Is this because in highest, there is no where to sort of spring back...like no "give?" Maybe "High" would give more flexibility on bumps?

I'll try next time but curious how this works from those who know more than me.
 
Smorgasbord said:
Coming from two Model X LRs, I can state unequivocally that the Gravity with DHP is a far better suspension in many ways:

1) Turning radius. Gravity has a long wheelbase - 119.5 inches (it's partly how they free up so much interior space), so the turning radius and this report says the turning circle is about 3 feet larger without the DHP. My last Model X's wheel base was only 116.7 inches with a turning circle of 39.5 feet, so reducing that to 38.4 feet on the Gravity with the DHP is good considering the longer wheelbase. Going to 41.5 feet for turning radius would be bad for us - maybe if you're used to driving large vehicles it wouldn't be so bad.

2) 3-Chamber versus Single-Chamber handling. I found this on the internet:
With single-chamber air springs, the ride frequency (how stiff/soft or how responsive/relaxed the suspension feels) is inversely proportional to the square root of the spring height (fₙ ∝ 1/√h), and this relationship is fixed. This limits the achievable range of both ride frequency and ride height. The suspension feel is not that different between the lowest and highest settings.
With multi-chamber air springs, you can achieve diverse combinations of ride frequency and ride height by selectively inflating chambers, because the stacked chambers are like springs in series. The low sport mode (1 chamber inflated) can be very stiff and responsive, and the high off-road mode (all chambers inflated) can be very compliant. This means you lower the car more with less risk of bottoming out during bumps, and make it much sportier in that mode without affecting comfort in other modes. Also, you can take better advantage of increased wheel travel when off-roading, because the softened suspension allows the wheels to articulate more freely.

3) Edmunds says:


4) Reddit says:


5) I live in the Santa Cruz mountains above Silicon Valley, so I take curvy, switchback-laden roads frequently. On two of the switchbacks, both our previous Model Xs would have traction control activate, which caused a noticeable hiccup. At the same speeds in the Gravity with DHP (and the lower traction aero tire/wheel package), we never notice anything - it's just smooth all the way up or down. I don't know how much of that is DHP versus just the suspension design, however, as I haven't taken a non-DHP Gravity on those roads (yet).
I'll also state that the Gravity with DHP handles rough pavement better and more quietly than either of our X's.
But, in both cases I haven't driven a Gravity without DHP, so those comparisons to Model X may not be valid.
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Thanks I fully agree. The turning radius of our Gravity with DHP is MUCH tighter than either our Model S or X. The biggest testament to this was my wife - she was ecstatic to see how easily it parked in a very tight parking lot. But I notice it all the time on U turns, garage maneuvering. A car with this much space and that added wheelbase, it’s actually hard to believe. It’s a real difference for us.

Also, no question, the ride handling is way smoother on turns and bumps than the S or X ever had.

I don’t know what this single chamber Gravity suspension is compared to what our S and X had, but hopefully it’s much better than that, because both of those were absolutely crap. We hated the ride quality and it was a major reason we got rid of our 3, S, and X. The cars felt very poorly built overall.
 
raleighone said:
Curious: I have done about 3 trips on forest service roads here in NC that had a lot of bumps and washouts. I kept suspension in "Highest" but would occasionally hear/feel a pretty heavy clunk when coming down from big bumps.Is this because in highest, there is no where to sort of spring back...like no "give?" Maybe "High" would give more flexibility on bumps?

I'll try next time but curious how this works from those who know more than me.
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I would try High. highest is really for very low speed traversing IMO. I think it automatically reduces the height if you go over 10mph or something in highest for that reason. You may have a better experience in High.

I use highest really only in parking lots when I’m worried about curb damage.
 
I have a GGT with 20/21 and no DHP. It still rides amazing in Standard, it lowers automatically out of high at 45 mph, and standard goes to low at 65 mph. It still is setup pretty quick turning dynamically, and rotates very well so we can easily do U-turns. I do think I miss the rear steer in parking lots and tight corners. Other than that I have found that when its more fully loaded with stuff that the single chamber suspension runs out of a bit of bandwidth. Meaning its clear it's setup to be best in standard height (although at no point does it ride better than my previous Air Touring on mechanical springs on 19s). If its set to low on the highway with lots of stuff I need to use Swift to tighten up the dampers a bit so it's not so crashy or floaty. I think the Touring being 500 lbs lighter will have no problem with standard single chamber on the smaller wheels. I also expect any of the larger wheels with single chamber to not ride that well.
 
RajD said:
I would try High. highest is really for very low speed traversing IMO. I think it automatically reduces the height if you go over 10mph or something in highest for that reason. You may have a better experience in High.

I use highest really only in parking lots when I’m worried about curb damage.
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Yeah, but fwiw, I was only going around 10-15mph over the worst sections. Not sure if it would automatically lower it at those speeds? Oh well...all good. It did amazing and I laughed when I turned off the forest road onto the highway and immediately was driving a sports car again.
 
Was hoping to get more opinions from folks’ without the dynamic handling package and how their experience has been. trying to decide between pulling the trigger on a Touring without it and securing current incentives versus trying our luck next quarter
 
dna_at said:
Was hoping to get more opinions from folks’ without the dynamic handling package and how their experience has been. trying to decide between pulling the trigger on a Touring without it and securing current incentives versus trying our luck next quarter
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I was in a similar situation in January. I wanted the current inventory incentive and there were no GTs in my area with DHP and the other options I wanted. There was one that had everything I wanted and nothing I didn’t want except it didn’t have the DHP. I ended up taking the plunge and leased the one without DHP. Couldn’t be happier, the single air suspension is smooth, much better than my Model S air suspension. I honestly don’t miss rear wheel steering. It’s one of those options that you don’t miss if you never had it. I have no issues with U turns, parking garages or parking spaces. You still have the ability to adjust the height manually or automatically with the single air suspension.
If you find an inventory Gravity with the options you like, don’t let a lack of DHP hold you back. I think the comfort and convenience, Dream Drive Premium and luxury seating package are must haves. The DHP is a want, but not a must have.
 
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