We took delivery today of Gravity DE 067 at the Miami Worldcenter studio: Aurora Green / Tahoe / 21-22" wheels. We were told it was the second Gravity delivered in Florida, the first being a Grand Touring delivered three hours earlier at noon (
@Udon1122's perhaps?) from the same studio.
The car was delivered with a charging cable, the two adapters (AC and DCFC), and the frunk seat insert. The aero blade wheel inserts were included but not installed and were put on by the service crew, as the lug nut caps and the bear-logo center cap had to be removed. (The inserts have "LUCID" on the center caps instead of a bear logo.)
Although I had asked that the metal bear logos not be mounted on the car and instead given to me separately, they said the car arrived from the factory with them already attached. I also asked that the car not be charged beyond 80% as it would not be driven to any extent for a couple of weeks, and it had a 78% charge on it. I took along the mesh sunscreens I had already bought, and the delivery advisor helped us install them. They went in easily and fit perfectly, just as they do in the Air.
We did not drive the car and won't for another couple of weeks while PPF is applied and a radar/laser detector system is installed. (The car will be trucked from Miami to Naples tomorrow evening for the PPF installation to start.) However, the panel gaps looked good all around, and all the interior trim pieces seemed precisely mounted.
Despite a recent video reviewer saying that the Lucid logo on the front is not lit as it is on the Air, the logo is, in fact, lit on the Gravity. And it looks very sharp against the black insert that is set into the chrome frunk lip.
So far, so good. The software, though, began another chapter of the story, as much of it was not working. We were told most of the issues are because the car is awaiting a new major software download (although 3.2.0 was already installed):
- Our facial recognition profiles could not be loaded, and we were told that feature is not yet operable.
- We could link our phones, but CarPlay is not yet installed, much less Android Auto.
- We were able to connect the native Tidal app to our Tidal account, but we couldn't get even that far with Spotify. But neither service would play through the native apps in the car. To listen to music, we were told we would have to stream from our phones over Bluetooth for the time being.
- I asked about DreamDrive features, as we could not test them without driving. The delivery advisor said nothing much beyond ACC and lane-keep assist is currently working.
- I asked about the reports on the forum that Homelink is not yet active due to both hardware and software issues. The delivery advisor had heard nothing about it. When he opened the Homelink app it did give the prompts to pair the car to garage door openers but, as we were not at home, we could not test it any further.
- The delivery advisor tried to load the stored regional navigation maps, but the cellular connection was so weak (no bars showing on the screen) that we hung it up after waiting several minutes for just the Florida region -- the first on the list -- to get to the 20% point.
- We didn't even both to try the HUD, as it's clear from other posts that that's currently functioning at only a basic level.
It's clear based on what we saw today and the test drive we took a few weeks back in West Palm Beach that we (and our friends) are going to love driving and riding in the Gravity.
But I'm seriously worried that we might be confronting a reprise of the first ten miserable months we spent with UX 1.0 on the Air back in early 2022. I was sure Lucid had learned its lesson from that long-festering reputational fiasco, but now I'm not so sure. Is the much-vaunted UX 3.0 bound for the UX 1.0 dustbin once a UX 4.0 finally arrives to sweep up the wreckage?
A couple of side notes:
The advisor checked and said our Black / Yosemite GDE is now tagged as in production queue although a VIN is not yet assigned to it.
And we drove over to Miami in our Air Dream Edition but came home in a loaner, leaving both our Lucids behind in Miami. The Air had once again had a frunk lid jam on Saturday. The last time it would neither fully open nor fully close after attempting to open it, and that had put the car in limp mode, requiring it to be trucked across the state. The cause of that jam was supposedly frunk hinges that had gotten out of alignment. This time, they are having to replace both frunk latches due to worn gears (we almost never use the frunk, due to its history of lid jams) and both frunk struts which requires removing the bumper and then recalibrating the LIDAR. They also had to do recall checks on coolant hoses to five pumps in the car. Although we waited a couple of hours after the Gravity delivery, they weren't able to finish the work by closing time.
All in all, a mixed day -- both still excited but now also worried a bit about the new Gravity, and just wondering what more we're going to see from the recurrence of early Air production problems once its four-year warranty runs out in 10 months.
Part of me almost wishes Lucid didn't build the best damn driving machines on the planet in whatever vehicle category they decide to play. They just make a drug I can't quit buying.
