Quite the day - test drove a Gravity (KoP), Ioniq 9, and Buzz in that order. The Gravity was fantastic!! Loved the looks of the Green/Tahoe combo (which is what we ordered), and loved everything that everyone here has already crowed about - the way it handled, the cabin quiet, the turning radius, the squircle, the luxury, and the amount of cabin space that Lucid squeezed out of the relatively small footprint. It is amazing that there is so much interior space but the exterior does not give off “I’m a giant SUV" vibes. Definitely more like a crossover or station wagon, which to me is more appealing.
My complaints are the same as many have already pointed out - the A pillar is tricky. From where my seat was positioned there was a solid blind spot for cross-traffic coming from the passenger side. But I think could play around with seat position a bit more to fix that. With Creep off, there is a lurching/stickiness when slowly backing up that I don’t feel in the Tesla MS, even with the Gravity drive mode set to Smooth. Backing into the garage might be easier on Creep. Coming from an MS, the UX + so many screens is busy. It will take some getting used to, but I’m sure once we’re over the learning curve we will appreciate it.
I tried to hit as many potholes as I could find (which was hard for those who know KoP) and the ride was still smooth and quiet. My biggest compliant with the MS is that it handles potholes like a go kart, which makes driving in Philly likely to rattle out your teeth fillings. Switching directly from the MS to the Gravity and then back again was like night and day. There’s no way those two vehicles should be comparable in price - other than self-drive capabilities (which Lucid will fix in the future via OTA) and the fact that you can’t turn off mirror auto-fold on the Gravity (which I’m hoping Lucid fixes in the future via OTA <-- PLEASE LUCID!), the Gravity is so much better than the MS in every way.
Surprising quirk compared to the MS - the Gravity side view cameras are on the mirrors (vs. the body) so with the mirrors folded you don’t get side view cameras. No big deal, we will back into the garage as far as we can with the mirrors open, make sure everything is lined up, and then fold to get the last few feet.
Coming from the Gravity, the I9 and Buzz were huge let downs. The Buzz at least had personality and nostalgia. We ruled it out because it is too tall for our garage (its nearly 10” taller than the Gravity). The I9 sucked. It drove like a bathtub and was not nearly as spacious on the inside for its large footprint. And the exterior styling is *meh* which is a shame because I thought the I6 had some real nice lines. It feels like Hyundai rushed the I9 - we need something large and fast, let’s go!
But now we have a serious dilemma - we are getting really antsy for a 7 seater. What do we do? Just get the Gravity without the HUD? Test drive an EQB or EX90? Wait for the HUD and keep using a minivan via Zipcar every time we drive carpool? Throw two kids into the hatchback of the MS? Any other ideas?
But I have to say that after test driving an Air, EX90, Gravity, and Buzz (in that order), only the Gravity and Buzz impressed me, and now my wife is the extremely happy owner of a yellow ID Buzz. I found the driving experience to be shockingly similar to my Gravity experience (which blew me away), and it’s been absolutely incredible as a family car with more space than you can imagine. If it had a heat pump, we both love it enough that I would just forgo the Gravity and purchase a second Buzz (if anyone else is looking at them, get the cheaper RWD, which has a fantastic turning radius. The significantly worse turning radius of the AWD makes parking quite tedius). It’s really that good. But alas, we need at least one car that can road trip in the winter, so for now I’ll hold off on the Buzz. I just thought I’d talk up the Buzz somewhere on this forum since I had written it off due to its low range, but if you have a family, it’s a fantastic car you can actually get and—with home charging—the range to be complete non issue with over 90% of our road trips (we mostly do road trips between 60 and 230 miles) the Buzz can do it with zero or only one charging stop, and the reliability based on Reddit forums seems to be a little ahead of Lucid’s track record.
