The comment was on the "permanent" nature of the CEO. Whether the CEO is interim or permanent doesn't correlate with software improvements.
Lucid Gravity 5,000 Mile Review! The Best Driving SUV Crippled By Software Annoyances
- Thread starter HC_79
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I would consider them competitors. I have a GGT that's supposed to be delivered at the end of the month/beginning of next month. I'm now considering delaying/cancelling the order because of how profound the software issues seem to be and with the nearest service centre a 10 hour drive it's no small thing to get issues addressed. I could wait maybe 12 months for the bugs to be sorted, or I could purchase an R1S as Rivian has a service centre in my city. I would agree that one one hand they go after different segments of the market, but on the other hand, they are also competing for the same market, the upscale, 7-seat electric SUV market.
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I've been waffling back and forth about taking delivery of my GGT, which is currently sitting at the Rocklin Studio waiting for me to come take delivery. I've been trying to tell myself that the $7500 lease discount is compensation for taking a beta vehicle. And @hmp10's decision to turn right around and buy another Gravity after his accident was a real vote of confidence in favor of me moving forward. After watching the OOS video, I think that mentally I'm just not on Team Lucid, and not willing to spend $120k to be a beta tester. I also feel like the huge volume of software improvements needed will erode my tolerance for the hardware problems that the vehicle has, and make it difficult for me to mentally brush them off as being no big deal. The high pitch headlight whine in particular might wear on me. Kyle's comment about needing to give a tutorial in Gravity quirks to anyone he asks to move the vehicle is also probably a predictor of future fury from my wife if I brought home a GGT.
I do want the best driving SUV available to be in my driveway. But I think I need to wait 6 months or a year before I should consider buying one. Getting a 2027 Gravity might also have a bunch of minor hardware improvements that the vehicle could clearly benefit from.
I do want the best driving SUV available to be in my driveway. But I think I need to wait 6 months or a year before I should consider buying one. Getting a 2027 Gravity might also have a bunch of minor hardware improvements that the vehicle could clearly benefit from.
The Lucid is so much more luxury though.
There's no other car like it. Even Out of Spec Reviews said he hated the software, but, the car itself is the only thing that handles like the Aston Martin and the Range Rover at the same time.
Software is literally the ONLY thing they can fix without you having to do anything but wait-I'll take that for $7500.
I went through relative hell with my Air (ask anyone within earshot), but now its fixed up, and there is no other car like it. I've had all the Germans, I still have Maserati, Cadillac and 2 Teslas and the Air feels special.
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I actually haven't had any hardware problems that Lucid hasn't already addressed, either by service visits or in the factory between the first and second builds. However I think waiting at least several more months before jumping in is a wise choice, especially given the concerns about your wife having to deal with workarounds.
The engineering bones of this car are just so very good that, for me at least, it makes the software mess marginally tolerable -- as long as I can maintain faith that they will be addressed.
Our three Gravities will have been manufactured almost exactly 3 months apart from each other. When I can finally get our newest one on the road in probably late January I'll have at least an anecdotal read on how things are progressing with it.
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I've really appreciated reading everything you've posted to the forum since I've joined. I think if I were a two car household, I'd roll the dice and move forward with my purchase. I love to drive. Even just a day trip loop through the mountains in Northern California is a relaxing break for me. So I'll stick around and be watching with interest the reports of the progress they make.
As someone living with tinnitus and being very sensitive to high pitch sounds I can assure you the headlights noise is not an issue at all for me. Assuming my car is typical and working as designed, the sound coming from headlamps cannot be heard from the cabin unless the cabin is totally quiet and you put your ear to the dash. Even standing next to the car the sound is not high pitch and not high volume, it sounds like a small electric cooling pump under the hood, which is typical for most EVs.
In fact, until Kyle brought it up I had no idea this sound was from the headlamps, I just assumed it was a cooling pump like you hear from any EV.
I just went to the quiet garage and played with lights being on/off, focusing on sound, and found nothing wrong, the sound is not bothering me at all.
I was in the same position as you, and it was a tough decision for me but I canceled mine the other day, after waiting 8-9 months from the original order. I felt if I couldn't get rid of my existing vehicle because i couldn't trust the Gravity 100%, it wasn't time.
I figure if things improve enough I can likely get back on the horse at any time. For me though, especially after being reminded of issues in this video, there are non-software items that should be improved too. It's a 1.0 product. (though I had a first year Range Rover Sport in 2005 that was great. Largely, because they riffed on an existing LR Discovery 3 platform that had gone through some paces already. and software wasn't the large component it is today.)
Kyle C. (or anyone really) needs to quantify that high pitch frequency with a sound analyzer, there are plenty on iOS and Android that will get close enough.
I didn't hear it in my demo drives. I have tinnitus too and I'm at that age where above ~12kHz there are large chasms of hearing nothing. It's possible that in my case the noise is covered by an existing brain tone at the same frequency too.
Why do you think this?
Though I agree the Gravity is leagues better than the R1S in every category save perhaps software, they are absolutely direct competitors to people shopping for 'premium' 3 row EVs. I'd speculate that 99% of people contemplating the Gravity will have done some research or cross comparison with Rivian.
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This video and discussion is the first I've heard about headlamp noise. We've not noticed it in our Gravity.
Lucid headlamps get extremely hot, and the Gravity is missing the hood vents the Air had for the purpose of facilitating airflow over them. I wonder if Lucid is using a thermostatically-controlled fan to cool the headlamps?
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Kyle did speculate that us old-farts may have enough high frequency hearing loss to not be bothered by the noise. I've somehow managed to keep most of my upper range hearing, and I find that there's regularly electronic whines that annoy me but which my wife cannot hear at all. I didn't notice the noise when I test drove a Gravity, but at that time I wasn't aware of the issue, and never turned on the headlights during my daytime test drive.
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It was interesting to hear how Conner bashed the Escalade IQ for its poor handling and space utilization in this video. He stayed on earlier message from his Escalade review where he concluded it was really good at nothing other than cruising the interstates. I wonder how he voted in the SUV of the Year judging.
It still surprises me that a panel of judges from across the auto journalism landscape would pick a 9,000+ pound, chrome-bedecked, road-view-blocking, lumbering behemoth that draws electricity like a power substation for the win.
What is signals to me is that the EV world -- or at least the journalists that cover it -- is losing interest in the promise EVs once offered of performance coupled with efficiency and instead fallen back into the American love affair with ever-fattening, increasingly-glitzy vehicles.
Sadly, it also signals to me how Lucid's core engineering values may be falling out of step not only with recent government policy, but also with the U.S. buying public.
It still surprises me that a panel of judges from across the auto journalism landscape would pick a 9,000+ pound, chrome-bedecked, road-view-blocking, lumbering behemoth that draws electricity like a power substation for the win.
What is signals to me is that the EV world -- or at least the journalists that cover it -- is losing interest in the promise EVs once offered of performance coupled with efficiency and instead fallen back into the American love affair with ever-fattening, increasingly-glitzy vehicles.
Sadly, it also signals to me how Lucid's core engineering values may be falling out of step not only with recent government policy, but also with the U.S. buying public.
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They might be trying to market to different people, but as 2/3 of the pure EV maker options they are absolutely competing against each other.
It’s the best hardware, once software is figured out, hopefully within 6 months, we are getting one. Kyle says he prefers the Gravity drive over the Air. Quite an accomplishment.I was in the same position as you, and it was a tough decision for me but I canceled mine the other day, after waiting 8-9 months from the original order. I felt if I couldn't get rid of my existing vehicle because i couldn't trust the Gravity 100%, it wasn't time.
I figure if things improve enough I can likely get back on the horse at any time. For me though, especially after being reminded of issues in this video, there are non-software items that should be improved too. It's a 1.0 product. (though I had a first year Range Rover Sport in 2005 that was great. Largely, because they riffed on an existing LR Discovery 3 platform that had gone through some paces already. and software wasn't the large component it is today.)
I’m not sure more than a few ever cared about mi/kw at all. Just mileage per charge.
I have a colleague who bought a hummer EV- great in the city he said, but not good for longer travels since it takes 2 hours to fully charge and gets only 1.2 m/kwh the way he drives. Escalade IQ will take 40% longer to fully charge when compared to the Gravity. People who actually research before buying can easily figure this out.
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Thanks Kyle! Do you think there's a real chance Lucid can address these software issues in the near term or are the architectural problems really deep to be fixed through OTAs?
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Both of them?