Speculation Sliding door gravity?

[xponents]

As I learned in switching from Audi R8s to my first EV (a Tesla Model S P90D), center of gravity has a huge effect on handling, all other things being equal. (The R8 line really focused on center of gravity, even using dry sump lubrication to drop the engine a few inches deeper into the chassis than an oil pan would allow. Even so, I was shocked at how close the heavier and relatively under-tired Tesla came to my R8s in terms of handling, due largely to its lower center of gravity.) That alone gives minivans a head start in handling over SUVs, which generally ride considerably higher. That is not to say that some particularly well-engineered SUVs (such as Cayennes and some other German offerings) might not out-handle less ambitious minivans, but Honda did a crackerjack job with the Odyssey in the handling and power departments. I have great expectations of Lucid when it comes to the Gravity, whether you want to call it an SUV or a minivan or something altogether novel. Frankly, I think it will be in a category of one when it lands.

I’m calling it an OSW: On-road sports wagon or it can be interpreted as offroad sports wagon(the gravity can do mild off-roading that other real wagons can’t)

Anybody else think of it as other acronyms?

 

[hmp10]

I’m calling it an OSW: On-road sports wagon or it can be interpreted as offroad sports wagon(the gravity can do mild off-roading that other real wagons can’t)

Anybody else think of it as other acronyms?

Looking back to the first SUVs, I think the "sport" in Sport Utility Vehicle was originally a reference to activity for which the vehicle could be used, not to the sport of driving. If "sport" could be repurposed to be a reference to sports driving, then I think the term "Sport Utility Vehicle" would be the perfect tag for the Gravity.

However, too much associative baggage has grown around the term for it to be used for a vehicle as unlike any other SUV as the Gravity will be. All I'm left with as a short, descriptive moniker is "Performance Utility Vehicle" -- or PUV.

 

[xponents]

Looking back to the first SUVs, I think the "sport" in Sport Utility Vehicle was originally a reference to activity for which the vehicle could be used, not to the sport of driving. If "sport" could be repurposed to be a reference to sports driving, then I think the term "Sport Utility Vehicle" would be the perfect tag for the Gravity.

However, too much associative baggage has grown around the term for it to be used for a vehicle as unlike any other SUV as the Gravity will be. All I'm left with as a short, descriptive moniker is "Performance Utility Vehicle" -- or PUV.

BMW uses SAV to describe their SUVs which are supposedly oriented towards on road driving, but I feel it should be flipped: Sports activity vehicle for offroaders and actually capable SUVs and SUVs for on road stuff.

 

[alamai]

Images I took from video (December 2020), show that Gravity has both SLIDING AND TRADITIONAL rear doors.
It's almost 3 years later, and a lot could have changed.

• EXECUTIVE - 2 Rows, Sits 4, Rear Reclining Seats with Footrests, Rear Sliding Doors.
• ADVENTURE - 3 Rows, Sits 6-7, Rotating & Removable 2nd Row Captain Seats, Rear Sliding Doors.
• SPORT - 3 Rows, Sits 6-7, Traditional Rear Doors.

 

[quantum]

Images I took from video (December 2020), show that Gravity has both SLIDING AND TRADITIONAL rear doors.
It's almost 3 years later, and a lot could have changed.

• EXECUTIVE - 2 Rows, Sits 4, Rear Reclining Seats with Footrests, Rear Sliding Doors.
• ADVENTURE - 3 Rows, Sits 6-7, Rotating & Removable 2nd Row Captain Seats, Rear Sliding Doors.
• SPORT - 3 Rows, Sits 6-7, Traditional Rear Doors.

I feel these are just protype sketches. Depends on what was finally decided. They wont have with and without sliding doors or removable seats.

 

[Volund]

What's wrong with sliding doors? I find them very practical. Especially in tight parking spaces.

I actually agree. Sliding doors are much more practical and useful especially for people with kids and also ease of getting in and out of the car. I honestly don't even mind and I hate vans

 

[joec]

Wow. Three pages of posts about sliding doors. How dumb is all this going to look if Gravity ends up not having sliding doors?

Please keep in mind that this entire thread is based on poorly sourced speculation. Like just about everything else related to Gravity.

Two weeks, folks. We’ll have a lot more actual information in two weeks. Try not to get too emotional before we have the facts.

 

[Rob Stark]

Gravity is not going to sell in Ford F-Series numbers. Not even in Toyota Camry numbers.

Hopefully, it sells in Model X numbers.

Having two rear door variants for such a low volume vehicle is incredibly dumb. I can't imagine Lucid does this.

Sliding doors are more practical. Minivans in general are more practical.

I hope Gravity has normal conventional doors.

That is what most people want; hence why they became conventional.

 

[xponents]

Wow. Three pages of posts about sliding doors. How dumb is all this going to look if Gravity ends up not having sliding doors?

Please keep in mind that this entire thread is based on poorly sourced speculation. Like just about everything else related to Gravity.

Two weeks, folks. We’ll have a lot more actual information in two weeks. Try not to get too emotional before we have the facts.

Waiting is painful, the pointless speculation eases that pain!

 

[xponents]

Images I took from video (December 2020), show that Gravity has both SLIDING AND TRADITIONAL rear doors.
It's almost 3 years later, and a lot could have changed.

• EXECUTIVE - 2 Rows, Sits 4, Rear Reclining Seats with Footrests, Rear Sliding Doors.
• ADVENTURE - 3 Rows, Sits 6-7, Rotating & Removable 2nd Row Captain Seats, Rear Sliding Doors.
• SPORT - 3 Rows, Sits 6-7, Traditional Rear Doors.

Thanks you for the higher quality pictures, I did not realize it had names for the different versions. That would be a cool trim level structure, kind of like the defenders urban pack, adventure pack, etc.

 

[hmp10]

I hope Gravity has normal conventional doors.

That is what most people want; hence why they became conventional.

Side-hinged doors have been on vehicles since the horse and carriage days. They are conventional because they are the easiest kind of door to engineer and manufacture, not necessarily because they are the most practical for facilitating ingress and egress in a vehicle.

The next easiest door to design and manufacture is probably the "suicide door" which made a return with Rolls Royce after 2000 and a more recent return in the Lincoln Continental, now that clamshell and blocking locks have made them safe. Getting into and out of a rear seat is easier with these doors than with forward-hinged doors, but they are difficult to reach when closing them without power assist. And, like conventional doors, they require a good bit of side space to open fully enough for an easy climb in and out.

The next easiest door to design and manufacture is probably the gullwing, which looks cool in ads but is a real annoyance to use in many settings.

Then comes the sliding rear door. Given how many years it took manufacturers to figure out a way to hide the track rails, they seem to be hard to design well and quite complicated to manufacture. However, they can allow for very wide openings (particularly useful for 3-row vehicles) and require the least side space outside the vehicle to open fully.

Finally comes the ultra-gimmicky falcon wing doors of Model X infamy, which are notoriously complex to build, reduce the torsional rigidity of the vehicle due to their interruption of roof cantrails, and apparently still have such alignment problems that Tesla resorted to a PPF film to deal with their rubbing the paint off the door sills. Their primary utility is for entertaining the neighborhood kids (of all ages).

I have been in and out of rear seats using all of the above door types except the gullwing. Sliding doors were by far the easiest to use in the widest range of places . . . as long as they were power operated, which almost all now are.

 

[borski]

Side-hinged doors have been on vehicles since the horse and carriage days. They are conventional because they are the easiest kind of door to engineer and manufacture, not necessarily because they are the most practical for facilitating ingress and egress in a vehicle.

The next easiest door to design and manufacture is probably the "suicide door" which made a return with Rolls Royce after 2000 and a more recent return in the Lincoln Continental, now that clamshell and blocking locks have made them safe. Getting into and out of a rear seat is easier with these doors than with forward-hinged doors, but they are difficult to reach when closing them without power assist. And, like conventional doors, they require a good bit of side space to open fully enough for an easy climb in and out.

The next easiest door to design and manufacture is probably the gullwing, which looks cool in ads but is a real annoyance to use in many settings.

Then comes the sliding rear door. Given how many years it took manufacturers to figure out a way to hide the track rails, they seem to be hard to design well and quite complicated to manufacture. However, they can allow for very wide openings (particularly useful for 3-row vehicles) and require the least side space outside the vehicle to open fully.

Finally comes the ultra-gimmicky falcon wing doors of Model X infamy, which are notoriously complex to build, reduce the torsional rigidity of the vehicle due to their interruption of roof cantrails, and apparently still have such alignment problems that Tesla resorted to a PPF film to deal with their rubbing the paint off the door sills. Their primary utility is for entertaining the neighborhood kids (of all ages).

I have been in and out of rear seats using all of the above door types except the gullwing. Sliding doors were by far the easiest to use in the widest range of places . . . as long as they were power operated, which almost all now are.

You're totally right. But ain't nobody convincing the vast majority of the population of that.

For tons of people, sliding doors may as well be a social death penalty - and for the record, I agree that's dumb, lol. But feelings are feelings.

 

[hmp10]

For tons of people, sliding doors may as well be a social death penalty - and for the record, I agree that's dumb, lol. But feelings are feelings.

I hope their feelings are ample comfort as they cruise around parking lots trying to find a space wide enough to unload rear passengers or letting them out at the curb before the driver goes off to park.

For people who have to get infants in and out of back seats and people who have the aches and stiffness of advanced age, not having to squeeze through the narrow angle created by opening a rear door only part way due to a nearby car or wall is a godsend.

Let's take the Lucid Air for illustration, although I'm pretty sure the Gravity will have a wider rear side opening. With the Air rear door opened to the first stop you would hit any car or obstacle closer than 25" to the car. The space available for egress and ingress is a wedge less than 20" long at its widest and only about 21" long. With a slider, that space available for egress and ingress becomes a rectangle almost 40" long and 25" wide.

When carrying rear passengers I have many times parked our Odyssey in spaces I would have had to pass up if I had been driving the Air. (The Odyssey front doors are 5" shorter than the Air's, thus allowing them also to open at a wider angle.)

 

[xponents]

I hope their feelings are ample comfort as they cruise around parking lots trying to find a space wide enough to unload rear passengers or letting them out at the curb before the driver goes off to park.

For people who have to get infants in and out of back seats and people who have the aches and stiffness of advanced age, not having to squeeze through the narrow angle created by opening a rear door only part way due to a nearby car or wall is a godsend.

Let's take the Lucid Air for illustration, although I'm pretty sure the Gravity will have a wider rear side opening. With the Air rear door opened to the first stop you would hit any car or obstacle closer than 25" to the car. The space available for egress and ingress is a wedge less than 20" long at its widest and only about 21" long. With a slider, that space available for egress and ingress becomes a rectangle almost 40" long and 25" wide.

When carrying rear passengers I have many times parked our Odyssey in spaces I would have had to pass up if I had been driving the Air. (The Odyssey front doors are 5" shorter than the Air's, thus allowing them also to open at a wider angle.)

I think that by now, almost all of us agree that sliding doors are great for functionality and pretty much everything you would need from a SUV.

The issue is that most people don't want a feature that reminds them of a minivan. For a LOT of people in the 70-90k price bracket, image is more important than function. That is why things like the Mercedes Gelandewagen(g wagen) continues to be a popular choice of wealthy customers(not in 70-90k, but the principle still applies) despite being outdated in every perceivable aspect.

 

[manitou202]

I just noticed this on Lucid's website. It appears to be a door handle on the second row door, most likely for a standard door. Typically sliding doors have the door handle towards the front.

 

[xponents]

I just noticed this on Lucid's website. It appears to be a door handle on the second row door, most likely for a standard door. Typically sliding doors have the door handle towards the front.

View attachment 16212

However, this does look like a sliding door rail...

 

[hydbob]

However, this does look like a sliding door rail...
View attachment 16213

Give it up, there is no sliding door.

 

[xponents]

Give it up, there is no sliding door.

Wait, you don't want a sliding door? There is a lot of evidence that points to them and some that don't.

I also did notice the glass that went all the way up to the bodywork without any weatherstripping... it looks great on the L460 Range Rover and it does here!

 

[hydbob]

Wait, you don't want a sliding door? There is a lot of evidence that points to them and some that don't.

I also did notice the glass that went all the way up to the bodywork without any weatherstripping... it looks great on the L460 Range Rover and it does here!

I do but Gravity won't have it. It's fine I can give it up since my kids are older and can buckle themselves in now.

 

[blueice89]

I would appreciate sliding doors being a family of 5 it’s very convenient