Test drive in Seattle

BTBP

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Cars
2022 Tesla Model X
We had the opportunity to test drive a Gravity in Seattle today. For background, we were Tesla Model X early adopters a decade ago and upgraded to the refreshed Model X when they came out in 2022. We normally keep our cars at least 5 years, but the violence against Teslas led us to look for an alternative. We found out about the Gravity, and were very impressed by the engineering, so we placed an order. Here's what we thought:
The Good:
The build is very solid, with notably better stiffness than the Model X (falcon wing door cutouts make the Model X somewhat flexible). Seattle streets will challenge any suspension, but the Gravity absorbed the bumps very well. Although I didn't have the opportunity to drive it on the highway, it was at least as quiet as the refreshed Model X, and much quieter than the original Model X.
Acceleration is robust. The calibration of the accelerator and the strangely strong spring on the accelerator pedal made it seem a little laggy until I got used to it. (My wife said it reminded her of her Cayenne Turbo.)
One pedal driving was excellent.
Maneuverability in parking lots was excellent.
The squircle is a big improvement over an old-fashioned round steering wheel, but I much prefer the Model X yoke. Maybe I'd like the squircle as well after I had time to optimize the position.
It has a turn signal lever! Tesla moving the turn signals to the steering wheel was dumb and a little bit dangerous. You shouldn't need to take your eyes off of the road to turn on turn signals or wipers!
The Not-So-Good:
The driver and passenger positions seemed a little claustrophobic after driving the Model X for so many years. The big black sun visors and the enormous camera mount behind the rear view mirror kind of ruin the feeling of openness you should get from that big windshield. (In fairness, I suspect those sun visors are much more effective than the lame Model X sun visors.)
My wife commented that it felt "bulky" to drive, and I felt the same, even though it's almost exactly the same size as the Model X.
The Nav system interface is nowhere near as good as the Model X. I'm really accustomed to popups guiding me to the correct turn point. I would expect the HUD will correct this shortcoming.
The HUD was not working, but it was certainly installed, since I got the blue oval on the middle of my field of view!
The Bad:
Visibility out the back of the Gravity is terrible! The rear window is very small, and mostly blocked by the back seat headrests. I always considered the rear vision in the Model X to be marginal, but the Gravity is much, much worse. Coupled with the smallish outside mirrors, I really felt challenged to keep track of other vehicles in heavy traffic.
The Model X allows continuous display of the rear and side cameras in the rectangular display, which gives much better rear view than any mirror. I'm hoping Lucid does something similar in the Gravity in a future software upgrade. Until then, I'm cancelling my order, because I just wouldn't enjoy driving the Gravity worrying about cars behind me that I couldn't easily monitor.
 
Fair criticisms imo. Visibility was one of my biggest negs too, and it's a problem for me in my Air as well. Ironically, thanks to safety regs it's a problem for most modern vehicles.

Gotta say I'm a bit surprised by your "bulky" comment. The only time I felt the weight of Gravity (lol) was under an emergency braking test.
 
Visibility out the back of the Gravity is terrible! The rear window is very small, and mostly blocked by the back seat headrests.
I felt the same at the start of my test drive. I have a 2018 Model X. But then the SA pushed a button on the pilot panel to remotely drop the 3rd row seat headrests. That gave visibility much better than the X, in my opinion.
 
Yeah, if there aren’t passengers in the third row, drop the headrests back there. Makes a big difference.
 
Lucid does like a heavy accelerator pedal. For me, it makes the car feel a little more massive.
 
With respect to rear visibility, I do wish Lucid would make the dreamdrive graphics available at all times. I find them very helpful with respect to blind spots and generally knowing where other cars are. Our X does this.

All valid concerns. Totally agree about the massive ADAS hardware housing on the windshield and I hate the visor placement. Not sure why they didn’t change that from the Air.

My biggest issue with the Gravity is the top brake light in the rear takes up too much space on the rear windshield. I wish it were positioned differently.

Still look forward to driving our Gravity every chance I get, though.
 
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