The Press Embargo Has Been Lifted

[9point81]

I've wondered this for a while. Several others have made the comment that Kyle (and other reviewers) simply don't have vehicles yet. And on this site, often the people making those claims actually know the answer; there are a few people here who appear to be connected.

Kyle's video above seems to directly contradict this. But with that being said, it doesn't seem like OOS to sit on something like this for that long. Unless there's another embargo in place; maybe Kyle has to let Throttle House and Hagerty also have a week with it and have their edit time before all will drop together?

All sheer speculation here.

If none of these reviewers have vehicles yet, that does seem a little bit insane. I know there's pressure to get these into the hands of sales centers and early customers, but I'd think these in-depth reviews are crazy important....

Yes. All speculation on my part too. I have followed his team for a long time and on several platforms. They are pretty open about what they have on hand (they shared on X and Threads when they were testing Gravity before the videos were out) and what videos to expect from them. They have not posted any Gravity content since their trip to do the charging testing. So anything I say is definitely purely speculation, but based on what Kyle's team is putting out and their history. They'd be more than happy, unless Lucid for some reason told them not to, to let everyone know they had a Gravity for full on testing. I'm sure they're chomping at the bit to get one and give us the deep level dive we have been waiting for.

 

[Bdr100]

A majority of the “Long Term” test cars for OOS are cars that he either purchased or were ones of friends and family that he accessed. The first “long term” Air was one that Kyle’s father purchased. He eventually was loaned a 2025 Air for 3 months. At that time I am sure the Air wait list was minimal and was beneficial for Lucid to long term loan a new 25 model to get some good press about the new improvements.

With the current large wait list and current supply constraints on the NACS connection and HUD, I don’t expect any media long term cars for 6+ months.

 

[WeighingGravity]

Isn't there a difference between

• "Long term tests," which I think of as being a 6-12 month window gaining day-in and day-out experience, as well as service and maintenance information and costs.... and
• "Road Tests," which are more like several days of road and possibly track testing without supervision?

I understand that a manufacturer may not be able to provide a long-term tester to media outlets for certain models or at certain stages of their development, but I don't think that the Press Day, where multiple journalists were cycled through the same few cars under fairly tight time and location constraints, really qualify as road tests.

Maybe I date myself here, but I remember when, say, Road & Track magazine would publish First Drives, Road Tests, and Long-Term Wrap-ups on vehicles.

 

[JoeMa]

I’m anticipating Kyle‘s full driving review because I find the first batch of driving reviews provide a basic overview of Gravity whereas Kyle‘s reviews dig much deeper and provide a better overall understanding of a vehicle.

 

[msaunders9430]

The follow up OoS videos are not out yet because they are being edited for brevity.

 

[hmp10]

The drive reviews I'm looking most forward to seeing are from Jason Cammissa and the Throttle House guys. They combine good in-depth discussions of driving dynamics with a conciseness that eludes Conner.

 

[JoeMa]

IMHO, Kyle Conners and Marques Brownlee are two of the best YouTube reviewers. I'm not saying I always agree with their opinions, but they go in-depth in their reviews.

 

[borski]

I mean… we could just ask @outofspeckyle lol

 

[hmp10]

IMHO, Kyle Conners and Marques Brownlee are two of the best YouTube reviewers. I'm not saying I always agree with their opinions, but they go in-depth in their reviews.

I don't disagree in terms of general overviews of a car. However, neither of them are seasoned track drivers.

Jason Cammisa is a professional stunt driver, and Thomas Holland of "Throttle House" is an experienced track driver who recently took a Class 2 trophy at the McLaren Trophy Driver Academy. While I'm far from the level of driving either of these guys do, their reviews tease out a lot of a car's behavior at the limits that, in turn, reveals a lot about a car's suspension and chassis engineering.

While I enjoy both Brownlee's and Conner's reviews, their driving impressions are far more generalized and not really focused on the fine points of dynamics. For instance, Kyle Conner lauded the dynamics of the Mercedes EQS in his first review of it -- a view that is not shared by experienced test drivers among the automotive press.

 

[Bdr100]

Judging from the large number of reviews from the press day last month, I am comfortable with their views that Gravity has excellent driving dynamics, comfortable and quiet ride, top class luxury interior. I personally don’t care about how it’s track times compare to a Z06. There are 3 big issues that were not covered by these initial reviews:

1. Real world range, charging speed, charging ease/accessibility.
2. ADAS performance - Is hands free highway functional now?
3. HUD - are AR features functional now?
4. UX 3.0 - is it long term stable and how does daily use compare to UX 2.0

The above items were not covered by reviewers due to either no being operable at review time (HUD and maybe just limited ADAS) or due to time - items 1 and 4.

Because our various favorite reviewers are not likely to get an opportunity for access to Gravity for long enough time to evaluate all 4 of the above, we will in the short term, be reliant on early owners. Unfortunately it appears that the first few owners are not prolific posters. Hopefully one or more of the regular posters (and enthusiasts) here will get delivery soon and we can start getting some of these answers.

 

[JMason]

Con from the Drake Moschkau video: The outside looks too small for the amount of interior space you have. Buyers like to sit up high.
Then we find out he prefers the big boxy looks of the Escalade IQ and R1S.

Reviewer bias toward the traditional suv look is going to come through. Basically, Lucid will get dinged for not following the standard suv approach in outside design despite the interior gains. References to station wagon and minivan look coming through. Fine with me. I like the Audi Avant wagon.

Having listened to Kyle Conner and the Savage Geese guys, I can see why some of you like them. Everyone has to start somewhere. Some of these reviewers are even getting the facts incorrect. Ride height at it's lowest, then in the next photo you see a lower ride height; TFLEV video. Come on.

Despite inaccuracies, I loved the TFLEV video showing the interior comparisons of Gravity, BMW, Escalade, and R1S. And yet, the Gravity is dinged for sitting so low. Reviewer bias aka customer preference.

Drake just doesn’t get Time And Relative Dimension In Space tech…

 

[bryway]

Its becvause of the cutout on the door for the wheel well. MANY cars today have that same problem, not jus the Gravity.

Yep. Same story for my Model X. Rear windows only open 2/3 of the way (in fact, it feels more like 1/2 way), so fully expected this on Gravity.

 

[Bdr100]

Yep. Same story for my Model X. Rear windows only open 2/3 of the way (in fact, it feels more like 1/2 way), so fully expected this on Gravity.

Yeah, my Mercedes GLE solves this by splitting the rear window into a front square that fully retracts but then there is a small immovable triangle piece of glass at the rear of the door.

 

[hmp10]

There are 3 big issues that were not covered by these initial reviews:

1. Real world range, charging speed, charging ease/accessibility.

Both Kyle Conner and Tom Moloughney posted very thorough video reports of their charging experiences with the Gravity, both at CCS stations and Tesla Superchargers. That is the reason both were given access to Gravities the week prior to "Press Week", as those tests took quite a bit of time.

Bottom line: the Gravity charged the fastest of any car either has ever tested (nearing 400 kW), both in terms of peak charging speed and the size of the area under the charging curve, meaning the Gravity maintained fast charging speeds for prolonged periods (250 kW up to almost 70% SOC). The only non-Chinese rival is the newest Porsche Taycan, but it gets there by using cells that are less power-dense than the Gravity, meaning that Porsche traded more range for faster charging times than did Lucid. (There's an inherent trade-off in cell chemistry between power density and ability to accept current quickly.) They also found that the Gravity charges faster at Superchargers than any Tesla can.

Also, the Gravity has "plug & charge" capability with Superchargers and Electrify America chargers, meaning that if you have a credit card linked to your Lucid account, all you have to do is drive up and plug in to start a charge session. You don't have to have a separate account with either charge provider.

Neither has yet done a real-world range test, though. Moloughney did mention he is more interested in doing that than in testing the handling dynamics. More than his 70-mph test, I'm interested in seeing "Car & Driver" do their 75-mph range test, as that more closely approximates real-world highway driving.

 

[Bdr100]

Yes, I viewed Kyle and Tom’s charging reviews. But although being very promising, they were one time, controlled, ideal conditions tests. What will that “big, fat, charging curve” look like in 20 degree or 100 degree temps. How will it charge on other brand chargers. According to some of Kyle’s tests, the AIr was notoriously horrible on certain brand EA chargers. Also, just because it has “plug and charge” capabilities with EA and Superchargers does not guarantee that it will work reliably with those suppliers. If all EVs performed exactly as manufacturers claimed, Kyle would not have a business. In particular, I like the long haul comparisons drives of various similar vehicles, from Denver to Vegas, showing how different cars handle varying charger availability, charging speeds, how well does the route planner, charge planner work, etc.

 

[9point81]

Yes, I viewed Kyle and Tom’s charging reviews. But although being very promising, they were one time, controlled, ideal conditions tests. What will that “big, fat, charging curve” look like in 20 degree or 100 degree temps. How will it charge on other brand chargers. According to some of Kyle’s tests, the AIr was notoriously horrible on certain brand EA chargers. Also, just because it has “plug and charge” capabilities with EA and Superchargers does not guarantee that it will work reliably with those suppliers. If all EVs performed exactly as manufacturers claimed, Kyle would not have a business. In particular, I like the long haul comparisons drives of various similar vehicles, from Denver to Vegas, showing how different cars handle varying charger availability, charging speeds, how well does the route planner, charge planner work, etc.

None of that will be available for quite a while. Need the seasons to change. Folks need time to get out and about and try the many different chargers. I'm sure in time it will come, but you'll have to give it a few months to a half year or so to get all of that info. We'll be finding that out together here as we get our vehicles and start dailying and road tripping.