- Joined
- Mar 7, 2020
- Messages
- 4,945
- Reaction score
- 6,965
- Location
- Naples, FL
- Cars
- Model S Plaid, Odyssey
- DE Number
- 154
- Referral Code
- 033M4EXG
An Aurora Green Gravity was on display at the Miami Worldcenter Design Studio today. As viewers were allowed to sit in it, we drove across Florida to check it out. (We had seen a Lunar Titanium Gravity at showrooms twice but not been allowed to sit in it.). This Gravity was a beta prototype, not a release candidate car. There was a release candidate Gravity in the attached service center, as Lucid is sending them out to the service centers for technician training, but we were not allowed to see it. Most switchgear and the software features weren't functioning on the beta car, and some interior components were filler pieces. For example, instead of the tempered glass siding cover on the front console, there was a fixed piece of flat black material.
The showroom was mobbed, with 9-10 Lucid employees on hand from various locations and throngs of viewers milling around the Gravity and the Air Sapphire sitting next to it. All the Gravity's doors, rear hatch, and frunk were opened. In fact, we weren't allowed to close any of the doors as the mechanism that seals the windows wasn't functioning. I found quite a bit of variability among the sales reps in their knowledge of the Gravity. A couple weren't even aware that there were Gravity exterior color blocks on a display shelf and interior color swatches mounted on a large wall board. One has been in Product Planning at Lucid headquarters and was a fount of interesting information, although more regarding the Air than the Gravity (for which rollout he has been borrowed).
So, here are my impressions, moving from the front row backwards:
Front Row
Getting into the car is easier than getting into an Air, partly due to the ground clearance and partly due to the higher roof cantrails. However, I was surprised to find that I had to bend my neck a bit to get into the driver seat. Apparently the prior viewer had run it well forward of my normal driving position. My taller partner had no similar problem getting into the front passenger seat, and I found getting into the driver seat easier when the seat was run back to my normal driving position.
The foam in all the seats was extremely firm. I suspect this might be due to the need to photograph the seats for promos, as the original demo Airs in the showrooms had similarly firm foam, but the production Airs had softer foam.
Even though not all the seating adjustments were functioning, the seating positions we could access were quite comfortable. As you would expect in a Lucid, the leg and foot room was copious.
The rim of the squircle was considerably thinner than on the Air -- almost disconcertingly so. I have seen some reviewers who drove early prototypes say the rim was rather hefty, so I'm wondering if this squircle was the production version.
The Glass Cockpit (aka the driver binnacle) was positioned very well. I had doubted some of the comments about its being situated to clear the squircle without blocking the forward view. In fact, short as I am, it did so very nicely.
None of the screen displays were functional, so other that saying there were sharp looking and nicely sized, there's not much to report here.
Second Row
The second-row seats offer great leg and foot room, especially with the second row run all the way back, but are still plenty roomy when run further forward. The seating position is high, with good leg drop. There is a surprising amount of toe parking space under the front seats given that there is a second tier of battery modules under those seats.
The drop-down center armrest is the full width of the center seat back, giving two people plenty of arm room without bumping elbows. However, it is so wide compared to the Air's rear armrest that it actually makes the outboard seats feel narrower than in the Air. (I started to close the door to see just how pronounced this was until a sales rep jumped forward to tell me the doors could not be closed for the reason aforementioned.)
The tray tables seem sturdy and were positioned perfectly for typing on a laptop (at least for an adult).
But, oh . . . how that second row left me lusting for some really nice captains chairs. There's plenty of room to do them really right.
Third Row
This was a real mixed bag. As most videos have shown, there is good leg and headroom for a tall adult as long as the second-row seats aren't run too far back. However, the bottom seat cushions are very short, probably to accommodate the need to fold the seats into the cargo floor. But they just aren't as comfortable as the third row in our Odyssey. At first, this surprised me, as the Gravity wheelbase is actually fractionally longer than the Odyssey's. But then it occurred to me that the front-wheel-drive Odyssey, with no rear axle or differential, has more room to accommodate seat stowage than does the Gravity with its rear drive unit and axle. Lucid's magic space wand can only do so much, I guess.
The real clunker, though, was ingress and egress. No other word for it but awful. After I ran the second-row seat all the way forward and folded the backrest forward, I just stood there trying to figure out how to proceed. A sales rep saw my dilemma and came up to tell me that most people found it easier to fold the back seat into the floor and climb over it. He then led me around to the other side of the car to show me how others were getting in and out. (I have a replaced knee and hip and need another knee done, so . . . ain't gonna happen.) I shook my head and returned to the other side to try. I finally made it into the third row, and I'll spare you the tale of getting back out.
One of the reasons I've been chomping at the bit to get a Gravity is that I wanted an EV that could replace our Odyssey for hauling six older adults on day outings. I've now got to start working on another justification for getting the Gravity which, God help me, I'm still hellbent on doing.
Now, colors . . .
Although I was told ahead of the visit that they had no interior of exterior color samples for the Gravity, I arrived to find a wall shelf with four exterior color blocks and a large wall display with interior colors. However, the wall display showed only the four colors that were shown at the L.A. Auto Show: Yosemite, Ojai, Tahoe, and Mojave. None of the sales rep new anything about the five "curated" colors that Lucid mentions on its recently-updated Gravity webpage, and they have no idea what the fifth color might be.
The Gravity is going to come in six exterior colors, four unique to the Gravity: Supernova Bronze, Lunar Titanium, Aurora Green, and Classic Black. For some reason, the Gravity is not going to use the Infinity Black of the Air, but I could not tell any difference between the two from the samples under the showroom lighting.
The two in which I'm most interested are the bronze and the green, so a sales rep took them outside so that I could see them in natural light, where even she was surprised at how different -- and how much better -- they looked from in the showroom with its artificial lighting and heavily-tinted windows. (Several other people followed us out, and there was a lot of oohing and aahing.) These really are beautiful colors, and different hues come out in each when you move from sunlight to shade.
Personally, I found the Yosemite and Tahoe interiors work best with the Aurora Green (although I found the Yosemite a bit too "chalky" when I actually saw it). My favorite interior color -- Ojai -- just did not work with the Aurora Green, so that might break the exterior color tie for me between the bronze and the green.
Okay, folks. End of report.
Oh, wait . . .
Some sales reps think the configurator will open in early November, but none claimed to have anything firm.
And . . . the Dream Edition is almost certainly dead, but there was a hint -- shadowy, vague, halting -- that some type of performance option could yet happen. It caused me to remember that the performance version of the GT was an option in the GT order configurator instead of its own separate model. And a reviewer a few weeks back said the Gravity would have up to 1,050 horsepower. At the time, I wrote it off to his being confused, but now I'm wondering. And hoping. Maybe even praying.
The showroom was mobbed, with 9-10 Lucid employees on hand from various locations and throngs of viewers milling around the Gravity and the Air Sapphire sitting next to it. All the Gravity's doors, rear hatch, and frunk were opened. In fact, we weren't allowed to close any of the doors as the mechanism that seals the windows wasn't functioning. I found quite a bit of variability among the sales reps in their knowledge of the Gravity. A couple weren't even aware that there were Gravity exterior color blocks on a display shelf and interior color swatches mounted on a large wall board. One has been in Product Planning at Lucid headquarters and was a fount of interesting information, although more regarding the Air than the Gravity (for which rollout he has been borrowed).
So, here are my impressions, moving from the front row backwards:
Front Row
Getting into the car is easier than getting into an Air, partly due to the ground clearance and partly due to the higher roof cantrails. However, I was surprised to find that I had to bend my neck a bit to get into the driver seat. Apparently the prior viewer had run it well forward of my normal driving position. My taller partner had no similar problem getting into the front passenger seat, and I found getting into the driver seat easier when the seat was run back to my normal driving position.
The foam in all the seats was extremely firm. I suspect this might be due to the need to photograph the seats for promos, as the original demo Airs in the showrooms had similarly firm foam, but the production Airs had softer foam.
Even though not all the seating adjustments were functioning, the seating positions we could access were quite comfortable. As you would expect in a Lucid, the leg and foot room was copious.
The rim of the squircle was considerably thinner than on the Air -- almost disconcertingly so. I have seen some reviewers who drove early prototypes say the rim was rather hefty, so I'm wondering if this squircle was the production version.
The Glass Cockpit (aka the driver binnacle) was positioned very well. I had doubted some of the comments about its being situated to clear the squircle without blocking the forward view. In fact, short as I am, it did so very nicely.
None of the screen displays were functional, so other that saying there were sharp looking and nicely sized, there's not much to report here.
Second Row
The second-row seats offer great leg and foot room, especially with the second row run all the way back, but are still plenty roomy when run further forward. The seating position is high, with good leg drop. There is a surprising amount of toe parking space under the front seats given that there is a second tier of battery modules under those seats.
The drop-down center armrest is the full width of the center seat back, giving two people plenty of arm room without bumping elbows. However, it is so wide compared to the Air's rear armrest that it actually makes the outboard seats feel narrower than in the Air. (I started to close the door to see just how pronounced this was until a sales rep jumped forward to tell me the doors could not be closed for the reason aforementioned.)
The tray tables seem sturdy and were positioned perfectly for typing on a laptop (at least for an adult).
But, oh . . . how that second row left me lusting for some really nice captains chairs. There's plenty of room to do them really right.
Third Row
This was a real mixed bag. As most videos have shown, there is good leg and headroom for a tall adult as long as the second-row seats aren't run too far back. However, the bottom seat cushions are very short, probably to accommodate the need to fold the seats into the cargo floor. But they just aren't as comfortable as the third row in our Odyssey. At first, this surprised me, as the Gravity wheelbase is actually fractionally longer than the Odyssey's. But then it occurred to me that the front-wheel-drive Odyssey, with no rear axle or differential, has more room to accommodate seat stowage than does the Gravity with its rear drive unit and axle. Lucid's magic space wand can only do so much, I guess.
The real clunker, though, was ingress and egress. No other word for it but awful. After I ran the second-row seat all the way forward and folded the backrest forward, I just stood there trying to figure out how to proceed. A sales rep saw my dilemma and came up to tell me that most people found it easier to fold the back seat into the floor and climb over it. He then led me around to the other side of the car to show me how others were getting in and out. (I have a replaced knee and hip and need another knee done, so . . . ain't gonna happen.) I shook my head and returned to the other side to try. I finally made it into the third row, and I'll spare you the tale of getting back out.
One of the reasons I've been chomping at the bit to get a Gravity is that I wanted an EV that could replace our Odyssey for hauling six older adults on day outings. I've now got to start working on another justification for getting the Gravity which, God help me, I'm still hellbent on doing.
Now, colors . . .
Although I was told ahead of the visit that they had no interior of exterior color samples for the Gravity, I arrived to find a wall shelf with four exterior color blocks and a large wall display with interior colors. However, the wall display showed only the four colors that were shown at the L.A. Auto Show: Yosemite, Ojai, Tahoe, and Mojave. None of the sales rep new anything about the five "curated" colors that Lucid mentions on its recently-updated Gravity webpage, and they have no idea what the fifth color might be.
The Gravity is going to come in six exterior colors, four unique to the Gravity: Supernova Bronze, Lunar Titanium, Aurora Green, and Classic Black. For some reason, the Gravity is not going to use the Infinity Black of the Air, but I could not tell any difference between the two from the samples under the showroom lighting.
The two in which I'm most interested are the bronze and the green, so a sales rep took them outside so that I could see them in natural light, where even she was surprised at how different -- and how much better -- they looked from in the showroom with its artificial lighting and heavily-tinted windows. (Several other people followed us out, and there was a lot of oohing and aahing.) These really are beautiful colors, and different hues come out in each when you move from sunlight to shade.
Personally, I found the Yosemite and Tahoe interiors work best with the Aurora Green (although I found the Yosemite a bit too "chalky" when I actually saw it). My favorite interior color -- Ojai -- just did not work with the Aurora Green, so that might break the exterior color tie for me between the bronze and the green.
Okay, folks. End of report.
Oh, wait . . .
Some sales reps think the configurator will open in early November, but none claimed to have anything firm.
And . . . the Dream Edition is almost certainly dead, but there was a hint -- shadowy, vague, halting -- that some type of performance option could yet happen. It caused me to remember that the performance version of the GT was an option in the GT order configurator instead of its own separate model. And a reviewer a few weeks back said the Gravity would have up to 1,050 horsepower. At the time, I wrote it off to his being confused, but now I'm wondering. And hoping. Maybe even praying.
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