Trying to bring my dad to our side

[Carbonzhp]

My dad is very in the market for a car, after selling his very nice Individual BMW 530e. As an owner/leaser of BMW for his last 8 cars in a row, I’m trying to bring him over to Air. He’s driven my pure several times, but I took him along to Lucid Torrance to drive a Touring. He also drove an Etron GT (terrible as a car in my opinion) an i5, and is looking at i7, though there wasn’t a single one on lot to look at or drive. It seems for him, Air is missing the styling and sex appeal of something like the Etron, and obvious familiarity of the BMW. Thoughts of those that have converted from BMW ownership? I have myself and BMW really no longer offers what I’m interested in.

While we were there, I also drove Gravity, despite having a year left on my Air. Was quite happy with how much closer it felt to Air than say my wife’s iX, and will seriously consider it when my time is up.

 

[hmp10]

While we were there, I also drove Gravity, despite having a year left on my Air. Was quite happy with how much closer it felt to Air than say my wife’s iX, and will seriously consider it when my time is up.

We've had an Air Dream Edition since December 2021 and now also have two Gravity Dream Editions. My view is that you would be very happy with the switch to a Gravity -- especially a year from now when the Gravity might have finally vanquished its current software woes.

We still love our Air. But we also find that you give up very little, if any, of the fun of driving an Air while gaining so much more with the Gravity. In fact, with the rear-wheel steering of the Dynamic Package, you might actually pick up a bit of precision and maneuverability over the Air. And the added roominess, cabin silence, cargo and passenger capacity, A/C output, audio performance, multi-screen flexibility, ride height adjustment of the Gravity are real boons.

Of course, you give up some efficiency and range, but we find that the NACS plug and the charging speed of the Gravity more than offset the range loss on road trips.

And a small feature that looms larger than I would have ever suspected is the "squircle" steering wheel of the Gravity. We absolutely hated the yoke in our Tesla Model S Plaid to the point that we changed it out for a steering wheel. But the Lucid squircle has been a revelation. Not only does it feel intuitively right as a steering device with maneuvering ease and comfortable hand resting positions, the clear view it gives you of the driver's binnacle is downright addictive. The most annoying thing I find now about driving our Air is a steering wheel that I once thought was the cat's pajamas. I never want to own a car with a conventional steering wheel again.

 

[socktucker]

Getting in and out of an Air is a hassle, it’s badly designed with weird corners and doors.

Gravity is much easier. Make sure he knows what he’s in for with stuff that is still beta tho.

 

[borski]

We've had an Air Dream Edition since December 2021 and now also have two Gravity Dream Editions. My view is that you would be very happy with the switch to a Gravity -- especially a year from now when the Gravity might have finally vanquished its current software woes.

We still love our Air. But we also find that you give up very little, if any, of the fun of driving an Air while gaining so much more with the Gravity. In fact, with the rear-wheel steering of the Dynamic Package, you might actually pick up a bit of precision and maneuverability over the Air. And the added roominess, cabin silence, cargo and passenger capacity, A/C output, audio performance, multi-screen flexibility, ride height adjustment of the Gravity are real boons.

Of course, you give up some efficiency and range, but we find that the NACS plug and the charging speed of the Gravity more than offset the range loss on road trips.

And a small feature that looms larger than I would have ever suspected is the "squircle" steering wheel of the Gravity. We absolutely hated the yoke in our Tesla Model S Plaid to the point that we changed it out for a steering wheel. But the Lucid squircle has been a revelation. Not only does it feel intuitively right as a steering device with maneuvering ease and comfortable hand resting positions, the clear view it gives you of the driver's binnacle is downright addictive. The most annoying thing I find now about driving our Air is a steering wheel that I once thought was the cat's pajamas. I never want to own a car with a conventional steering wheel again.

I do like driving the Gravity, but I still find the way Air corners and handles better than the Gravity. I'm also biased because I far, far prefer lower vehicles.

And since I've only ever driven lower vehicles, I find Air easy to get into, so I don't have @socktucker's issue.

But my wife far prefers the Gravity, even though she likes the Air.

I do prefer the squircle steering wheel; that part I definitely agree with; but I still like the Air wheel too, and it's a relatively small improvement, for *me*.

 

[TahoeMichael]

I'd heard advice that one needs to give the squircle a chance, and take the time to adjust to it. But I found it immediately natural and very comfortable to drive with, and took zero time to adjust to it. I think it's an incredibly good design.

 

[merveille07]

We've had an Air Dream Edition since December 2021 and now also have two Gravity Dream Editions. My view is that you would be very happy with the switch to a Gravity -- especially a year from now when the Gravity might have finally vanquished its current software woes.

We still love our Air. But we also find that you give up very little, if any, of the fun of driving an Air while gaining so much more with the Gravity. In fact, with the rear-wheel steering of the Dynamic Package, you might actually pick up a bit of precision and maneuverability over the Air. And the added roominess, cabin silence, cargo and passenger capacity, A/C output, audio performance, multi-screen flexibility, ride height adjustment of the Gravity are real boons.

Of course, you give up some efficiency and range, but we find that the NACS plug and the charging speed of the Gravity more than offset the range loss on road trips.

And a small feature that looms larger than I would have ever suspected is the "squircle" steering wheel of the Gravity. We absolutely hated the yoke in our Tesla Model S Plaid to the point that we changed it out for a steering wheel. But the Lucid squircle has been a revelation. Not only does it feel intuitively right as a steering device with maneuvering ease and comfortable hand resting positions, the clear view it gives you of the driver's binnacle is downright addictive. The most annoying thing I find now about driving our Air is a steering wheel that I once thought was the cat's pajamas. I never want to own a car with a conventional steering wheel again.

I am impressed by your ability to give balanced advices despite all your woes. Hat off to you Sir!

 

[Miami_Lucid_Man]

Funny. My father in law is heavily considering a Gravity for my mother in law, who was one of the first down here to own a Model X around 2016. She’s current got an EQS and wants to trade it in (it’s paid off). I will probably go with them in the next week to test drive a Gravity. They want one with the most self-driving Lucid has to offer because they’re used to it coming from Tesla (father in law has a cybertruck…no comment). My hope is the Gravity’s self drive is enough to hold them over pending future updates.

 

[knewman]

Totally understand his styling preferences. If he's even somewhat engineer-minded I'd point out to him the reason for the Air's unique styling - unmatched aerodynamic efficiency. Not sure if this is still the case but when the Air was released it was the most aerodynamically efficient passenger car ever with a drag coefficient under .2

 

[hmp10]

I do like driving the Gravity, but I still find the way Air corners and handles better than the Gravity. I'm also biased because I far, far prefer lower vehicles.

Our difference in perspectives might come down to two factors: age and locale.

There was a time when I much preferred low-slung cars (hence the Corvettes, Miatas, and R8s I've owned). But arthritis and multiple joint replacements have changed that. I think part of what so impresses me about the Gravity is how well it handles for a vehicle that tall, thus so exceeding my expectations that I might tend to credit it beyond its actual performance. In fact, one of my gripes is that you can't keep the ride height at the lowest setting and instead have to adjust it every time I get in the car when I invariably reset it to "Swift" mode for routine driving.

As for locale, you are in California, and I am in Florida, the land of endless flat straightaways. Unlike my years of living in New England and California, I now have to make a real effort to find a stretch of road that is at all interesting. On the roads on which I used to commute in the Berkshire mountains, the Hollywood Hills, or the twisties north of New York City, the Air might well better hold its own than the Gravity against the sports cars I used to drive in those venues.

On the other hand, my current big thrills (such as they are) come mostly from negotiating turns where 6- and 8-lane roads intersect. And there I definitely find that the Gravity can be set more precisely into an inside turn lane than the Air. Here the rear-wheel steering really struts its stuff. I also find that RWS does a lot to offset the greater body lean from the Gravity's height compared to the Air's, thus giving it much the same higher-speed maneuvering finesse of the Air.

 

[The_Don]

Not sure what specs the Airs they had on hand were but I think that can certainly impact perception! Spoken as someone that came from BMWs

 

[borski]

Our difference in perspectives might come down to two factors: age and locale.

There was a time when I much preferred low-slung cars (hence the Corvettes, Miatas, and R8s I've owned). But arthritis and multiple joint replacements have changed that. I think part of what so impresses me about the Gravity is how well it handles for a vehicle that tall, thus so exceeding my expectations that I might tend to credit it beyond its actual performance. In fact, one of my gripes is that you can't keep the ride height at the lowest setting and instead have to adjust it every time I get in the car when I invariably reset it to "Swift" mode for routine driving.

As for locale, you are in California, and I am in Florida, the land of endless flat straightaways. Unlike my years of living in New England and California, I now have to make a real effort to find a stretch of road that is at all interesting. On the roads on which I used to commute in the Berkshire mountains, the Hollywood Hills, or the twisties north of New York City, the Air might well better hold its own than the Gravity against the sports cars I used to drive in those venues.

On the other hand, my current big thrills (such as they are) come mostly from negotiating turns where 6- and 8-lane roads intersect. And there I definitely find that the Gravity can be set more precisely into an inside turn lane than the Air. Here the rear-wheel steering really struts its stuff. I also find that RWS does a lot to offset the greater body lean from the Gravity's height compared to the Air's, thus giving it much the same higher-speed maneuvering finesse of the Air.

All of that makes perfect sense.

 

[gaskiller]

Getting in and out of an Air is a hassle, it’s badly designed with weird corners and doors.

Gravity is much easier. Make sure he knows what he’s in for with stuff that is still beta tho.

Not badly designed, intentional for aerodynamic efficiency and crash safety.

 

[socktucker]

Not badly designed, intentional for aerodynamic efficiency and crash safety.

the dash should not stick out the way it does on the inside, no other car does that. Its a bad design.

 

[borski]

the dash should not stick out the way it does on the inside, no other car does that. Its a bad design.

Agree to disagree? I have yet to ever have trouble getting into it

The real answer here is “do a test drive”

 

[Carbonzhp]

Not sure what specs the Airs they had on hand were but I think that can certainly impact perception! Spoken as someone that came from BMWs

Air selection was pretty abysmal, we opened one car only to be yelled at that it was a customer car, even though it was right next to the showroom cars. Huge prevalence of gravities in the whole space

 

[The_Don]

Air selection was pretty abysmal, we opened one car only to be yelled at that it was a customer car, even though it was right next to the showroom cars. Huge prevalence of gravities in the whole space

I think they all look good, but think anyone would be hard pressed to say an Air with the stealth pack doesn't look very sharp.

As for comparisons to the BMW, I frankly made the move because there's nothing that compares from a performance perspective, let alone packaging. The new M5 weighs more, is slower (I bought before this new generation was released, so the gap was much larger at that point), costs more (when factoring in the deals on the Air), has way less passenger and cargo space, and can have a relatively harsh ride when cruising.

I don't think the current generation of BMW EVs is worth looking at. The new ones (Neue Klasse) will likely be competitive.

Etron is cool but pretty bad from a value perspective and a lot smaller.

 

[illopp00]

I'd heard advice that one needs to give the squircle a chance, and take the time to adjust to it. But I found it immediately natural and very comfortable to drive with, and took zero time to adjust to it. I think it's an incredibly good design.

It definitely allows your hands to just sit right on the highway when you are using DA and need to just put a tiny bit of pressure on the wheel to keep the system happy or guide the car through tougher lane transitions. I tend to keep my left hand on the very top middle and then it alerts me that my hand is now blocking the eye tracker though and disables that.

 

[tmichael]

Air selection was pretty abysmal, we opened one car only to be yelled at that it was a customer car, even though it was right next to the showroom cars. Huge prevalence of gravities in the whole space

Order book is still open for Airs, so make sure he gets EXACTLY what he wants - no reason to "settle" for something on the lot.

 

[martinjlm]

A lot of energy in this thread focused on trying to get his dad into a Gravity, even though his observed preference leans hard toward Air. Coming out of a BMW 530? Thinking about an Etron GT or an i7? Doesn't sound like someone who gives a rip about ingress / egress.

I'd start by telling him it has 5-Series size with 7-Series passenger room and more cargo room than both of them. But then, if he's considering Etron GT, passenger room and cargo room are clearly not all that important. I'd tell him it out-performs either of his current considerations, especially in Touring or Grand Touring trim.

If he's one prone to road-tripping I'd tell him it charges faster than either. If he's not it won't matter. If he prioritizes opulence over design or performance than it's a lost cause...the rear seat of the i7 is other-worldly and Air cannot compete with that. Not saying rear seat in Air is not awesome...one of the factors in my choice, but the rear seat in i7 is like flying First Class on a cross Atlantic trip.

After that I'd leave him alone to get whatever the heck he wants. Suppose he buys the Air and spends the next 2 - 3 years thinking "I coulda had an i7". Now you have to own that decision and live with whatever buyers remorse he has for the length of his ownership with the vehicle.

 

[Carbonzhp]

Hit the nail on the head, and while I was busy yesterday he found his deal and made his choice. While I wanted him to join us, I can’t fault his pick with the deal he found.

25 i7 e50. Well packaged. Was a service loaner for 1 year, has 2500 miles. That service led them to take 30k off sticker. He brought it by and it’s a very nice car. White on what I’d describe as espresso interior. He’s very happy, and that’s what matters.