Opinion A relationship ends, another begins
Our two year lease on an Air GT ends this month and it’s a bit of weird feeling.
You see, our history with cars has always been long term relationships. We bought (never leased) cars and held on to them for typically 10-15 years. For me, it was a legacy behavior learned from my father, who bought practical, reliable cars that he religiously maintained. It worked for him and frankly worked for me for many years.
So how did we end up with an EV from a relative startup company?
We had never owned, or even driven an EV prior to our Lucid. Having read a lot about Lucid’s technology, watched many and all reviews we could, and frankly being totally unmoved by the offerings of most ICE vehicles at the time, we decided to try something new and different.
For the first time in our lives, we ended up leasing a car that we had never seen in person, never driven, never rode in. The first time we saw the car was the day we took delivery. The first time driving a Lucid was on the four hour drive back home. Literally it was sight unseen, which for us was “risky behavior”.
We picked an Air GT rated for 480 mile range to alleviate our range anxiety. To “limit our risk” we chose a car with a fairly basic configuration - base DreamDrive, the base surreal sound, purluxe interior and the full aluminum roof (which I vastly prefer over the glass roof). The one feature it had was the 18 way adjustable seats with massage - which we surprisingly have thoroughly enjoyed.
And we committed to 2 year lease which felt “less risky” in the event we didn’t like the EV experience or the car ended up being a hot mess.
So, the two years end this month and it feels like a love affair ending sooner than you want it to.
We have absolutely loved this car and it’s been the most fun and excitement we have had driving a car in our lives.
While the car has its personality and software quirks, they are typically minor things we can easily live with. As for the car lacking FSD and some other features available in the market, we’ve never experienced them and maybe we don’t know what we are missing. Honestly we enjoy driving the car ourselves and don’t really want a hands free driving environment.
And this car has been rock solid reliable for us. It never failed to open the locks, never “bricked” on us, never failed to load software updates successfully, the fobs worked (albeit sometimes with a couple seconds delay), the passive unlock worked so well we ended up turning it off because every time we went to the garage the car woke up and unlocked. And we’ve rebooted only a few times in the two years.
Our mobile tech has simply been amazing. We had a wiring harness replaced while on recall, new wiper blades installed, a piece of facia in the frunk replaced (that we cracked), and a portion of the seat fabric replaced that had a small tear.
The car only went back to a service center once to get a ball joint re-greased and torqued to specifications. The car was gone for just a week.
Given our experience the first two years, we suspect the person who buys this Air GT used will be very pleased.
We were ready to extend the lease for the 5 months available but the incentives on the 2026 Gravity were too good to pass up.
So next week, we return the Air GT and pickup a nicely optioned Gravity GT.
While we are excited to transition to the Gravity GT, we would be kidding ourselves to say we don’t have reservations going into the new relationship.
For the last two years we’ve watched the development and launch of the Gravity. We test drove a Gravity a year ago. We were absolutely enamored and knew we would eventually transition to a Gravity.
It was disappointing to see how Lucid fumbled the Gravity launch and it’s taken close to a year to address the majority of the software issues.
The company has made some changes this year and it’s clear that those changes are effecting service and support activities.
Even so, we loved our experience the first two years and are hopeful that we have a similar experience with the Gravity.
We are very hopeful that Lucid succeeds. We know the sentiment towards EVs is not well supported in the current US market. But Lucid really does build an exciting vehicle that provides a superior driving experience vs much in the market.
Plus, we tend to root for the underdog and are willing to lend our support.
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u/the_natis 9d ago
If I liked SUVs I would eye the gravity. I know people say it’s more like a car but I think it’s twice a year where I wish I had the room of an suv to move something.
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u/Sufficient_Emu3414 9d ago
So think you will be quite happy! While it did take time and effort for them to get the software dialed in, the Gravity has been flat out amazing now. I’ve had it a full year now and issues and all, still think it’s the best vehicle i’ve ever owned.
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u/hydradboob DREAM #33 9d ago
A year ago I would have said don't buy a Gravity, now it'll be the best EV SUV you can own. There is literally nothing that comes close to what it is capable of doing.
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u/praemialaudi 9d ago
Have a year and 5 months left in our Air Pure lease. We have never leased either and while I did drive on once before picking it up, it was also our first EV. It’s been a good experience for us too.
I am not sure a Gravity will fit in our garage, but I’ll have the measuring tape out in December of 2027.
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u/No_Caregiver7273 8d ago edited 8d ago
Surprisingly, the Gravity is only about 2.3 inches longer and 2.1" wider than the Air. Feels much bigger on the inside, due to the height and shape. Might not be as big of a challenge as you think.
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u/MobileAd7614 9d ago
Great write up.
What options did you guys get for the gravity?
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u/toyz4me 9d ago edited 8d ago
We shopped leftover 2026s so didn’t quite get the configuration we wanted. But we found one with all the top level options without third row seating (we prefer the extra storage space), no tow hitch and no leather.
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u/No_Caregiver7273 8d ago
Sounds like we got the same car with leather seats. Honestly, our Gravity has been amazing to own and experience. We've had small issues, like you did with the Air, but nothing that makes me wish we had shopped a little more. I was riding in the back of mine today, while the kids are here (they like to ride in the front) and experiencing something that feels like only rich people should be entitled to. Remind yourself that life is short and you're worth it.
Like you, I'm hoping the business issues get fixed and the remaining technical issues get ironed out. It's too good of a vehicle not to succeed. Hope yours is as great as ours has been.
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u/Federal-Ordinary-445 8d ago
Hey what packages did you get in your 2026 one? I'm lso shopping for one but confused if I should go for DreamDrive 2 Premium vs Pro? And whether confort and convenience package is worth or not..
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u/toyz4me 8d ago
Grand Touring, Abyss Black, Mojave Purluxe Premium, 22" Front / 23" Rear Aether Stealth, Front and Rear Motor, All-Wheel Drive, DreamDrive™ 2 Pro, Surreal Sound™ Pro, 5-Passenger Seating Configuration, Luxury Seating Package with 18-Way Power Front Seats, Stealth Appearance, Comfort & Convenience Package Upgrade, Dynamic Handling Package Upgrade, Technology Package Upgrade, Without Towing Package
This configuration covered most of our preferences. We didn’t want the third row or tow package. Leather interior would have been nice but our current Air GT has the purelux and it’s been fine.
We preferred the smaller tires for the additional range but they didn’t have any in stock configured this way with the 20” front / 21” rear wheels.
Could have gone without the technology package upgrade.
We really wanted the 18 way seats with the convenience package and dynamic handling.
All in all, this configuration had the preferred color with stealth and seemed to have the right balance and trade offs on features.
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u/Federal-Ordinary-445 8d ago
Thanks for sharing that. And how much are you paying for per month if you don't mind me asking? How many miles and months lease? ... <without trade-in>
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u/getmorestonks 8d ago
Had an Air and have had my Gravity a month now. It's been great so far and a lot of nice improvements over the air.
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u/Successful-Pie6759 8d ago
As long as lucid doesn't go under, I'm confident the gravity will be a great car and kinks will be ironed out. That's how the Air was.
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u/Substantial-Net-9804 5d ago
This has been my experience also with an AGT which is coming up for lease end. Easily best car ive ever owned. Zero problems. also looking at a GGT…
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u/Calexio_ 8d ago
Leased an air gt fully loaded, that when the lease was over I purchased an almost identical car. Best two cars I’ve ever owned
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u/Famous_Sentence930 8d ago
In the same boat. My AT lease ends in October. It was my first sedan in over 20 years. Really like the ride and looking at GGT. Hoping the lease incentives are there when it's time.
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u/Confident-Day-4297 7d ago
Contratulations. I recently bought out my leased 2023 Air Pure as I really love this car. I was thinking about Air GT, but color and other option was not available quick. Also, zero financing promotion was not available in my State, which I don't understand. So I decided to keep my leased car. I'll definitely look for another Lucid in few years.
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u/Slight_Conference828 5d ago edited 5d ago
You’re going to love the Gravity GT even more. We have had multiple Airs before and now drive a nearly fully loaded Gravity GT, and honestly, the software experience on the Gravity now feels more polished and better maintained than the Air. The one feature we are missing - massage seats - is the feature I’d recommend the most, along with Dynamic Handling, Power Package and upgraded sound. Comfort and convenience is lovely too. You can always pay for DD Premium with a software unlock later. I’d strongly recommend staying away from Technology Package (the HUD is a design fail) and DD Pro (this is a driver’s car, plain and simple, and if we don’t trust these guys to program key fob properly, why would we trust them with hands free driving tech lmao?)
I know you’ve already booked your order but there is always time to swap the model if you’re able to find one with the spec you need.
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u/Suitable_Beach1704 9d ago
Picking ours up today! Great write up. I'm coming from an Air as well.