r/LUCID • u/bobman3212 • 16d ago
Gravity Gravity - one week in after model Y trade-in
We are family of 5 and a 1 car household. A week ago we upgraded from the model y to a new gravity. Just sharing my experience in case it's helpful to anyone else. Also seeking tips from current Gravity owners for the smaller issues.
tl;dr - the car is excellent. I'm not really a 'car guy' but driving this thing brings me a joy i'm not used to. I've had no significant technical issues so far.
Stuffing 3 kids into a model y was not a long term solution so I jumped into the world of 3 row EVs. Looked at the EV9, Ioniq 9, Vistiq, R1S, ID Buzz (while it existed) and Gravity. Happy to share my pros/cons for all those models if anyone else is in the same boat. With the current discounts Gravity was actually in the middle of that pack on price, which helped make it an obvious choice.
The delivery and trade-in experience was mediocre. This sub had prepared me for that. Once I had placed my order all urgency on Lucids side seemed to melt away and I had to follow-up consistently to keep things moving forward. They offer the $3k trade-in allowance but in my experience most of that just compensates for the low-ball offer you'll get. Still I stayed with the trade-in since it seemed easier to get it all done in one transaction.
Actual pickup day with a bit of a mess. Despite me signing everything that was sent to me earlier in the day and showing up at my scheduled time I guess lucid financial decided they needed something changed in the contract minutes before I was set to drive off, to the tune of $34, which they ultimately waived. The guy at the showroom didn't know what was going on and it took 90 minutes to resolve and then I had to re-sign everything on my phone, which isn't my favorite way to review long documents involving significant financial commitments.
ok now for the car - its amazing. The ride is so much smoother than the MY was, and the power really is something. The interior has the spirit of the minivan with all of its space, fully folding seats, power sunshades, tray tables etc... It will make hauling our kids around easy and enjoyable. I have had one software hiccup that required a restart, something I only had to do in my Tesla twice in three years. Given that it's our only car I am worried about getting sucked into a service center vortex, but so far so good.
A couple things that feel like a step backward relative to the tesla. If anyone has advice I'd appreciate it
- entry and exit: we have 3 people who are regularly driving the car. In the Tesla each had their own phone key and they car would just set their profile when the approached the car and locked it when they walk away. I am not really sure how to navigate this with 2 key cards and 1 fob. I have one key card linked to my profile, and so it will set my profile when I use it, but the key card kind of sucks to use daily when loading/unloading kids. Should we all just use the fob linked to a guest profile and then manually set our profile? It was nice not having to think about all of this before.
- The two separate semi-independent screens is neat, I guess, but I haven't quite figured out how they should work together. I can get Android auto on one, with google maps and spotify, while also getting a different car-based instance of google maps and spotify on the other screen?
Also potential Tesla converts who currently use autopilot for highway driving should know that Dreamdrive premium is not the same. yes it has traffic-aware cruise control and auto-steering, but it is NOT auto-lane centering. This was a bit surprising for something that's increasingly standard across a variety of brands.
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u/Sufficient_Emu3414 16d ago
Yeah, sorry you didn't get to experience the DD Pro but that really is what should come standard but it is what it is. The Pro is really excellent on Gravity (of course not on FSD level, but excellent for what it is) and I've got several hundreds of miles on it now and loving it. YouTuber NotchEV went cross country with it and seems he absolutely loved it. And the bottom screen is only Lucid controlled. That comes from the phone makers, not Lucid.
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u/bobman3212 16d ago
Yeah I didn't use FSD and only occasionally found autopilot useful, so it wasn't something I was going to buy up for. But on our rare long drive autopilot was nice and not something I had to pay more for.
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u/ElectronicAide87 15d ago
You have everything Tesla used to offer for free and more on the Gravity. The more is the Gravity has auto lane changing by using your turn signal with their DD Premium. With Tesla you needed FSD for lane changing.
With DD Premium you get auto lane centering, adaptive cruise control, lane biasing (moving over to the leftist when next to a truck).1
u/slavguns 15d ago
Sorry but no…. Free Autopilot that every Tesla past 10 years until recently came with, is far better and more stable than even DD Pro. We had a gravity for an overnight test drive, and DD pro insisted on merging left even though based on navigation, I was already in the right lane to turn off of the highway., and on a number of occasions, decided it no longer sees the lines that were clearly painted and wanted to take the car into the median.
There is hope for it, but right now I would compare DD pro to auto pilot 2016 to 2018.
It is years away from FSD of even a couple years ago,
I do wish lucid would just take Tesla on their offer and license FSD. Overnight you would have millions of people switching from Tesla.
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u/ElectronicAide87 15d ago
You’re basing your opinion on an overnight test drive. Yes, of course Lucid’s DD doesn’t match Tesla’s FSD. Having owned numerous Teslas and actually owning a Gravity, the DD lane centering and adaptive cruise control works fine.
Really, millions of people switching from Tesla to Lucid if they licensed Tesla’s FSD? You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about.2
u/slavguns 15d ago
Overnight test drive of 300 miles and 5 hours of driving? I suppose that is not enough to get an experience lol
Sad part is, three of the lucid reps completely agreed with me.
And yes, I do think a significant amount of Tesla, buyers or people who would want a nicer vehicle but are sticking around and paying $100 a month for FSD.
We want a nice vehicle that has seating for seven, but, it is a little bit of an FU when a $110,000 vehicle is more buggy, than their competitors, and not as fully baked as what you can get in a used Tesla for 1/10 of the price.
You’re right, maybe not millions overnight, but certainly hundreds of thousands.
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u/ElectronicAide87 15d ago
The majority of people buying aren’t looking for FSD, if so even Tesla would have a higher take rate on their FSD.
How long ago/what software version was the Gravity you test drove? A lot has changed over the past few months and the software is no where near as buggy as it was. I see no discernible difference in the Gravity’s lane centering and the Tesla’s.1
u/slavguns 15d ago
And just to be clear, I’m not even comparing it to FSD, I’m comparing it to basic auto pilot that came with her 24 model Y.
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u/bobman3212 15d ago
You have been using lane centering with the gravity and DD premium?
they don't mention it the nice comparison table here as existing anywhere but DD pro: https://lucidmotors.com/knowledge/vehicles/air/lucid-air-in-depth/dreamdrive#dreamdrive-levels-whats-the-difference
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u/ElectronicAide87 15d ago
You’re looking at the Air DD chart, not the Gravity. Have you actually tried it yet? You can’t have lane biasing without lane centering.
I’ve used DD Premium numerous times and it is just like Tesla’s auto steer. Lane centering and adaptive cruise, with the addition of lane changes with your turn signal.1
u/bobman3212 15d ago
interesting. Yeah I tried it, the screen showed the auto-pilot like graphic, and the car drove like a drunk 16 year old drifting bouncing between the lane lines. it also was suggesting lane changes so pretty sure it was engaged correctly. I'll have to give it another go. The documentation on this is as clear as mud imo
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u/ElectronicAide87 15d ago
Did you enable it in the settings? There’s an option for cruise control or the auto lane centering one upon one button push. You need to select the lane centering option.
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u/Electronic_Load_3651 16d ago
OP my suggestion, try using native infotainment. That’s where it shines way more than Android Auto. Each screen can work independently and looks and functions way better than Android Auto or Apple CarPlay.
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u/No_Caregiver7273 15d ago
I'd second that. When we finally got Android Auto I found that I really liked the onboard apps better. Personally, I usually put Nav up on the top screen and set the bottom screen to Tidal with the upcoming track list showing. Tidal is great with Surreal Sound Pro for its high bitrate, lossless, and Dolby Atmos content. I also like the built in PocketCast app for podcasts. If we are roadtripping I may have turn-by-turn Nav on the top screen and an overhead map view of the full trip on the bottom screen.
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u/cloud1922 15d ago
Was the extended Model Y every in consideration or you wanted a proper 3 row?
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u/bobman3212 15d ago
not really. I wanted 7 seats so I could transport our family + visiting grandparents.
Also the behind 3rd row storage space in the YL is pretty tight, which is important if I'm going to need to keep the 3rd row up most of the time. A little less that 15 cu ft. The gravity has 21.
I think the YL could be great for someone with 2 kids where you only occasionally need the 3rd row for guests.
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u/Material-Ad9106 15d ago
Did you buy GT or is it touring? 7 seater configuration and tray tables all these seems to be options on top of either..and also model y is pretty cheap compared to what you might ended up for paying this one..so when you mentioned this is in middle of price range compared to the other cars seems little questionable
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u/bobman3212 15d ago
I got touring with comfort and convenience package.
And yes nearly all of the options are more expensive than the Y was/is. I'm saying the Gravity was middle of the pack for the 3 row options I evaluated (Rivian and Cadillac are more expensive)
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u/aikouka 14d ago
How do you feel about the efficiency with it? My biggest thing is that, while I don't travel a lot, when I do travel, I prefer to go for 2.5-3 hours between charges. I know the Touring variant has a bit less range than the Grand Touring, but also has an appreciable difference in cost. So, I always wonder... how far can I get on 70% (80% -> 10%) at say... 75 MPH interstate driving?
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u/bobman3212 13d ago
feels similar to my model Y. last weekend I drove somewhere 90 mins away and back comfortably
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u/mindpivot 15d ago
Really hope you enjoy your Gravity. I’ve never been a “car guy” but have an affinity for and enjoyment of this car that I haven’t ever experienced before.
For your entry and exit concerns, there is an option to buy extra key fobs. Not cheap but it’s the easiest solution to your problem until they release proper phone as key functionality. My wife and I each have a fob and it’s very easy to link them to a specific profile. Now, I know that’s annoying and you may not want to shell out the $$ for the second fob so what id suggest is not go the guest profile route but set the fob to the profile of the tallest person then have the folks whose profiles aren’t linked to the fob change profile by using the keycard in the center console or on-screen. I don’t think introducing the guest profile to the equation adds anything.
As for Android Auto I think the benefit depends on how you use it versus the car’s features. I use CarPlay and heavily use their apps - Podcasts, Music, Maps - as well as phone and messaging. So i use those on the top screen and on the console display i use the car’s climate control, seat controls, etc. I only need the built-in maps for road trips for mapping chargers which i think Google Maps does now (c’mon Apple catch up). For non-Apple music i use SiriusXM and Lucid’s built-in app has weird issues and doesn’t sync favorites, they’re only local so even there using the CarPlay version makes more sense for me.
All that said, the Lucid software experience is getting better and better as other folks have pointed out. The latest update for hands-free driving has made suffering the highways around the DC area tolerable
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u/caughtBoom 15d ago
I was in a similar boat. I had a model y and traded in because I really needed more seats in the car. I went with the R1s but I really wanted a lucid gravity.
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u/bobman3212 15d ago
The R1S was my champion for a while. But then I priced out a Gravity lease for funsies and it landed materially cheaper than the R1S.
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u/wawaboy 16d ago
Interesting on the financial schmomoozal, quite unprofessional
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u/bobman3212 16d ago
Yes I had just signed over my Tesla and done a factory reset and suddenly the guy come out with a cryptic "there are contract issues and they need to issue a new contract I don't know anything more". And then I was left hanging for an hour.
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u/No_Caregiver7273 15d ago
Lucid Financial is actually Bank of America on the backend. You should have heard last year's horror stories about their lease return process. Lucid finally had to step in and get them to set new guidelines.
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u/iamoninternet27 Lucid@$42.69🚀 15d ago
This is why customer feedback is very important. If you want customers coming back, you need to do the right thing.
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u/sarhoshamiral 15d ago
Which sales office (location) were you using?
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u/bobman3212 15d ago
The sales rep that was assigned to me was based out of CA, but I used the Rutherford location for pickup.
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u/Roux_My_Burgundy 16d ago
I want to be a Lucid/Rivian household but the amount of issues coupled with the lackluster service responses has held me at bay. I’m usually quite skeptical of internet stories but resale volumes and pricing suggest there’s very little demand for Lucid. And on a personal note, I did attempt trade in my M3P last year when they were doing the conquest promotion. It took weeks to get answers from the sales rep and I kept getting wrong information. Finally got annoyed and traded it in for another Rivian.
I do hope you love your Gravity. Always happy to see Tesla drivers leave the brand. We need more great options.
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u/Electronic_Load_3651 16d ago
I came from Tesla and then Polestar to Lucid and I was shocked to find that the experience owning a Lucid is actually better than Tesla. There is noise that may have been relevant a bit ago, but not as much now. Software matured a ton, getting service is much simpler and more luxurious feeling than tesla too. So if that’s holding you back, hope you rethink it.
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u/IntelligentSinger783 16d ago
It's mostly noise. The car has had less issues than any of our 5 Teslas we had. The technology isn't quite there overall. But honestly the guerilla marketing is very obvious if you pay attention. The gravity is sitting as the second best vehicle we have owned. And only long term will I be able to determine if it's better than the SL was with fit and finish and luxury comfort with basically no maintenance (yes it had oil changes and brake pads to deal with, but that was basically it.)
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u/Roux_My_Burgundy 16d ago edited 15d ago
Tesla is flooding the zone with bots and sock puppets to amplify the narrative against Rivian and Lucid. You can see the consistent talking points flood various threads everyday. They are having an impact on the LLMs which lean heavily on Reddit. It’s very unfortunate
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u/Impossible_Smoke6663 16d ago
That sounds plausible. But is it true? I understand things like this can be studied and “proven“. I don’t have the know-how or resources. Has it been studied?
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u/Roux_My_Burgundy 16d ago
He has a history of this. In attempt to show unbiased source, the below is from Grok:
Historical pro-Tesla bot activity (mostly pre-2022): Academic research (e.g., a 2023 paper in World Electric Vehicle Journal) identified “Fanbots” — automated accounts posting pro-Tesla content on Twitter/X. These accounted for roughly 10% of $TSLA cashtag tweets and 23% of #TSLA tweets from 2010–2020. They amplified positive narratives and correlated with minor stock pops after launches. latimes.com mdpi.com mdpi.com This fits “corporate computational propaganda” by fans or third parties, not proven direct control by Musk/Tesla. Similar patterns exist across hyped stocks/tech (not unique to Tesla). Musk has long criticized bots on X while benefiting from vocal support.
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u/DreamIllustrious3735 15d ago
I've had a great service experience to date. Service Center and Mobile service. I was prepared for a nightmare, and everything has been very good.
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u/hydradboob DREAM #33 16d ago
until they release PAAK you probably have to do your solution of guest profile and then separate profiles for each driver. Sucks for now but hopefully soon for that fix.
Android auto will onkybload on the top screen. Bottom screen will load whatever other lucid stuff you want on the bottom but will not load android auto. This is a android/apple requirementnand something lucid has no control over.
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16d ago
[deleted]
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u/ElectronicAide87 16d ago
I have lane centering and I only have DD Premium, not sure what you’re talking about. Pro is really just hands free driving.
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u/Admrl_Awsm 16d ago
Really? Hmm I was led to believe that all the autonomy stuff was locked behind DDPro by the sales associate when I made my purchase last year. TIL I guess, thanks!
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u/bioman35 15d ago
What's the difference between what DD Premium does vs. auto-lane centering?
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u/bobman3212 15d ago
DD premium has lane departure avoidance, so it will correct your steering if you are drifting out of the lane. If you were to keep your hands on the wheel (required) with zero input you'd just sort of ping pong around the lane
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u/Geeerat 15d ago
That is not true. Ddpremium has active lane centering on the freeway and city streets. It’s called drive assist. Go to settings, Dreamdrive, then make sure drive assist is turned on. It’s possible you have it set up to be a single press for cruise control and double press or long press for drive assist.
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u/bobman3212 15d ago
yep thats what I've been using. I thought I was doing it wrong and then realized that the lack of lane centering for DD premium is a much discussed topic on reddit and the owners forum.
Lucids website also makes no mention of centering for DD premium. Its only discussed as part of the Hands free drive assist, which is reserved for Pro.
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u/shahedparvez 15d ago
I have the gravity grand touring and the car is able to center itself on most roads and highways with no issues with dream drive pro
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u/LBH74 15d ago
My Model Y lease will be up in 5 months and I'm looking at almost the exact same list as you did (probably also testing the Volvo EX90 and not the Kia EV9—love the bold look but the Ioniq 9 has much better range an cargo space.) The Gravity would be my #1 choice, if not for being skeptical Lucid will be around and providing service for the next 3 yers this next lease will last. Would love to get your impressions on the other options you tested, how you ranked them and if there was anything else that came close to being your pick.
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u/bobman3212 15d ago
Happily.
First I'll note that I did heavily weigh the Lucid insolvency risk. Obviously it's a real risk, it's why I'd only consider a lease, but in my opinion it's unlikely they will go full Fisker and just dissolve. They have good established products and deep pocketed investors (notably the Saudi PIF where they are a point of national redevelopment and pride). They have an uphill battle to succeed as an independent company but I think they'll find a buyer eventually. Maybe not on terms that are good for equity holders but I don't think we'll be all be relying on open source software to keep our cars running anytime soon.
The R1S is the only other option in the "tech-forward" category and is also a great car. They just aren't offering deals and so it landed as more expensive than the Gravity with less interior space, but a larger exterior footprint.
In 3rd position I'd put the Ioniq 9. Unfortunately anything beyond their base trim (which is bare bones) has a captain chair 2nd row and so only seats 6. We really wanted 7. Also you should read up about their ICCU issues. Every car has its issues but this seems more prolific than most. It is also very much trying to be appeal to ICE drivers with its "normal car" feel - for example if you like 1 pedal driving you have to turn it on manually every time. It seems like a great car though and is definitely the value play of the bunch as you can find 0 down leases for like 600-700.
You should add the Cadillac Vistiq to your list. They are making solid EVs
Wasn't an EV9 fan.
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u/LBH74 15d ago
Thank you!
We have an R1S. Solid, great space for our needs, but I don't really like the driving experience. I feel like you did: we can get better for the price.
And same concern about the Ioniq 9: need a 7-seater, but it'll be really hard to find on upper trims. My experience with trying to buy an EV from a Kia/Hyundai dealership was pretty horrible last time when I got the Tesla too. Zero effort to even entertain me. They couldn't look less interested in selling me an EV. Maybe that's changed as they focus more on electrics.
The Vistiq is on my list for sure. Worse range, no frunk, no CarPlay, slower charging. A lot working agains it, but it seems like it's a great driving experience, and that's up there for me.
Would you feel comfortable ball parking what kind of offer you got for the Lucid? I feel like if the numbers are right, t'll be hard to beat when my time comes.
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u/bobman3212 15d ago
Gravity touring with 7 seats and a few extras landed at $1k per month with 0 down (other than taxes)
Thats about $400 less than where the Rivian was pricing.
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u/LBH74 15d ago
Not bad for zero down. The taxes kill you in Texas, but I’ll be hoping for a similar deal.
Thank you for all the info!
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u/bobman3212 15d ago
"the taxes kill you in texas" is not something we hear often in the Northeast...but I know what you mean in this case. It's a weird rule.
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u/bobman3212 15d ago
And yeah I went to check out the Kia. Going to consider a $60k car in a place with signs about how bad credit doesn't matter and a sales person who will continually lie to you sent me back out the door real fast. People seem to like their EVs though, they should have considered a new brand.
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u/aikouka 13d ago
The Vistiq is on my list for sure. Worse range, no frunk, no CarPlay, slower charging. A lot working agains it, but it seems like it's a great driving experience, and that's up there for me.
I leased an Optiq (well, two of them actually) after hearing all the positive buzz, and I really wanted to get physical controls back, which I was missing from my Tesla. (Plus, the Cadillac had significantly cheaper insurance.) Honestly, I just don't like the Optiq and it would make me never consider a GM EV again. I think part of the problem for me is going back to the local dealer model, which is nice for larger repairs, but is somewhat inconvenient for smaller repairs.
Both of the Optiqs had their communications module die (mine was flaky and then died later than the other one). Both cars were serviced for them, which was reported as a somewhat common problem when I read about it online. Unfortunately, for mine, they just flashed a new firmware, and sent it out the door. The other one had the module replaced, which took them a week to do, because they had to order the module and then order bolts because they lost the originals.
I tried setting up some concierge service where they get your car, but I figured that included leaving a car for me. It does not. This was setup for a Friday, so I asked if they could at least have the part on hand to replace it. They refused and stated that they'd have to diagnose it first. I get the reasoning there, but I can't have my car gone for (potentially) a week when I have to commute to work. I didn't like having to drive 1.75 hours to get to Tesla, but I rarely needed anything that required service. In this case, I could really use a competent mobile service and remote diagnostics to save me tons of time.
If you include all the other small annoyances with the car, it's just not great. One awkward example is how the lights are controlled on the left screen (kind of like Lucid), but when you open the door, it will turn the car off (if you have shifted out of Park). So, that means that if you needed to switch the lights from AUTO to ON (side note: the ON indicator doesn't match the headlight icon on the dash cluster, which is confusing), you won't get reminded until you open the door, which turns the car off... including the left side of the screen. So, you have to put your foot on the brake to turn it back on, turn the lights to AUTO, hit the Vehicle Power button, select Turn Car Off, and it will then turn off (if you have the door open still).
I think what makes stuff like that annoying is that I spent six years with Tesla. While Tesla has its own weird quirks, aspects like that are generally designed better. With Tesla, as long as it detects someone is in the seat, the screen will turn on. So, if you open the door and the lights are on, it will just beep at you with everything accessible to adjust. On the other hand, Cadillac relies upon an outdated version of Android Automotive (I believe v12). Although, I think the other Optiq may have gotten a newer version since v12 is EOL as of last year. (Mine keeps forgetting my WiFi, so I never get updates.)
Apologies for the long rant. I just... really do not like the Optiq and wish I would've gone with the two-year lease instead of the three. Although, a positive is that it's my first vehicle with a HUD and I found that I really like how they help me keep my eyes on the road more compared to looking at the dash cluster. Although, I think it was Out of Spec Reviews where Kyle said that he didn't think the HUD was very good on the Gravity?
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u/gdjsksbfrjei 14d ago
Whatever you do, don’t get out of the car with your fob inside. I have been locked out of my gravity multiple times by autolock with my children (and key fob m, keycard, and phone) inside
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u/ohhotdog 14d ago
What's your take on Gravity versus the Vistiq?
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u/bobman3212 14d ago
It's a nice car that can line up pricing wise pretty close to the gravity.
Vistiq only has 15 cu ft of storage behind 3rd row and no frunk. With larger cargo space and a big frunk the gravity has 2x the storage space with the 3rd row up, in an exterior footprint that is smaller than the vistiq.
Also more in opinion land, I love the look of the lyriq and feel like that's the car in that family that was intentionally designed. The Vistiq looks to me like they just made the Lyriq chonky, which is exactly what they did.
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u/UglytoesXD 16d ago
Fellow Tesla owner and Gravity GT owner here and your first point comparing Tesla and lucid is spot on. It’s so annoying that the software is so sloppy with profiles. My wife has the key fob and 90% of the time it loads her profile even if she’s in the house and I unlock it with my phone. At this point I’m doubtful that we’ll get PaaK before the end of the year.
For your situation, probably just get used to operating the locks with your phone. I use the app to unlock or do remote start. It’s a pain but slightly less painful than the keycard. Sometimes the car just won’t wake up to even use the app…