It was a ludicrous feeling to drive a seven-passenger SUV at speeds I can’t lawfully admit down two-lane country roads. When the straightaways turned into tight corners, it stayed glued to the pavement, and I helped the accelerator meet the floor with growing confidence. All the while, 22 speakers blasted Free Bird into my skull as the driver’s seat vibrated any tension and stress out of my body. This was the new Lucid Gravity Grand Touring.
If you’re as enamored with the design of the Lucid Air as I am, you’ll feel right at home in the Gravity. By some miracle, the team at Lucid managed to distill everything that made the Air sexy into an SUV that can haul your family, your luggage, and beat a Ferrari in a race. It is as close as you can get to the Goldilocks of electric SUVs and proof that you don’t need to be a major legacy automaker to create perfection.
Gabriel Ionica
Plenty of colors to choose from
The svelte and curvy SUV body of the Gravity can be draped in one of six colors. The free color is your standard Abyss Black, while an additional $1,000 can get you Stellar White Metallic, Aurora Green Metallic, Quantum Grey Metallic, Supernova Bronze Metallic, or Lunar Titanium Metallic. My money would either be on Aurora Green Metallic or Supernoza Bronze Metallic, both of which give the Gravity a refined, luxurious finish that would fit perfectly in the LA hills and the forests of Tahoe.
Those colors can also be paired with either a Stealth or Platinum appearance package. The former darkens the roof, front, and rocker accents, while the latter makes them bright and shiny for an extra $1,000. There are also three different staggered wheel designs, ranging from 20-inch wheels in the front and 21-inch wheels in the rear to 22-inch wheels in the front and 23-inch wheels in the rear.
Gabriel Ionica
The Lucid Gravity’s figures do not fail to impress
Let’s start with some numbers. The Lucid Gravity is 198 inches long, with a 119-inch wheelbase, a height of 65 inches, and a width of 87 inches mirror-to-mirror. In its Grand Touring spec, the first one that will be available to order, the Gravity has an EPA-estimated range of 450 miles from a 123 kW battery and a towing capacity of a whopping 6,000 lbs. The upcoming “Tow Mode” further helps with that task, bringing an Integrated Brake Controller with automated light checks, sway control, and a dedicated reverse camera.
Thanks to its 926V powertrain, it can charge at up to 400 kW, which reportedly adds 200 miles in under 11 minutes. If you readily have access to such a unit, the EV range anxiety of yesteryear is a bygone memory. In the power department, Lucid pulled all the stops, imbuing the SUV with a peak power of 828 hp, 909 lb-ft of torque, a drag coefficient of 0.24 Cd, and a 0-60 mph time of under 3.5 seconds. All from a 7-seater SUV, folks.
Speaking of that space, you’ll have no trouble fitting your luggage in its 120-cubic-foot trunk with the rear seats down and 8.1-cubic-foot frunk. Oh, and for those tailgate parties, the frunk also doubles as a bench seat, complete with recessed cupholders.
Gabriel Ionica
Gabriel Ionica
Gabriel Ionica
An interior to serve as an example
That interior is where the Gravity truly shines, in my opinion. You can make any car fast, but you can’t make any car beautiful. The cabin can be trimmed in one of five different themes inspired by the West Coast, including Mojave, Mojave Premium, Yosemite, Tahoe, and Ojai. I would personally opt for the Tahoe, as the brown, forest-y accents on the leather and wood bring to mind a cozy snowy cabin somewhere in the mountains. This is also another testament to the fact that a car need not be dull and understated to be “luxurious.” Well-executed color schemes evoke a sense of grandeur much better than an all-black cabin.
Nestled above the dashboard is a 34″ 6K OLED panel that spans from the A-pillar to the center control display. That display houses everything from your instrument cluster to the infotainment, maps, and controls for things like the headlights, glovebox, and more.
Gabriel Ionica
Below it is another 11″ Full HD OLED screen that Lucid calls the “Pilot Panel.” This is more for your individualized controls like seat and mirror adjustments, drive modes, music, and others. While at first it may seem like burying features like that within menus might be annoying, these are adjustments you will likely only make once. Even then, Lucid was considerate enough to keep the seat and mirror adjustments as constant buttons on the screen or easily accessible from a drop-down menu.
Within this Pilot Panel is also Lucid’s “Sanctuary” feature, a meditation mode that uses the screens, mood lighting, and sound system to transport passengers to virtual nature locations for a bit of relaxation when you’re parked. It might not be a panacea for everyone’s stress, but it’s a nice touch for sure. Rest assured, there are also still physical buttons for the HVAC functions and audio functions, along with steering wheel touchpads for scrolling through menus.
As for the sound system, the base Surreal Sound system comes with 10 speakers meticulously positioned throughout the cabin for dynamic stereo sound. Our test cars, on the other hand, had the $2,900 Surreal Sound Pro that ups that number to 22 speakers with Dolby Atmos. To say the system is impressive would be to do it a disservice. Even at near max volume, there was zero distortion, and true to Lucid’s press release, it turned the cabin into a private concert. At the Gravity’s price range, it would be a no-brainer to shell out the extra cash for the Surreal Sound Pro. Trust me, it’s just worth it.
Gabriel Ionica
That steering wheel
You might also notice that Lucid, too, has attempted to reinvent the wheel. They claim that the need for the flat-topped steering wheel, which they call “the squircle,” is to allow for a better view of the instrument cluster. It does the job, there’s no doubt about that, but I just can’t say my view of the cluster has ever been blocked by a steering wheel before. Thankfully, it isn’t a Tesla steering yoke, so having all four sides meant that the learning curve wasn’t steep by any means.
The drive modes
Gabriel Ionica
Gabriel Ionica
Just because the Gravity has over 800 hp on tap doesn’t mean you need that power at all times. Between the Smooth, Swift, and Sprint drive modes, the Gravity can adapt to whatever driving style you have. Looking to go grocery shopping? Stick it in Smooth and indulge in the soft ride height and massaging seats. Want to show that guy with the shades and the Ferrari what’s up? Go for Sprint and feel all 828 horses pull you down the track.
Lucid will also introduce “Terrain Mode” in a future OTA update, which will allow you to take advantage of the full 9.3″ inch lift of the air suspension and take the Gravity off the beaten path.
Lucid’s self-driving system is on the way
Lucid is also working on its own advanced driver-assistance system dubbed “DreamDrive 2.” Split between three tiers, the top-tier DreamDrive 2 Pro will set you back $6,750 and adds some interesting features like Curb Rash Alert and Auto Park. Future iterations will reportedly add hands-free driving, traffic light detection, automated lane changes, and automatic parking. Once that hits the scene, we’ll let you know if it disappoints like Tesla’s FSD system does or if it actually lives up to its claims.
Gabriel Ionica
So, how is it?
First looks can be deceiving, and that is absolutely the case with the Lucid Gravity. One wouldn’t expect a seven-seater SUV of these proportions to scoot along like it does and look as good as it does doing it. Ludicrous EV performance is hardly a new concept nowadays, but when the automotive equivalent of a bodybuilder can sprint to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds from a standstill, you can’t help but be giddy. Passing slower traffic is just as much of a breeze. The Gravity’s optional rear-wheel steer also helps you manage its size in tight spaces by reportedly reducing its turning radius by up to three feet.
Gabriel Ionica
The adaptive air suspension and drive modes belie the Gravity’s weight and size in corners, skyrocketing your confidence and egging you on to drive faster and turn harder. It’s the perfect canyon companion, and you’d easily be fooled into thinking it’s a sports car if you were dropped behind the wheel blindfolded.
Lucid also did a tremendous job with the design, both inside and out. Many electric cars and SUVs try too hard to look futuristic to set themselves apart from gasoline counterparts, and this often ends up looking a bit overdone. By borrowing cues from the already good-looking Air, the Gravity instead ends up looking smooth and curvy, with front and rear lightbars adding the perfect amount of futurism to its design.
The screen-dominated cabin should be no surprise to anyone accustomed to modern cars. It will never substitute physical buttons and switches, but Lucid has thankfully extracted the HVAC and audio controls to buttons and a scroll wheel below the screen. The squircle steering wheel also took some getting used to, but since it still retains a top part, unlike Tesla’s yoke, we quickly adapted to its shape. Also squircle is just fun to say.
Gabriel Ionica
Let’s not forget that this thing can go off-road, either. 9.3 inches of ground clearance isn’t a bad number for a family SUV, and the autocross track that Lucid took us to made me feel like a proper Ken Block (RIP). It’s unlikely that the majority of Gravity owners will risk damaging their six-figure luxury SUV in the dirt, but those daring few who will, will be met with an incredibly fun machine that they can pick up their kids from daycare with afterward.
Final thoughts
If there was ever an electric SUV that was the best of every world, the Lucid Gravity would be a top contender for that spot. It’s fast, elegant, spacious, and adaptable. It can be a family hauler, a grocery getter, a track toy, and an off-road machine to a degree. The guided meditation feature is a little unnecessary in my eyes, but maybe I’m just not the target audience for it.
The Lucid Gravity Grand Touring starts at $94,900 but can easily go past $100,000 with some of its comfort and technology packages. Ditto if you opt for any of the unique colors and interior themes, which, let’s face it, you will. When comparing it to some of its segment colleagues, like the Tesla Model X, Mercedes EQS, Rivian R1S, and the Escalade IQ, it’s easy to see how neither of those play as perfect a balancing act as the Gravity. What an absolute unit.
About the author
Gabriel Ionica
Senior Editor, Autoblog