Lucid Gravity (US) review

The Gravity has a very sharp, modern cabin, though why it’s chosen to supply so few images of it – barring one featuring Dune star and brand ambassador Timothée Chalamet (see below) – is just plain weird.

An elegant 34-inch floating screen that houses the driver display and the infotainment menus, along with other functions. This is supplemented by a 12.6-inch display on the center console that’s home to certain specific car features like drive modes, continuing Lucid’s theme of collecting all inputs together yet compartmentalizing them appropriately.

It’s lovely to look at, which is good since you’ll be required to eyeball it frequently. Nearly every in-car function is an icon or a menu item within the touchscreens, necessitating at least a glance-over, if not your full attention for a moment.

We like the versatility of screens but the balance is way off here, and Lucid’s one of the worst offenders when it comes to the cognitive load its UI demands. At least there’s Apple CarPlay and Android Auto available to help you bypass most of it.

What about the rest of the interior?

The very cockpit-like panoramic sunscreen is a fun feature in the right conditions, but the novelty wears off rather quickly. Mostly because the tint at the top doesn’t block direct sunlight as well as you’d hope, and a lack of shade to offer both your eyes and sizzled scalp some relief will make you rue any daytime driving. We could see the Gravity becoming huge with the vampire community.

Also, it’s a bit... Tesla-y. The windscreen layout is very similar to that of the Model X, something that struck us immediately and could never completely shake. Sure, every automaker either copies each other or arrives at the same basic idea, but this one was just too on-the-nose for us to not mention.

How about the passenger space?

There’s ample space for cargo and people in the Lucid Gravity, the latter of which will be quite comfortable in the second row. An optional third row can handle a couple of full-sized adults in a pinch but don’t expect whomever you make to sit back there to keep you on their Christmas card list. Oh, and there’s an 8.1 cu ft (229-liter) frunk which Mr Chalamet can fully fit in, according to one particular press package. Right.

Anyway, there’s between 21.3 to 56.2 cu ft (603-1,591 liters) of space with everything folded up, as well as over 120 cu ft (2,888 liters) with all the seats folded down, so long as you manage it.

With a push of a button, the seats of the second row explode forward while the seatbacks drop down for a nice, flat platform convenient for hauling large items. The thing is, getting them to engage isn’t clear at all, and you end up manhandling it beyond what was likely intended. Folding them back up is all manual and just exposes the motorized guts like the traumatic part of Superman 3, and just feels like you’ve broken it.