2025 Lucid Gravity First Drive Review: Straight to the Top, Mostly

Lucid’s sophomore effort is a big deal in more ways than one.

As nice as the Air sedan is, it’s just that: a sedan, in an SUV world. On shape alone the 2025 Lucid Gravity has more sales potential, a streamlined bullet train of a crossover offering seating for seven.

This was one of our most anticipated new vehicles of the year. So when Lucid invited us to California to spend the day behind the wheel of the Gravity in 828-horsepower Grand Touring trim, it was an easy yes. After getting to know the Gravity, I’m convinced it’ll be just as easy for the brand’s SUV to show up on three-row shoppers’ short lists. Whether they buy it will depend on the next few months, however.

What isn’t? According to Lucid senior VP of powertrain Emad Dlala, every part number for the Gravity’s chassis is changed. Some parts may only see slight changes but nonetheless, the Gravity is very much its own thing.

At launch it will stay mighty simple: only the Grand Touring trim will be available, with the lower-powered Touring coming on-stream near the tail end of the year. The GT features a 123-kilowatt-hour battery pack co-developed with Panasonic. Lucid has not only debuted a NACS charger with the Gravity but a unique boost charging feature to speed up recharge times. Utilizing the rear drive motor, the system can boost voltage to 926 volts, matching the Gravity battery pack. This allows owners to plug into either 500V or 100V services, where the latter can add up to 200 miles (322 km/h) of range in just 11 minutes. Plug and Charge capability for Superchargers as well as Electrify America is also included.

No doubt about it: Lucid found a distinctive design language right from the go, and the Gravity is clearly related to the Air. It is similarly low-slung: Lucid brought a few competitors for demonstration and the Gravity looks like a sleek wagon by comparison. A lot of brands are doing the full-width lighting shtick right now, but Lucid’s metallic unibrow sets it apart. There are shades of Lincoln Corsair or BMW iX to the rear liftgate by dint of that low-profile light signature and curved shutline.

Familial clues include the contrast arch of the roofline, which can be had in a darker (Stealth) or lighter (Platinum) appearance.

Rolling stock is staggered, with the stock wheel setup being 20 inches up front with 21s out back. Buyers can go up two inches from there: this tester rolls on the big-boy 22/23 set.

Every tester on this first encounter is the Grand Touring, what will be the top rung of Gravity performance at least for this year. It boasts the sorts of figures to make Hellcat Redeye owners jealous: 828 horsepower and a full 909 pound-feet of torque. It’s a dual-motor setup for electronic all-wheel drive, though with roughly around 6,000 pounds to haul around, its run to 62 mph is only in the mid-3s.

The power is mega, but it’s a testament to the Lucid team—and the increasing ubiquity of EVs—that it never feels overwhelming. The Gravity cups you in its hands and hurls you down the road, the front seats offering a reassuring grip. The go-pedal is well-judged, with little of the jerkiness that plagued earlier EVs. If you want something close to that, switching over to Sprint, Lucid’s most excitable on-road drive mode, increases sensitivity. Adjusting the regenerative braking is easy to do too, and the top setting will easily bring the whole vehicle to a stop; it's capable of up to 250 kW of regen.

Lucid quotes up to 450 miles (724 kilometers) of range in the smallest-wheeled, five-passenger format. Stretch to this fully loaded model and that number shrinks to a still-handy 386 miles (621 km).

Despite that chunky curb weight, the Gravity drives like a much lighter vehicle. Like any EV, it’s the low placement of the battery that makes this possible. This tester has the Dynamic Handling package, which not only includes the height-adjustable suspension, but up to three degrees of rear steer.

This makes the nearly 200-inch-long SUV handle like someone’s chopped a foot out of the wheelbase. Rolling on surprisingly aggressive Pirelli P Zero 5s, the Gravity carves its way through the narrow roads outside of Santa Barbara. There’s a fair amount of road noise from that wide rubber, but beyond that the Lucid is well-mannered. This tester benefits from the acoustic glass (and soft-close doors, amongst other niceties) of the Comfort and Convenience package.

And you know what? I dig the squircle steering wheel. While the low placement can feel odd at first, it quickly becomes second nature. The oblong shape also makes it easy to judge the amount of lock applied: if it’s tall, you’ve got 90 degrees on.

This becomes important when Lucid puts us on a dirt autocross course. Yes, really. While I sincerely doubt this will be a typical use case, it highlights just how agile the Gravity can be—and how natural it feels while being a hooligan. I’m able to pitch the big seven-seater into decreasing-radius corners with reckless abandon, the regenerative braking tightening the line on lift-off. Apply generous helpings of power, feel that long wheelbase arc gracefully outward, and hold the wheel to the degree needed. It’s so easy it can literally be done one-handed. (This is where I stress the closed-course nature of the test.)

The height-adjustable suspension comes in handy for a simple hill test. At its highest setting the Gravity has 9.3 inches (236 millimeters) of ride height, with short overhangs ensuring it can climb up and down a medium grade. There is no hill descent control; there's enough regen braking to render that redundant.

The Air’s mid-century, West Coast vibes translate well to the larger Gravity cabin. The low-profile dashboard is finished in a variety of materials, many of which are made from sustainable sources. Buyers have four color schemes to choose from, all named after California locations.

There are some important changes from Lucid's sedan. The center console sees a complete overhaul, with a multi-tiered, sliding approach that offers more space for devices and other things. Don't need all that? A classy etched glass cover takes care of it. Early Lucids had some spotty build quality but this tester feels solid. There are still a few niggles however: the driver-eye sensor behind the wheel is mounted crooked, for example.

Lucid is proud of the 120 cubic feet of storage (3,398 liters) you can find behind the second row... in the five-seater. It's a bit less here in the seven-passenger setup, but the more important angle is just how comfortably I fit in the way-back. This isn't one of those pinched third-rows put in for a marketing bullet point: the seats themselves are noticeably thin to carve out the space for adults. Well-sculpted, they also pull off a feat normally reserved for minivans, folding completely flat into the cargo hold. This not only makes for a huge, flat load floor, but one that's appreciably lower than the competition.

I almost forget about the large frunk, which also has a low opening making it possible to sit on its edge.

Here’s where the “but” of the review comes in.

The Gravity I drove throughout the day had some technological gremlins. Like so many other EVs these days—looking at you, Tesla and Volvo—some of the features weren’t quite ready for the limelight yet, despite some models already being in customer hands. The head-up display? I saw a demo of how it will provide really quite helpful augmented reality info during highway driving, but the actual system was unavailable. Speaking of, Lucid’s DreamDrive 2.0 Pro suite of Level 2 driver assists is also “coming in a future update.” This will include improved visuals for the highway drive assist, which will display up to five lanes and distinguish from 20 different types of vehicles. A hands-free component will also be included along with automated lane changes. Those who regularly street park will appreciate the Curb Rash Alert feature, which can sound the alarm before one of those pretty alloys makes contact with the curb.

There was another problem with the car refusing to acknowledge the fob. My driving partner and I had stopped on the side of the road to swap seats, and when attempting to get going again, we got a warning message that the fob wasn’t present. While other brands ask drivers to touch the fob to the steering column in this case, the Gravity’s message is simply “shake to wake.” We shook the fob, even locked and unlocked the SUV with it—nadda. Since the Gravity has no start/stop button, our next solution was to get out, walk far enough away for the car to turn off, wait two minutes, and get back in. Once again, I maintain that every car should have a start/stop button.

It's a shame because the redone infotainment setup in the Gravity is quite good, even with its heavy reliance on screens. A new architecture means everything now runs off the same chip, so there’s a fluidity between the main curved display and the smaller “Pilot Panel” screen in the center of the cabin. The latter features a render of the actual car that can be spun around, and it accurately depicts the current ride height or any indicators—wholly unnecessary, but a welcome touch nonetheless. Quick-access shortcuts on-screen keep the number of consecutive taps to a minimum, and the physical controls for climate control and volume are as useful as they are satisfyingly tactile. There are three programable buttons that owners can set to their own preferences as well.

The Gravity Grand Touring carries a price tag of $96,550 ($134,200 CAD) before options. That will net folks a five-passenger setup with a black faux-leather interior (Mojave in Lucid-speak). There are only a few boxes to tick beyond the usual premium paint, interior, and wheel selections: blacked-out or bright exterior trim bits and the third-row option, for example. There are also six options packages: two additional levels of DreamDrive 2 (Premium and Pro), Surreal Sound Pro, Dynamic Handling package, Technology Package Upgrade, Comfort and Convenience Package, and a towing package.

Calling anything six figures “affordable” is a little nuts, but the Gravity does stack up favorably to the likes of the Rivian R1S, Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, and Cadillac Escalade IQ, offering more room than the former two, and nearly as much range as the latter, despite a battery pack barely over half the size. Not that I imagine many people will do it, but based on the experience of this first drive, the Gravity will track better then any of them as well.

Lucid’s first SUV pulls off some incredible feats. Its designer-condo-chic cabin is remarkably spacious, it has excellent road manners, and it’s a genuine hoot on the loose stuff. The range and charging speed are impressive too, all but eliminating range anxiety.

The tech issues, be it malfunctions or simply missing features, are a tough pill to swallow at this price. Knowing how much Lucid improved the Air in just a few years via updates, I’m confident the brand can do it again with the Gravity. I look forward to getting more seat time later in the year then, because the Gravity has the fundamentals to challenge the class best—and in many ways, beat them.

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