2026 Lucid Gravity Touring review: A strong act 2
Ars Technica · LC · trust 34/100
🍎🌳 2026 Lucid Gravity Touring review: A strong act 2 Quick, comfortable, roomy, and agile for a large electric SUV.
37 The Lucid Gravity offers huge amounts of interior room. Credit: Jim Resnick The Lucid Gravity offers huge amounts of interior room. Credit: Jim Resnick Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav When Lucid introduced the Air electric sedan in late 2021, the first Air Dream Edition I tested packed over 1,100 hp (820 kW) and carried a $180,000-plus window sticker. It’s easily the most powerful street car I’ve tested; the only vehicle I’ve driven with more power was a purebred race car with a third the mass, and it was on a proper track. Its combustion engine was also about 1,000 times louder than the Air, helping to remind us that “combustion” really does mean explosion after explosion.
For Lucid’s second act, the company debuted the Gravity electric SUV last year, and I’ve just tested the 2026 Gravity Touring, which starts at about $82,000 in the US, including the required destination charge.
My test model carried a bevy of options, including a 22-speaker audio system, the Comfort and Convenience package, third-row seating, a Dynamic Handling package (combining rear-wheel steering and three-chamber air suspension), a luxury seating package (bundling Nappa leather and massaging and ventilated front seats), and special metallic paint.
Also fitted was Dream Drive 2.0 Pro, an optional collection of active driver assists beyond the standard fare (adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and lane keeping, blind spot warning, and drowsy driver alert) to offer hands-free driving assist, automatic lane change assist, and even an alert to warn of impending curb rash while parking. Over-the-air software updates occur automatically. Together, all the options raised our test vehicle’s cost to $107,200.
Lucid also builds a more expensive Grand Touring version, starting at over $100,000. While the Touring uses a 16-module, 89-kWh battery pack, the Grand Touring’s 22-module pack delivers 123 kWh, and power output grows from 560 hp (418 kW) to 828 hp (617 kW). The Touring’s driving range of 337 miles (542 km) increases to 450 miles (742 km) in the Grand Touring, too.
On paper, that all sounds like a substantial difference in power and range, but in practice, it really isn’t. After a week with the Touring, I never needed more power, nor did I feel the driving range was shy of the mark compared to a combustion-engine SUV of similar size with a decently provisioned fuel tank.
Charging up the Gravity proved easy at any one of several local Tesla Supercharger stations. Since the Gravity has an NACS port and I have a Supercharger account, there was no messing around—the Lucid supports plug-and-charge (ISO 15118) and will verify account details with compatible chargers as part of the handshake procedure, so there’s no messing around with apps.
From one full-up charge, a mixture of suburban and highway driving yielded 320 total miles (514 km) of range. That’s close enough to the EPA estimate that most owners are unlikely to feel shortchanged.
More importantly, the Gravity retains the charging performance that has become one of Lucid’s defining strengths. During one charging session, the Gravity reached 95 percent state of charge from 15 percent in 31 minutes. Lucid also claims the Gravity can add up to 200 miles (321 km) on an 11-minute charge, though that requires a 400 kWh DC fast charger, according to the company’s consumer website. I averaged 3.3 miles/kWh (18.8 kWh/100 km) consumed in suburban and city driving while netting 3.8 miles/kWh (16.3 kWh/100 km) during steady-speed driving on freeways.
Using two motors, one under the frunk making 147 hp (110 kW) and a main rear 413-hp (308 kW) motor, the Gravity’s combined output of 560 hp and 811 lb-ft (1,100 Nm) of torque certainly stands out.
Those figures are no match for the Grand Touring’s bonkers 828 hp (617 kW), yet despite this deficit in power, the Touring remains quicker than the overwhelming majority of SUVs, with enough oomph to merge onto the diciest freeway on-ramp, pass several slow cars at once on a two-lane rural highway, or just simply shock your mother-in-law.
Though I did no measured testing, I’d peg the Gravity Touring as extremely fast, with gobs of power on demand at any time, compared to the absurdly fast Grand Touring or any of those 1,000+ hp Airs. Lucid claims a 0–60 time of 4.0 seconds for the Touring. Soberly, though, I’d suggest the real-world performance difference between the top-power Grand Touring and the Touring is less significant than the difference in stats columns.
Despite the acceleration, it’s the polish that impressed me the most. Steering is precise and feels naturally weighted from parking lot speeds to cruising on the interstate. The optional three-chamber air suspension strikes a pleasing balance between ride comfort and body roll control, isolating occupants from rough pavement without allowing the vehicle’s considerable mass (at about 5,200 pounds/2,360 kg) to feel unwieldy.
The steering wheel can give Austin Allegro vibes. Jim Resnick The middle row. Jim Resnick The middle row. Jim Resnick With the seats flat, it’s van-like in terms of space. Jim Resnick With the seats flat, it’s van-like in terms of space. Jim Resnick The middle row. Jim Resnick With the seats flat, it’s van-like in terms of space. Jim Resnick Lucid also fits serious braking hardware, with six-piston Brembo-built front calipers clamping giant 15-inch rotors. Over twisty sporty-car roads, the Gravity didn’t exactly become a Ferrari, but it negotiated tight corners, hills, heavy braking, and gravel-covered patches with way more talent than I anticipated. Interestingly, in everyday driving, even when throttle-closed regenerative braking is switched off, the Gravity still slows markedly, as if regen is engaged.
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