Luxury is in a weird spot right now, and it’s all thanks to the electric car. Just like how fragrance dupes are a huge equalizer, the quiet smoothness of electric drive has done wonders to level the playing field. No more coarse four-bangers, even the cheapest EVs have hushed powertrains that make V12s seem a little vulgar. So what happens if we line up the Lucid Gravity and the Hyundai Ioniq 9? After all, they’re both electric, they both charge quickly, they both have three rows of seats, and neither one looks like a traditional SUV.
Of course, there is one big on-paper difference here: The cheapest Gravity you can currently buy lists for $96,550 including freight ($134,500 in Canada), and with extras like $1,000 worth of paint, $4,200 worth of leather, a $2,900 third row, and a $2,900 handling package, a Gravity can easily blast comfortably into six figures. Meanwhile, the least expensive Hyundai Ioniq 9 stickers for $60,555 and the most expensive Hyundai Ioniq 9 with all the boxes ticked will run you $79,090 ($83,549 in Canada). That’s a $36,000 premium base-to-base, and you can option the Gravity up to $45,660 more than a loaded Ioniq 9. So, is the Lucid worth the premium? Let’s find out.
[Full disclosure: Hyundai Canada and Lucid Motors both brought their three-row electric crossovers to AJAC TestFest, an annual event put on by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada as part of the run-up to and evaluation for Canadian Car of the Year. Food and lodging were provided by the Association.]
How Do They Look?
Each of these crossovers is a little blobby in its own unique way, like two different species of jellyfish. The Ioniq 9 starts with the rounded nose you’d expect from an EV and features a taper to its roofline, but the rest is quite angular from the kammtail to the pixel-like detailing. Its surfacing is dominated by hard creases, a valiant attempt to make a teardrop look like a sugar cube. For the most part, it works, as it needs to. The people want boxy, even if any boxy traits here are largely illusions.
The Lucid Gravity, on the other hand, doesn’t care much for creases or squares. It’s all flowing curves and subtlety, with a roofline markedly lower than that of the Hyundai. It’s a bit minivan in photos, but there’s a real long, low, and wide presence in the metal that almost makes the Gravity feel a bit more wagon-like.
What About Their Interiors?
Slide inside the Hyundai Ioniq 9 and it reveals itself as a lovely place to be for the money. Stitched vinyl on the dash and the door cards, wonderfully contoured seats, loads of metal accents, and a bit of what almost sort of looks like granite set underneath mood lighting. Sure, it’s not leather, but you have to reach way down to find any hard plastics. At the same time, Hyundai has really thought about storage. You get a bevy of USB-C ports in a sort of half-console with trays for devices, a roomy cubby underneath the same sort of two-way armrest found in the Santa Fe, sunshades, proper second-row captain’s chairs, and in this top trim, a headliner so sumptuously soft it feels woven out of sin itself. That said, you do get a sense of retail premium inside the Ioniq 9. It’s nicer than most 15-year-old Mercedes-Benzes, but if you’ve spent time in the latest and priciest, you’ll know where the material spend has been dialled back a half-notch.
In contrast, it doesn’t take long to find where Lucid’s really spent the money. Yes, the optional leather interior is pricey, but you really do get an entire third-hand Hyundai Tiburon worth of cow here, augmented by deep textured suede and real wood. The squircle steering wheel is a bit strange, especially with a modest steering ratio, but otherwise, the ergonomics are bang-on. Lucid upped the material spend on the little stuff, too—the minivan-style foldaway third row, the tray tables that flip out of the front seat backs, the sliding console insert. It’s a richer place than the Hyundai’s cabin, but there is a usability tradeoff. More on that later.
How Do They Drive?
Twist the column-mounted gear selector of the Ioniq 9 forward, ease off the brake, and you’re immediately greeted by a soothing sense of softness, like you’re riding on a pillow of buttercream frosting. It’s proof that engineers can still do incredible things with steel coil springs and fixed-rate dampers, especially given the absence of undue float or wallow when just trundling about. That sense of ease carries into the steering and the hushed noise floor, and the end result feels like a love letter to luxury cars of old. You know, before they all had to be performance cars.
That’s not to say the Ioniq 9 isn’t reasonably quick, though. This top-shelf model pumps out 422 horsepower and 516 lb.-ft. of torque, enough to run from zero-to-60 mph in about five seconds. Of course, really welding your right foot to the floorboard means you probably won’t achieve the rated range of 311 miles (500 km), but even if you hammer down, 350 kW DC fast charging means you’ll be back on the road in about the same amount of time it would take for the person in front of you at a gas station counter to check their lottery tickets. So long as you aren’t expecting sportiness, Hyundai’s electric three-row really punches above its weight.
In contrast, Lucid’s crossover is firmer than Hyundai’s, with the tires smacking cracks in the road instead of smothering them. A bit of an odd choice until you take a corner and realize no three-row crossover should handle this well, from beautifully weighted inputs to shockingly good body control with the Dynamic Handling Package. Alright, the brake pedal feels a little spooky around an autocross course because its resistance isn’t as progressive as you’d expect, but even though the Gravity squeaks in under the SCCA’s height-to-track-width requirement, are you really going to be gunning for a national title in this thing? The bottom line is that you can drop the kids off at granddad’s, head out for a spirited drive with your friends, and actually keep up. That’s a huge achievement.
At the same time, the Gravity is just in another realm of straight-line performance. We’re talking zero-to-60 mph in the mid-threes thanks to 828 horsepower, all while boasting an extra 75 miles of range over the Ioniq 9 in its quickest trim for a total of 386 miles (619 km) of range with these big wheels. Even the optional four-wheel-steering is completely transparent when parking, something that even more expensive cars can struggle with. Mind you, the Gravity’s 400 kW DC fast charging isn’t as much of a bonus over the Ioniq 9 as it sounds because most ultra-fast chargers are capped at 350 kW. Still, what a thing.
Do They Have The Electronic Crap I Want?
In the case of the Hyundai, absolutely, and not just because you can park it from the key fob. We’re talking USB-C ports galore, a properly intuitive infotainment system and digital cluster set beneath a curved glass panel, heated and ventilated La-Z-Boy-like second-row seats, an intercom for chiding rear seat passengers, and a full suite of well-calibrated advanced driver assistance systems from lane-keep assistance to adaptive cruise control.
At the same time, you still get real buttons for a whole bunch of stuff. Hard keys for the infotainment and radio, knobs for the volume and tuning and temperature, just about everything placed exactly where you’d expect. Somewhat annoyingly, the heated seats are actuated via touchscreen, but at least they’re permanent digital keys in a small separate display between the temperature knobs. The big disappointment? The Bose stereo. It’s just not that good, which is unfortunate for a vehicle with such a low noise floor and a total contrast from the unexpectedly crisp, dynamic system in this car’s three-row platform-twin, the Kia EV9.
What sort of gadget says more money like adding more screen? In addition to the sweeping display for maps, gauges, and a few secondary functions, the Gravity gets a big central touchscreen that just works as promised. The user interface looks great, you get Apple CarPlay, and the Gravity still has enough physical switches and scroll wheels for volume and climate controls to be usable. It’s only when you start digging deeper that you start to notice technology for the sake of technology. For instance, the steering column adjustment and mirror adjustment are handled by hitting tiles on the touchscreen and then working a steering wheel D-pad. That’s a bit more complicated than it should be, and it’s the same deal with the central locking being on a touchpad to the left of the driver. On the plus side, the sound system bangs, and if you have particularly deep pockets, you can spec the Gravity with hands-free highway driver assistance and true semi-autonomous parking rather than just key fob remote control, if you’re into that sort of stuff.
Is The Lucid Gravity Worth The Premium Over The Hyundai Ioniq 9?
On paper, this should be a tough call because the Hyundai Ioniq 9 is already a brilliant electric family hauler. It’s spacious, it charges quickly, it has plenty of range, and it’s seriously quiet and comfortable. While the Lucid Gravity can’t match the ride quality of the Hyundai, its materials, tuning, performance, and little touches combine to elevate it into another tax bracket. Still, what we have here are two excellent cars, both of which seem to give you more than what you pay for. Value is relative, but both of these battery-powered crossovers will satisfy.
Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal
Given the choice between unproven reliability and proven unreliability I think I would choose something else. But if I had to choose I would take the Lucid if I was spending someone else’s money. I had a Kia once, that was enough.
I haven’t seen a Gravity, let alone been inside one, but my dad’s Air is the nicest vehicle I’ve been in or around. The interior makes that of his previous car, a Panamera, look like dogshit. Just an incredible place to spend time. He actually likes it so much that he barely takes out his Boxster anymore, which was definitely not the case with the Panamera.
You could never convince me both of these cars would look better and be more functional with sliding doors. They are mini-vans! Let them be mini-vans!
But then it’d be considered a mini van and those are icky! – general public
I prefer the look of the Lucid, especially the side profile.
But I also think it weird how they tried to make it look like a shooting brake. So in reality I would choose neither?
The thing that surprises me the most is how much the Gravity, in profile, resembles a Honda Odyssey. Not that I’ll mind, as an Odyssey driver, possibly being mistaken for a $100k luxury EV, but I suspect the comparison feels somewhat less-flattering for the guys on the other side.
As a fellow Odyssey owner, I concur.
Am I the only one who looks at that Hyundai and wonders what the hell they were doing with the strange eyebrows over the wheel arches? What are those supposed to do? To me they just give the illusion that the actual arches are too small and the wheels look like they’re donuts in that “empty” space. Those multispoke wheels aren’t helping things.
A closer look shows how many intersecting lines are in there. The arch itself looks like it’s one of those old fender skirts/wheel spats from an old 70s luxobarge. The piece itself has yet another cutout set of lines within it and the whole thing meets up at the back of the rear door shutline making yet MORE inorganic shapes in the process. What the hell is this all about, it’s really horrible.
Worse yet, the weird line across the faux-arch in the front is higher than the one in the rear because ????
Those look like box flares to me. I love box flares.
Make it not look like a Honda Odyssey, I guess.
I haven’t seen the Gravity yet, but there’s a couple of 9’s about town already. I will admit, they’re pretty striking looking, if chunky. But what isn’t?
My main issues with the Lucid lie in the financial backing from Saudi Arabia and production in the US.
What would make you happy ? Should it be the other way around ?
I don’t get this. If you look hard enough, you will find Saudi, Emirati, Qatari, CCP, and Russian money in basically any large industrial investment (you will also find US and European money from equally dubious sources). Basically all large investment sources are ethically suspect at this point (including allegedly ethical sources like Scandinavian Sovereign wealth funds) so you might as well just focus on what the investment is actually doing. Building domestic EVs? Yeah, seems like a good cause.
I like both of these cars, but ye cats, the prices. In 50 years, I can count the number of cars I’ve spent more than $10k on with one hand of fingers. Of course, I buy mostly used. Recently bought my fairly loaded Maverick new and paid roughly half the tab for the Hyundai… and that felt really spendy.
I just can’t fathom paying 1/4 to 1/3 of a house money for a depreciating asset. Blessings to those that will enjoy them.
I am seriously considering a Ferrari FF or a 911 exactly for this reason. As a poor person who could now write a check for either of these (used) cars I feel like I could sell it in 3-7 years for close to what I paid. Well, 75%? Most of the $130k German sedans I’d consider will be worth $30k in 4-5 years with similar running costs.
Neither of these are on my bingo card or bucket list. They’re both too big for what I need. But between the two, the Hyundai seems far more practical. And there are a lot of fun or charitable things I could do with $36K. And charitable things are rewarding.
I drive an eight-year-old Honda and not a Mercedes or BMW or Audi or Lucid. I could. I just choose to spend my money in other ways.
Screw it someone needs to buy an old Toyota Camry/Corolla factory in the US that made early 2000s Toyotas restart them nix the Tariffs and the new tech and sell everyone new basic Toyotas for like $9,999. No R&D, just a great basic car all the problems solved will run forever and give poor people a new reliable car. Maybe even offer a wagon.
Everybody welcome back the CamRE! As the former owner is a 2000 Solara I love this idea.
The Lucid looks a lot like they bought the Stellantis equipment that was used to make the Magnum and some of it got dinged up. However I do like the look better than the Hyundai. It isn’t worth $36,000 more but then neither of these is worth anywhere near what they are asking for to me. I am to practical to pay tens of thousands of dollars for features or performance you can’t/won’t use. And quite frankly both of these scream minivan and not SUV to me. But if you can call a Sedan a coupe, an electric car a mustang, I guess you can call a minivan a SUV.
The one thing HyunKia finally got in common with BMW:
They can on-purpose and with tack-sharp concentration spend time and money on uglifying their vehicles to the extreme, and people will still buy them like hot cakes.
Bitching and moaning, lying to themselves that they actully like how they look, and eventually getting learning to lover them and deluding themselves that they actually look good, into a perfect clinical case of design Stockholm syndrome.
I know, I bought a Sportage recently. But that one is a soft entry.
The Lucid looks… squinty with the tall beltline and reduced greenhouse. I value more visibility, not less.
Any word on the overall charging time? As Tesla has shown, having a high peak charging rate doesn’t always translate into a quick say 10-80% charging time.
Edit: few google searches later, looks like both cars can do 10-80% in 24 minutes on a good charger. Given the higher range of the lucid, that translates to more range recouped per stop, assuming similar stopping time. Both cars are nominal 800v (almost 1000v in the Lucid’s case)- definitely shows the benefits of higher voltage for fast charging.
The only problem is that the range isn’t as long as it is when you have to stop and recharge at 50% because you can’t get to the next fast charger with the charge you have. So you end up with 2-3 more charging stops and an extra 4 hours on the trip. Yes range anxiety is still a thing on trips but we are all ignoring it because we want to push the EVs despite the problematic issues facing them. I mean it is not easy math but it isn’t two trains are heading to Chicago one at 45mph and one at 60 mph. Train A is traveling at 30mph and train B is traveling at 60mph. Train A is 300 miles away train B is 650 miles away. What train w arrive first if both must stop every 100 miles to load and unload on a Thursday?
Boo – you have to answer the question in the article title. Sheesh!
I was next to and behind an Ioniq 9 in slow moving traffic this week. It looks a lot better in person than in photos. I was surprised at how big it was.
I’m sorry, Hyundai look like it got side scrapped by train. Poor reflections look like bent bodywork, and the wheel wells look cut off.
The trim levels with more black cladding and five-spoke wheels look better (I don’t know which ones are which, and don’t particularly care to look it up). The one pictured should’ve never made it to production.
I haven’t read the article yet (I will of course Thomas) but just wanted to say that being a Lucid product, the Gravity might actually have $36K worth of more interesting engineering in it, based on the few videos I’ve seen on the subject.
With that said, I’ve seen both the Gravity and Ioniq 9 in person (in LA) and neither is actually pretty. The Gravity is a bit more streamlined and minivannish, maybe making it a bit more likely to get lost in a crowd, which is either a pro or con depending on your POV. The Ionic’s more in-your-face styling stands out from a distance, and it’s length lends it a bit of a station wagonish impression. Also, I saw one near the In’n’Out on Sunset and it was this sort of desaturated green which I thought was eye catching.
Both are way too pricey for me of course, since both will depreciate horrifically in the first year or three. If I needed a three-row SUV (crossover) I’d look for a used Mazda CX-9, and early one of which might be bought for something under $20K. It’s not an EV of course, and not fast like an EV, but it does have a smallish third row (which remains folded down 99% of the time unless you’re carting a kid’s softball team around on the regular) a nice interior, and decent driving dynamics for something in that size/price range.
PS: I currently own TWO cars with (small) third row seating options: a 2004 Volvo XC90, and an ’89 Volvo 240 wagon. I’ve never used the third row seats in either car since purchase.
Re: the third row. We had an X5 and then an MDX, both with third row seats. Never used them in the X5 and only once in the MDX, with adults. And I felt badly that we relegated not particularly tall adults to that. I have flown a lot of flights in coach, and I could put up with it for a few hours. Fortunately, our friends only had to do so for 30 minutes or so. I guess it’s nice to have the seats, when you need them. But, 98% of the time, they were folded down to have more cargo space.
I don’t think I will ever have a pure BEV. But I can see a PHEV as my next car. Maybe. I have a fully paid-off Honda Accord with <70 K on the clock and the only reason I will ever have to buy another car is if someone clobbers mine. And I’m a pretty defensive driver.
Great article as usual Thomas! I will say that the fact the Hyundai is a less comfortable ride than the Lucid really makes the Lucid a tough sell. Cmon lucid, you have a much more expensive luxury vehicle with advanced electronic suspension and you can’t equal the ride comfort of a Hyundai? And you justify it by being sporty? If I wanted a giant sporty SUV I would get the cayenne. If it wasn’t for this, Id say that the lucid actually does an admirable job in nearly justifying the belief price with its performance, range, efficiency, and style. Almost. I say this as I drive my old Cruze hatchback into the ground, so my point is irrelevant.
What? If the Hyundai is less comfortable that means the Lucid is more comfortable so the more expensive Lucid does have the expected better ride. Or did I miss something?
I think maybe you have a typo in this comment. Seems like you meant “more comfortable.”
It doesn’t really matter. I won’t be buying either of these.
You are right! I typoed on that one and it was a critical miss in trying to get my point across.
Most of the reviews I’ve read on the Gravity have the reviewers raving about its handling and that it handles better than any SUV out there, but as a sports car.
You would think with (I think?) an air suspension they would be able to add a mode that does some software things to give it that floaty cloud-like feel when wanted. I would think that could even be an OTA update?
Maybe I’ll win the lottery.
But even if I do, I believe the new price of either of these comes very close to my lifetime auto purchasing budget.
Looking forward to used prices on ’em in 10 years for sure, though!!!
I’m mildly obsessed with how companies decide to handle pricing like this. What possibly explains the Lucid costing 40% more north of the border (more or less the actual exchange rate) and the Hyundai costing a mere 5% more? Tariffs, sure, but things like this were common before all that madness started too.
Market based pricing, and, often, options.
If you consider bicycles, for a micro-example, and bicycle parts: EU prices are a fraction of those within America. Tariffs aren’t the reason there, it’s that EU markets are far more competitive for your dollars – whilst they’re happy to take the profits for the US.
Makes sense – biking is basically a luxury in the US while it’s an essential form of transport for a lot of people in Europe.
Yet another great reason to stick with vintage bikes.
Steel is real
Hell yeah brother!
Canada now charges 25% tariffs on US cars – and as you say, there’s the exchange rate of 1.4CnD to 1USD.
Canada does not charge tariffs on Korean cars at all.
Yes, but as I said, this kind of thing has been going on before the Tariff Man ever came on the scene. I just find it interesting.
Maybe they need to keep it priced high to appease their Saudi overlords?
Probably not, but MBS likely wants this to stay a luxury brand.
it’s literally the exchange rate. It costs $134k CAD
Right, so what’s the deal with the Hyundai price?
The Korean/CnD exchange rate is @ 30% lower than the Korean/USD exchange rate – however Hyundai, as a large multinational conglomerate, has well-established ForEx and raw materials hedging operations to make repatriating worldwide profits and purchasing materials for production much more do-able with lower losses.
Lucid doesn’t have that.
Hyundai also have a captive finance arm – so they can count on make up profits on purchases and leases with that.
This is the answer.
Yeah, it’s weird. I think most of the reviews I’ve seen on here with prices in both currencies have the Canadian price being maybe 15% higher, rather than the 40% higher the exchange rate would suggest. I’m not really sure!
You’d think automobile designers would have learned a lesson from the Austin Allegro about square steering wheels. There is just no reason to reinvent the wheel.
Really appreciate the review! Looking forward to referring back to this in 3-4 years when comparing the 2 once they’re very heavily depreciated used EVs. Wonder what the price difference will be then.
If Lucid doesn’t sell a lot of these, you can probably look to Fisker Ocean prices for comparison.
I’m not rooting against Lucid, but also not rooting against that outcome. If they’re not completely bricked, I’d love to buy a low milage Lucid
MinivanGravity used.first they sorta turned sedans into crossovers now its… “minivans.” large quotation marks. if its minivan-like, i have no complaints
Upcycled Dodge Journeys.
Go rear sliders or go home!