Rivian R1S vs Lucid Gravity: The Two American Upstarts Redefining the Three Row Electric SUV
For years, if you wanted a genuinely premium three row electric SUV, you looked to the established German and legacy brands. Then two young American companies decided they could do it better, and they showed up with wildly ambitious three row electric SUVs that make the establishment look a little sleepy. Rivian, the adventure obsessed startup that built its reputation on rugged capability, brought the R1S. Lucid, the range and luxury obsessed company founded by engineers, brought the Gravity. Both are genuinely brilliant, both cost roughly the same kind of money, and both ask you to take a chance on a newcomer instead of a household name.
What makes this matchup so interesting is that these two upstarts went after the same buyer with completely different obsessions. One built the ultimate electric adventure machine that happens to seat seven. The other built the ultimate long range luxury hauler that happens to go off the beaten path if asked. One respected outlet framed the choice as heart versus brain, and that gets at something real. So here’s the breakdown, the way you’d really shop it, category by category, naming the stronger SUV in each one, from range to off road talent to how the family actually rides. By the end you’ll know which one belongs in your driveway, and why. Let’s find your winner.
Range and Efficiency
We’ll start where Lucid’s engineering obsession pays off, because range is genuinely the Gravity’s calling card. The Gravity offers up to 450 miles of EPA estimated range in its longer range forms, which is remarkable for a three row SUV of any kind, and it’s the product of the same efficiency wizardry that made the Lucid Air the range king of sedans. Even in real world testing, one outlet saw the Gravity return around 400 miles, a genuinely excellent result that bested the Rivian in their head to head.
The R1S is no slouch, and it can be configured with its Max pack to reach up to 410 miles, which is genuinely strong in its own right and enough for real road trips. But the Gravity simply goes further, and its efficiency advantage means it sips energy more gently on the highway. For the family that takes long trips and wants maximum range with minimal stopping, the Gravity has a real, measurable edge that reflects Lucid’s whole reason for being.
Winner: Lucid Gravity. Up to 450 miles and superior efficiency give it the range advantage over the still impressive R1S.
Performance
Now the Rivian fights back, and this one is genuinely close and seriously fast either way. The R1S can be specced with its Tri-Motor or Quad-Motor setups, and in Tri-Motor form it produces around 850 horsepower with a genuinely staggering 1,103 pound-feet of torque, launching this big family SUV to 60 mph in around three seconds flat. The available Quad-Motor goes even further into the absurd. That’s genuinely quicker off the line than the Gravity.
The Lucid Gravity is hardly slow, with its Grand Touring producing 828 horsepower and reaching 60 mph in the mid three second range, and the top versions climb well beyond that. Interestingly, while the R1S wins the straight line sprint, the Gravity showed better composure on a handling course in one test, reflecting its more car like, planted character. Both are genuinely thrilling, but on raw acceleration the R1S edges ahead, especially in its multi motor forms. If straight line speed is your thrill, the Rivian delivers a touch more.
Winner: Rivian R1S. Quicker to 60 mph in its multi motor forms, with monstrous torque, it takes the outright acceleration crown.
Off Road and Capability
This is the R1S’s home turf, and it’s genuinely a decisive win. Rivian built its entire identity around genuine off road capability, and the R1S delivers it in spades, with adjustable air suspension offering serious ground clearance, genuinely capable all terrain hardware, and the kind of trail ability that lets it embarrass vehicles that merely look rugged. It’s a genuine adventure machine, engineered to take a family deep into the wild and back, and reviewers consistently praise its off road talent as class leading.
The Lucid Gravity is more capable off pavement than its luxury focus might suggest, and it’s no slouch on a dirt road, but it was designed first as a refined, road going luxury SUV rather than a genuine trail conqueror. If your idea of a family SUV includes genuine off road adventures, muddy trails, and remote campsites, the R1S is built for exactly that in a way the Gravity simply isn’t. This is the clearest capability gap in the whole matchup.
Winner: Rivian R1S. Genuine, class leading off road capability makes it the adventure SUV, while the Gravity is happier on the road.
Interior Space and Family Practicality
Here the Gravity strikes back, because its packaging is genuinely extraordinary. Lucid engineered the Gravity to maximize interior space, and it shows, with genuinely exceptional room, including 42.6 inches of second row legroom and a genuinely usable third row with 34 inches of legroom, making it more spacious than most three row SUVs regardless of price. It also offers generous cargo room and a useful front trunk. For carrying seven people in genuine comfort, the Gravity is remarkable.
The R1S is a genuinely practical family SUV too, seating seven with a usable third row and offering clever storage including its own front trunk, but its cargo space and rear legroom trail the more capacious Gravity. Both are genuinely family friendly, but the Gravity’s space obsession gives it the edge for maximum passenger comfort and room. If hauling a full load of people and gear in comfort is the priority, the Lucid is the roomier choice.
Winner: Lucid Gravity. Exceptional interior space and genuine third row comfort make it the roomier, more accommodating family hauler.
Interior Quality and Technology
This one is genuinely interesting, because the newcomer reputations get flipped. Despite Lucid’s luxury positioning, one outlet found the Gravity’s interior disappointing in places for a six figure vehicle, with some low rent materials, flimsy roof sunshades you install by hand, and unlabeled touch controls on the steering wheel. It’s spacious and comfortable, but the execution left room for improvement in their testing.
The R1S, by contrast, was praised for a more thoughtfully designed interior with better technology, feeling more resolved and better built in that comparison. Rivian has genuinely refined its cabin and software over several years, and it shows. Both have clean, modern, screen focused interiors, but on the quality of materials and the polish of the technology, the Rivian came out ahead in head to head testing. It’s a genuine reversal of what you might expect from the luxury branded newcomer.
Winner: Rivian R1S. A more thoughtfully designed, better built interior with more polished technology, a genuine surprise given the Gravity’s luxury billing.
Driving Feel
The Gravity reclaims ground here, because it’s genuinely lovely to drive. Reviewers consistently praise the Gravity as incredibly fun and engaging on the road, with a planted, composed, car like character that belies its size and a refinement that makes long drives a pleasure. It drives like a large, luxurious grand tourer that carries the Air’s sedan character into an SUV body, and it’s a genuine highlight of the vehicle.
The R1S is genuinely capable and composed, but on pavement its ride is rougher and more truck like than the Gravity’s, reflecting its off road focused engineering. It’s a trade off, the R1S gives up some on road polish to gain its genuine trail ability, while the Gravity prioritizes on road refinement. For the buyer who spends most of their time on pavement and values a refined, engaging drive, the Gravity is the more satisfying choice by a clear margin.
Winner: Lucid Gravity. A more refined, engaging, car like driving experience makes it the better road going SUV.
Charging
Both charge quickly, but the Gravity’s advanced architecture gives it an edge. Lucid uses a genuinely cutting edge high voltage electrical architecture, and combined with its efficiency, the Gravity charges rapidly and recovers a large amount of range in a short session, which compounds its already excellent range for genuinely painless long distance travel. It’s among the best in the business for road trip charging.
The R1S charges respectably and now supports NACS for direct Tesla Supercharger access, so it’s hardly disadvantaged, and both SUVs can use the same broad charging infrastructure. But the Gravity’s combination of huge range and rapid charging recovery makes it the standout for covering big distances with minimal downtime. On pure charging capability and long distance ability, the Lucid leads again.
Winner: Lucid Gravity. Its advanced high voltage architecture delivers faster charging recovery, reinforcing its road trip advantage.
Driver Assistance
Both companies have invested genuinely heavily here, and both now offer capable hands free systems, which makes this closer than you might expect. The Lucid Gravity offers DreamDrive with its Pro tier, a genuinely sophisticated system built on one of the most comprehensive sensor suites in the business, including lidar, that supports supervised hands free steering, acceleration, braking, and automated lane changes on the highway. It’s a genuinely advanced package, and Lucid keeps improving it through over the air updates.
The Rivian R1S counters with its own genuinely impressive hands free system, and here it has a notable breadth advantage. Rivian expanded its hands free driving to work on around 3.5 million miles of roads, not just highways but essentially any road with clearly painted lines, which is a genuinely enormous coverage area, and the company has point to point capability on its roadmap. Both systems are supervised Level 2 aids that legally require you to stay attentive and ready to take over, and both are paid features. They’re genuinely close, but the R1S’s sheer road coverage gives it a slight edge for everyday use beyond the highway.
Winner: Rivian R1S, narrowly. Both offer strong supervised hands free systems, but the R1S works on far more roads, not just highways, giving it the everyday edge.
Ownership and the Startup Question
Here’s a category that applies to both equally, and it’s worth genuine consideration. Both Rivian and Lucid are young companies, which means both ask you to accept the risks that come with any newer automaker, smaller service networks than the established brands, shorter track records, and the financial uncertainties that face startups scaling up. Neither offers the vast dealer footprint or decades of proven reliability that a legacy luxury brand provides.
Between the two, both are broadly comparable on this front, though Rivian has been building and servicing customer vehicles at scale for a bit longer, which some buyers may find marginally reassuring. But make no mistake, choosing either of these means betting on an ambitious upstart rather than an established name, and that’s part of the deal with both. It’s the price of getting genuinely cutting edge engineering that the establishment hasn’t matched, and only you can decide if that trade is worth it.
Winner: Tie. Both are young companies with the same startup trade offs. Choosing either means betting on an upstart, so weigh that risk equally.
Where It All Shakes Out
Here’s the tally. The Lucid Gravity takes range, interior space, driving feel, and charging, the categories that define a refined, spacious, long legged luxury hauler. The Rivian R1S takes performance, off road capability, interior quality and tech, and driver assistance, the categories that define a genuine adventure machine that’s also well built and well equipped. The startup question is a shared risk. What that pattern tells you is genuinely useful, this really is heart versus brain, or perhaps adventure versus refinement, and the two split almost perfectly down that line.
So here’s how to actually choose. If you want maximum range, exceptional passenger space, a refined and engaging on road drive, and rapid charging for effortless road trips, the Gravity is your SUV, and it’s a genuinely remarkable piece of engineering, provided you can accept some interior quality quirks. If you want genuine off road adventure capability, monstrous straight line performance, a beautifully resolved interior, and the rugged character that lets you take the family truly off the grid, the R1S is your SUV, and it delivers adventure like nothing else at this price.
The real question is what kind of family adventure you’re actually planning. One of these takes you on effortless, luxurious, long distance road trips in genuine comfort. The other takes you to the end of the trail and beyond. Figure out which of those lives you’re really shopping for, then go drive both, because they feel worlds apart despite their shared American upstart spirit, and that difference is what should settle it. Either way, you’re getting a genuinely groundbreaking three row electric SUV from a company brave enough to challenge the establishment, which is a genuinely exciting place to be shopping from.
*EV Rob writes about electric vehicles, automotive technology, and the future of transportation at The Wonderful World of EVs.*
