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u/SanJoseRhinos

r/GrandCherokee r/Kayaking r/Gravity
▲ 0 r/Gravity

Driver Seat Position & Ergonomics

I wonder if it is just me who's unable to find the "perfect" comfortable driving position on the Gravity driver's seat. The combination of the seat cushion length, steering wheel positioning, the A-pillar blind spots near the quarter glass and the HVAC vents, make it difficult to choose comfortable driving position which also has good visibility around the vehicle.

Firstly, the seat itself seems to lack the overall cushioning that I was used to in my previous ICE (a Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with leather seats). Maybe it is because I have the "purluxe" material and not Tahoe leather, but the seat's "butt-feel" is more Toyota Corolla-like than luxury SUV like. Secondly the headrest being non-adjustable vertically makes it really annoying for me. The headrest is supposed to be in line with the top of your head. How do I adjust this, as I cant change the length of my torso! Thirdly, I also feel the length (rear to front) of the cushion is shorter than my previous cars. I dont feel a good thigh support on these seats.

I also like the HVAC vents to be directed more towards my face. But the Gravity vents can only be adjusted so much in the vertical direction. To get more of the air towards my face, I have to lower the seats. But if I do that, then I dont really get a very good view outside. Conversely, if I do adjust the seats higher, then my head is closer to the damn glass roof, which gets uncomfortably hot! For me, the position that gives me best view around the vehicle while driving, is also the most uncomfortable as my head gets heated up (even with the canopy roof shades).

I was wondering if others feel the same, and if so, what has worked best for you?

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u/SanJoseRhinos — 12 days ago
▲ 70 r/Gravity

First Roadtrip Report

A few weeks back I asked for recommendations for a first road-trip with the Gravity. While I originally did not want to include Yosemite because everyone from the Bay Area goes there, I still ended up driving through Yosemite to Mammoth Lakes! Here are a few things I noticed during the roadtrip

The Plus'es

  1. EVs in general and the Gravity in particular, is awesome on the curvy mountain roads. I noticed I did not have to slow down as much as with an ICE on the curves, and it was a lot more fun to drive. I could also easily pass slower moving cars on the straights. Although this was a solo trip, so I could do this... with passengers, someone would have got car sick after a while!
  2. Finding chargers was not as big a problem as I thought, and a big shoutout to Rivian Adventure network. While the Gravity does not support Plug-n-Charge for this, Rivian makes it super simple by allowing you to tap your credit card without creating any accounts. While on the way, I charged at Groveland. I did not really need to, but wanted to arrive with higher than 30% SoC. I first tried the Tesla charger in Groveland, but it was "Tesla only" (more on this in the Minus'es below), but just across the street are the Rivian chargers. They also have clean restrooms there.
  3. Adaptive Cruise Control + Dream Drive made fatigue of driving through Yosemite significantly lesser. My previous ICE had ACC, but not stop-n-go, so this was a huge plus.

The Minus'es

  1. Driving east on 580 from the Bay Area in the early morning, I noticed that there was a light film of fog forming on the bottom half of the windshield. It was not too bad, but since the sun was low, it was super visible and annoying. The Gravity front defroster was not able to get rid of it, and this was very surprising. I finally had to go low-tech manually defog by wiping the windshield with a rag! It stopped being noticeable once the sun got higher, but I think the front defogger may not be super effective.

  2. I hate the Tesla super-chargers! Both the ones I tried - first in Groveland, and then before the return in Mammoth - did not work. In Mammoth, the supercharger was supposed to work on the Gravity as per the navigation. I tried two stations, and both refused to charge. I later learnt that this particular location has some stations working, and some not working for non-Teslas. However, I found the Rivian one, again, just across the street, and it charged perfectly. I left it to charge from 35% to 80%, and by the time I walked to a nearby coffee shop and re-charged myself, my car was done! I got a beautiful sunrise reflected on the Gravity glass at this charger as well!

  3. Dream Drive does not work very well in the curvy Tioga pass road, or on 395. On Tioga pass road, it would sometimes just dis-engage and I had to take over. Seemed like it was just giving up after too many curves! On 395, which is straight as an arrow, it wrongly judged the road to be a two-way road with oncoming traffic, and refused to do left lane changes. In reality this stretch of 395 is a divided freeway with two lanes going in the same direction.

u/SanJoseRhinos — 22 days ago
▲ 6 r/Gravity

First Road-Trip Suggestions

So... I am toying with the idea of starting my first long-ish roadtrip (4+ hours) as I would have done with my previous ICE vehicle. My Gravity GT is rated at 386 miles of range. I suppose real-life would be lesser, but still pretty good. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. The obvious choices for first roadtrip would probably be Yosemite or Lake Tahoe. I know both places have pretty decent charger networks, but I am crossing them out of the options because everyone goes there, and I've been there more times than I can count!

I was wondering if I could venture out somewhere else. Would Joshua Tree NP be a stretch too far? Would the Mammoth Lakes area be a better option? I'd like a place with great natural views and hiking, but still not too far from a Tesla or EA super-charger! Looking forward to suggestions from fellow owners.

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u/SanJoseRhinos — 1 month ago
▲ 140 r/Gravity

Joined the Club today

Recognizing the "Gravity" of the situation with the Strait of Hormuz and ever-increasing gas prices, I finally took the plunge! The lease initiatives plus the California "first EV credit" made it a really sweet deal. Traded in my gas guzzler, and took delivery of Gravity Grand Touring today. This car drives like a spaceship!

u/SanJoseRhinos — 2 months ago
▲ 9 r/GrandCherokee

2021 GC Limited - A/C Problems again

Hey guys, I started getting the infamous "Darth Vader" noises from my 2021 Grand Cherokee Limited a few years back. This was just a month after when the vehicle was out of warranty, so my bad luck. At that time I toyed between re-charging it myself and taking it to a auto shop, and finally did take it to a local mechanic. He drained and recharged the refrigerant, did not find any leak (probably did not look enough), and it cost me just about $200. This worked well for a few months, but the hissing noises started coming back. Now, it's been about 1 year, I guess and not only are the noises back, but the AC is also not cooling well. Seriously there's something wrong with the Jeep's air conditioning and this needs to be looked into. Are there any recommended auto shops in the San Francisco East-Bay area that know how to look into this issue. I dont want to go to the dealers, as every one of them would charge ~$400 to just start looking into it.

Also, why isnt there a class action lawsuit against Stellantis already for this! Surely I am not the only one facing this problem!

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u/SanJoseRhinos — 3 months ago