Rivian R1S vs BMW iX comparison review by Car and Driver

[SASSquatch]

I’ve had the R1S for over a month. I’ve sat in the iX and driven (as a passenger in it). The Rivian’s drive and handling is off the charts. The BMW’s handling is great too. The BMW has a lot of grandpa features, no I don’t want fake noise piped in, yes I want a frunk, no I don’t want to have to hit an ignition switch to turn on. The Rivian’s OS is updated constantly, the phone as a key works amazing, the frunk is priceless. This review from Car and Driver is clearly biased, they think the model X is antiquated? What? Did the even mention Rivian will blow away the ix in pure 0-60 speed and off road? I could really go on and on, but yeah the R1S is simply the greatest SUV on the road today.

The markets for the iX and the R1S don't really overlap very much. The iX isn't going anywhere near offroad terrain like the R1S is. A better direct comparison is the Model X.

BMW has been losing a lot of customers with higher end disposable income who want people haulers to Tesla. The iX is the BMW answer to the Model X.

I don't want to sound like I am bashing Tesla - but the build quality of Tesla vs BMW is night and day and people who spend six figures on a car don't want trash build quality.

I literally tried to buy a Model Y from Tesla twice and each time walked away because upon inspection the car had a ridiculous amount of build quality issues. And because there were month long wait times, Tesla couldn't have cared less and told me to take it or leave it - someone else would eventually take it.

Tesla is a technology company, and like Rivian, is STILL working out how to build a quality vehicle. The technology is second to none. OEMS like BMW know how to build great cars - its the tech that usually sucks.

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[madgrey]

Funny how people like to say something is "biased" when they don't agree with the findings.

The R1S did fine in the Car and Driver review. The iX is just a pretty good vehicle also, for different reasons. A good test is going to expose shortcomings, it doesn't mean they are major problems. For example, some of the R1S "ride sins" may not be that pronounced when not driven near the limits.

Also, the iX It's actually very quick, pretty much on par with the R1S, but without the drama (ski boat like lift, for example) which is worth noting. On the plus-side, they thought that the R1S styling, especially the interior, was much nicer. Overall scoring places the vehicles close together.

BTW: I've never owned a BMW and probably never will...

 

[Jay565]

Funny how people like to say something is "biased" when they don't agree with the findings.

The R1S did fine in the Car and Driver review. The iX is just a pretty good vehicle also, for different reasons. A good test is going to expose shortcomings, it doesn't mean they are major problems. For example, some of the R1S "ride sins" may not be that pronounced when not driven near the limits.

Also, the iX It's actually very quick, pretty much on par with the R1S, but without the drama (ski boat like lift, for example) which is worth noting. On the plus-side, they thought that the R1S styling, especially the interior, was much nicer. Overall scoring places the vehicles close together.

BTW: I've never owned a BMW and probably never will...

Anytime you read any reviews, you really do have to analyze bias. The review clearly glosses over concrete things the R1S has that the BMW cannot wven come close to. But when it comes to subjective things, entirely unmeasured suddenly each and every point favors the BMW. That is bias in my book, or at least likely bias and raises my suspicions. Also the 0-60 isn’t close an entire 0.5 second difference is not close. In the end, people should buy whatever they like.

 

[Jay565]

The markets for the iX and the R1S don't really overlap very much. The iX isn't going anywhere near offroad terrain like the R1S is. A better direct comparison is the Model X.

BMW has been losing a lot of customers with higher end disposable income who want people haulers to Tesla. The iX is the BMW answer to the Model X.

I don't want to sound like I am bashing Tesla - but the build quality of Tesla vs BMW is night and day and people who spend six figures on a car don't want trash build quality.

I literally tried to buy a Model Y from Tesla twice and each time walked away because upon inspection the car had a ridiculous amount of build quality issues. And because there were month long wait times, Tesla couldn't have cared less and told me to take it or leave it - someone else would eventually take it.

Tesla is a technology company, and like Rivian, is STILL working out how to build a quality vehicle. The technology is second to none. OEMS like BMW know how to build great cars - its the tech that usually sucks.

Tech is everything my friend..

 

[SASSquatch]

Tech is everything my friend..

It is increasingly part of the equation, but it isn't everything. Rivian (and to a lesser extent now, Tesla) still have a very long way to go before they catch up to OEMs on the vehicle manufacturing side. But in all fairness, these OEMs have decades of manufacturing experience.

Imagine Tesla Technology with Volvo manufacturing....

 

[888tom888]

Ive driven both and I own the S. On conserve mode at Highway speeds(75+ mph) I’m able to get well over 2.25-2.3. The iX feels tighter to drive, while the S can get very loosey goosey. Being used to sports cars it’s taken awhile to get acclimated to, the big plus for me is that the iX is fugly. And to pay over a 1ooK for fugly doesnt sit well with me.

 

[Jay565]

It is increasingly part of the equation, but it isn't everything. Rivian (and to a lesser extent now, Tesla) still have a very long way to go before they catch up to OEMs on the vehicle manufacturing side. But in all fairness, these OEMs have decades of manufacturing experience.

Imagine Tesla Technology with Volvo manufacturing....

Not really sure whats so bad about Tesla manufacturing? Even Volvo has manufacturing defects, not to mention a hell of a sleazy company that goes against everything electric stands for (emissions scandal). I’ve owner Tesla and Rivian, and seems to me almost everyone who owns a Tesla is pretty in love with the car. I think the OEM manufacturers have a hard time thinking outside the box with electric cars and they just stick with their old ways of design and nonproprietary OS’s with minimal updates. Hell Ford lightning’s original models are already obsolete as Ford’s new OS won’t work with the original Lightening’s that just barely came out. Yeah I’ll take Rivian’s and Tesla’s all day everyday.

 

[madgrey]

Also the 0-60 isn’t close an entire 0.5 second difference is not close.

I said the iX acceleration is "on par" with the R1S:
0-30 time is the same at 1.3 seconds
0-60 time is within a 0.1 seconds (3.2. vs. 3.1)
You might mean rolling start (5-60), which the R1S tested better with a 0.5 second advantage. The problem with the R1S is that it's speed governer caused it to do even worse in the 0-100 and quarter mile times. So, I call this (practically speaking) to be pretty close. Not sure this would be enough to sway a person by itself, which is why the subjective evaluations can be important. I read in my own weighting when I read these sorts of articles. For me, the R1S wins handily.

 

[Jay565]

I said the iX acceleration is "on par" with the R1S:
0-30 time is the same at 1.3 seconds
0-60 time is within a 0.1 seconds (3.2. vs. 3.1)
You might mean rolling start (5-60), which the R1S tested better with a 0.5 second advantage. The problem with the R1S is that it's speed governer caused it to do even worse in the 0-100 and quarter mile times. So, I call this (practically speaking) to be pretty close. Not sure this would be enough to sway a person by itself, which is why the subjective evaluations can be important. I read in my own weighting when I read these sorts of articles. For me, the R1S wins handily.

Dude where are you getting your data? From BMW’s own site the ix m60 0-60 is 3.6 seconds, get your data right.

 

[madgrey]

Dude where are you getting your data? From BMW’s own site the ix m60 0-60 is 3.6 seconds, get your data right.

This thread is about the Car and Driver article. That's the one I read and am basing my data and impressions on. Test data under different conditions is tough to compare.

 

[SASSquatch]

Not really sure whats so bad about Tesla manufacturing? Even Volvo has manufacturing defects, not to mention a hell of a sleazy company that goes against everything electric stands for (emissions scandal). I’ve owner Tesla and Rivian, and seems to me almost everyone who owns a Tesla is pretty in love with the car. I think the OEM manufacturers have a hard time thinking outside the box with electric cars and they just stick with their old ways of design and nonproprietary OS’s with minimal updates. Hell Ford lightning’s original models are already obsolete as Ford’s new OS won’t work with the original Lightening’s that just barely came out. Yeah I’ll take Rivian’s and Tesla’s all day everyday.

If you think Tesla manufacturing is up to par I encourage you to go to the Tesla forums and spend some time there. My detailer, who has been in the business for 3 decades and works on cars from Hondas, to Teslas, to Lamborghini calls Tesla "trash" when it comes to build quality but "hands down the best" when it comes to technology. I'm in agreement.

Sandy Munro is quoted as calling the Model 3 in its first year as having the build quality of a "Kia from the 90's." Tesla has seen significant improvements since then, I'm not suggesting that they haven't. But if you take a Tesla Model Y off the lot and compare it to a Volvo XC60 on build quality - it is night and day.

Edit: You said Volvo was responsible for the emissions scandal but you are confusing them with Volkswagen.

Notice how Electrify America Fast Chargers seem to dominate the non-Tesla 3rd party charging infrastructure across the US? That's Volkswagen. They own Electrify America. They are building out that network all over the US as part of making amends for the emission scandal.

 

[AdamsFan1983]

at a 100% charge? I've never seen less than 1.9mi/kwh on the highway and that was in cold rain at 75mph with elevation change in all purpose. In Conserve I regularly see 2.2+. This test appears to have been done in pretty good conditions, so I really don't understand how they got that result.

I drove an R1S from Missouri to New York on a few weeks ago and got every mile of the 290 the computer told me I would.

 

[Jay565]

This thread is about the Car and Driver article. That's the one I read and am basing my data and impressions on. Test data under different conditions is tough to compare.

Ok that makes sense. But car and driver got a full 0.4 seconds faster than manufacturer specs for the ix, and exactly 3.1 seconds for the rivian. No one’s suspicious about this? Hmmm…

 

[SASSquatch]

I drove an R1S from Missouri to New York on a few weeks ago and got every mile of the 290 the computer told me I would.

I think that the author of the Car and Driver review (both the original review and the one comparing it to the iX) doth protest too loudly. I'm not sure if they have an axe to grind with Rivian, or they are just really that upset about the handling but it seems to be an outlier relative to other respected car enthusiast reviews. Journalists who have driven both the R1T and the R1S have noted the handling differences - but like I and others have said - it is all relative.

If you don't have an R1T and R1S sitting in your garage or driveway, you aren't making daily comparisons between the two and I'd be willing to bet that the R1S is going to drive better than any ICE SUV that you've ever driven before.

 

[Madsen203]

Car and driver has long been funded by the likes of BMW and Honda. That’s why they are always the top of the “shoot outs”

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