Donald Stanfield
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
So, I've mentioned before that we had an i4 M50 on order for my wife. We were able to pick it up yesterday, and I've put a hundred or so miles on it in the last day, driving around and running errands. I don't have the whole thing dialed in yet, but I have enough time behind the wheel to get a few impressions that I would like to share with everyone.
I will avoid comparing driving dynamics as comparing a pickup, and a small sport sedan is like comparing an apple and a sandstorm. I feel a few things can be compared as the steering feel. Surprisingly, I get better steering feedback from the R1 than I do the i4, but as far as on-road handling, the i4 beats the R1 by a significant margin. It's expected that the car's center of gravity is on the ground compared to the truck. My Rivian is sporty for a truck but no sports car. The BMW cannot do any truck things, so comparing these is more or less useless.
On to the the things that can be compared. I'm going to start with the interiors. The i4 has a wraparound display; it is pretty nice. I'd say the displays are a tie. The leather seats in my i4 are excellent, but the overall interior quality isn't as nice as my Rivian. The wood trim isn't as nice, and the vinyl isn't as nice as the Rivian's. Even with the quality seats, I give the interior an edge to Rivian.
The launch mode in the BMW is much more fun. When you first engage it, the car lurches slightly against the brakes, making you feel like you're about to take off. The pedal mapping in sport for the i4 is a little bit more direct than the Rivian, which makes the Bimmer feel faster than the Rivian even though it's technically slower. It also means sport mode is less comfortable to daily the car in than the Rivian's sport mode is, so it's a trade-off off and I like how the mapping is done on each vehicle for that vehicle. The reason is that overall, the Rivian is much more comfortable, so it would be a better daily, and the i4 would be a great car to get somewhere in a hurry or have fun on a back road. If I'm taking a car to the dragon, it will be the i4, but running errands will be the R1, except when going downtown or in cramped spaces, the i4's smaller size is an asset.
Stereo: I got the premium sound in the i4 and preferred the R1's system. The i4 doesn't seem to have the punch or clarity. I am reserving final judgment on this because I'm comparing satellite radio in the i4 to tidal in the Rivian, so I know the quality of the inputs is different.
Infotainment: I prefer the UX of the Rivian, but that could be that I spend so much time here and have been around since reasonably early on in Rivian's process so adding a feature at a time is much easier to learn than trying to figure the whole thing out at once. The i4 does have a lot of options the Rivian does not, such as being able to change the color of interior lighting, and I have a HUD. The HUD in the i4 is really nice and easy to see and you can change what is displayed there, and you can change the instrument cluster as well which is a feature I wish Rivian had. I know some of you would like the AA and CarPlay in the i4, but I can't use it anyway running GrapheneOs.
Noise: The i4 has the option for artificial engine noise. It's pretty accurately represented, but I turned it off almost immediately. I have grown to appreciate the silence of the EV at this point. Regarding outside noise, the BMW has zero wind noise, while the Rivian has a little. The Rivian has almost no tire and road noise, and the i4 has some. They are pretty close in noise, with Rivian getting an extremely slight edge to the quiet side because the tire noise is always there in the i4, but the wind noise isn't always there in the Rivian.
Paint: I haven't gotten the i4 to the detailer yet, but I have more orange peel on the i4 than I do on my Rivian currently, which is saying something as we got the upgraded custom paint, a 5K dollar option. It looks good, but I didn't think there would be as much peel. Hopefully, they applied it thicker than the base model color so my detailer can eliminate it.
Overall, they are different vehicles for different purposes, and I like them both. The Rivian makes a better daily and a better traveling car, but running around town, the i4 is fun to drive. I'm glad Rivian stands up well on the finishings and performance front. I am so happy we got rid of our ICE Audi. The i4 is a significant upgrade. The i4 is my wife's car, so this is moot, but if the vehicles were for me and I had to choose to get rid of one, I'd probably keep the Rivian. It's more comfortable by a pretty significant margin, and the gap in comfort between the two is more prominent in the Rivian's favor than the gap in fun to drive is in the i4's favor.
I will avoid comparing driving dynamics as comparing a pickup, and a small sport sedan is like comparing an apple and a sandstorm. I feel a few things can be compared as the steering feel. Surprisingly, I get better steering feedback from the R1 than I do the i4, but as far as on-road handling, the i4 beats the R1 by a significant margin. It's expected that the car's center of gravity is on the ground compared to the truck. My Rivian is sporty for a truck but no sports car. The BMW cannot do any truck things, so comparing these is more or less useless.
On to the the things that can be compared. I'm going to start with the interiors. The i4 has a wraparound display; it is pretty nice. I'd say the displays are a tie. The leather seats in my i4 are excellent, but the overall interior quality isn't as nice as my Rivian. The wood trim isn't as nice, and the vinyl isn't as nice as the Rivian's. Even with the quality seats, I give the interior an edge to Rivian.
The launch mode in the BMW is much more fun. When you first engage it, the car lurches slightly against the brakes, making you feel like you're about to take off. The pedal mapping in sport for the i4 is a little bit more direct than the Rivian, which makes the Bimmer feel faster than the Rivian even though it's technically slower. It also means sport mode is less comfortable to daily the car in than the Rivian's sport mode is, so it's a trade-off off and I like how the mapping is done on each vehicle for that vehicle. The reason is that overall, the Rivian is much more comfortable, so it would be a better daily, and the i4 would be a great car to get somewhere in a hurry or have fun on a back road. If I'm taking a car to the dragon, it will be the i4, but running errands will be the R1, except when going downtown or in cramped spaces, the i4's smaller size is an asset.
Stereo: I got the premium sound in the i4 and preferred the R1's system. The i4 doesn't seem to have the punch or clarity. I am reserving final judgment on this because I'm comparing satellite radio in the i4 to tidal in the Rivian, so I know the quality of the inputs is different.
Infotainment: I prefer the UX of the Rivian, but that could be that I spend so much time here and have been around since reasonably early on in Rivian's process so adding a feature at a time is much easier to learn than trying to figure the whole thing out at once. The i4 does have a lot of options the Rivian does not, such as being able to change the color of interior lighting, and I have a HUD. The HUD in the i4 is really nice and easy to see and you can change what is displayed there, and you can change the instrument cluster as well which is a feature I wish Rivian had. I know some of you would like the AA and CarPlay in the i4, but I can't use it anyway running GrapheneOs.
Noise: The i4 has the option for artificial engine noise. It's pretty accurately represented, but I turned it off almost immediately. I have grown to appreciate the silence of the EV at this point. Regarding outside noise, the BMW has zero wind noise, while the Rivian has a little. The Rivian has almost no tire and road noise, and the i4 has some. They are pretty close in noise, with Rivian getting an extremely slight edge to the quiet side because the tire noise is always there in the i4, but the wind noise isn't always there in the Rivian.
Paint: I haven't gotten the i4 to the detailer yet, but I have more orange peel on the i4 than I do on my Rivian currently, which is saying something as we got the upgraded custom paint, a 5K dollar option. It looks good, but I didn't think there would be as much peel. Hopefully, they applied it thicker than the base model color so my detailer can eliminate it.
Overall, they are different vehicles for different purposes, and I like them both. The Rivian makes a better daily and a better traveling car, but running around town, the i4 is fun to drive. I'm glad Rivian stands up well on the finishings and performance front. I am so happy we got rid of our ICE Audi. The i4 is a significant upgrade. The i4 is my wife's car, so this is moot, but if the vehicles were for me and I had to choose to get rid of one, I'd probably keep the Rivian. It's more comfortable by a pretty significant margin, and the gap in comfort between the two is more prominent in the Rivian's favor than the gap in fun to drive is in the i4's favor.
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