Out of Spec's First Drive Review of Rivian R1T @ First Mile Event

[yizzung]

Squeaky tailgate noted (5:30' mark). I pointed out the same thing about the gear tunnel doors squeaking at the Sonoma event. Seems like such an odd little quality issue but I have a four-year old car that doesn't have any squeaking hinges so not sure what's going on here with prototypes that are less than a year old.

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[Trandall]

Squeaky tailgate noted (5:30' mark). I pointed out the same thing about the gear tunnel doors squeaking at the Sonoma event. Seems like such an odd little quality issue but I have a four-year old car that doesn't have any squeaking hinges so not sure what's going on here with prototypes that are less than a year old.

They are probably gotten filthy and washed daily since late summer equaling a years worth of washing every month and causing the hinges to loose lubrication. A drop of light weight oil at each moving hinge would likely solve it and IMO would be expected a few times a year with heavy use.

 

[endress14]

once he gets in the truck with the rivian rep (11:00-ish) there is video from the dash looking back. it appears the sunroof glass is opaque or has some sort of cover in this photo. is that just a trick of the light? the remainder of the windows look totally normal.

 

[DuckTruck]

I get really annoyed by NVH issues when on the road. One downside to EV's is there isn't any engine rumble or exhaust note to mask little squeaks and rattles, or even the inevitable wind noise that can sound like a whistle to those of us with CDO³.

Every vehicle is unique in how it's been used and serviced, but I remember how eerily and pleasantly silent the test vehicles were in Normal. Of course you get some constant hum of wind noise at 130 MPH, but not enough to drown out the sound of my own heartbeat.

Every vehicle I have now or have owned in the past has/had some annoying squeak or rattle. Luckily, they were all addressed with grease, oil, foam, or traditional tools to eliminate or reduce them to non-annoying levels or frequency. I will say the road noise in an aging 2003 Mazda Tribute required a pair of noise-canceling Bose earbuds to eliminate the constant "Road Roar". ?

 

[Scoiatael]

Not really anything new here. I hope he does get a car for a few days like a couple other youtube reviewers were able to do, because I do like his videos on range and charging.

 

[electruck]

once he gets in the truck with the rivian rep (11:00-ish) there is video from the dash looking back. it appears the sunroof glass is opaque or has some sort of cover in this photo. is that just a trick of the light? the remainder of the windows look totally normal.

Just the tint on a heavily overcast day.

 

[LoneStar]

Don't understand why so many 'reviewers' seem hesitant to GO! in the R1T. Many times the Rivian ride-along person said, "you can go faster." I assure you if I was driving, the person would be nervously saying, "you need to slow down more."

 

[thrill]

Don't understand why so many 'reviewers' seem hesitant to GO! in the R1T. Many times the Rivian ride-along person said, "you can go faster." I assure you if I was driving, the person would be nervously saying, "you need to slow down more."

My "copilot" would be saying, "yo, we need to pull off over here and install some new tires..."

 

[slawwach]

- Battery is 133kw useable out of 135kw gross. First I've heard this stat (unverified of course, but still noteworthy).

Based on the fact that Rivian recommends to charge to only 70% on a daily basis suggests that the buffer is almost non existent.
Based on the small buffer I expect that charge rate will taper aggressively towards higher SOC and also we should be ready to loose a few percent of range in a first year or two.

 

[SeaGeo]

Certainly a view from a Tesla Owner (I'm a Tesla owner, but also an auto enthusiast / mechanic / race driver). He is stunned at the amenities in the R1T - this means he's used to Teslas, not normal 2021 luxury vehicles. That level of detail is normal for today's pickups. And the pricing is cannot be compared to a Tacoma until they make a SupraX Tacoma. For now, a trim that is similar but missing some major features is $46k with 1/3 the power. The Rivian R1T 135 is just under $70k after Fed, but not state.

The suspension design is equal to that of the Tesla, Jaguar, Porsche, and Audi EVs, that is not the McLaren. It is the high trim suspension found in cars dating back a decade or more, mag dampening, airspring. I can say in practice that the Jag, Porsche, Audi are a couple notches up the food chain from the 2020 Tesla MX application.

From more detailed reviews, the R1T is reported as the most well-sorted dynamic suspension available in a truck. It is the first true sport truck that has sigificant off-road abilities and heavy towing. By "heavy" I use the barometer of being able to haul a loaded racecar trailer (8000lb).

It needs to be compared to the Jaguar, not a Model 3.

I'm assuming you're referring to Kyle (the reviewer) when you're referring to "him". If not, my response here is probably misunderstanding your point. He's spent a lot of time in very high end luxury vehicles. He's fully aware of what an S class, EQS, Taycan, and Rolls feels like.

I personally disagree. The level of thought and detail Rivian has put into the truck is definitely not normal for today's pickups. I literally just looked at trucks from all three automakers at the Seattle car show this weekend and came away more impressive with the intentional design decisions Rivian made. There may also be a miscommunication as to what you're thinking of as "Details."

His point was that it's a similar size to a Tacoma, but obviously a different class of truck. So he was just giving a frame of reference that.

The damper is most definitely a design decision from McLaren, which is well documented. MotorTrend has an article on it specifically.

It needs to be compared to a Land Rover as the most direct comparison, which is what Kyle's general frame of reference was.

 

[eemri]

"Acceleration is really good for this type of vehicle" Kyle says at 24:20 Tough crowd. I thought 0-60 in 3ish seconds is really good for any type of vehicle

 

[Gator42]

I don't know how much of Kyle's test loop the reservation holders experienced but that was a very nice setup...

 

[Friscorays]

Bummer about March 1, 2022.

 

[BigE]

There are still several worthwhile nuggets in this that are a first:

- Battery is 133kw useable out of 135kw gross. First I've heard this stat (unverified of course, but still noteworthy). He also repeated the claim that he thought it might be capable of 80a level 2, but this time he did waffle on it. Pretty sure it's limited to 48a (60a circuit)
- first in depth testing and commentary on regen performance, showing how it comes to full stop and transitions to auto hold without needing to apply brake pedal
- first person to review/comment on general driving dynamics of acceleration and braking, including finer points of how it reacts at low speeds

More broadly, Kyle C. is well respected in the EV world, so his thoughts and observations carry a lot of weight.

Wondering where Kyle got the battery specs from? I can't believe Rivian would only have 2 kWh of buffer in a battery this size. The number I've consistently heard has been 144 kWh for the Large pack. I went back and found DucRiders calculations.

Here is what DucRider posted back in September after the EPA data came out.

"From the EPA data released, it looks like the nominal battery capacity is 144 kWh on both the R1T & R1S (400V nominal * 360 Ah)

It looks like the useable/available capacity is very close to the original 135 kWh designation. The efficiency numbers show that the R1S took 153.0 kWh to fully recharge on both the City and Hwy tests (measured from the plug), and the R1T 150.6 kWh on the City portion and 150.5 kWh on the Hwy.

Charger efficiency is usually pretty darn close to 90%
153 kWh * 90% = 137.7 kWh
150.5 kWh * 90% = 135.5 kWh"

 

[SeaGeo]

Wondering where Kyle got the battery specs from? I can't believe Rivian would only have 2 kWh of buffer in a battery this size. The number I've consistently heard has been 144 kWh for the Large pack. I went back and found DucRiders calculations.

Here is what DucRider posted back in September after the EPA data came out.

"From the EPA data released, it looks like the nominal battery capacity is 144 kWh on both the R1T & R1S (400V nominal * 360 Ah)

It looks like the useable/available capacity is very close to the original 135 kWh designation. The efficiency numbers show that the R1S took 153.0 kWh to fully recharge on both the City and Hwy tests (measured from the plug), and the R1T 150.6 kWh on the City portion and 150.5 kWh on the Hwy.

Charger efficiency is usually pretty darn close to 90%
153 kWh * 90% = 137.7 kWh
150.5 kWh * 90% = 135.5 kWh"

Probably word of mouth from the drive specialist, or they told him 133kwh and he had heard 135 total previously. This was super impromptu, so I wouldn't put a ton into some of those specifics.

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