Farewell - sold my R1T QM and moved to Tesla MY26 - some thoughts and comparison

[shap]

Hello guys,

I wanted to thank everyone on this forum for their support and help with questions I had during the last 2 years.
I sold my R1T QM 23' and bought Tesla MY26. If you are interested, a few thoughts and a comparison:

*what I realised a long time ago, that YouTube reviews are useless (at least for me)...

1. I will start with the obvious - R1T is a much better, versatile car. It is a truck, it can move things, it has high clearance, cargo, etc.

2. Despite what YouTubers say - MY26 stereo system is not so great, and in reality worse (I would say by a significant margin) than R1T I had (mine was not Meridian)

3. Infotainment cluster - I think Rivian's approach is better - having 2 screens is preferable IMHO.

4. Infotainment responsivity - MY UI is much faster. No lags at all.

5. Steering - MY is a way better at holding the straight line. I can take my hands off the steering wheel, and the car will continue to drive straight for a significant time. With Rivian, I needed to hold the steering wheel all the time.

6. HVAC - MY is better, less noisy, and more predictable. Also, vibration on the highest compressor setting is way less than in Rivian. I do miss the HVAC vent settings (A/B) that Rivian has - it is a great idea that worked very well for me.

7. Seat comfort - Rivian seat position and the actual seats are better, more comfortable IMHO

8. Wind/Road noise - MY is not just better, it is on a different scale better. It is a very quiet car. Truck form factor is noisy by definition.

9. ADAS - as I had Gen1, ADAS was a total joke. Rivian lied to all of us, Gen 1 owners. Tesla FSD is just another world of comfort. I use it 95% of the time, and the car just drive itself where I need. It is a savior for me when it is dark and I am tired. In short, HUGE win for Tesla, and the main reason I switched.

10. Parking sensors - Rivian has actual ultrasonic sensors, and it is much easier to park with them compared to Tesla's vision system.

11. Service Center - As I have Rivian and Tesla SC in Austin, TX, 30 min from where I live, I can compare them well. Tesla SC is by FAR better. First, I can schedule same-day appointments. Second, the actual SC is huge, nice waiting area with a conference room for you to use. Free snacks, capsule coffee, etc. I had 3 service appointments, all of which were fixed the same day.
I had a good experience with Rivian SC in general, but ... the waiting time (3 months), the actual fixing take weeks. So no comparison here - Tesla wins by a HUGE margin (at least in Austin).

Overall, I can say that I do miss Rivian. But I am also very happy with MY, mostly because of FSD. It is a game changer, and while many people say that they want to drive themselves, for me, it is something I would not give up.

I hope Rivian will consider to lease FSD from Tesla, as they will not be able to develop it inhouse IMHO. And I hope Rivian will solve the SC issue that is not tolerable.

Good luck to everyone, and who knows, maybe I will buy Rivian again in the future!

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[PaythePiper]

Surprised you say your Rivian non meridian sounds better. My ‘24 Y is lightyears better than my ‘25 R1S sound. I’m driving around in a Chrysler Pacifica rental as we speak, and even its sound destroys the Rivians IMO lol.

having said all that, I appreciate your non fanboy take in your post. Way too much of that around here

 

[shap]

Surprised you say your Rivian non meridian sounds better. My ‘24 Y is lightyears better than my ‘25 R1S sound. I’m driving around in a Chrysler Pacifica rental as we speak, and even its sound destroys the Rivians IMO lol.

having said all that, I appreciate your non fanboy take in your post. Way too much of that around here

I think Gen2 25' uses a different "Premium" stereo system that many reported as much worse than Gen1 stereo. So that explains what you said. Gen1 stereo system was really good IMHO.

 

[RWerksman]

Having owned a R1T with both the Meridian and Elevation audio, the Meridian was clearly better.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Surprised you say your Rivian non meridian sounds better. My ‘24 Y is lightyears better than my ‘25 R1S sound. I’m driving around in a Chrysler Pacifica rental as we speak, and even its sound destroys the Rivians IMO lol.

having said all that, I appreciate your non fanboy take in your post. Way too much of that around here

Yeah it's totally annoying all the people who really like their Rivians on a Rivian forum.

 

[Longhorngary]

Thanks for sharing, I love in Austin and was about to pull the trigger but the comments about wait times at the service center having me once again looking hard at the GMC sierra EV Denali

 

[iansriv]

Thanks for sharing, I love in Austin and was about to pull the trigger but the comments about wait times at the service center having me once again looking hard at the GMC sierra EV Denali

It differs from SC to SC. I'd contact the local SC manager and have a chat.

 

[Longhorngary]

It differs from SC to SC. I'd contact the local SC manager and have a chat.

Well since SC would be Austin I think it's very applicable

 

[iansriv]

Well since SC would be Austin I think it's very applicable

I may have missed it but are you saying you have/had direct experience with the ATX SC? If yes, then you have first hand knowledge. If not, then a brief conversation might shed more light. Your call.

 

[longterm ev supporter]

Will leave politics out of watch out for self drive. In our case we got rid of our teslas after several instances of the cars attempting to kill us. Have paid for self drive on 10 of our cars and frankly ashamed to have done that. Many years worth of promised that it would be ready in a year all lies or incompetence, I will leave up to you to decide. As of 4 months ago the car would take exit ramps at 70 mph despite clearly posted limits of 35. Of course we would slam on brakes to avoid going through toll booths at 70 mph but Tesla never fixed it. Once driving on the Dulles access road in the right lane it attempted to swerve onto a shoulder at 70 mph into a concrete barrier we barely avoided that maneuver. Why 70 again because we had our signal on to exit and it sped up to 70 as per its normal. Another time it tried to put us on the wrong highway quarter of a mile from our correct one. Anyway extreme caution if using “self drive)

 

[ndmiller]

We have both an Gen 1R1T and 25 Model Y and to me they are apples and oranges with no comparison except hardware and electronics.

Model Y heat pump is better than R1T non heat pump, but G2 has heat pumps

R1T is a truck with capabilities beyond Y.

Y is a car with efficiency 50-100% (4-5kw/Mi) better than R1T as it weighs 2-3K pounds less than the R1T and a slippery shape.

Y is on $299 lease and T was almost $90K, so Y was essentially 1/2 the price and isn't half the vehicle.

The only good compare for me is roadtrips where the T can hold tons more and is a more comfortable road vehicle for 3-4 passengers. Also in the driving in torrential rain or poor weather nothing beats 7K pound vehicle, T wins hands down. But Y is also fine.

We own both, we like both for different reasons, and both are the best in their class respectively in my opinion. And that's for the old versions of both, so new versions being better is just icing on the cake.

 

[Zorg]

Went from a Y to a 22 R1T. No regret. Both great vehicles with different purposes. I don't care about FSD as all I need is great highway auto steer.

 

[Pvmc0624]

I have an 2nd gen R1T and my friend has a Cybertruck. While overall I like my truck better, the FSD is amazing, and I have never seen it take ramps at excessive speeds or almost crash into something.
Rivian does need to fix the service center problem - excessive wait times for appointments and excessive repair times - or they will continue to lose customers.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I couldn't imagine driving a Tesla after having my Rivian. I guess different people have different priorities. Best of luck to you, hope your Tesla is what you wanted.

 

[pamalabama]

I have an 2nd gen R1T and my friend has a Cybertruck. While overall I like my truck better, the FSD is amazing, and I have never seen it take ramps at excessive speeds or almost crash into something.
Rivian does need to fix the service center problem - excessive wait times for appointments and excessive repair times - or they will continue to lose customers.

Because on cybertruck it never did that.

Tesla has a product called navigate on autopilot which is very old. Maybe 2017? And it is basically a steering and cruise control product that can take lane changes and interchanges to get you where you need to go.

no manufacturer has built a system like this outside of tesla and unlike other systems it will merge into the correct lanes it needs to be in and take the correct interchanges

It is very primitive but that is what FSD used for about 4 years while they only worked on city streets driving. Navigate on autopilot worked well enough and would run longer than any ADAS on the road by a huge margin. But it was not perfect and did brake hard at times.

They then switched to AI on interstates which is what all versions of cybertruck FSD have now.

Recently, HW3 finally got AI on interstates with the 12.6 builds. In some ways it is good in that you have driving profiles (chill, standard and hurry). In some ways it is not as good as old FSD as it does not have the minimize lane change option (FSD loves to pass other cars) and it does not allow you to set a speed and maintain it

The biggest complaints you see from FSD users are in model S/X which have a vertical screen. for some reason those cars perform really badly

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