500-800 miles from Service Center......from those with Rivian experience....how risky will this be?

[mferring]

Hello all. New member here.

My wife and I are retired in the mountains of southern NM about 90 miles north of El Paso. We love it here but of course are a long way from civilization, especially any current Rivian Service centers. We are EV curious and would really love to pick up a great EV while we are still young enough to enjoy it. We will have 2 other cars to go along with whatever EV we buy (if any). One will be a trouble free medium size SUV that can easily be our travel car if we do not want to deal with charging. The other is currently my BRZ for fun. So we can deal with any short term hiccups with an EV. The Rivian R2 will easily meet our needs for local travel and we would likely take on some trips that are not too long. However.......

The 2 closest service centers are Phoenix and Dallas/Austin/Houston. We are 500 miles from Phoenix where my mom recently passed and I no longer have any real reasons to go there. And 800 miles from Houston where we have 2 kids and 4 grandkids. We don't really have any reason to go to Austin or Dallas. We will probably go to Houston fairly often and can bring the Rivian as needed. It is unclear whether any more centers will be built say in El Paso or Albuquerque any time soon.

I am not very concerned if we need to occasionally visit the service center in Houston with any niggling more minor issues that might crop up in a new model. However, I am very concerned with any issues that would make the vehicle undriveable for an 800 mile trip.

So I thought I would ask you august and wise forum members whether you think it is worth the risk to buy a R2? We currently have an April 2024 reservation date which probably won't come up for awhile for the Launch Edition which is the one we would get. By nature I do not mind taking a little risk for an interesting life experience. But having to say tow the Rivian 800 miles, perhaps multiple times in the vehicles lifetime is not my idea of fun...and waaaay expensive And I am not certain that Rivian would pay for the tow even if it was a warranty item. Modern ICE vehicles have been amazingly reliable and we have not had any ICE issues that made a vehicle undriveable for over 30 years. I have heard stories of some problems with R1's that have made them undriveable, and that makes me nervous.

So what say you oh wise ones!

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice you might share.

Best,

Mark

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[2kwik4u]

It's a crapshoot when buying from Rivian. I've met owners with 100k miles and zero service center visits. My truck is in the service center about every 45 days on average. Most are somewhere in the middle, with I would say the majority being less frequent than mine, but not zero.

I have a first gen R1. If it's any indication of how Rivian launches a vehicle platform (which is the only real indication we have), then I wouldn't buy a first generation platform from them when 10+hrs from a service center.

Just my $0.02, that and another $9.98 will get you a cup of coffee; so take it for what it's worth.

*edit*......Forgot to add. Cloudcroft is great. I grew up in Roswell and we would go there from time to time to visit. Really cool place from what I remember. Haven't been there for several decades now.

 

[CharonPDX]

They do also have mobile service that can perform many fixes.

 

[mferring]

They do also have mobile service that can perform many fixes.

I had heard about the mobile service. Do you think they would go 500 miles to get to me? Seem unlikely......

 

[MPGator]

I also live in NM (ABQ) and have had all of my services done via mobile service. The mobile service staff actually live in town. They travel to service centers every so often for training, but are based locally.

 

[mferring]

Oh wow. I did not realize that the mobile service guys were stationed around the country vs being dispatched from service centers. That makes it sound more liveable.

We live just east of Cloudcroft. Do you think they would come here? What type of services have you had performed?

Also, I do a lot of my own work.....can we for instance change out the 12v battery when the time comes ourselves, or is there special calibration required with factory tools?

 

[mferring]

And Miquel, from what you said, I would not be surprised that they have some mobile service guys in El Paso which is pretty close to us.

 

[mferring]

I just noticed there is a service center in Co springs. I have a cousin there so that could be a possible option as well.

 

[Luxus]

Given you have other vehicles to use should the Rivian need repair, I'd say you can chance it. If the Rivian was going to be your only vehicle, I wouldn't get one. I'd for sure see what Rivian has to say about your situation. Likely they would point to their mobile service guys.

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

I wouldn’t do it, for any car. Keep in mind that the service centers and mobile techs will be busy with the new R2s. So, it would be better if you were closer to a couple service options.

But, whatever you decide, you are going in eyes wide open.

 

[mferring]

We drove both R1 variants in Houston. And all they would say was that they did have mobile service people, and that they would not necessarily pay for towing long distances depending upon the issue.

 

[CharonPDX]

We drove both R1 variants in Houston. And all they would say was that they did have mobile service people, and that they would not necessarily pay for towing long distances depending upon the issue.

Warranty work - especially for an issue that has the vehicle underivable, they absolutely will cover towing costs.

 

[Just Passing By]

With such long distances involved, for peace of mind it might be worth waiting a year or two to see if Rivian commit to a service center in one of the main population centers much closer to you, probably Albuquerque if as someone commented they already have a mobile service operator there. That would also provide plenty of time to see how R2 reliability stacks up, and teething issues (if any) get worked out.

Rivian are already committed to significantly expanding their SC network and will need to do so anyway to support their much larger production volumes. New Mexico is a fairly large hole in their network currently, so it seems a good candidate. NM also seems fairly positive on EVs and at least some lawmakers seem to be pursuing direct sales, instead of requiring sales through dealers, so it seems it would be a Rivian friendly state too if that legislation comes to pass.

 

[iansriv]

There are people here that took there Rivians to Europe. Can't remember the gent that has three in Hawaii. The R2 is not first generation because it is a result of learning on the R1. I have a '23 R1S. No major issues. I would do it without any hesitation but I am not risk averse. All the best.

 

[BlueberryQuadzilla]

Since you have a 2nd car, I’d probably do it. If it was my only car or a used gen 1, probably not.

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