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R2 Demo Drive Scheduling is LIVE! Anyone book test drive yet?
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Gen(R3)Xer
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LFleig
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I did find they do have the R2 at the 3 closest locations but all booked. Was told to keep checking back for new dates/availability.
Imola.ZHP
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Careful when refreshing the page today, I booked an R1T drive for Saturday. 🫠
Canceled it, but still something to look out for.
Canceled it, but still something to look out for.
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jimmymatt
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We drove to the demo/service center in Fishers Indiana yesterday and were able to check out the half moon gray they have on display and schedule a test drive for tomorrow. It was much easier to schedule a test drive in person than online. It wasn’t packed, just a steady flow of people. We spent over an hour looking at it and the R1s they have on display. They have a lot of R1s available to drive. We live 45 minutes away from Fishers so it’s a pretty easy drive. They have one white R2 for test drives. They’re hoping to get another one but didn’t know when they might get it.
ender_okc
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I am looking to book a demo drive in Dallas, no slots available, but does anybody know what time new slots come open on the website? and how far in advance? I would need to try to plan it as I live in OKC and the drive is almost 3 hours there.
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srijanidutta9
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Any slots available for test drive in and around Seattle? What time do slots open?
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Gen(R3)Xer
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I’m from Columbus. Our closest demo center is Fishers, Indiana. They’ve shortened the R2 demo times to only 15 minutes. Not worth the 5+ hour roundtrip drive, unless there’s some cool stuff to do in Fishers.
Doesn’t make sense that Central Ohio doesn’t have a demo center.
OutdoorsMA
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I almost do this every time I'm away for a few hours. I'm glad I'm not the only one!
Rizzian
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I got to drive the Performance trim with 21" wheels in Catalina Cove this AM.
My takeaways from the brief 16 minute drive:
Coming from my Gen 1 R1S Quad, the seats immediately felt better in the R2, softer leather for sure. Ventilation was actually blowing out of the perorations... much better than the ventilated seats in the R1s. Back seat is roomier, albeit a bit of a cheaper bench seat vibe than the back of the R1. Overall, the interior doesn't feel smaller, but certainly the materials looks/feel a hair less premium than the R1.
With regard to driving, the ride was great. Immediately felt more precise and agile than my R1. I was surprised how different the driving experience was switching drive modes from All Terrain to Sport, given the more limited control over the suspension. That performance gap between AT and Sport felt even more significant in the R2 than it does in my R1 - so the "Standard" All Terrain drive mode is more significantly de-tuned from Sport Mode in the R2. I was in the rain, so I was able to turn down traction control and get the rear end to swing out a little... just shy of drifting because I was on public streets, but the 2000 pound weight reduction was far more noticeable that than the reduction in HP coming from the Quad -if that makes sense. It's absolutely more of a driver's car than the R1. It's really fun. Parking was much easier with the smaller size and better cameras.
The turn signal cam and 360 view cameras were so much better than my Gen1.
They certainly got the driving dynamics right and ergonomics right.
Audio- This is where I'm being super critical and it might not matter to most. I was an Audio Engineer for many years, so this is important to me. I'm not super impressed with the R1 Rivian Elevation audio, particularly for a $97k suv, but the R2's audio is clearly a step down from there. I logged into Apple Music and listened to material that I was familiar with. Where the R1 has a wide soundstage, the R2's is narrow and more mid-rangy. With the fader panned to the middle of the car, it still sounded like 80% of the audio was coming from the center of the dashboard, rather than surrounding me. I went to adjust the EQ only to find that it was already tweaked in to a big smiley face... so flattening it made the audio even more boxy sounding. I'd give the R2's Premium Audio a letter grade of "C" with maybe a "B-" if you spend a lot of time trying to dial it in on the EQ. Fading audio to the rear usually results in a deeper, warmer sound , but in the R2 it only reveals that the rear speakers are under powered and sound worse than the ones in on the dash and front doors.
The most deficient part of my R1S's audio is easily the subwoofer, which doesn't extend deep enough from a frequency band perspective and is significantly lacking in power to keep up with the rest of the speakers. This was where I was hoping the R2's dual opposed subwoofer design would shine, but I'd say that I couldn't even perceive that there was a subwoofer firing in the R2, the low end was that anemic. Personally, I would need to put an aftermarket sub into the R2 if I owned one. That's saying a lot, because I've never had an aftermarket sub in my car. I'm not a crazy basshead that needs to rattle mirrors, I'm just talking about clear, defined bass for normal to loud listening with pop, rock and alt rock material. It's just not there. I'd be really surprised if Rivian has enough headroom in their "premium audio" system to fix it over the air.
Edit: The Haptic Halos were cool... I wish I had more time to demo them. I did inadvertently bump into it and change my volume twice while making turns- that's something that's only happened to me once in the R1s in 2+ years of ownership.
Also, I think the Catalina Cove paint color is VERY dependent on lighting conditions. I've seen some stunning pictures that take me to a tropical reef and I would argue that Catalina Cove is going to be the the most popular R2 color upgrade, however on an overcast, rainy day it was just the deep end of a murky pool. I wish it had been a sunny day, but now I'm considering Esker Silver, based on how it was looking in all of the R2 reviews that came out yesterday.
Anyone else - first impressions?
My takeaways from the brief 16 minute drive:
Coming from my Gen 1 R1S Quad, the seats immediately felt better in the R2, softer leather for sure. Ventilation was actually blowing out of the perorations... much better than the ventilated seats in the R1s. Back seat is roomier, albeit a bit of a cheaper bench seat vibe than the back of the R1. Overall, the interior doesn't feel smaller, but certainly the materials looks/feel a hair less premium than the R1.
With regard to driving, the ride was great. Immediately felt more precise and agile than my R1. I was surprised how different the driving experience was switching drive modes from All Terrain to Sport, given the more limited control over the suspension. That performance gap between AT and Sport felt even more significant in the R2 than it does in my R1 - so the "Standard" All Terrain drive mode is more significantly de-tuned from Sport Mode in the R2. I was in the rain, so I was able to turn down traction control and get the rear end to swing out a little... just shy of drifting because I was on public streets, but the 2000 pound weight reduction was far more noticeable that than the reduction in HP coming from the Quad -if that makes sense. It's absolutely more of a driver's car than the R1. It's really fun. Parking was much easier with the smaller size and better cameras.
The turn signal cam and 360 view cameras were so much better than my Gen1.
They certainly got the driving dynamics right and ergonomics right.
Audio- This is where I'm being super critical and it might not matter to most. I was an Audio Engineer for many years, so this is important to me. I'm not super impressed with the R1 Rivian Elevation audio, particularly for a $97k suv, but the R2's audio is clearly a step down from there. I logged into Apple Music and listened to material that I was familiar with. Where the R1 has a wide soundstage, the R2's is narrow and more mid-rangy. With the fader panned to the middle of the car, it still sounded like 80% of the audio was coming from the center of the dashboard, rather than surrounding me. I went to adjust the EQ only to find that it was already tweaked in to a big smiley face... so flattening it made the audio even more boxy sounding. I'd give the R2's Premium Audio a letter grade of "C" with maybe a "B-" if you spend a lot of time trying to dial it in on the EQ. Fading audio to the rear usually results in a deeper, warmer sound , but in the R2 it only reveals that the rear speakers are under powered and sound worse than the ones in on the dash and front doors.
The most deficient part of my R1S's audio is easily the subwoofer, which doesn't extend deep enough from a frequency band perspective and is significantly lacking in power to keep up with the rest of the speakers. This was where I was hoping the R2's dual opposed subwoofer design would shine, but I'd say that I couldn't even perceive that there was a subwoofer firing in the R2, the low end was that anemic. Personally, I would need to put an aftermarket sub into the R2 if I owned one. That's saying a lot, because I've never had an aftermarket sub in my car. I'm not a crazy basshead that needs to rattle mirrors, I'm just talking about clear, defined bass for normal to loud listening with pop, rock and alt rock material. It's just not there. I'd be really surprised if Rivian has enough headroom in their "premium audio" system to fix it over the air.
Edit: The Haptic Halos were cool... I wish I had more time to demo them. I did inadvertently bump into it and change my volume twice while making turns- that's something that's only happened to me once in the R1s in 2+ years of ownership.
Also, I think the Catalina Cove paint color is VERY dependent on lighting conditions. I've seen some stunning pictures that take me to a tropical reef and I would argue that Catalina Cove is going to be the the most popular R2 color upgrade, however on an overcast, rainy day it was just the deep end of a murky pool. I wish it had been a sunny day, but now I'm considering Esker Silver, based on how it was looking in all of the R2 reviews that came out yesterday.
Anyone else - first impressions?
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Tony S
New Member
Had my test drive at Fort Myers, Florida service center this morning. They had two R2 Performance and I drove 30 minutes and came back impressed of the driving dynamics, the power, and handling at the 40-80 mph. The launch 0-60 in the sport mode was very satisfying. Currently I’m driving a Polestar 2 dual motor for the last four years and intend to get the R2 Performance Non-Launch edition. I don’t want the Launch Package (Autonomy+, Towing package, key Fob, and 21” wheels).
infotainment and Audio system are fine, not a priority. In my younger years I used to spend a ton of $$$ and time upgrading my sound systems.
infotainment and Audio system are fine, not a priority. In my younger years I used to spend a ton of $$$ and time upgrading my sound systems.
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