Finished R2 demo test drive? Share your review / impressions

[Horsey]

Scrolling with the wheels felt better than excellent. Definitely the best scroll wheel I’ve ever used in any product, ever.

However, left and right just didn’t work consistently for me, or as responsively as I’d like.

Pushing in and from behind felt somewhere in between the above 2 scenarios. I wanted the click in to feel like a middle click on a mouse, but it absolutely did not feel that way to me.

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[r2fb]

A Model Y and an R2 could not be more different vehicles IMO. The Model Y is a car that was bloated to a be a CUV (on the Model 3 platform). The R2 is a true SUV that maintains a unibody design and not body on frame like a truck, but is still a substantial size and feels like an SUV.

I don't understand why people would cross shop these other than price and they're the only really viable EV's these days, but they're very different.

With EV's everything is a skateboard chassis with batteries and motors on either end or both. No reason not to have something that looks like a R2 but drives like a sportscar. It's like RC cars that you can just put a different plastic body on and they become trucks, desert racers, etc.

 

[Horsey]

Another thought here: Autonomy+ did nothing that I wanted it to. The biggest things I wanted Autonomy+ to do was lane change on surface streets, and auto park. Neither of those things were possible in my demo drive in Tempe. The roads in Tempe are excellent, so it wasn't a road issue. I really liked being able to set a speed in the cruise control with the +1 and +5 increments, but my Prius/Rav4 did a better job of that with the single pull down/push up for incremental speed changes in cruise control speed. The knobs method on the R2 felt worse from a UX perspective.

 

[Utah-Jay]

Another thought here: Autonomy+ did nothing that I wanted it to. The biggest things I wanted Autonomy+ to do was lane change on surface streets, and auto park. Neither of those things were possible in my demo drive in Tempe. The roads in Tempe are excellent, so it wasn't a road issue. I really liked being able to set a speed in the cruise control with the +1 and +5 increments, but my Prius/Rav4 did a better job of that with the single pull down/push up for incremental speed changes in cruise control speed. The knobs method on the R2 felt worse from a UX perspective.

My wife had no problem changing lanes in Autonomy+

 

[graytag]

Nope, I never cared for vehicles that big and heavy, coming from a MY and a Q4 and R2 is similarly sized and weighted so I expected a similar driving experience.

I mean, my i4 weighs what an F-150 does but I didn't expect the same drive feel. Height, weight, BoF vs unibody, wheel configuration, etc are determinants of how something drives, not weight, alone.

 

[virgnia_rivian]

Maybe we missed this somewhere, but we finally snagged a demo drive appt and we’ve been told only one person can drive. If you show up as a couple you can’t both drive the car. This was news to us. What has everyone else experienced?

 

[rodhx]

Maybe we missed this somewhere, but we finally snagged a demo drive appt and we’ve been told only one person can drive. If you show up as a couple you can’t both drive the car. This was news to us. What has everyone else experienced?

No problems with both of us driving during our R2 demo. They just did the usual copy of my wife's license since they already had mine.

 

[Jeremy3292]

Maybe we missed this somewhere, but we finally snagged a demo drive appt and we’ve been told only one person can drive. If you show up as a couple you can’t both drive the car. This was news to us. What has everyone else experienced?

Book another one and have your wife drive then. I have my first one Friday in Richmond and will book another for Monday or sometime next week. Guy at Rivian told me you get 30 min driving but you can book another at another time if you want once you finish the first one.

 

[oregonridet]

Maybe we missed this somewhere, but we finally snagged a demo drive appt and we’ve been told only one person can drive. If you show up as a couple you can’t both drive the car. This was news to us. What has everyone else experienced?

My wife and I each made an appoint. Me at 1300 her at 1330. We had the R2 out for 55 minutes. They were standing on the sidewalk with another couple waiting to go when we returned.

 

[tgo10000]

Maybe we missed this somewhere, but we finally snagged a demo drive appt and we’ve been told only one person can drive. If you show up as a couple you can’t both drive the car. This was news to us. What has everyone else experienced?

We had no issues with both driving but our SC wasn’t busy that day. Probably just depends on your location. Agree with everyone else who make another appointment, doesn’t seem they are inviting everyone to do demos right now anyway.

 

[virgnia_rivian]

We had no issues with both driving but our SC wasn’t busy that day. Probably just depends on your location. Agree with everyone else who make another appointment, doesn’t seem they are inviting everyone to do demos right now anyway.

Our issue has been getting appointments. We hopped on the only one we've seen available since they started taking them. So booking a second one will be tough for now. It's not a huge deal, but it's just a bit surprising this is how they're doing it.

 

[Mos Eisley]

Another thought here: Autonomy+ did nothing that I wanted it to. The biggest things I wanted Autonomy+ to do was lane change on surface streets, and auto park. Neither of those things were possible in my demo drive in Tempe. The roads in Tempe are excellent, so it wasn't a road issue. I really liked being able to set a speed in the cruise control with the +1 and +5 increments, but my Prius/Rav4 did a better job of that with the single pull down/push up for incremental speed changes in cruise control speed. The knobs method on the R2 felt worse from a UX perspective.

Our issue has been getting appointments. We hopped on the only one we've seen available since they started taking them. So booking a second one will be tough for now. It's not a huge deal, but it's just a bit surprising this is how they're doing it.

that didn’t come up at my drives. But I never discussed it either. Just stopped and let the wife drive for a while.

 

[Rivian-E]

Maybe we missed this somewhere, but we finally snagged a demo drive appt and we’ve been told only one person can drive. If you show up as a couple you can’t both drive the car. This was news to us. What has everyone else experienced?

My confirmation email for my demo (scheduled for tomorrow) says 2 drivers and 3 passengers allowed.

 

[GABarber]

I had my second R2 test drive on Father's day. This time at the Irvine Spectrum site. I chose this location because they have demos with the 20-inch rims. Also my previous drive didnt answer all my questions - unfortunately I ended up with more questions.

The ride at Specrum is pretty constrained to a short and locally unchallenging path - I understand why because of the confusing intersecting freeways at this location.

Im a long time model 3 and Model Y driver with the acceleration boost, and driving the Y is fun - but there are also downsides - so I placed a reservation in April 24 but still on the fence because of the lease rate and concern about whether there will be too many new-vehicle issues.

I was pleased to discover the 20's were comfortable and not excessively noisy and prefer the look of the rims. I can't say much about handling over rough terrain as there wasnt any and really no opportuity to drive it hard around curvy corners. Its comfortable to drive and looked great in HMG and 20-inch wheels.

I did figure out how to tune in my local PBS channel but the sound system boom (excessive resonating bass), tended to drown out spoken dialog. The navigation system volume (which I was supposed to follow) was set so low I couldn't hear it, and I couldn't adjust it during the ride. Apparently there is a setting there somewhere for both of these, but couldnt find them with the hapitics while driving.

I still like the steering control wheels on the Tesla better than the haptic wheels which i find fiddily, too big and over reactive.

The R2 seats are harder than in my Y and not quite as comfortable. I noticed some R1 drivers mention the same.

I stopped at a empty parking area to try out the reverse driving - which is really important as I have some difficult back-in situations at home and in the crowded shopping areas near home.

For me, visibilty behind in reverse is just as important as going forward - and here I found a behavioir I couldn't explain - nor could the Rivian guide . In a parking or driving situation there is the illustration of what the sensors are seeing. It appears on the display behind the steering wheel and is similar to whats seen on the left side of the Model Y's center display (If smaller) . When inching forward in a parking lot you can see that it clearly recognizes and renders cars and objects around you. However when you shift into reverse, the car simulation shifts to a top view of the car, but the illustrations of the objects around you disappear.

We tested this several times when parking near a truck. Unlike the Tesla, on the R2 you dont have side cameras looking outward that help to spot pedestrians, cars shooting through the lot and stray shopping carts that aren't directly in view of the rear camera - so loss of this visibility on the panel is concerning.

Can anyone explan this behavior? Is this a bug or something I didnt do correctly?. Otherwise I would think of this as a huge design issue and worrisome that their navigation system might not see these things when reversing.

i note that most of the guides really havent been briefed on the R2 very well or read the owners manual - so my next trip might be back to the service center next month in the hope I can just talk it thru with someone who has a bit more training. Im also going to search for the owners manual on the web somewhere.

 

[Big Kidd]

Our issue has been getting appointments. We hopped on the only one we've seen available since they started taking them. So booking a second one will be tough for now. It's not a huge deal, but it's just a bit surprising this is how they're doing it.

I did my demo drive yesterday in West Palm Beach, Florida and today the sales center called to see if I had any additional questions. He then said "let me know if you want to come back for another demo drive". You will get many chances to demo the R2 or the R1 models.

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