Disillusioned New R1T Owner

[rvnxyz001]

My Audi eTron has a spare. In fact, my R1T is the first vehicle I’ve owned EVER without a spare. At least it has the option for a full size spare.

I am referring to vehicles currently available for purchase. From my understanding, Audi no longer provides spare tires, and the Ford Lightning is no longer available. Perhaps the Hummer still includes a spare tire with its sales, but that appears to be an exception...

Subaru, for some reason, decided not to include a spare tire in Trailseeker vehicles sold in the US, but they do include one in the South American market.

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[Dustyshades]

Local shop could replace the windshield, but the ADAS systems need to get recalibrated after. If you don't use it? Maybe not necessary.

Safelite does Rivian recalibrations. I know because I just had it done this week

 

[Dustyshades]

No one is making you buy the vehicle. There’s some grace period in most states to return a purchased vehicle. If you don’t like it, I’d recommend taking it back now and returning it. No sense being miserable over a major purchase for years

 

[TheKoz]

I'm a new(ish) owner of a used R1T and I have to admit I was a little surprised when I picked it up that it did not have a spare. We have 2 Audis and a Bronco and all three have spares. I did not know that not including a spare had become a thing. For now I'm watching the marketplace here for used 22 inch wheel/tires.

 

[mkennedy009]

Good luck OP, this is not a friendly forum for people with Rivian problems.

 

[SwampNut]

No one is making you buy the vehicle. There’s some grace period in most states to return a purchased vehicle. If you don’t like it, I’d recommend taking it back now and returning it. No sense being miserable over a major purchase for years

Not one single state has a cooling off period or a grace period to return a vehicle. This is a common myth that gets repeated a lot.

I bought a used tire and wheel from another forum member and see them on eBay and Craigslist all the time. This way I can do a five tire rotation and not waste 20% of my tires. None of my cars, including a pretty high-end BMW, have come with a spare for at least 15 years or more, except Jeeps. I haven’t needed a spare in 25 years except while off road in a Jeep. I would never have added a spare to the Rivian outside of the fact that I take it far off-road.

 

[Robot Overlord]

Sorry to hear about your issues, mate. I've owned my fair share of nice cars and the initial pick-up experience for my R1 was one of the best. My local SC has been consistently great. Car has been great too for the most part. I would escalate your issues with Rivian so that you have documented concerns if you need to "lemon" the car. All the best.

My purchase and delivery experience went fine. We had watched a lot of pre-delivery videos on YouTube and went into the final portion with a checklist of things to look for; thankfully everything was intact and functional when we accepted the vehicle. The fit and finish continue to be superb, as is the ride quality.

My R1T was our first full electric vehicle. It took me a good 8 months to get out of my mindset of comparing it to prior gas-powered vehicles. It also took about that long for the new vehicle nits to settle down; OS issues mainly. There were / are some things with the R1T that have been annoying, but in my almost 2 years of ownership, I just either found a work-around (like playing MY music through the sound system without using the Apple app), or just let it go. When it comes down to it; I just accepted that I am essentially driving a computer on wheels. Having retired from 36 years in that industry, I have an understanding that operating systems need patching and upgrades, and every now and then, you need to reboot to "clear the baffles". I also soured a bit on the Rivian, but I am back to loving my truck, again. I have come to the realization that it is the perfect vehicle for my age, physical capability and waning driving acuity.

As for parts; I received my NACS adapter by mail within a few weeks of taking delivery, and I have just gotten into the mindset that there is no spare tire for my 8,500 pound vehicle; just the run-flat repair kit. This is the second vehicle I've owned that has such a kit; the prior was a Saturn Vue. I recently looked into purchasing a spare, but $1,400+ for the tire is just a bit too cost prohibitive for me at this moment - perhaps there are after-market alternatives?

I am sorry to hear that your service center experience has been abysmal. I am well aware, from this forum, that the quality of service center attention varies widely from region to region. Here in the the Northeast, we are fortunate to have two superb centers within range; Chelsea and Canton MA. Hopefully something else will open up closer to you.

Keep with it; it's hard not to be discouraged, but the vehicle nits will clear out If consistent problems persist, you should be able to look into lemon laws - yes, once in a while, something does not come off the assembly line as functional. This forum will attest.

Good luck!

I purchased a full unused 20” AT wheel for $400 from a previous owner and my plan is to only mount the 20” wheels in the winter - my preowned ‘23 R1T came with new tires on the 20” OEM set of rims. I then purchased a full set of darned good used 21” wheels with OEM Pirelli tires from a wrecked R1S for $700 total for all four. One of the wheels had only 1 pound of road force when balanced. The others 8, 9, and 15 lbs road force so well below the 25-30 max before you need to spin the tire on the rim in an attempt to get a better road force balance. Then I got a new 21” spare wheel from another owner for $125 so I can go into the 5-wheel tire rotation - done at home. I’m using the 21” set as 3-season wheels and I can buy another full set of 21” wheels (rims included) for another $800 right now. That’s a hell of a lot less expensive than going to Rivian for just a spare or aftermarket for rims, tires, or both! It just takes time to find the right spare or full set “near” you on Facebook marketplace to make it good ROI since shipping wheel sets can get expensive.

 

[Bippie]

When I purchased my R1S, I waited almost a month before they shipped the cargo cover. Waited a week for floor mats. Waited longest for the spare tire (optional purchase). Just so you’re prepared, they needed a service call to “install” the spare because they had to physically change the storage area so they could bolt down the spare. They did this in my driveway via a remote service. I’m trading in my R1S for an R2 this week and will sell the spare. I suspect they sell the spare separately because the extra weight would reduce the EPA estimates which, as you’ve learned, are difficult to achieve. No excuse for their lack of customer service. I am a bit worried that my R2 delivery is expected to last 15 minutes. Might be due to my existing familiarity with Rivian. My R1S delivery took an hour at the plant - thorough and wonderful. My worst delivery experience was a Tesla S where they handed me the key card and pointed to the car. Hoping the situation gets better for you.

 

[jktaylor]

Thank you! I'm sure I will come to appreciate the strengths of the R1T, had such a great experience with my Toyota and my wife's electric Volvo that I'm simply disappointed that such an expensive vehicle comes with such poor service.

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

Not one single state has a cooling off period or a grace period to return a vehicle. This is a common myth that gets repeated a lot.

I was gonna say, what states have a cooling-off period? It’s an odd myth.

 

[rvnxyz001]

I was gonna say, what states have a cooling-off period? It’s an odd myth.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/personal-finance/article/buy-car-law-california-21090698.php

 

[SwampNut]

I was gonna say, what states have a cooling-off period? It’s an odd myth.

I believe it came from the fact that many states do have a contract rescission period for in-home, unsolicited sales. Someone shows up to sell you a vacuum cleaner. It doesn't apply to purchases you initiate. A couple of states have proposed a NEW right to return, and also, there's the FTC stuff about transparency which includes some rescission rights if the dealer violates them.

 

[jrmbadger]

Thank you! I'm sure I will come to appreciate the strengths of the R1T, had such a great experience with my Toyota and my wife's electric Volvo that I'm simply disappointed that such an expensive vehicle comes with such poor service.

I'll say that some service centers are better than others - much like dealerships. Mine has been fantastic (so far).... If there is another one that you can try, you may have better luck there.

The one caveat is that the R2 was just released and Rivian cut some of the support staff (it's a startup after all) I suspect the service centers are overworked due to that. Give it some time to settle down and I bet things will improve with that.

If you bought used, then things won't really work 100% until the car is transferred to you in Rivian's system and you reset the data. I also had lots of issues until I went into the settings and reset all the data. If you bought used try that.

 

[pearbaron]

There is a spare, you just need to buy it.

Rivian is the only EV on the market with a spare.

https://gearshop.rivian.com/products/compact-spare-tire

$775 for a "steal" wheel and tiny tire spare is ridiculous!

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