rexian
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Owned the car for about 12 days and wanted to share my experience - both positive and negative.
TLDR; Love the car but the software needs a bit of work.
Purchase process:
Picked it up right before the 4th. The experience was pleasant, in and out in about 50 minutes. Did a walk-around as recommended in the other thread and the car looked immaculate under the bright sun. The entire purchase process was super fast - just 10 days from the online order to delivery. The guide was very responsive keeping me updated at every step.
First Impression:
Drove around the town trying different modes / options and settled on Ride Height - Low / Regen - Standard / Ride Feel - Firm. I test drove a 2023 quad a year or so ago and was worried a bit about the performance of a dual motor but I couldn't tell the difference. Yes, it's been more than a year and I didn't floor either vehicle so take this with a grain of salt (0-60 3s for 2023 quad vs 4.5s according to specs). It did feel nearly as zippy as my Model 3 though the Tesla is about >1.5 times lighter.
The ride quality has improved from what I remember from my test drive experience on the quad but that could also be because of different modes. The Rivian rep told me the quad was on "Sport" mode after I mentioned the ride quality wasn't the best. For this car, with ride height set to "standard" and ride feel to "soft", it was too floaty but might be useful on bad roads. With Low/Standard/Firm, I think it's great.
Regen is okay at "standard" but I do have to use the brakes more often than I'd like. I don't see an option to set it to "high" otherwise would have done that. I am used to one pedal driving with Tesla. Maybe in the next update?
One thing I observed only after bringing it home was the noise - while charging in garage or the AC is on, it's like a locomotive. I then read quite a few threads on it so I guess it's normal. Also the doors are a bit stiff - I am now used to slamming the doors that I don't have to do with the BMW or Tesla. Don't remember how it was with the quad during test drive so not sure if it's a Rivian thing or Gen 2. The guide said it was normal.
Impression after (kinda) long drive:
Charged the battery to 100% at home and drove to a place about 3 hrs (190 miles) away. Probably could have driven the entire distance on one charge but wanted to have the charging experience before I really needed it. Stopped at a high power (3-lightning rated) Electrify America station and the experience was okay. It didn't charge really at a high speed (was getting ~50kW) but that's probably because I still had 120 miles left in the tank.
The drive was uneventful and I got to evaluate Driver+. It's good enough if everything works. Tesla has more bells and whistles but there are so many quirks even after 6 years that I don't trust it fully. I permanently disabled the auto-lane change option in Tesla as it only created problems. On top of that it suddenly applies brakes when no one is close - maybe it's a Gen 1 Model 3 problem. The only issue I faced with the Rivian is that on a few occasions it refused to engage Driver+ on a freeway but after couple of miles when I tried again it worked. The message it showed was "not available" so not sure what caused it. The ability to just rest the hands on the steering wheel as opposed to constantly turn it every 30 seconds like on Tesla was a very positive experience for me.
While in that town, there were a few charging options but the experience wasn't as positive. One EVgo station had the CCS port broken and another just didn't work. I had installed the app and added my VIN but it didn't sense the car. Went to another EA and the only available slot was stuck in some sort of Linux boot loop. After a Kia moved out, I was able to charge. Even in 2018 when super chargers were rare the experience was better. Hopefully the NACS adapter arrives before my next long trip.
Coming to audio, I heard a lot of backlash here / Reddit after Rivian decided to ditch Meridian but I don't really understand why after spending several hours on the road past 3 days with Spotify / phone bluetooth audio. I am no audiophile but I am an HT enthusiast and do listen on quality audio system at home. With all the road noise and AC it's never going to be a great listening experience but then I never heard Meridian to compare. All I can say is that it's no worse than the ones I got in my BMW and Tesla and those are much better than the rentals I drive during work related travels.
Talking about the cabin noise, I found it to be better than my Tesla on the freeway driving ~80 mph. The heat through the windows was a problem but I thought the glass roof actually blocked heat. The AC is very powerful and cools down within a minute but I have to get ceramic tint on the windows before the next long drive. The BMW has the tint and it's a pleasant experience during hot summer though the AC is not nearly as strong.
Asks for Rivian:
A few things I'd love to see in the software updates this year (#1 is a must IMO) -
Couple of TODOs for me:
Dual-Motor / Standard LFP Battery (270 miles) / 22" Range / Red Canyon / Software 2024.19.02 (just updated to new 2024.23.30 today, will check later if any of the above issues already fixed)
Overall, I am really happy to have pulled the trigger on Rivian. Reserved couple of years ago and it was worth the wait. The issues are mainly software related and I am positive will be fixed eventually. Nothing major that I can't live with (maybe #1 but it was just once). I never had a red car before and was hesitant about Red Canyon but we all just love it now. If anyone is still on the fence, either on the color or the car, it's safe to jump in ?
TLDR; Love the car but the software needs a bit of work.
Purchase process:
Picked it up right before the 4th. The experience was pleasant, in and out in about 50 minutes. Did a walk-around as recommended in the other thread and the car looked immaculate under the bright sun. The entire purchase process was super fast - just 10 days from the online order to delivery. The guide was very responsive keeping me updated at every step.
First Impression:
Drove around the town trying different modes / options and settled on Ride Height - Low / Regen - Standard / Ride Feel - Firm. I test drove a 2023 quad a year or so ago and was worried a bit about the performance of a dual motor but I couldn't tell the difference. Yes, it's been more than a year and I didn't floor either vehicle so take this with a grain of salt (0-60 3s for 2023 quad vs 4.5s according to specs). It did feel nearly as zippy as my Model 3 though the Tesla is about >1.5 times lighter.
The ride quality has improved from what I remember from my test drive experience on the quad but that could also be because of different modes. The Rivian rep told me the quad was on "Sport" mode after I mentioned the ride quality wasn't the best. For this car, with ride height set to "standard" and ride feel to "soft", it was too floaty but might be useful on bad roads. With Low/Standard/Firm, I think it's great.
Regen is okay at "standard" but I do have to use the brakes more often than I'd like. I don't see an option to set it to "high" otherwise would have done that. I am used to one pedal driving with Tesla. Maybe in the next update?
One thing I observed only after bringing it home was the noise - while charging in garage or the AC is on, it's like a locomotive. I then read quite a few threads on it so I guess it's normal. Also the doors are a bit stiff - I am now used to slamming the doors that I don't have to do with the BMW or Tesla. Don't remember how it was with the quad during test drive so not sure if it's a Rivian thing or Gen 2. The guide said it was normal.
Impression after (kinda) long drive:
Charged the battery to 100% at home and drove to a place about 3 hrs (190 miles) away. Probably could have driven the entire distance on one charge but wanted to have the charging experience before I really needed it. Stopped at a high power (3-lightning rated) Electrify America station and the experience was okay. It didn't charge really at a high speed (was getting ~50kW) but that's probably because I still had 120 miles left in the tank.
The drive was uneventful and I got to evaluate Driver+. It's good enough if everything works. Tesla has more bells and whistles but there are so many quirks even after 6 years that I don't trust it fully. I permanently disabled the auto-lane change option in Tesla as it only created problems. On top of that it suddenly applies brakes when no one is close - maybe it's a Gen 1 Model 3 problem. The only issue I faced with the Rivian is that on a few occasions it refused to engage Driver+ on a freeway but after couple of miles when I tried again it worked. The message it showed was "not available" so not sure what caused it. The ability to just rest the hands on the steering wheel as opposed to constantly turn it every 30 seconds like on Tesla was a very positive experience for me.
While in that town, there were a few charging options but the experience wasn't as positive. One EVgo station had the CCS port broken and another just didn't work. I had installed the app and added my VIN but it didn't sense the car. Went to another EA and the only available slot was stuck in some sort of Linux boot loop. After a Kia moved out, I was able to charge. Even in 2018 when super chargers were rare the experience was better. Hopefully the NACS adapter arrives before my next long trip.
Coming to audio, I heard a lot of backlash here / Reddit after Rivian decided to ditch Meridian but I don't really understand why after spending several hours on the road past 3 days with Spotify / phone bluetooth audio. I am no audiophile but I am an HT enthusiast and do listen on quality audio system at home. With all the road noise and AC it's never going to be a great listening experience but then I never heard Meridian to compare. All I can say is that it's no worse than the ones I got in my BMW and Tesla and those are much better than the rentals I drive during work related travels.
Talking about the cabin noise, I found it to be better than my Tesla on the freeway driving ~80 mph. The heat through the windows was a problem but I thought the glass roof actually blocked heat. The AC is very powerful and cools down within a minute but I have to get ceramic tint on the windows before the next long drive. The BMW has the tint and it's a pleasant experience during hot summer though the AC is not nearly as strong.
Asks for Rivian:
A few things I'd love to see in the software updates this year (#1 is a must IMO) -
- Software Reliability - Right before a drive (on 7th day) the software glitched. I thought it'd be okay to drive as the core system (accelerator/brakes/steering) seemed fine but soon realized the brake lights and the indicators weren't working. Tesla also had software lockups early on but brake lights and indicators were part of the core system and never stopped working even with the software restarting during a drive. Rivian required a full reset to get everything back to working.
- Optimize the UI - There was a perceivable lag after a tap. It became so bad that I had to do an infotainment reset (on 3rd day). I am sure dual Nvidia Orin processors are not the bottlenecks here. This is not as critical as #1 though.
- Text Size / Location - there is a lot of empty space and useful details are not easily visible. It'll be helpful to increase the font size everywhere to take up as much space as possible. One example is the posted speed limit on the driver screen is too small and covered by the steering. It can be easily made as large as the current speed and placed lower. Even better, provide a way to customize the font size.
- Lane assist enhancements - It has a tendency to go close to one side or the other instead of cetering the vehicle. Also, the competition has figured out to how to do it on all roads so shouldn't be that difficult. Automatic lane changes and other bells and whistles are not that important and can wait.
- Regen - A stronger regen option (high?)
- Gear Guard camera/video - I read the cameras are 3 times better but I can't read the number plates of the vehicles unless they are right in front and very close. The details on the sides are very fuzzy, not sure if this is caused by the distortion of the fisheye lens and cannot be fixed by software. Zooming into video on PC doesn't help either. At least the video on the vehicle is somewhat corrected in the sense that the fisheye effect is reduced.
- Gear Guard Incident - It gets triggered several seconds late, possibly an optimization issue. It always catches the vehicle parking next to me after it has parked, not while it's entering the spot.
- Infotainment - Support local music from USB drives. A large drive is wasted for just security videos. I have seen many threads on it so not holding my breath.
- NACS adapter - Range anxiety is a thing. Please send this out sooner.
Couple of TODOs for me:
- Explore chrome delete options. Saw a few cars in this forum after the mod and they looked great.
- The car came with an air compressor in the bag - a nice gesture from the Rivian team. Now have to get a compact spare for longer drives as soon as it comes back to stock
Dual-Motor / Standard LFP Battery (270 miles) / 22" Range / Red Canyon / Software 2024.19.02 (just updated to new 2024.23.30 today, will check later if any of the above issues already fixed)
Overall, I am really happy to have pulled the trigger on Rivian. Reserved couple of years ago and it was worth the wait. The issues are mainly software related and I am positive will be fixed eventually. Nothing major that I can't live with (maybe #1 but it was just once). I never had a red car before and was hesitant about Red Canyon but we all just love it now. If anyone is still on the fence, either on the color or the car, it's safe to jump in ?
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) relative to Model 3. The guide said it was due to the heat pump but I saw a new update this morning that talked about improving the noise. Haven't charged the vehicle since.
