rivianguy
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After having my R1S for about a week I finally got a chance to take it on an honest to goodness road trip complete with dog, family members, luggage etc. This was a trip from Seattle, WA to Vancouver, BC and back (call it 150 miles each way give or take) so a pretty good 'shake down' trip for discovering aspects of the vehicle that take a bit more seat time than typical city driving. Here are some of the findings...
Stuff That's Broken
As a relatively early R1S owner I fully expected to have some early adopter tax in the form of things that needed some repairs etc. Sure enough here are some of the items that fall into that category on my R1S. All items to be addressed by service visit in the near future...
Wind noise on passenger front window: Started about 3/4 of the way through the trip. Seems to be a failure of some sort on the weather stripping between the top of the window and the door seam. Not so bad that it allows for penetration of water but certainly enough that not operating as intended and causing quite a bit of noise.
Rear center fold down won't latch: The rear seat is basically 3 pieces that fold separately. The center piece in my unit won't 'latch' to the connection point (this was a new issue on this trip) and as a result will fold down farther than intended if you have something in the cup holder.
Rear lift window doesn't automatically open all the way: In the split gate portion of the vehicle, the window (upper) piece doesn't automatically lift all the way up from time to time (perhaps 1 time in 4). It stops lifting at about 75% of it's intended travel. Have to 'force' it through the remaining 25% manually.
Center console rattle: Front seat center console has something that is broken and is causing a rattle. Part of this is going to be replaced. This was diagnosed by service technician when they came out to fix the air compressor fitting issue.
Opportunities for Improvement
Rear climate controls aren't very robust: Even though the rear climate controls have a fancy screen there is actually surprisingly little that you can do with it. Your rear passengers can't actually control their own temperature (at least as far as I can tell) This was a bit of a surprise as even my much older Acura MDX allowed my rear passengers to set their own temperature. Hoping this is a software limitation vs. a hardware one.
Vehicle sits high on 22" tires even at lowest settings: Ferried an elderly relative around and they had a bit of difficulty getting into and out of the car even on it's lowest settings. Hopefully someone will offer aftermarket running boards at some point.
Driver+ shows promise but needs refinement: Driver+ is an exciting feature that shows a ton of potential. That said it does tend to 'overcorrect' a bit to stay within your target lane and I do find it weaves back and forth a bit too much. Not a safety issue (stays in your lane) but more of a tweaking issue to make it a bit more 'comfortable' for your passengers. Also only works on major highways. It did work on the major highway in Canada (Highway 1) but didn't work on any others that I could see.
Charging: Was a bit hit or miss when we got north of the border. Worked fine on ChargePoint chargers, but didn't work on any of the really high kw chargers, which are limited to one provider in that area (Petro Canada). I suspect this was a software issue (Rivian and Petro Canada aren't playing nice together yet) vs. a hardware issue and I reported the issues to both Rivian and Petro Canada in the hopes of improving the experience for our brothers in the great white north in the future.
Other Observations
Driver fatigue: I've done this particular road trip a lot in ICE vehicles and I would estimate that I arrived at our destination about 40% less 'fatigued' than I normally do. No doubt at least some of this is due to new cool car effect but I attribute most of it to the effortless one foot driving of the R1S, assistance from Driver+ on certain segments, and the virtually limitless power of this vehicle for quickly passing etc.
Cargo Space: This was the first 'real' test we've put it through with 4 adults and luggage, and a dog in the back. I'm happy to report that it exceeded our expectations. Typically with this type of load in the past in our Acura we'd have to bring the cargo carrier on top. While this was an option here (I have the cargo rails for the R1S) I opted to not use the cargo box and see how we fared. We had no problem whatsoever and room to spare (including dog) largely due to the frunk and larger back cargo area. Really impressive. As an aside our Canvasback cargo liners did a yeoman's job of keeping yellow lab hair out of the rugs in the cargo area. Strongly recommend.
Performance: There are surprisingly few places on the road that you can make use of all 835 hp for this vehicle. When you can however it continues to be a joyful experience that simply brings back the thrill of driving. I find myself liking this vehicle more, not less over time.
Range: No problems whatsoever and exceeded my expectations.
Charging: Tried an EA charger on the way back home to see if my fast charging issues were specific to Petro Canada or an issue with the vehicle. I'm pleased to report that after plugging into a 350kw charger the experience was painless and very fast. Hopefully that bodes well for the future as the charger network and infrastructure gets built out further.
Final Thoughts
Many on this forum are quite 'dialed in' to the details of Rivian's journey as a company, and the evolution of their early products. Spending some time in Canada was eye opening for me as it reinforced for me that Rivian is a virtual unknown in many parts of the world. I was stopped MANY times by people who wanted to know what it was and where they could get one. Why do I bother mentioning this? With the recent recall adding to a relatively long series of tough news events for Rivian there are already pundits howling that the company is on its way out of business etc. Add this to the supply chain challenges, setbacks in getting the second plant built etc. and one can see how this type of perspective could get some legs. Here is one man's take... Their products are simply exceptional. The paper cuts that I list above are absolutely nothing compared to the overall joy of driving that this vehicle delivers, and if I think so I'm guessing that a hell of a lot of other people will think so too after driving it. Secondly the amount of pent up demand for a vehicle of this nature among people who didn't even know the company existed is staggering. If Rivian can get their product to market faster, and also find a slightly lower price point for a vehicle with similar (though not the same) characteristics they are positioned well to capitalize on that demand.
Overall still a 12/10 in my enjoyment of the vehicle.
Stuff That's Broken
As a relatively early R1S owner I fully expected to have some early adopter tax in the form of things that needed some repairs etc. Sure enough here are some of the items that fall into that category on my R1S. All items to be addressed by service visit in the near future...
Wind noise on passenger front window: Started about 3/4 of the way through the trip. Seems to be a failure of some sort on the weather stripping between the top of the window and the door seam. Not so bad that it allows for penetration of water but certainly enough that not operating as intended and causing quite a bit of noise.
Rear center fold down won't latch: The rear seat is basically 3 pieces that fold separately. The center piece in my unit won't 'latch' to the connection point (this was a new issue on this trip) and as a result will fold down farther than intended if you have something in the cup holder.
Rear lift window doesn't automatically open all the way: In the split gate portion of the vehicle, the window (upper) piece doesn't automatically lift all the way up from time to time (perhaps 1 time in 4). It stops lifting at about 75% of it's intended travel. Have to 'force' it through the remaining 25% manually.
Center console rattle: Front seat center console has something that is broken and is causing a rattle. Part of this is going to be replaced. This was diagnosed by service technician when they came out to fix the air compressor fitting issue.
Opportunities for Improvement
Rear climate controls aren't very robust: Even though the rear climate controls have a fancy screen there is actually surprisingly little that you can do with it. Your rear passengers can't actually control their own temperature (at least as far as I can tell) This was a bit of a surprise as even my much older Acura MDX allowed my rear passengers to set their own temperature. Hoping this is a software limitation vs. a hardware one.
Vehicle sits high on 22" tires even at lowest settings: Ferried an elderly relative around and they had a bit of difficulty getting into and out of the car even on it's lowest settings. Hopefully someone will offer aftermarket running boards at some point.
Driver+ shows promise but needs refinement: Driver+ is an exciting feature that shows a ton of potential. That said it does tend to 'overcorrect' a bit to stay within your target lane and I do find it weaves back and forth a bit too much. Not a safety issue (stays in your lane) but more of a tweaking issue to make it a bit more 'comfortable' for your passengers. Also only works on major highways. It did work on the major highway in Canada (Highway 1) but didn't work on any others that I could see.
Charging: Was a bit hit or miss when we got north of the border. Worked fine on ChargePoint chargers, but didn't work on any of the really high kw chargers, which are limited to one provider in that area (Petro Canada). I suspect this was a software issue (Rivian and Petro Canada aren't playing nice together yet) vs. a hardware issue and I reported the issues to both Rivian and Petro Canada in the hopes of improving the experience for our brothers in the great white north in the future.
Other Observations
Driver fatigue: I've done this particular road trip a lot in ICE vehicles and I would estimate that I arrived at our destination about 40% less 'fatigued' than I normally do. No doubt at least some of this is due to new cool car effect but I attribute most of it to the effortless one foot driving of the R1S, assistance from Driver+ on certain segments, and the virtually limitless power of this vehicle for quickly passing etc.
Cargo Space: This was the first 'real' test we've put it through with 4 adults and luggage, and a dog in the back. I'm happy to report that it exceeded our expectations. Typically with this type of load in the past in our Acura we'd have to bring the cargo carrier on top. While this was an option here (I have the cargo rails for the R1S) I opted to not use the cargo box and see how we fared. We had no problem whatsoever and room to spare (including dog) largely due to the frunk and larger back cargo area. Really impressive. As an aside our Canvasback cargo liners did a yeoman's job of keeping yellow lab hair out of the rugs in the cargo area. Strongly recommend.
Performance: There are surprisingly few places on the road that you can make use of all 835 hp for this vehicle. When you can however it continues to be a joyful experience that simply brings back the thrill of driving. I find myself liking this vehicle more, not less over time.
Range: No problems whatsoever and exceeded my expectations.
Charging: Tried an EA charger on the way back home to see if my fast charging issues were specific to Petro Canada or an issue with the vehicle. I'm pleased to report that after plugging into a 350kw charger the experience was painless and very fast. Hopefully that bodes well for the future as the charger network and infrastructure gets built out further.
Final Thoughts
Many on this forum are quite 'dialed in' to the details of Rivian's journey as a company, and the evolution of their early products. Spending some time in Canada was eye opening for me as it reinforced for me that Rivian is a virtual unknown in many parts of the world. I was stopped MANY times by people who wanted to know what it was and where they could get one. Why do I bother mentioning this? With the recent recall adding to a relatively long series of tough news events for Rivian there are already pundits howling that the company is on its way out of business etc. Add this to the supply chain challenges, setbacks in getting the second plant built etc. and one can see how this type of perspective could get some legs. Here is one man's take... Their products are simply exceptional. The paper cuts that I list above are absolutely nothing compared to the overall joy of driving that this vehicle delivers, and if I think so I'm guessing that a hell of a lot of other people will think so too after driving it. Secondly the amount of pent up demand for a vehicle of this nature among people who didn't even know the company existed is staggering. If Rivian can get their product to market faster, and also find a slightly lower price point for a vehicle with similar (though not the same) characteristics they are positioned well to capitalize on that demand.
Overall still a 12/10 in my enjoyment of the vehicle.
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