Are these cars just too damn big?

[Taycanfrank]

I went and looked it up. The QX80 is 79.9 inches without mirrors. The R1S is 81.8" with the mirrors folded. A Ford Explorer is 78.9 inches, excluding the mirrors. So yea, the R1S is a pretty big puppy.

But size is relative. A Chevy Tahoe is 81" without mirrors but it longer. My old Ford Raptor was 86.6" without the mirrors.

Believe me when I say, you can get used to the size. My wife is a tiny little Japanese lady that grew up riding in tiny cars. She had no problem driving my Raptor and currently drives a Jeep Wrangler than has a 3.5" lift and 37" tires. The hardest part of living with my Raptor was putting it into the garage. I had less than 3" of clearance on each side. It only took me a week to get used to backing it into the garage.

The R1S is a big boy, but anyone can comfortably handle it.

It's not "handling it" it's the fact that it will be an extremely tight fit in city parking lots and likely get dinged often as a result.

A truck is a truck and who cares but the R1S lives in a weird space with how WIDE it is. It's much wider than a full sized range rover!

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[lmr]

Rivian R1S size compared to other current model three-row SUVs, and R1T for comparison:

Make/Model	Wheelbase (inches)	Length (inches)	Width w/o Mirrors (inches)	Width Mirrors Folded (inches)	Width w/ Mirrors (inches)	Height (inches)
VW Tiguan	109.9	186.1	72.4	N/A	~82	66.5
Toyota 4Runner	109.8	191.3	75.8	N/A	~85	71.5
Honda Pilot	111	196.5	78.6	N/A	~88	70.6
Kia Telluride	114.2	196.9	78.3	N/A	~88	69.3
Ford Explorer	119.1	198.8	78.9	82.7	89.3	69.9
Tesla Model X	116.7	199.1	78.7	81.6	89.4	66.1
Audi Q7	117.9	199.3	77.6	N/A	87.1	68.5
Rivian R1S	121.1	200.8	79	81.8	87.1	77.3
VW Atlas	117.3	200.7	78.3	N/A	~88	70.4
BMW X7	122.2	203.3	78.7	N/A	~88	71.1
Mercedes-Benz GLS	123.4	205	79.9	N/A	84.9	71.8
Chevy Tahoe	120.9	210.7	81	N/A	~91	75.8
Jeep Wagoneer	123	214.7	83.6	N/A	94	75.6
Chevy Suburban	134.1	225.7	81.1	N/A	~91	75.7
Rivian R1T	135.8	217.1	79	81.8	87.1	78.2

R1S is very comparably sized when looking at its most direct competitor in the EV market, and likewise at its direct rivals in the ICE market while still being a fair amount smaller than the more traditional large SUVs in the US, and right in-line with the full-size luxury SUVs out of Europe.

 

[messinator]

Rivian R1S size compared to other current model three-row SUVs, and R1T for comparison:

Make/Model	Wheelbase (inches)	Length (inches)	Width w/o Mirrors (inches)	Width Mirrors Folded (inches)	Width w/ Mirrors (inches)	Height (inches)
VW Tiguan	109.9	186.1	72.4	N/A	~82	66.5
Toyota 4Runner	109.8	191.3	75.8	N/A	~85	71.5
Honda Pilot	111	196.5	78.6	N/A	~88	70.6
Kia Telluride	114.2	196.9	78.3	N/A	~88	69.3
Ford Explorer	119.1	198.8	78.9	82.7	89.3	69.9
Tesla Model X	116.7	199.1	78.7	81.6	89.4	66.1
Audi Q7	117.9	199.3	77.6	N/A	87.1	68.5
Rivian R1S	121.1	200.8	79	81.8	87.1	77.3
VW Atlas	117.3	200.7	78.3	N/A	~88	70.4
BMW X7	122.2	203.3	78.7	N/A	~88	71.1
Mercedes-Benz GLS	123.4	205	79.9	N/A	84.9	71.8
Chevy Tahoe	120.9	210.7	81	N/A	~91	75.8
Jeep Wagoneer	123	214.7	83.6	N/A	94	75.6
Chevy Suburban	134.1	225.7	81.1	N/A	~91	75.7
Rivian R1T	135.8	217.1	79	81.8	87.1	78.2

R1S is very comparably sized when looking at its most direct competitor in the EV market, and likewise at its direct rivals in the ICE market while still being a fair amount smaller than the more traditional large SUVs in the US, and right in-line with the full-size luxury SUVs out of Europe.

Surprised it's actually so close to the X! Here's the R1S vs MX vs MY.

 

[lmr]

Surprised it's actually so close to the X! Here's the R1S vs MX vs MY.

I was surprised by that too, the X doesn't seem as big as it actually is, probably in part to how much shorter in height it is compared to other 3-row suvs.

 

[Denver_Paulie]

Something not mentioned in this thread is that at some point Electrify America is going to have to carve out larger spots for charging with both Rivian's rolling out, the F-150 due out this year, the Silverado due out in '23, and that ugly piece of $hit Hummer that should be out in low volumes later this year.

These are all very large vehicles and will take up a lot of room at some charging locations. Super tight squeeze for your typical 4 cabinet side by side charging location.

 

[mgc0216]

I do think the R1S may be living in an awkward middle ground.

If you are not going to have more than 4 passengers and dont haul large cargo, you probably would be better off with a smaller vehicle. But if you plan to have all 3 rows of seats occupied most of the time or frequently haul large cargo you are likely to wish it was bigger.

If I were designing the R1S, I would have subtracted a foot for the 5-seat version and added a foot (relative to the current spec) to the 7 seat version.

Totally agree with this, I feel like I'm the sweet spot customer for the R1S - 95% of the time it's my wife and our two medium sized dogs. Plenty of room to haul gear inside, and racks for the kayaks or RTT or whatever. Heck we're both of the size where we could probably just sleep in the back depending on how those seats fold down.

But, we also have 3 granddaughters who we want to be able to cart around to the movies or other activities.

So, like I said, pretty solid compromise.

 

[Zoidz]

Surprised it's actually so close to the X! Here's the R1S vs MX vs MY.

TBH, I'm struggling with the amount of width concerns, especially when you compare to other similar vehicles. It's 3" wider than a model X and not as wide as a Tahoe/Suburban/Silverado. Compared to Model X, that's 1.5"additional on each side of the vehicle. Other than a really narrow garage or garage door, is 1.5" on each side that big of an issue? Seems like the additional height causes "OMG it's so big" reactions....?

 

[mike22co]

I think size is always relative and definitely a consideration for many buyers. What seems to be clear is that the R1 models will be the Rivian flagship models and what comes later will be smaller/different types of vehicles that might open up the overall market to Rivian.

In my case, I've had 3 vehicles at the same time: Audi A4, Yukon XL Denali and Ford F150. The F150 was used to tow things. I tried to replace it with the Yukon, but the towing in that is not great. So I sold the F150 to get rid of an "occasional" vehicle and am holding out hope that the R1S can replace the Yukon for good.

We have 4 kids, so the seating is desirable, although one is going to be halfway through their Freshman year in college before the R1S will be available.

My pros for the R1S are: ~21" shorter than the Yukon = garage happiness. Can tow a camper (~4500lbs) to most places we need to go. Comfortable for the whole family to go on average trips.

I'd love an R1T, but size-wise it doesn't fit into the garage as well as the S. The towing is the big issue with size. You can't make the R1S any smaller and still have the capacity for towing, which is already less than the R1T. I could totally see a sweet spot for Rivian in a smaller R1S, similar to the Yukon/Yukon XL models.

 

[stynes]

Totally agree with this, I feel like I'm the sweet spot customer for the R1S - 95% of the time it's my wife and our two medium sized dogs. Plenty of room to haul gear inside, and racks for the kayaks or RTT or whatever. Heck we're both of the size where we could probably just sleep in the back depending on how those seats fold down.

But, we also have 3 granddaughters who we want to be able to cart around to the movies or other activities.

So, like I said, pretty solid compromise.

I don't feel like that's a crazy use case, though - I feel like that's where a lot of people are at. I drive a JGC today. It's a 5 seater. I don't often need the 3rd row but when I do, there's no option. I envision driving the R1S with the 3rd row typically folded down and having more space than I do in my JGC with the ability to pop the seats up and use them when needed. Having a split 3rd row or the ability to remove the middle 2nd row seat would be awesome but I think we're still waiting to see a lot of those final details.

 

[mgc0216]

I don't feel like that's a crazy use case, though - I feel like that's where a lot of people are at. I drive a JGC today. It's a 5 seater. I don't often need the 3rd row but when I do, there's no option. I envision driving the R1S with the 3rd row typically folded down and having more space than I do in my JGC with the ability to pop the seats up and use them when needed. Having a split 3rd row or the ability to remove the middle 2nd row seat would be awesome but I think we're still waiting to see a lot of those final details.

i think the difference between our use cases if i understand is that you rarely need the 3rd row - with me i rarely need the 2nd row, but when i do i likely need the third as well for the sake of not having the granddaughters bickering about sitting in the middle seat.

94% of the time we could drive a two seater - 1% of the time i need a place for dogs and gear - 5% of the time more than 2 passengers or passengers and dogs

?

 

[Sdvictor]

Given that I live in the dead center of Seattle, I don't have a problem with our current full size SUV (Mercedes GL/GLS) all over Seattle. We don't hesitate to drive it to Capitol Hill, Fremont, SLU, Ballard, etc all the time. yes it will be tight, sometimes you'll have to hunt just an extra bit to park, but it's not that much of a compromise once you get used to it.

That said, my old Seattle house won't fit the Rivian in the garage. So, it'll have to sit outside collecting moss.....

 

[ironpig]

If Rivian read these forums we'd end up with this.... But with even more cup holders.

 

[moosetags]

Too big???? We have been driving 3/4 ton Suburbans and Duramax Silverados for the last 30 years. The Rivian R1T is a significant downsize for us.

SuEllyn and Brian

 

[DuckTruck]

I’m from Texas so I’m worried it’s too small.

I'm from Oregon so I'm worried it will randomly pull to the left. ?

 

[mkg3]

Over the years, all cars and trucks have gotten bigger and bulkier. Just take a look at the vehicle you own today and compare to the same make/model from 10~15 years ago. Realize that they are all much safer today.

I remember renting Honda CRV in Australia early 2000s and today's CRV is almost as big as the initial Passport. From size perspective, what used to be midsize then, is anything but that. BMW 3/4 series are the same size of what 5 series used to be. Every vehicle is bigger.

So, with that said, Rivian R1 series is a mid+ sized vehicle. It is nowhere near GM and Ford's biggest SUVs or "full size truck".

From my perspective, bigger is not better and would have preferred R1 series to be bit about 5% smaller and definitely lighter (I realize that 4 motors and battery weights are the significant percentage of the total weight.). I suppose that will what R2 series will be but the timing is too far away. By then I am hoping for 2 seater Sports EV (e.g., Porsche Mission R based).

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