theonetruestripes
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Josh
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2025
- Threads
- 3
- Messages
- 55
- Reaction score
- 56
- Location
- VT - North Eastern Kingdom
- Vehicles
- Tesla Model Y, for a few days before I “swap” it for an R1S
- Occupation
- Programmer
- Thread starter
- #1
End of March I traded up from my Model Y to a R1S. Bigger vehicle, better towing, and less of Elon’s crazy were all primary goals.
I enjoyed the Y, and had some mixed feelings as I drove 200+ miles or so south from VT (I’m at the very northern bit, I can see Canada from my house) down into MA to pick up my new R1S. The drive was pretty, seeing the evergreens with what was likely to be the last snow of the year on them was calming. (Narrator’s voice, that was Chekov’s Snow) Having dragged my feet a little on taking the snow tires off the Tesla reminded me to check into snow tires at the Rivian Service center. Apparently they don’t do a set of specific snow tires, so I made a note to look into that around October or a little before.
On the drive down the Tesla routed me into a Supercharger in a Dunkin’ Donuts. My wife and I enjoyed a muffin, and I wondered if we would end up in the same place on the way back (I know Rivian doesn’t come with the NACS adaptor but I had asked my guide to get one reserved so I could buy it with the car ‘cause I might need it to get home).
My wife fell in love with the Rivian the moment she saw the interior in real life (Black Mountain + Dark Ash Wood, Adventure Trim so she had the little “Always Adventurous” metal plate on her side). She was a little disappointed at the lack of a glove box (she hated the Tesla glove box that was controlled from the center dash touch screen, and isn’t sure, but think the no glovebox may be an improvement). Loved the seats as well. We haven’t tried the ventilated feature yet since it was a cold new england day.
Turns out the service center didn’t have NACS adaptors for love nor money, but the route planner had it as an easy single charge return drive swinging by Lebanon NH and using the RAN there. The RAN may not be in a DD parking lot, but it is in a strip mall that includes DD, KFC, and a 99. I count that as a step up. Also the Tesla SuperCharger I use most frequently (in St Johnsberry) is actually in a dead mall, nothing alive near it, so having places to eat was a step up. Maybe unfair since Lebanon, NH has a Tesla Supercharger ointment a not dead mall (or maybe just a supermarket parking lot? It has been a year since I’ve used it!).
The RAN charge time was a little slower than I had expected. My R1S claimed to be getting 1.8mi per kWh which was lower then I expected for ”not towing”, which means 100kW of power incoming from the RAN didn’t add miles to the range nearly as fast as my SuperCharger experience had.
The R1S was a dream to drive, I’m not a big fan of Tesla’s autopilot (I like to drive my vehicles) so I didn’t miss it, and the R1S’s cruse control didn’t phantom brake (my Y has a tendency to brake hard for shadows -- wait, it isn’t my Y any more, so had HAD a tendency to brake for shadows).
As we got closer to home it started to snow. Just a little “for effect”, but after a few minutes of the snow being “pretty” it turned into a bit of a white out, and a full on blizzard. Hey, I have an adventure truck, may as well have an adventure, yes? I found the driving mode screen (while driving), and tried slicing right and left to get the “other modes”, and then figured out “oh, snow is a big button” -- I’m normally decent with learning new UI, but while driving an unfamiliar car is maybe not the best time to learn. I also had tried “OK Alexa set snow mode” and it didn’t help. Unfortunately once I found the actual way to engage snow mode it told me I had to stop first, not ideal on a 65MPH interstate. I was only a few miles form my exit though, so I just toughed it out.
It was pretty heavy snow by that point and I was fishtailing a bit, every time I slowed, not sure if that was the rear motor kicking in and out, or if it was a byproduct of regeneration brakes, but it was a little concerning....no, adventurous! Lets stay on brand!
My exit had a stop sign at the merge, so I activated snow mode and crossed my fingers. At this point I was driving in a few inches of snow, maybe three, and snow mode had eliminated all the fishtailing. I had a few steep uphill climb to get all the way home, and the tail end of the trip was uneventful with snow mode.
This is what stuck:
Since I was driving I don’t have any pictures of the snow fall, my wife took a few, maybe I’ll get them and attach them later. This was what was still sticking to the truck and unmelted after I popped the frunk and got the moble charger out...
I enjoyed the Y, and had some mixed feelings as I drove 200+ miles or so south from VT (I’m at the very northern bit, I can see Canada from my house) down into MA to pick up my new R1S. The drive was pretty, seeing the evergreens with what was likely to be the last snow of the year on them was calming. (Narrator’s voice, that was Chekov’s Snow) Having dragged my feet a little on taking the snow tires off the Tesla reminded me to check into snow tires at the Rivian Service center. Apparently they don’t do a set of specific snow tires, so I made a note to look into that around October or a little before.
On the drive down the Tesla routed me into a Supercharger in a Dunkin’ Donuts. My wife and I enjoyed a muffin, and I wondered if we would end up in the same place on the way back (I know Rivian doesn’t come with the NACS adaptor but I had asked my guide to get one reserved so I could buy it with the car ‘cause I might need it to get home).
My wife fell in love with the Rivian the moment she saw the interior in real life (Black Mountain + Dark Ash Wood, Adventure Trim so she had the little “Always Adventurous” metal plate on her side). She was a little disappointed at the lack of a glove box (she hated the Tesla glove box that was controlled from the center dash touch screen, and isn’t sure, but think the no glovebox may be an improvement). Loved the seats as well. We haven’t tried the ventilated feature yet since it was a cold new england day.
Turns out the service center didn’t have NACS adaptors for love nor money, but the route planner had it as an easy single charge return drive swinging by Lebanon NH and using the RAN there. The RAN may not be in a DD parking lot, but it is in a strip mall that includes DD, KFC, and a 99. I count that as a step up. Also the Tesla SuperCharger I use most frequently (in St Johnsberry) is actually in a dead mall, nothing alive near it, so having places to eat was a step up. Maybe unfair since Lebanon, NH has a Tesla Supercharger ointment a not dead mall (or maybe just a supermarket parking lot? It has been a year since I’ve used it!).
The RAN charge time was a little slower than I had expected. My R1S claimed to be getting 1.8mi per kWh which was lower then I expected for ”not towing”, which means 100kW of power incoming from the RAN didn’t add miles to the range nearly as fast as my SuperCharger experience had.
The R1S was a dream to drive, I’m not a big fan of Tesla’s autopilot (I like to drive my vehicles) so I didn’t miss it, and the R1S’s cruse control didn’t phantom brake (my Y has a tendency to brake hard for shadows -- wait, it isn’t my Y any more, so had HAD a tendency to brake for shadows).
As we got closer to home it started to snow. Just a little “for effect”, but after a few minutes of the snow being “pretty” it turned into a bit of a white out, and a full on blizzard. Hey, I have an adventure truck, may as well have an adventure, yes? I found the driving mode screen (while driving), and tried slicing right and left to get the “other modes”, and then figured out “oh, snow is a big button” -- I’m normally decent with learning new UI, but while driving an unfamiliar car is maybe not the best time to learn. I also had tried “OK Alexa set snow mode” and it didn’t help. Unfortunately once I found the actual way to engage snow mode it told me I had to stop first, not ideal on a 65MPH interstate. I was only a few miles form my exit though, so I just toughed it out.
It was pretty heavy snow by that point and I was fishtailing a bit, every time I slowed, not sure if that was the rear motor kicking in and out, or if it was a byproduct of regeneration brakes, but it was a little concerning....no, adventurous! Lets stay on brand!
My exit had a stop sign at the merge, so I activated snow mode and crossed my fingers. At this point I was driving in a few inches of snow, maybe three, and snow mode had eliminated all the fishtailing. I had a few steep uphill climb to get all the way home, and the tail end of the trip was uneventful with snow mode.
This is what stuck:
Since I was driving I don’t have any pictures of the snow fall, my wife took a few, maybe I’ll get them and attach them later. This was what was still sticking to the truck and unmelted after I popped the frunk and got the moble charger out...
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