First impressions: R1S Gen 2 Tri Max Ascend, Ocean Coast + Driftwood

[amd]

This past weekend, I took delivery of a new 2025 Rivian R1S Gen 2 Tri Max with Ascend interior in Ocean Coast + Driftwood. I hadn't seen any real world photos/videos of the new Driftwood color option, so I wanted to share a few pics and some early thoughts.

I also filmed a quick video tour if you're into that, with close-ups of the Ascend interior and Dynamic Glass Roof:



Here are my initial impressions after 48 hours of ownership:

Ascend interior

• The upgrades to the materials and colors are really classy. I love how much plastic they've ditched in favor of nicer materials.
• There's vegan leather covering all the door panels, the hinged pockets on each door, along the bottom of the center console area near the footwells, and on the steering wheel cover where the horn is.
• Instead of plastic seatback shells on the driver and passenger seat, they're now wrapped in a flecked heather gray fabric. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest upgrades to the interior with the Ascend package, because those seatbacks are such a large, visually-prominent surface for all your passengers and now they look far more premium.
• Driftwood pairs beautifully with the Ocean Coast vegan leather. It has a grayish-blue wood grain pattern running through it which looks quite elegant.
• All 3 rows have plaid stitching patterns on the seat backs and cushions, and there are plaid-colored accents on all floor mats, the sides of every headrest, on the back of the upper grab handles, and on the straps of the seatback pockets.
• There are bronze metallic accents (instead of silver) along the dash, center console, door cards, speaker grilles, and seat controls.
• The headliner is a nice suede-like material.
• My Tri Max configuration still has 3rd-row side compartments / cubbies. (VIN series 57XXX, manufactured Sep 2024)

Premium Audio

• Everyone else is right: music sounds muffled. I'm coming from a Tesla Model Y which had a noticeably wider soundstage.
• Vocals and mid/high frequency sounds get muddied together and lose their sense of separation.
• It feels like it just makes the cut for an acceptable sound system at this price range. It makes me wonder what the baseline, non-premium audio sounds like.
• In the EQ settings, I increased the sliders towards the right (1k, 2k, 4k, 8k) which helped bring back some clarity to the highs.

Dynamic Glass Roof

• When enabled, the glass turns opaque after a second or two while still letting a pleasing amount of light into the cabin. I could still clearly see raindrops sitting on the top of the glass, but otherwise, everything turns a bright, milky color and distant objects (buildings, trees) are no longer visible.
• When disabled, the glass is still fully transparent but just a smidge fainter or cloudier-looking than standard glass, though not distractingly so.

Ride quality, noise, vibrations, harshness

• Coming from a Tesla Model Y with the refreshed "comfort suspension" circa 2023, the R1S Gen 2 is a much smoother, more satisfying ride. I've set it to Standard height with Ride Feel set to Soft and it noticeably dampens all the bumps and potholes that I felt acutely with the stiff suspension in the Tesla.
• Tri Motor acceleration is outright incredible. Even coming from another EV which already had some pep to it, it took me by surprise just how quickly this thing can move, especially given its weight.
• When the wipers are running at high speed, you can feel a thunk in the accelerator pedal every second or two whenever the wipers reach their highest and lowest positions.
• When the AC starts up (example: it's 76°F outside, you get into the vehicle and the AC starts cooling to a set temp of 73°F on Auto), you can feel a low hum/vibration in your feet when they're resting in the driver floor/footwell area.

Build quality

• Really great overall, 9/10. Paint looks good, no egregious panel gaps.
• The driver door appears to rub slightly against the front fender panel as it rotates on its hinge (see the video above). I've seen others report similar door issues where the gap there is too tight.
• The black plastic molding on the lower exterior of the driver door is slightly crooked/misaligned and doesn't line up with the molding on the rear driver-side door.

Delivery experience

• I picked up the car at the Mahwah, NJ service center. My delivery appointment was originally scheduled for September 25, 2024 but was delayed twice, because the transporter was running several days late and they couldn't get an ETA from the truck driver. Everyone I interacted with was friendly and apologetic.
• Even though they were super busy trying to process deliveries, the staff were cool and let me install mud flaps right in the delivery garage area before I drove it out of the building. They lent me their screwdriver set so I could pop out a few push pins from the wheel wells. (Thanks Mahwah team!)
• The end-of-quarter rush is real: my guide told me they had 70(!) deliveries scheduled for today, September 30.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Sponsored

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Looks good. That interior looks like an upgrade.

 

[Schroederhc]

This past weekend, I took delivery of a new 2025 Rivian R1S Gen 2 Tri Max with Ascend interior in Ocean Coast + Driftwood. I hadn't seen any real world photos/videos of the new Driftwood color option, so I wanted to share a few pics and some early thoughts.

I also filmed a quick video tour if you're into that, with close-ups of the Ascend interior and Dynamic Glass Roof:



Here are my initial impressions after 48 hours of ownership:

Ascend interior

• The upgrades to the materials and colors are really classy. I love how much plastic they've ditched in favor of nicer materials.
• There's vegan leather covering all the door panels, the hinged pockets on each door, along the bottom of the center console area near the footwells, and on the steering wheel cover where the horn is.
• Instead of plastic seatback shells on the driver and passenger seat, they're now wrapped in a flecked heather gray fabric. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest upgrades to the interior with the Ascend package, because those seatbacks are such a large, visually-prominent surface for all your passengers and now they look far more premium.
• Driftwood pairs beautifully with the Ocean Coast vegan leather. It has a grayish-blue wood grain pattern running through it which looks quite elegant.
• All 3 rows have plaid stitching patterns on the seat backs and cushions, and there are plaid-colored accents on all floor mats, the sides of every headrest, on the back of the upper grab handles, and on the straps of the seatback pockets.
• There are bronze metallic accents (instead of silver) along the dash, center console, door cards, speaker grilles, and seat controls.
• The headliner is a nice suede-like material.
• My Tri Max configuration still has 3rd-row side compartments / cubbies. (VIN series 57XXX, manufactured Sep 2024)

Premium Audio

• Everyone else is right: music sounds muffled. I'm coming from a Tesla Model Y which had a noticeably wider soundstage.
• Vocals and mid/high frequency sounds get muddied together and lose their sense of separation.
• It feels like it just makes the cut for an acceptable sound system at this price range. It makes me wonder what the baseline, non-premium audio sounds like.
• In the EQ settings, I increased the sliders towards the right (1k, 2k, 4k, 8k) which helped bring back some clarity to the highs.

Dynamic Glass Roof

• When enabled, the glass turns opaque after a second or two while still letting a pleasing amount of light into the cabin. I could still clearly see raindrops sitting on the top of the glass, but otherwise, everything turns a bright, milky color and distant objects (buildings, trees) are no longer visible.
• When disabled, the glass is still fully transparent but just a smidge fainter or cloudier-looking than standard glass, though not distractingly so.

Ride quality, noise, vibrations, harshness

• Coming from a Tesla Model Y with the refreshed "comfort suspension" circa 2023, the R1S Gen 2 is a much smoother, more satisfying ride. I've set it to Standard height with Ride Feel set to Soft and it noticeably dampens all the bumps and potholes that I felt acutely with the stiff suspension in the Tesla.
• Tri Motor acceleration is outright incredible. Even coming from another EV which already had some pep to it, it took me by surprise just how quickly this thing can move, especially given its weight.
• When the wipers are running at high speed, you can feel a thunk in the accelerator pedal every second or two whenever the wipers reach their highest and lowest positions.
• When the AC starts up (example: it's 76°F outside, you get into the vehicle and the AC starts cooling to a set temp of 73°F on Auto), you can feel a low hum/vibration in your feet when they're resting in the driver floor/footwell area.

Build quality

• Really great overall, 9/10. Paint looks good, no egregious panel gaps.
• The driver door appears to rub slightly against the front fender panel as it rotates on its hinge (see the video above). I've seen others report similar door issues where the gap there is too tight.
• The black plastic molding on the lower exterior of the driver door is slightly crooked/misaligned and doesn't line up with the molding on the rear driver-side door.

Delivery experience

• I picked up the car at the Mahwah, NJ service center. My delivery appointment was originally scheduled for September 25, 2024 but was delayed twice, because the transporter was running several days late and they couldn't get an ETA from the truck driver. Everyone I interacted with was friendly and apologetic.
• Even though they were super busy trying to process deliveries, the staff were cool and let me install mud flaps right in the delivery garage area before I drove it out of the building. They lent me their screwdriver set so I could pop out a few push pins from the wheel wells. (Thanks Mahwah team!)
• The end-of-quarter rush is real: my guide told me they had 70(!) deliveries scheduled for today, September 30.

Let me know if you have any questions!

That interior is wicked sick sick-looking good combo!

 

[natcc99]

Great video and thanks for getting into details of the Ascend interior.
I couldn't figure out the differences other than the stitching and colors. After watching your video, I can appreciate that it's much more!

Speaking of your video, nice job on the editing and audio clarity. It was very easy and pleasant to watch.

 

[gregeast]

Congrats on the beautiful new ride and a sincere thank you for taking the time to show the new interior, much appreciated!

 

[malditofman]

This past weekend, I took delivery of a new 2025 Rivian R1S Gen 2 Tri Max with Ascend interior in Ocean Coast + Driftwood. I hadn't seen any real world photos/videos of the new Driftwood color option, so I wanted to share a few pics and some early thoughts.

I also filmed a quick video tour if you're into that, with close-ups of the Ascend interior and Dynamic Glass Roof:



Here are my initial impressions after 48 hours of ownership:

Ascend interior

• The upgrades to the materials and colors are really classy. I love how much plastic they've ditched in favor of nicer materials.
• There's vegan leather covering all the door panels, the hinged pockets on each door, along the bottom of the center console area near the footwells, and on the steering wheel cover where the horn is.
• Instead of plastic seatback shells on the driver and passenger seat, they're now wrapped in a flecked heather gray fabric. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest upgrades to the interior with the Ascend package, because those seatbacks are such a large, visually-prominent surface for all your passengers and now they look far more premium.
• Driftwood pairs beautifully with the Ocean Coast vegan leather. It has a grayish-blue wood grain pattern running through it which looks quite elegant.
• All 3 rows have plaid stitching patterns on the seat backs and cushions, and there are plaid-colored accents on all floor mats, the sides of every headrest, on the back of the upper grab handles, and on the straps of the seatback pockets.
• There are bronze metallic accents (instead of silver) along the dash, center console, door cards, speaker grilles, and seat controls.
• The headliner is a nice suede-like material.
• My Tri Max configuration still has 3rd-row side compartments / cubbies. (VIN series 57XXX, manufactured Sep 2024)

Premium Audio

• Everyone else is right: music sounds muffled. I'm coming from a Tesla Model Y which had a noticeably wider soundstage.
• Vocals and mid/high frequency sounds get muddied together and lose their sense of separation.
• It feels like it just makes the cut for an acceptable sound system at this price range. It makes me wonder what the baseline, non-premium audio sounds like.
• In the EQ settings, I increased the sliders towards the right (1k, 2k, 4k, 8k) which helped bring back some clarity to the highs.

Dynamic Glass Roof

• When enabled, the glass turns opaque after a second or two while still letting a pleasing amount of light into the cabin. I could still clearly see raindrops sitting on the top of the glass, but otherwise, everything turns a bright, milky color and distant objects (buildings, trees) are no longer visible.
• When disabled, the glass is still fully transparent but just a smidge fainter or cloudier-looking than standard glass, though not distractingly so.

Ride quality, noise, vibrations, harshness

• Coming from a Tesla Model Y with the refreshed "comfort suspension" circa 2023, the R1S Gen 2 is a much smoother, more satisfying ride. I've set it to Standard height with Ride Feel set to Soft and it noticeably dampens all the bumps and potholes that I felt acutely with the stiff suspension in the Tesla.
• Tri Motor acceleration is outright incredible. Even coming from another EV which already had some pep to it, it took me by surprise just how quickly this thing can move, especially given its weight.
• When the wipers are running at high speed, you can feel a thunk in the accelerator pedal every second or two whenever the wipers reach their highest and lowest positions.
• When the AC starts up (example: it's 76°F outside, you get into the vehicle and the AC starts cooling to a set temp of 73°F on Auto), you can feel a low hum/vibration in your feet when they're resting in the driver floor/footwell area.

Build quality

• Really great overall, 9/10. Paint looks good, no egregious panel gaps.
• The driver door appears to rub slightly against the front fender panel as it rotates on its hinge (see the video above). I've seen others report similar door issues where the gap there is too tight.
• The black plastic molding on the lower exterior of the driver door is slightly crooked/misaligned and doesn't line up with the molding on the rear driver-side door.

Delivery experience

• I picked up the car at the Mahwah, NJ service center. My delivery appointment was originally scheduled for September 25, 2024 but was delayed twice, because the transporter was running several days late and they couldn't get an ETA from the truck driver. Everyone I interacted with was friendly and apologetic.
• Even though they were super busy trying to process deliveries, the staff were cool and let me install mud flaps right in the delivery garage area before I drove it out of the building. They lent me their screwdriver set so I could pop out a few push pins from the wheel wells. (Thanks Mahwah team!)
• The end-of-quarter rush is real: my guide told me they had 70(!) deliveries scheduled for today, September 30.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Beautiful vehicle. The audio will improve with OTA updates. Enjoy. Drive well.

 

[Type_R]

LOVE IT!! Thanks for sharing.
I can't wait to upgrade mine, because I love that interior over my more plasticky interior. I hate the plastic shell front seat backs on mine. Yuck!! It just makes it look cheap in my opinion.

 

[1stPlace]

Well made video. Thanks

 

[iamnid]

That's the nicest looking interior by far. The other "upgraded" interior with the honey colored wood doesn't look good at all in my opinion. This one looks great!

 

[QuadMonster]

Love the look of the interior, it will definitely be my top choice when I'm ready to upgrade.

 

[Blueassassin]

That is so good! Im also really curious to try the new door switches rather than levers.

 

[MidnightM00N]

Ascend interior

• The upgrades to the materials and colors are really classy. I love how much plastic they've ditched in favor of nicer materials.
• There's vegan leather covering all the door panels, the hinged pockets on each door, along the bottom of the center console area near the footwells, and on the steering wheel cover where the horn is.
• Instead of plastic seatback shells on the driver and passenger seat, they're now wrapped in a flecked heather gray fabric. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest upgrades to the interior with the Ascend package, because those seatbacks are such a large, visually-prominent surface for all your passengers and now they look far more premium.
• Driftwood pairs beautifully with the Ocean Coast vegan leather. It has a grayish-blue wood grain pattern running through it which looks quite elegant.
• All 3 rows have plaid stitching patterns on the seat backs and cushions, and there are plaid-colored accents on all floor mats, the sides of every headrest, on the back of the upper grab handles, and on the straps of the seatback pockets.
• There are bronze metallic accents (instead of silver) along the dash, center console, door cards, speaker grilles, and seat controls.
• The headliner is a nice suede-like material.
• My Tri Max configuration still has 3rd-row side compartments / cubbies. (VIN series 57XXX, manufactured Sep 2024)

Beautiful car. Looks great in white with the blackout and dark wheels.

A couple things about the Ascend vs the Adventure interior. Looks like there are many nice updates, but a lot of the things you mention as being different/new are also present in my Gen 2 Adventure Ocean Coast and Dark Ash interior:

• Adventure (at least with the dark ash wood upgrade) has vegan leather covering most of the doors, just not the door pocket. The bronze stitching is definitely different/upgraded.
• The bronze metal looks the same in both Adventure and Ascend. There's just more of it around the seat bases, center console base, seat controls, etc.
• The suede headliner is the same as well (though I've hear rumor this has been or will be switched to a fabric headliner in later build Adventure trims)

Curious what VIN range your vehicle is, as it seems after the mid 55000s the 3rd row cubbies changed to the new version without a lid. But perhaps as you mention that's not the case for the Ascends. Not sure why they'd keep an old and a new version of those given the cost cutting efforts Rivian has been working so hard at.

Overall it looks like a really nice upgrade. I'll be interested to see how the driftwood holds up around the frequent touch points (like by the phone charging pads). Love the plaid stitching and really love the fabric seatbacks and plaid accents. If/when I need another, I'll be hunting a Tri Ascend for sure.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

yeah I am typically not a big fan of light colored interiors but this looks great!

 

[R1Tom]

yeah I am typically not a big fan of light colored interiors but this looks great!

I love the way they look....and I went with a light colored interior once...and that will be once and done for me. Too much risk from so many things to damage...ink transfer...etc...

 

[natcc99]

For the Ascend interior, can you tell me what material are the 6 o'clock spokes of the steering wheel made out of? I'm curious if it's plastic or covered with vegan leather.

For my '23, it's plastic with minor-sharp edges. I wished it was a better material considering it's a high touch point.

Sponsored