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My 2 cents after 2 weeks

Jobiwan

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Like many others, I thought I would post my thoughts.

Just wrapped my El Cap matte and posted here so take a look.

PROS- Build quality is solid; doors close with a solid thunk and I honestly believe the car is worth what they are asking given post March 1st price adjustments (90k for my R1T). The bed material is tough and durable and overall I am very happy with the purchase. I'm replacing a tundra and an S8 with this truck.

Suspension is one of the best features. Smooth, adjustable.

Cabin is quiet and comfortable with firm seats (my preference). The sound system is awesome.

All weather mats fit great; people were talking about weather tech; I don't see them doing any better and these match the color/logo of the vehicle.

My cargo crossbars fit well and don't wobble.

The tinted glass roof is great; gives an open air sensation and makes the cabin feel larger. I'm betting it'll be hot during Texas summers though so a vent near the roof might keep your head from cooking. Also, my tint guy said you can't tint the roof as it may cause the glass to crack- others have posted the same here.

CONS-
1. Gear guard lock is only available inside the bed space. So if you have a tonneau and want to keep it closed, you can't secure gear on the cargo crossbars. This could be fixed by adding gear locks along the top surface of the bed near the cab. This would allow locking of anything on the roof or over the bed.

2. Screen layout- most of the "buttons" are on the bottom edge and you have to open a menu to see the remaining buttons. Personally, I'd like to see some buttons along the drivers side of the screen or along the top- your eyes won't have to stray from the road as long.

Also, when entering an address, the keyboard is similar to a conventional keyboard in that the numbers are closer to the passenger, not the driver. Almost any address starts with numbers so this should be closer to the driver.

3. The seams on the vehicle are still a bit un-even. I'm sure this will improve with time.

4. Driver+ Adequate for cruising on a highway with minimal traffic; not great for much else. It keeps getting confused and requiring intervention anytime you pass an exit and any seams, cracks or other lines along the road confuse it.

5. Range- Drove to houston this weekend and the predicted range did not drop with speed. Basically, the faster you go, the less efficient the vehicle and the predicted range should drop; it didn't and this almost led to a problem.

6. Camp speaker is a bit tinny. Probably designed for longevity and not sound quality.

7. When ordering, you have the option of adding a full size spare- what isn't clear is that no spare tire is included if you don't select this option.

8. I worry about the tonneau cover. First minor dent from something dropped, and i'm betting on a dent that will impair function.

9. A USB connection near the rear mirror would allow power to a radar detector and such.

10. The charging pad is an utter fail. I have an Iphone 13 with a case- too thick to even charge. Even then, you need cross hairs to line up your phone for charging. First time you hit the brakes or hit a bump, charging is done.

My thoughts-
J
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Zoidz

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10. The charging pad is an utter fail. I have an Iphone 13 with a case- too thick to even charge. Even then, you need cross hairs to line up your phone for charging. First time you hit the brakes or hit a bump, charging is done.
Thanks for the thoughts on all, very helpful.

I had my first experience last week with a vehicle charging pad in a rental Suburban. I just got an iPhone 13 with a heavy/strong UAG case. I could not get it to work in the Suburban, no way, no how. Is this a common issue across many vehicles? Works OK on a charging pad at home.
 

LaunchGreen

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Thanks for the thoughts on all, very helpful.

I had my first experience last week with a vehicle charging pad in a rental Suburban. I just got an iPhone 13 with a heavy/strong UAG case. I could not get it to work in the Suburban, no way, no how. Is this a common issue across many vehicles? Works OK on a charging pad at home.

There are magsafe cases. Regular cases are hit-and-miss. I personally don't use a case at all but from the sounds of it, my phone is going to go flying off the pad anyways.
 

dleewla

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thanks for sharing. seems like some things can/should be fixed OTA. however, the one which is a big miss is the wireless charging. after all the testing and employee deliveries, you'd think they would/could have changed the design but then again maybe it was "too late" in their eyes. $90k car and looks like we'll be wired up to charge like my $20k corolla.

i think in the next design, they should get rid of all that space between the driver/passenger foot area and put in a better wireless charger there, could still have storage and add more cup holders. plus i dont like the idea of storing stuff there anyway so close to the accelerator and brake pedals.
 

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Denver_Paulie

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5. Range- Drove to houston this weekend and the predicted range did not drop with speed. Basically, the faster you go, the less efficient the vehicle and the predicted range should drop; it didn't and this almost led to a problem.



Thanks for sharing. I was curious about this item you mentioned. Obviously, it can be fixed by an OTA, but kind of important to have accurate range estimations!

What happened?
 

RivianRiverRat

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Ick. Not having a driveshaft hump gives an airy feeling and is much more comfortable IME from my i3.
You need the open space to get the Bluetooth speaker out on the Launch and Adventure models
 

SASSquatch

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Ick. Not having a driveshaft hump gives an airy feeling and is much more comfortable IME from my i3.
+1 and hello fellow i3s owner!
 

SASSquatch

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Like many others, I thought I would post my thoughts.

Just wrapped my El Cap matte and posted here so take a look.

PROS- Build quality is solid; doors close with a solid thunk and I honestly believe the car is worth what they are asking given post March 1st price adjustments (90k for my R1T). The bed material is tough and durable and overall I am very happy with the purchase. I'm replacing a tundra and an S8 with this truck.

Suspension is one of the best features. Smooth, adjustable.

Cabin is quiet and comfortable with firm seats (my preference). The sound system is awesome.

All weather mats fit great; people were talking about weather tech; I don't see them doing any better and these match the color/logo of the vehicle.

My cargo crossbars fit well and don't wobble.

The tinted glass roof is great; gives an open air sensation and makes the cabin feel larger. I'm betting it'll be hot during Texas summers though so a vent near the roof might keep your head from cooking. Also, my tint guy said you can't tint the roof as it may cause the glass to crack- others have posted the same here.

CONS-
1. Gear guard lock is only available inside the bed space. So if you have a tonneau and want to keep it closed, you can't secure gear on the cargo crossbars. This could be fixed by adding gear locks along the top surface of the bed near the cab. This would allow locking of anything on the roof or over the bed.

2. Screen layout- most of the "buttons" are on the bottom edge and you have to open a menu to see the remaining buttons. Personally, I'd like to see some buttons along the drivers side of the screen or along the top- your eyes won't have to stray from the road as long.

Also, when entering an address, the keyboard is similar to a conventional keyboard in that the numbers are closer to the passenger, not the driver. Almost any address starts with numbers so this should be closer to the driver.

3. The seams on the vehicle are still a bit un-even. I'm sure this will improve with time.

4. Driver+ Adequate for cruising on a highway with minimal traffic; not great for much else. It keeps getting confused and requiring intervention anytime you pass an exit and any seams, cracks or other lines along the road confuse it.

5. Range- Drove to houston this weekend and the predicted range did not drop with speed. Basically, the faster you go, the less efficient the vehicle and the predicted range should drop; it didn't and this almost led to a problem.

6. Camp speaker is a bit tinny. Probably designed for longevity and not sound quality.

7. When ordering, you have the option of adding a full size spare- what isn't clear is that no spare tire is included if you don't select this option.

8. I worry about the tonneau cover. First minor dent from something dropped, and i'm betting on a dent that will impair function.

9. A USB connection near the rear mirror would allow power to a radar detector and such.

10. The charging pad is an utter fail. I have an Iphone 13 with a case- too thick to even charge. Even then, you need cross hairs to line up your phone for charging. First time you hit the brakes or hit a bump, charging is done.

My thoughts-
J
Really appreciate your thoughts and you have answered a question I had (and worried about) regarding using the gear guard if the tonneau cover is closed.

So, my main use case would involve putting bikes on the crossbars with the bike mounts that RIVIAN sells. In that scenario, if I don't leave the cover open, I guess we have to find other locks.

The other option would be to not fully close the cover.

Does anyone know if you have control over how much of the cover is left open/closed? Is it an all or none motion or can you "pulse" the switch?
 

crashmtb

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i think in the next design, they should get rid of all that space between the driver/passenger foot area
Go buy a truck with a longitudinal transmission and a driveshaft bump then.

Gimme a flat floor any day
 

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Monkey

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I'm probably going with a manual tonneau cover for a variety of reasons. But add the gear guard to that list of reasons. I could modify a manual folding/rolling tonneau with grommets -- marine cover style with caps/plugs to keep watertight when not in use. Then the gear guard can be used with the cover in place for bikes or whatnot over the top.

My friend who's had his R1T for several weeks now says the camp speaker is a huge disappointment. Great idea, but kinda gimmicky for the actual implementation. Sound quality not as good as similarly sized bluetooth speakers out there like UE and others who also have waterproof options.

Some more physical buttons would be nice, especially if they're programmable or we can assign or cycle their functions. As a long time Tesla owner, Model X and Model Y, that's my biggest complaint. Especially on the Model Y after the latest UI changes... Simple functions are not intuitive or easily accessible and even buried in a secondary window or menu. It's maddening. I often wonder if the people doing the UX design actually drive these cars more than a few miles each day just round-tripping between home and work. Hard to tap that little button on the screen when in motion.

Charging pads in most vehicles are complete failures. I'm not sure why it's so hard to put in a decent charging pad. Our iPhone 12's and my 13 Pro Max don't charge reliably, or at all, in most any vehicle I've tried. The charger either just doesn't work well or the phone doesn't physically fit. Case, no case, MagSafe case, nada. iPhone 13 Pro Max Does not like my buddy's R1T much. Very finicky. Weirdly enough it works and charges flawlessly in a '22 Bronco Sport we picked up a few weeks back, but not in a '21 Bronco Sport we bought a year ago. Same part # and Ford insists it's the same between the two years, but I think they quietly updated some firmware or something and the new ones work with the new phones. Being a software developer, predominantly business and mobile apps, I have tons of phones and devices to play with and test. The newest Apple and Samsung phones are not well supported by charging pads in the auto industry... That $7 Qi charger from AliExpress? No problem, works awesome! The charging pad in that $80K+ Porsche/ Rivian/ Tesla/ Cadillac/ etc...? Nope, flaky AF.
 
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Jobiwan

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Tonneau can be partially opened/closed
Nothing happened other than having to slow down; got down to 29 miles of range which I prefer not to do with a new battery

and pardon the negative, I’m actually very happy with the truck
 

dleewla

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Go buy a truck with a longitudinal transmission and a driveshaft bump then.

Gimme a flat floor any day
just cause it has no transmission or driveshaft, doesnt mean it has to be a flat floor. you going to spread your legs across the floor? its not like there is a middle seat. could have used more thoughtful design imo.
 

SeaGeo

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Go buy a truck with a longitudinal transmission and a driveshaft bump then.

Gimme a flat floor any day
just cause it has no transmission or driveshaft, doesnt mean it has to be a flat floor. you going to spread your legs across the floor? its not like there is a middle seat. could have used more thoughtful design imo.
I go back and forth on this.

I like the more open feel. But it does seems fairly likely that whatever is there will fly around. Is my backpack going to fit there? I don't think so... So then what will I stick there? Will I *ever* use the space other than for my wife to maybe put her purse there? Do I value "white" space that much in the footwell of a truck?

Would I have preferred a pass through bin space like in the hummer had been better with some additional cupholders or a better charger or a confined cubby? Some physical buttons? A more ergonomic area to interact with the vehicle settings?

Design choices. You're not going to make everyone happy. At least it's not both cramped and limited to only one cup holder like the Polestar 2.
 

Engi_Nerd

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I'm probably going with a manual tonneau cover for a variety of reasons. But add the gear guard to that list of reasons. I could modify a manual folding/rolling tonneau with grommets -- marine cover style with caps/plugs to keep watertight when not in use. Then the gear guard can be used with the cover in place for bikes or whatnot over the top.

My friend who's had his R1T for several weeks now says the camp speaker is a huge disappointment. Great idea, but kinda gimmicky for the actual implementation. Sound quality not as good as similarly sized bluetooth speakers out there like UE and others who also have waterproof options.

Some more physical buttons would be nice, especially if they're programmable or we can assign or cycle their functions. As a long time Tesla owner, Model X and Model Y, that's my biggest complaint. Especially on the Model Y after the latest UI changes... Simple functions are not intuitive or easily accessible and even buried in a secondary window or menu. It's maddening. I often wonder if the people doing the UX design actually drive these cars more than a few miles each day just round-tripping between home and work. Hard to tap that little button on the screen when in motion.

Charging pads in most vehicles are complete failures. I'm not sure why it's so hard to put in a decent charging pad. Our iPhone 12's and my 13 Pro Max don't charge reliably, or at all, in most any vehicle I've tried. The charger either just doesn't work well or the phone doesn't physically fit. Case, no case, MagSafe case, nada. iPhone 13 Pro Max Does not like my buddy's R1T much. Very finicky. Weirdly enough it works and charges flawlessly in a '22 Bronco Sport we picked up a few weeks back, but not in a '21 Bronco Sport we bought a year ago. Same part # and Ford insists it's the same between the two years, but I think they quietly updated some firmware or something and the new ones work with the new phones. Being a software developer, predominantly business and mobile apps, I have tons of phones and devices to play with and test. The newest Apple and Samsung phones are not well supported by charging pads in the auto industry... That $7 Qi charger from AliExpress? No problem, works awesome! The charging pad in that $80K+ Porsche/ Rivian/ Tesla/ Cadillac/ etc...? Nope, flaky AF.
I agree about the ux in the Model Y but find the wireless charger great. Charges our giant Pixel 6P and S21 ultra fast and reliably, even while driving spiritedly. The design in the R1s seem like they didn't even try.
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