Announcing our new "CLUBS" section where you can join or create a Rivian club or group! You can use this new feature to conveniently plan and discuss local events, gatherings or other club/group related topics.
So we encourage you to join (or start) special-interest and regional-based Rivian clubs at: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/group-categories/clubs-groups.1/
It's on! Rocky Mountain Rivian's? Rocky Mountain Riviots? ...
I think @obababoy ’s point is that nearly all of these interactions are taking place at car shows or media events. RJ has cleared his schedule and is in “brand ambassador” mode. You can’t totally hide your real personality so he likely is a good and genuine person, but there are a ton of executives who can crank up the charm when needed. It may or not apply to RJ, but he has a good point.
Sounds like a great day but am I the only one who kinda rolls my eyes when people praise RJ? I just don't get how people are surprised he is a personable person during the launch of his 40 billion dollar empire? It is a bit cringy, but maybe I am just a luddite to California based mega companies and their marketing
Don't get me wrong, I think this is a cool company in comparison to others, it is a bit more earth friendly, I am obsessed with this truck and CANNOT wait to get mine, but I just twitch a bit when people gag on marketing hype.
I’m sorry to hear my fun encounter made you cringe. That certainly was not my intent.
You ever meet someone who is proud of what they/their company has made and is keen to show it off? That’s not marketing hype.Sounds like a great day but am I the only one who kinda rolls my eyes when people praise RJ? I just don't get how people are surprised he is a personable person during the launch of his 40 billion dollar empire? It is a bit cringy, but maybe I am just a luddite to California based mega companies and their marketing
Don't get me wrong, I think this is a cool company in comparison to others, it is a bit more earth friendly, I am obsessed with this truck and CANNOT wait to get mine, but I just twitch a bit when people gag on marketing hype.
Great story. Thanks for sharing. Quick question considering you had your mother with you. How high is the entrance to the truck and did your Mom have any problem getting in and out? My wife is 5'1" and this will be her daily driver. In a chat, they stated it had a "kneel mode" which keeps the truck low when in Park. Just trying to get a first hand opinion of how low is low. Thanks!I wanted to share a quick story with you guys. It was a lucky chance encounter that made my day/week/month.
TLDR - Got a personal tour of the R1T by RJ. He was amazingly gracious, friendly, approachable, and an all-around great guy. Read on if you'd like the full story.
So as you may have seen, there is a media event happening in the mountains of Colorado at the moment. I knew approximately where they might be, but hadn't had the time to drive from Denver to see if I can find them. But then on Tuesday night, I get a call from my mother telling me she just spotted a bunch of Rivians not 5 minutes from their home in Breckenridge. That's all the encouragement I needed to take a drive up the mountains.
I cruise up, make a quick stop to grab my mother, and have her jump in the car with me to point out where she saw them. 5 minutes later, I'm in a parking lot with no less than 6 shiny R1Ts. Having never spotted one before, I was stoked.
We hop out of the car (Well, I hop out. My mom is in her mid/late 70's, so her exit wasn't quite as 'hoppy'), and started taking a close-up look at a forest green with forest edge interior truck. Beautiful. The window was rolled down, so we were able to get a great view of the interior. There were a few Rivian folks milling around so we tried to stay away and not be a burden or bother. Despite getting a few odd looks, they just let us poke around undisturbed, which was nice.
After a few minutes of peering around, we were about to leave. But I see a familiar face walking in our general direction. It was RJ! I said hello and he introduced himself, and then he went way above and beyond. He gave us a personal tour of the entire R1T, top to bottom, front to back. Showing us all the different features and functions. Answering my million questions. Put up with me pestering him about when the test drives will start in Colorado, the status of the service center in Denver, when deliveries are going to start, etc. Then he asked me to get in the vehicle and let him know what I thought of the seats, the interior, explained the process for making sure the wood dash looked just right, what he thought about certain interior/exterior color combos. He even was pulling out and showing off the flashlight and bluetooth speaker to my mother.
He spent a good 20 minutes with us, just one on one showing us everything you could imagine about the truck. It was fantastic, and I was truly impressed with how nice he was, how warm he was to my mother, and generally just giving us two randos undivided attention despite needing to get ready for the media event, and having several of his people waiting around to get his attention for what I'm assuming were fairly pressing needs.
After RJ finally had to let us go, he pointed us toward the El Cap truck that had the camp kitchen going, making dinner for the media folks. He instructed his head chef/kitchen designer to stop what he was doing, so that he could give us a full demonstration of how the kitchen worked, what was included, etc. etc. Who does that for a dude just interrupting their big media day?
We were able to see almost all the colors, except LG, Limestone, and Red. RJ kept asking his people where the LG truck was, when it would be back, trying to do what he could to ensure I would get to see it (it's the color I have on order).
We spent another 10 minutes looking at the other trucks that were there, the different interior options, etc. Basically just an awesome chance experience.
Bottom line, RJ is as good a guy as @DuckTruck described him to be. He went way out of his way to make us feel welcome at a time that I assumed we would not be welcome at all.
That's my story...
PS. I tried to see if RJ could move me up on the list...but I don't think I was successful
PPS. Drove by this morning and they had Canyon Red parked out front. It looks awesome.
Updated with impressions of the Rivian R1T:
-The vehicles have an impressive presence and stance, that I wasn't expecting. They're not enormous, but when you stand next to them, you feel like you're next to something very substantial
-The front end looks way better in person than it does in photos
-The front seats are ridiculously comfortable
-I liked silver and white significantly more than I thought I would. Both compete for number 2 on my list of colors
-The roof seemed to let just the right amount of light into the cabin
-The wheels/tires looked really big in person (all of them were on the 20's)
Happy to answer any other specific questions folks may have.
Thanks very much. The kneel mode gets pretty low. So low the tires are somewhat up into the fenders (you can't see the top of the tires behind the fender). Assuming there's a way for the truck to automatically drop into kneel when it's put in park, I don't see it being a massive issue for your wife.
Awesome. Thanks for the info. She drove an F350 before and now that we're a little older she is really concerned about climbing in. When I chatted with Rivian, sounds like you can program it to go into kneel mode automatically when in Park.
My mom has a collapsible step stool with a string tied to it in order to get into my Ram. Works pretty good, climb in, pull up, collapse and put it under your feet. probably wouldn't want it on the floor of the drivers side though.
