R1S as only vehicle for family: how cooked am I?

[Legi0n]

I hit 2 years with my R1T this month and it has had one overnight visit at the shop. I just got home from hauling a buddies 1946 Dodge truck from Eastern WA back to the greater Seattle area. Starting our 2nd day in Leavenworth, WA it was 11 hours between driving, getting the trailer and buying and waiting paperwork plus almost two hours of charging (including dealing with new charging vendors but I was confident we would make it home. It was an adventure but I don't have a "back up" vehicle myself. At several stops we had folks mention how ironic it was having a fancy EV haul a fancy ancient truck. They weren't wrong. I had no issues going at least the speed limit even up hills.

Sponsored

 

[lefkonj]

Go for it. Any vehicle can have problems so that isn't a place to be concerned. Great vehicle and your needs sound like something it can solve.

 

[HaveBlue]

Lots of Toyota peeps here as we are an adventurous bunch. The r1S is super capable stock to stock. Haven't had issues but I'd still take our 15 year old gx across the Sahara before the rivian. Toyota has decades of proven dependability behind it that can't be matched. That being said I could easily survive with just the Rivian. It's been great. There's no other vehicle on the market like it.

 

[RivAW]

It’s ALWAYS a gamble being a 1 car household, even if your one car is a Toyota.

Agreed although the odds are certainly better for the person with a Toyota as their 1 vehicle…

 

[PeterSK]

If your lifestyle works with one vehicle, R1 S or T is a great one. Just in case you have some initial fixes I might keep one of them for a month or two. I kept my A4 for six months after I got my Model S in 2013, then kept the S for a few months after I got a Model X in 2016. Last year when I got the R1 S I kept the X for 2 months. Each time it was helpful in the first month.

 

[SwampNut]

I hate waste, and vehicles sitting around is incredibly wasteful. Especially when it's so easy to get a rental now. There are Turos available right down the street from us. Do it and see if it works.

 

[cbrcanuck]

I’d have no concerns, after 14 months with with R1T. Still love it. My wife has a Golf, but we only use the Rivian unless we both need our vehicles at the same time. We have two kids and two dogs.

 

[CrazyOne]

Are you in an urban area where renting/getting a Lyft is easy? If not I would have 2 vehicles - doesn't matter if it's a Toyota or Rivian. If you are, go for it. You can always rent for a long trip and if Rivian breaks, there will be a loane.

FWIW, I had minor panel issues and nothing after that. 11k miles and 18 months. If I try to find problems, I will find them. However I just take it easy and enjoy the car. It's just too good on the highway to complain.

 

[rivtyler]

Are you in an urban area where renting/getting a Lyft is easy? If not I would have 2 vehicles - doesn't matter if it's a Toyota or Rivian. If you are, go for it. You can always rent for a long trip and if Rivian breaks, there will be a loane.

FWIW, I had minor panel issues and nothing after that. 11k miles and 18 months. If I try to find problems, I will find them. However I just take it easy and enjoy the car. It's just too good on the highway to complain.

Good info ty. I’m in a large city but hoping to drive our new truck to the four corners area, looks like there’s RAN charging en route and should have a Tesla adapter before we head out. Feeling pretty confident about it but wondering if range under load, mountain passes will be dramatically lower than ABRP projections now? Anyone know if the truck’s nav accounts for elevation and speed in real time?

 

[Andystroh]

We have had our R1T as our only vehicle for two years. When we’ve had service done (tires etc) they give Uber credits and it has worked out ok, in Denver they’ve always had our vehicle back the same day.

Friday night (~1am) we had an issue that required they take it overnight and they had a tow truck at our house and a rental car reservation for 8am. They were looking at it in the service center Saturday and should have a diagnosis Monday. All in, it has not been as big of an inconvenience as I was afraid it would be.

 

[CrazyOne]

Good info ty. I’m in a large city but hoping to drive our new truck to the four corners area, looks like there’s RAN charging en route and should have a Tesla adapter before we head out. Feeling pretty confident about it but wondering if range under load, mountain passes will be dramatically lower than ABRP projections now? Anyone know if the truck’s nav accounts for elevation and speed in real time?

It usually does. Seattle to Leavenworth, the ranges were spot on. My worst was via I-90 in December, keeping up with left lane traffic in AP mode, where speed limit is 70mph. Calculated total range was 240 miles, without wheel covers and a hitch attachment. It may be 5-10% better without those changes. Via Stevens pass, it was close to 300 miles in 60F weather. Multiple short trips may be bad in winter. I have seen this over multiple days without charging, but not on a single day. A single long one isn't too bad.

 

[carsly]

With kids I'd always have (and have had) a second vehicle - be it a used Model 3, Honda Civic or whatever - in case one adult is away from home with the vehicle the person at home with the kids has an emergency and needs to get the kids out they can do so.

 

[Discover]

We're in a similar situation - I wfh, wife works hybrid (2 days in the office, which is ~13 mins drive). Most (90%+) our driving is for school, groceries and playdates (kids/adults) within a 10-15 miles radius. However, we do try to travel frequently on weekends and roadtrip at least 2-3 times a year (last one was to AZ, where we drove ~3000 miles in 2 weeks).
We've had our Rivian R1S for 8 months now - and it's been fantastic. Couldn't have asked for a better family car.

I think the main question should be if having just one car would work for you guys; if the answer is yes, I don't see a reason for it not to be the R1S.

 

[rivtyler]

Man, everyone is so nice on this forum. I was heavily cross-shopping the new GX/LC Prado and to an extent 6g 4Runner, following threads on Mud and everybody seems so grumpy over there lol.

If anyone sees this and doesn’t mind taking the time, would you mind telling me if the rivian nav sees the Tesla supercharger in Gallup, NM as a viable charger?

I’m trying to get from Phoenix to Durango, CO, and ABRP is telling me I have to hit the EA charger in Gallup. I’ve never even supercharged my current Tesla but would rather be able to stop at the Tesla charger vs mess with EA if possible. (If I’m off base here lmk.) I ordered the A2Z adapter assuming all Superchargers are usable by Rivians, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with this one based on ABRP and every official map I can find online?

 

[Dave Cundiff]

Man, everyone is so nice on this forum. I was heavily cross-shopping the new GX/LC Prado and to an extent 6g 4Runner, following threads on Mud and everybody seems so grumpy over there lol.

If anyone sees this and doesn’t mind taking the time, would you mind telling me if the rivian nav sees the Tesla supercharger in Gallup, NM as a viable charger?

I’m trying to get from Phoenix to Durango, CO, and ABRP is telling me I have to hit the EA charger in Gallup. I’ve never even supercharged my current Tesla but would rather be able to stop at the Tesla charger vs mess with EA if possible. (If I’m off base here lmk.) I ordered the A2Z adapter assuming all Superchargers are usable by Rivians, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with this one based on ABRP and every official map I can find online?

Tesla's Supercharger map lists Gallup as Tesla-only. Note the lightning-bolt icon at the site and see the description in the upper left of this map:

https://www.tesla.com/findus?v=2&bounds=36.458056411512274,-106.63882655800676,34.52385359091167,-110.79165858925676&zoom=9&filters=supercharger,party,nacs

***

PlugShare's low site number of #38710 shows this Supercharger has been there for several years. The PlugShare site itself confirms that the site is Tesla-only:

https://www.plugshare.com/location/38710

***

Both of these sources seem to be reliable. You too can use these maps to check out lots of possibilities, @rivtyler. Very best wishes!

Sponsored