R1S Owners Guide Manual Available! 📒 (August 22, 2022)

[DJG]

Wait, Rivians are only dual climate zone? Is that a joke?

The rear screen is just a display and doesn't let you adjust rear climate? That's crazy in 2022.

Yeah it's a little surprising, but not a big deal from a practical sense. You can still turn off the rear climate entirely which is the most important function. To think that you can realistically achieve multiple climate zones with significantly different conditions in a vehicle is kind of silly. Fan speed is one thing, which is adjustable for every occupant, but the temp is the temp just like a house.

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[Tim-in-CA]

Also just noticed on page 174-175 that you need to remove plastic panels covering the jack points for the front and rear. To remove, you need to have a T20 Torx screwdriver and 10mm socket. Don't think that these are included with the spare tire/jack kit. Kinda silly that they didn't make them standard size and include a tool.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

Wait, Rivians are only dual climate zone? Is that a joke?

The rear screen is just a display and doesn't let you adjust rear climate? That's crazy in 2022.

Agreed ... a complete miss for an $80000 vehicle! Even my $40000 Telluride has at least tri-zone HVAC control. Not a real big issue for me as I rarely have rear passengers, but understandably a feature that should be in this class of vehicle.

 

[godfodder0901]

Also just noticed on page 174-175 that you need to remove plastic panels covering the jack points for the front and rear. To remove, you need to have a T20 Torx screwdriver and 10mm socket. Don't think that these are included with the spare tire/jack kit. Kinda silly that they didn't make them standard size and include a tool.

You only have to do this if you don't use the Rivian jack and adapters.

 

[DJG]

Besides the climate and lack of 3rd-row cupholders, I discovered another pretty serious flaw:

So you can't leave the lower tailgate down and close the upper liftgate, which means it's a pretty useless feature. Why even bother splitting the tailgate if you can't use the 2 halves independently?

I don't get the confusion. It operates like every other split tailgate. The purpose of the split is twofold: 1) so you can open the liftgate while leaving the tailgate up, to prevent things from rolling out, and 2) for the tailgate to provide a seat when down.

What's the use case for opening the lower tailgate but having the liftgate closed?

 

[godfodder0901]

Agreed ... a complete miss for an $80000 vehicle! Even my $40000 Telluride has at least tri-zone HVAC control. Not a real big issue for me as I rarely have rear passengers, but understandably a feature that should be in this class of vehicle.

Especially when you have people who run at different temps. I run 68, my wife 78.

 

[Tyleem111]

I don't get the confusion. It operates like every other split tailgate. The purpose of the split is twofold: 1) so you can open the liftgate while leaving the tailgate up, to prevent things from rolling out, and 2) for the tailgate to provide a seat when down.

What's the use case for opening the lower tailgate but having the liftgate closed?

I’m thinking of a situation where you are wanting to haul long lumber. I hope they allow the car to drive with the top lift gate open to accommodate this. I suppose the lumber would then be elevated a bit and resting on the top of the tailgate

 

[Tim-in-CA]

You only have to do this if you don't use the Rivian jack and adapters.

I believe you are correct ... but will be an important point to know if you have a service come and change your tire ... they may also not have these tools ... and as we know, MANY people (current forum users excluded) typically do not RTFM! I'm already reading this from cover to cover even though I probably won't get my R1S for a year!! LOL

And to add regarding roadside service companies, I had an Audi A8 that got a flat on its drive home from picking up at the dealership. Seeing as it came with road side service (and a full size spare) and I was in dress clothes, I had them come. The person that showed up was CRAZY and yelled at me to STAND BACK as he knew what he was doing. SOOOOOOO as he immediately started to loosen the bolts on the tire, I asked him (calmly) that if he knew if the vehicle had adaptive suspension and that it needed to be disabled before jacking (he obviously didn't) ... because I had already read the manual cover-to-cover, I had already put the vehicle into jack mode. Per the manual, not using jack mode can damage the suspension. I reported his ass back to Audi CSS.

 

[DJG]

Especially when you have people who run at different temps. I run 68, my wife 78.

I'm willing to bet that in actuality you both run at 73.....That's like saying you like ice tea and she likes hot so you mix them together and expect to both enjoy it.

 

[DJG]

I’m thinking of a situation where you are wanting to haul long lumber. I hope they allow the car to drive with the top lift gate open to accommodate this. I suppose the lumber would then be elevated a bit and resting on the top of the tailgate

Perhaps, but again they aren't reinventing the wheel here. It's the same as every other split setup and is literally impossible to design one otherwise.

 

[OverZealous]

I don't get the confusion. It operates like every other split tailgate. The purpose of the split is twofold: 1) so you can open the liftgate while leaving the tailgate up, to prevent things from rolling out, and 2) for the tailgate to provide a seat when down.

What's the use case for opening the lower tailgate but having the liftgate closed?

Being able to haul longer items without having to have the liftgate sticking up or out.

IMO, it's not much of a benefit having the extra lip you have to reach over (on an already fairly tall vehicle), since you can't close it easily using the remote. If both parts were motorized, then it might be nicer.

The ability to sit on a slightly deeper seat and not having things roll out is fine, but I feel like it's a bit of a compromise. I've never really had a big issue with things falling out of the back of my SUV.

That being said, even though I'm disappointed in several things from the guide, hopefully we'll get to see an R1S before we have to decide to commit to it. I'm already gambling pretty hard on the R1T (with yellow), since I haven't driven or sat one, or seen my selected color.

 

[mgc0216]

I’m thinking of a situation where you are wanting to haul long lumber. I hope they allow the car to drive with the top lift gate open to accommodate this. I suppose the lumber would then be elevated a bit and resting on the top of the tailgate

I'd put it on the roof rack, realizing that could be a range hit. But, also realizing home depot is 4 miles from my home so the range hit is irrelevant.

 

[OverZealous]

[...] literally impossible to design one otherwise.

Well, that's a bit silly, obviously you can totally design it with the latches on the body, rather than on the tailgate portion. So it would be fairly easy to have the top latch independently. I believe one of the luxury brands out there has both halves powered, too.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Yeah it's a little surprising, but not a big deal from a practical sense. You can still turn off the rear climate entirely which is the most important function. To think that you can realistically achieve multiple climate zones with significantly different conditions in a vehicle is kind of silly. Fan speed is one thing, which is adjustable for every occupant, but the temp is the temp just like a house.

I disagree. The ambient temperature is going to be similar for the "cabin" but the perceived temperature can vary wildly. For example, some people may be perpetually cold and have heat on all the time, and in that situation having the A/C blowing on a passenger may be the only way to make the journey tolerable.

 

[KurtP]

Wait, Rivians are only dual climate zone? Is that a joke?

The rear screen is just a display and doesn't let you adjust rear climate? That's crazy in 2022.

Same feeling I have about the lack of a navigation integrated HUD (even as an option) in a vehicle made after 2018.

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