R1T isn't a 'Truck'? Think Again. Best vehicle I've ever owned, hands down.

[loudog3114]

I've owned several "trucks", most notably of which a '17 duramax 2500, a gladiator (truck-ish), and a Raptor. They suck. They suck to drive, they suck to fill with gas, and other than the RAM they feel cheaply built. I was the same as you; bought my rivian and the next day got to work moving my house towing a trailer, then a 5klb boat, then two motorcycles in the bed. It rocked all those duties. Now that I have it as my go to daily driver while still being capable of all the above, I dont hate driving it like I did my other trucks. it's nowhere near as cumbersome and slow as a full size, and in sport/lowest it can actually be a pretty serious back road ripper. Something no other full size can pull off past the mini trucks of the 90's/2000s (lightning, SS, etc).

Now, with all that said, lets remember most "trucks" cant actually do truck stuff like... go off road. Most have horrible angles, pretty limited tire size options, and at best one locker in the rear. The rivian will out-truck any "truck" off road and get damn close to competing with a rubicon when it comes to getting the wheels off the ground.

In other words, the R1T out trucks "trucks" in a lot of ways.

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[Cassie]

behold, truck stuff I do with my truck
it truly is the best vehicle. congrats on being done moving out of ghetto seattle.

 

[Inkedsphynx]

Love the comment other than referring to Seattle as a ghetto. It's far from a ghetto and one of my favorite cities in the entire world. I think I'm particularly qualified to state this, given that I lived literally on the 'worst' corner in Seattle for issues relating to drugs and homelessness. Hardly a ghetto and not nearly as unsafe as everyone seems to think Seattle / Big cities are.

Never had a gun pulled on me in Seattle. I did on my first day in the burbs.

 

[Adamn]

I feel that if you ask a dozen people what truck stuff is you'll get a dozen different answers.

"Truck Stuff" I've done since getting my R1T this year:
1. Towed my boat 30+ times this summer
2. Hauled 4x8 sheets of plywood in the bed
3. Hauled sports gear and other large items that wouldn't have fit in a smaller vehicle
4. Went off-roading & some rock crawling

"Truck stuff" the R1T can't do (that I also have no need for anyway)
1. Fit a snow plow
2. Haul a 5th wheel
3. Haul a Truck Bed camper
4. Convert fossil fuel into noise and clouds of smoke without the harmful side effects of horsepower

 

[Inkedsphynx]

R1s could absolutely fit a hitch-mounted plow, so I might disagree with #1 on the "can't do" list.

Now, is that practical or something anyone wants to do? Not saying it is But it should be possible!

Need someone to rig up some sort of stabilizer to attach a snow blower to the front tow hooks then run the power cord back to the bed and boom, who needs a plow when you can blow it all over your neighbors driveways?

 

[COdogman]

I do understand why people expect a truck to be able to plow snow, but I wouldn't attach a plow to my Tacoma TRD Pro either - the suspension is soft and it would make no sense. Does that mean it isn't a truck?

It also can't tow that much or even hold a bunch of stuff in the bed. But it sure as hell can take me as far away from people as I care to drive it. It can go down trails that a 5th wheel hauling full size truck could never fit. That doesn't make one more truck than the other.

This is the chicken or egg question that will always be a topic.

 

[D_Loomis]

You've now got me wondering. Is the R1S big enough to put a washing machine in the back. Enquiring minds want to go to Home Depot to find out. *laying down obviously*

i have carried a full sized washer and dryer (not stackables) simultaniously in my rivians bed. Did have to keep the tailgate open tho.

 

[JGard18]

I never knew that a hitch-mounted plow was even a thing. time to look that up. I'd love to just wait for a big storm, attach it to my truck, and back my ass out of the garage and push all that snow clear across the street. That would be amazing. My wife's side of the driveway would require a slight bit more finesse, but I could do it easy.

 

[Thedude]

It all depends. My TRX was way better on rough roads and off-road on trails wide enough for it. It can go easily twice as fast off-road and be smoother than the R1T. The HD diesel was better towing heavy loads over 12000lbs. My older Tacoma was better at being a small daily driver truck. The R1T is just a good combination of good road manners and handling, decent off-road manners and handling, sport car speed on road and general truck hauling and towing. There isn’t much else that matches that. The TRX was very, very close but it’s a big ol’ truck to be driving around everywhere.

 

[COdogman]

I never knew that a hitch-mounted plow was even a thing. time to look that up. I'd love to just wait for a big storm, attach it to my truck, and back my ass out of the garage and push all that snow clear across the street. That would be amazing. My wife's side of the driveway would require a slight bit more finesse, but I could do it easy.

Let her get her own plow

 

[Cassie]

Love the comment other than referring to Seattle as a ghetto. It's far from a ghetto and one of my favorite cities in the entire world. I think I'm particularly qualified to state this, given that I lived literally on the 'worst' corner in Seattle for issues relating to drugs and homelessness. Hardly a ghetto and not nearly as unsafe as everyone seems to think Seattle / Big cities are.

Never had a gun pulled on me in Seattle. I did on my first day in the burbs.

Sorry, I am jaded. I live in Portland (& grew up here) and I’ve watched the city go into a downward spiral and it’s disheartening, and I’ve heard from friends that Seattle is even worse. I build homes, and last week someone broke into one and tried to burn it down, and a few days later a stolen vehicle was abandoned on the property.

Anyways, thanks for your input on non-ghettoness, I appreciate your perspective. Back to truck talk.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Yesterday I did a full on IKEA run in the truck. Was able to load up the bed with a large dresser, large shelf unit, dining set (table and chairs), and 3 large area rugs. Then another 2 smaller rugs were able to go in the gear tunnel (the smallest of the large rugs was about 1" too long to fit in the gear tunnel sadly). That type of loadout is something I never would have attempted with even a large SUV, let alone our CX-5.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of the bed fully loaded out, but that's the type of real world use cases where having the R1T is awesome. Also, the anchor points for the OTB rails worked great for tie down straps to go over the top of boxes that were higher than the lip of the tailgate.

 

[Inkedsphynx]

It all depends. My TRX was way better on rough roads and off-road on trails wide enough for it. It can go easily twice as fast off-road and be smoother than the R1T. The HD diesel was better towing heavy loads over 12000lbs. My older Tacoma was better at being a small daily driver truck. The R1T is just a good combination of good road manners and handling, decent off-road manners and handling, sport car speed on road and general truck hauling and towing. There isn’t much else that matches that. The TRX was very, very close but it’s a big ol’ truck to be driving around everywhere.

Not many good trails in this area wide enough to fit a TRX or a Raptor, and for those that are, you certainly aren't doing any Baja-type speeds. That's what those two specifically trucks were built, configured, and tuned for. Yea, they do that really well. That's about all they do really well, besides burn fuel.

You lost me at 'older Tacoma was better at being a small daily driver truck'.

I've driven every gen of Tacoma post 2000 and not any of them drive anything better than mediocre on-road. There is absolutely no comparison between driving characteristics of an older Tacoma and an R1T. They're basically the same size as well.

Doesn't help to make statements like "My diesel truck was better at towing weight ratings the Rivian isn't even rated for'. Well duh? Tho I bet this is actually not true as well. Have you slapped 12k lbs on your Rivian yet? Got pics or a video? I'm betting you haven't, and if you did, I bet the R1T would ride like a dream. I made the statement earlier in this thread I am confident it could easily pull more than 11k lbs.

And yea, 'decent off-road manners and handling' is a vast understatement. It's literally one of the most capable stock (soon to be mass-produced) vehicles ever created. There are very few things a TRX or Raptor can do that an R1T can't or shouldn't (you highlighted basically the only one) and many off-road things the R1T will do much better than either of those behemoths.

Not sure how you can come to the conclusions you have unless you're just trolling.

 

[Thedude]

Not many good trails in this area wide enough to fit a TRX or a Raptor, and for those that are, you certainly aren't doing any Baja-type speeds. That's what those two specifically trucks were built, configured, and tuned for. Yea, they do that really well. That's about all they do really well, besides burn fuel.

You lost me at 'older Tacoma was better at being a small daily driver truck'.

I've driven every gen of Tacoma post 2000 and not any of them drive anything better than mediocre on-road. There is absolutely no comparison between driving characteristics of an older Tacoma and an R1T. They're basically the same size as well.

Doesn't help to make statements like "My diesel truck was better at towing weight ratings the Rivian isn't even rated for'. Well duh? Tho I bet this is actually not true as well. Have you slapped 12k lbs on your Rivian yet? Got pics or a video? I'm betting you haven't, and if you did, I bet the R1T would ride like a dream. I made the statement earlier in this thread I am confident it could easily pull more than 11k lbs.

And yea, 'decent off-road manners and handling' is a vast understatement. It's literally one of the most capable stock (soon to be mass-produced) vehicles ever created. There are very few things a TRX or Raptor can do that an R1T can't or shouldn't (you highlighted basically the only one) and many off-road things the R1T will do much better than either of those behemoths.

Not sure how you can come to the conclusions you have unless you're just trolling.

Tacoma was just a smaller, simpler machine capable of doing everything needed with no frills.

The R1T could tow more than its rated 11k pounds but not legal so it’s a moot point. It is an excellent tow vehicle, I tow 7000lbs twice a week with mine. It just isn’t an excellent tow vehicle for heavy loads because it isn’t rated to do that.

Given trail width I’d choose the TRX over the R1T every time. It has vastly superior suspension for off-road work because that’s basically the only thing it was designed for.

The point of the post was to illustrate that while the R1T is an excellent jack of all trades it makes sacrifices in all areas in order to be that jack of all trades.

 

[Inkedsphynx]

Tacoma was just a smaller, simpler machine capable of doing everything needed with no frills.

The R1T could tow more than its rated 11k pounds but not legal so it’s a moot point. It is an excellent tow vehicle, I tow 7000lbs twice a week with mine. It just isn’t an excellent tow vehicle for heavy loads because it isn’t rated to do that.

Given trail width I’d choose the TRX over the R1T every time. It has vastly superior suspension for off-road work because that’s basically the only thing it was designed for.

The point of the post was to illustrate that while the R1T is an excellent jack of all trades it makes sacrifices in all areas in order to be that jack of all trades.

Is there a law I'm unaware of that states you're not permitted to tow more than the rating for your vehicle? Serious question. I've never heard of anything like that.

As far as making sacrifices - that's true for every vehicle, so what's the point really? The Tacoma traded on-road comfort for off-road chops. The TRX/Raptors of the world trade efficiency and ease of driving for the ability to blast through dunes at 80mph (your vastly superior offroad suspension is tuned to do this specifically. It will do all the other off-road stuff, but not as well, because it sacrificed ability in other areas for this. I'd take the R1Ts suspension for rock crawling over the TRX's).

Every vehicle has strengths and weaknesses.

EDIT: I think at this point it's fair to state that I have a bias against these giant trucks. I see tons of them around here, lifted to insane heights (nothing like still dragging your diffs over a 6 inch rock even tho your testosterone machine is lifted so high your head is in the clouds), being driven like the driver personally owns the road, and they are nearly 100% of the bad experiences I have on roads with drivers. Getting cut off. Coal rolled. Etc etc. All these raging man-babies think they've got this terrain-chewing monster that enables them to do anything they want, yet hardly any of them have a single pinstripe on them, but they'll be the first to yell at my truck about it being a mall crawler or garage queen. I have a strong personal dislike for gigantic trucks and the (generally - not everyone is like this) people that drive them.

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