Rants and Raves after 2 months of Rivian R1T ownership [DISCLAIMER: Unauthorized feedback from non-owner]

[kylealden]

Had to do a hard reset -- hold on to Hazard light and leftmost button on left side of wheel and wait for 30 mins - 1 hour to have all system reset.

Wow, did your arms get sore? ?

(More seriously - thank you as always for sharing your observations! Really appreciate the time you've put into sharing with us. Most of us are addicted to these forums because we're thirsty for any drop of info - it takes generosity to stick around and spend time with all us assholes when you could be driving your R1T ?)

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[SFsoundguy]

I dont understand peoples obsession with homelink, I have been using google assistant/alexa for years to do what home link does plus much much more. all voice controlled or at the press of a button on my phone. and at a cost of just $30.

carplay/AA another one i dont understand why people are going crazy over this. yes the current navigation probably isnt where it needs to be, who knows why they aren't offering carplay/AA integration at this point in time, could be the software architecture they are using, who knows. is it the end of the world, no. have people always had carplay/AA integration in all the vehicles they have had ? no. did they manage before it , yes. if you're someone that takes a lot of road trips, it may be a pain, for the most though you really dont need navigation that much for the most part. i for one find that stock one are a pain to use, but that has to do with input, if the vehicle has a decent input method the stock maps will be pretty usable.

QC and gaps, not good to read about those issues, now with that said, Chicago auto pros went over an R1T in their recent youtube videos, they did say there were some gaps and some slight things, but overall these gaps and mis alignments seemed pretty acceptable, not highly visible unless you're up close and looking for them. they also did mention how the paint was pretty good.

phantom breaking , these kinds of things are to be expected for the first few months, maybe even years as they work out bugs and improve the driver+ stuff. look at tesla, they are probably the best in self driving, and they are still improving the software, this should be something that's expected especially being a new company.

phantom drain, same as above, this could be a result of some settings the owner isn't aware of, some is to be expected, and improvements should come via OTA over time. shouldn't be too worried about this.

auto high beams are standard, but also not something that people should be making such a big deal about, i mean come one, how hard is it to turn on when needed and off when you dont. i for one hate when i see someone with them on as i am always blinded before the vehicles auto them off.

pre-conditioning is something that can be adjusted, added or removed OTA. as more data comes in simulations can be run and tried in real world to see if they work and improve things.

DCFC issue is a weird one as i have never heard about this, even with some of the info given to us from the rebelle rally ladies they never mentions issued after 10 charges, same with some of the cross country trips that some have documented and shared this never came up. some of those did 19+ stops with DCFC.

overall i dont think there are too many issues with what most people have said, yes some things need some fixing but those things seem to be software related and thats easy fix with OTA. I hope the camera quality is also just an OTA fix, and i think it is, i wouldnt use low quality cameras if i was making a vehicle with any type of level 2+ self driving.

now you always need to remember too, there are always going to some people that are just looking for anything to complain about, not saying this is the case here, but some people arent happy with anything. even when theres nothing to complain about they will make sure to come up with something. i call these people phantom complainers.

If I just had one garage I would use a key fab but If you have multiple garages/gates (home, office, loading dock, field etc.,) to navigate everyday having the car capable of interaction with them is important Tesla do it great as do the eTron and Taycan you can have up to 8 different door/gates all geo triggered programed. Identifying 4 or 5 garage doors on Alexs / Google is a pain and a security risk same for a remote plus most can only have 2 or 3 programs so you end up with multiple devices in your car and with no lockable glove box that's a home break-in waiting to happen... Its just software and a small transmitter and it should be in every Rivian it is 2022 after all.

 

[kylealden]

Level 1 is simply using a standard 120V outlet. Seems like its achievable assuming you can back the charge rate down to 12A.

The capacity is definitely there (my Tesla charges at 11A off a 120V outlet at home - no problems except it takes forever.) Only question would be weather it's a pure sine wave and the adapter is happy with the grounding. I'd be a little surprised if it doesn't work, but sometimes the Tesla adapter is picky, so you never know. Wouldn't recommend planning on it until somebody has tried it.

That said - it will be very slow (probably closer to 2 miles an hour if you're charging another R1T) and lossy (two inverters in play - probably looking at 3 miles out of your vehicle for every 2 miles into the receiving vehicle). It's hard to think of a scenario where this would be genuinely useful. Charging something like a Zero or e-bike in the bed, however - game on ?

My biggest gripes with the R1T power, incidentally -

1. Wish there was a 30a in the bed to power a trailer's A/C or heat strip in a pinch. It would be a big drain but could come in handy e.g. camping in a ski area parking lot (or this summer when I was towing an Airstream with my Tesla and got stuck in an unpowered campsite when it was 118 degrees out in WA ?)
2. Wish there was a 12V DC in the bed - I'm planning to rig up a wedge camper and a portable diesel heater for winter camping, as well as a Dometic fridge - 12V would be more efficient than using the 120V outlets and doesn't require me to turn things on in the cabin.

F150 and Silverado are way ahead in both of the above with significantly more and more diverse accessory power. I think this is the sort of "work truck" differentiation that Rivian will want to catch up on in future iterations.

 

[DuckTruck]

Wow, did your arms get sore? ?

(More seriously - thank you as always for sharing your observations! Really appreciate the time you've put into sharing with us. Most of us are addicted to these forums because we're thirsty for any drop of info - it takes generosity to stick around and spend time with all us assholes when you could be driving your R1T ?)

Kyle,

I prefer to be called a "Butthead", but some of my closest friends (and family) would likely agree with your characterization.

 

[astonius]

I dont understand peoples obsession with homelink, I have been using google assistant/alexa for years to do what home link does plus much much more. all voice controlled or at the press of a button on my phone. and at a cost of just $30.

carplay/AA another one i dont understand why people are going crazy over this. yes the current navigation probably isnt where it needs to be, who knows why they aren't offering carplay/AA integration at this point in time, could be the software architecture they are using, who knows. is it the end of the world, no. have people always had carplay/AA integration in all the vehicles they have had ? no. did they manage before it , yes. if you're someone that takes a lot of road trips, it may be a pain, for the most though you really dont need navigation that much for the most part. i for one find that stock one are a pain to use, but that has to do with input, if the vehicle has a decent input method the stock maps will be pretty usable.

If you genuinely want to understand "people's obsessions" with HomeLink and CP/AA I suggest you check out the relevant threads rather than rehashing it in this one. If you're just saying you don't understand because YOU don't care about these things then that's something different entirely.

 

[r1t_kev]

1. Wish there was a 12V DC in the bed - I'm planning to rig up a wedge camper and a portable diesel heater for winter camping, as well as a Dometic fridge - 12V would be more efficient than using the 120V outlets and doesn't require me to turn things on in the cabin.

This. I prefer to run my fridge on 12V DC, but I don't like the idea of putting it in the frunk - if it would even fit. Access and ventilation in the bed would be better. I'm a little curious why they left a DC plug out of the bed space tbh.

 

[bsaik]

Definitely a lot of concerns to report back on, but some appear to just be user error. We've all seen shots of the efficiency graph on the left side of the driver display so not sure why they haven't found it. Pretty sure auto high beams are included, so also might be user error. Also, after all the bullets on charging, the last one yields an average speed of over 140kw for 10-80% if the ~40 mins estimate is accurate, which is in line with expectations. So, not sure what the takeaway there is other than something may have happened recently that makes that stat no longer valid.

He's also two releases behind on software (not his error) as he noted. I would expect the Gear Guard to need some sort of facial recognition software to know when to engage or not, otherwise you end up with a trail cam like experience as described. Does Tesla do a good job of only engaging when humans are detected?

Our Tesla Model Y records a lot of false security events in sentry mode. You get lots of pictures of cars driving behind and people walking near but not touching the car. I think this what you want to make sure you don't miss anything. It looks like it just does motion recognition no facial or human recognition. The net effect is that I never really check all the "security events," I just delete them unless I notice something strange like a shopping cart near the vehicle.

I did just recently test the Model Y at holding charge. We parked at the airport for what was a 5 day trip and turned sentry mode OFF after we saw the high drain on a prior trip while parked with sentry mode on. This time we parked with 76% SOC, checked a couple times on the app, had the trip extended to 10 days due to flight cancellations and COVID exposure, and came back to 74% SOC. I was happy with that. Hope the Rivian will have a mode where you can reliably hold the charge like that.

 

[LeoH]

You can also retro fit a Gentex mirror with HL as well ... I'm with you and hope this gets resolved by the time I get my 1H23 R1S!!

I really don't want to use MyQ to open/close the door due to delays and the CRAZY beeping the door does when closed remotely (I know it is for safety, but its super annoying).

That would be the best bet, but if they have things in the mirror itself, it would be a pain. Some mirrors have cameras/antennas/RF chips.

 

[skyote]

If you can plug in an ODB, that's easy to tell (assuming you can read the codes). Which is why I asked about it recently. That's actually how I found out the ID.4 doesn't do shit for preconditioning after being told it does.

Saw ODB & couldn't help myself

Wish there was a 12V DC in the bed - I'm planning to rig up a wedge camper and a portable diesel heater for winter camping, as well as a Dometic fridge - 12V would be more efficient than using the 120V outlets and doesn't require me to turn things on in the cabin

This. I prefer to run my fridge on 12V DC, but I don't like the idea of putting it in the frunk - if it would even fit. Access and ventilation in the bed would be better. I'm a little curious why they left a DC plug out of the bed space tbh.

12V can easily be pulled from the trailer harness, and located into the bed wherever you want it. I have a 7 pin to "cigarette plug" adaptor that I use at the 7 pin in the back of my truck (2nd 7 pin installed for easier access when gooseneck/5th wheel towing), but it could easily be run from the Rivian 7 pin through a tailgate gap, if you didn't want a custom/permanent solution.

 

[kylealden]

12V can easily be pulled from the trailer harness, and located into the bed wherever you want it. I have a 7 pin to "cigarette plug" adaptor that I use at the 7 pin in the back of my truck (2nd 7 pin installed for easier access when gooseneck/5th wheel towing), but it could easily be run from the Rivian 7 pin through a tailgate gap, if you didn't want a custom/permanent solution.

Great call - I kind of wondered about that. I actually prefer this idea for the heater so I can run a 12V to the case outside of the camper without having to snake something through a tailgate gap.

Still wish I had 12V for the fridge, but I'll live ?

This. I prefer to run my fridge on 12V DC, but I don't like the idea of putting it in the frunk - if it would even fit. Access and ventilation in the bed would be better. I'm a little curious why they left a DC plug out of the bed space tbh.

Discussed pretty extensively in other threads, but tl;dr not many fridges (at least of any decent capacity) are likely to fit in the frunk as of today. Would love to see something relatively bespoke, but as for right now there aren't many good options for the R1T if you want to be able to fit it in the frunk or close the tonneau cover.

 

[Iwantatesla]

Wow, did your arms get sore? ?

(More seriously - thank you as always for sharing your observations! Really appreciate the time you've put into sharing with us. Most of us are addicted to these forums because we're thirsty for any drop of info - it takes generosity to stick around and spend time with all us assholes when you could be driving your R1T ?)

Thank you for the gratitude. I understand this pain way too much. Been through it with S, 3, X, Y, R1T and am going through it with the Z06 but I refuse to enter those forums After 4-5 iterations I got it out of my system lol.

 

[_evtrk]

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact we've been successfully opening/closing garage doors for decades with the simple push of a button - no battery operated remotes, no fumbling with phones while driving, no interruptions to passenger conversations to ask Alexa for a favor, and in less time than it takes to utter your chosen Alexa wake word. Frankly, it just works and is compatible with a far wider range of devices and without any special adapters. Or perhaps we're all just nuts for appreciating such a simple yet highly functional convenience.

I understand this, but there are options that are just as simple and far superior. you can buy a MyQ its 30$ does the same, runs on your phone and alexa or google assistant, you have the benefit of knowing if your door is open or closed from anywhere at anytime, and you can open or close it from anywhere as well. if you have a smart home or a newer garage door opener you dont even need to buy something, it already has the same functionality. I've had to replace my jeeps homelink module twice, the second time i just got the MyQ much better imo. also you can just buy a homelink module kit and intall it yourself if its that big of a deal. just my opinion.

 

[SeaGeo]

@Iwantatesla and @Diddy123 during any future conversations you have with your guides/service etc can you look into what upcoming charging hardware/updates could potentially come with the vehicle? We have heard multiple sources state 250kw+ 300kw+ etc could be available on the vehicle in the future but also multiple sources saying charging is limited to 210kw.

The patent Rivian has filed a while back suggests battery packs can be reconfigured on the fly to implement parallel pack charging where you would have 2x 150kw streams going essentially giving a faux 300kw charging or something very similar based off of thermal management.

Any future clarification would be greatly appreciated by a LOT of people including @SeaGeo and my self lol.

just to clarify, I'm pretty sure @Diddy123 isn't LeeksnotLeaks. I think he was just reposting the reddit post.

 

[_evtrk]

all of these are legitimate issues.... you don't need to defend Rivian. if they charge full price for a vehicle it should work as advertised and if it doesn't it needs to be called out. saying "they fix it later OTA"... sure that's true, but no one wants a vehicle with issues. It's okay to call out issues.

you are 100% right my friend, I was just pointing out that they aren't that bad of issues. especially if the hardware is there, and just software needs fixing. and i dont mean to defend Rivian, i just dont think the issues are that bad.

 

[electruck]

I understand this, but there are options that are just as simple and far superior. you can buy a MyQ its 30$ does the same, runs on your phone and alexa or google assistant, you have the benefit of knowing if your door is open or closed from anywhere at anytime, and you can open or close it from anywhere as well. if you have a smart home or a newer garage door opener you dont even need to buy something, it already has the same functionality. I've had to replace my jeeps homelink module twice, the second time i just got the MyQ much better imo. also you can just buy a homelink module kit and intall it yourself if its that big of a deal. just my opinion.

Clearly you didn't digest my statement if you're suggesting that MyQ is "just as simple and far superior." But you're entitled to your opinion and so are the rest of us who strongly disagree that MyQ is in any way superior. And I'm sorry, but I can only laugh at your suggestion that using MyQ is just as simple as a using a factory integrated HomeLink button.

I have a MyQ enabled garage door opener. I never use MyQ. I don't need to open/close my garage door from anywhere, only when I'm coming/going in my car. And while I could make it work with Alexa (why I would want to do that escapes me but for argument's sake), I would have to cobble that together using IFTTT or some other bridge technology. I also don't want to have to pull out my phone, unlock it, open the MyQ app, tap to open, and then wait for the commands to traverse the internet all while I'm driving just to get my garage door open - it's not safe. There are also a lot of fence gates, etc that aren't "smart" and only support RF openers. Not a concern for me (or obviously for you) but it is for many and an RF transmitter such as HomeLink is required for this use case.

Yes, we absolutely can modify our Rivians to support HomeLink. The reason so many people complain about this is that we shouldn't have to.

But, this is starting to drift significantly OT for this thread so let's start a new thread (or find a more appropriate old thread) if this really warrants further discussion (which I don't think it does). If MyQ is good enough for you, great. Just don't be so myopic as to assume that means it's good enough for everyone.

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