Donald Stanfield
Well-Known Member
I have never once had the problem of bouncing on the pedal and my truck lives in sport stiff. You need to set your heel on the ground and pivot Instead of riding the pedal.I've tried to debunk the 'I drove stick' thing in another reply - I've driven stick for > 30 yrs and currently own 3 stick shift cars (I think I said 4 earlier, but forgot that I traded my WRX STI in when I picked up the Rivian).
I've explained exactly why it happens to me - no amount of 'practice' is going to stop me from bouncing in my seat and having my foot move on the pedal. Sure, maybe I can practice 'girding' myself for the bumps and not have my foot move as much. Since I'm stuck with one pedal - I've described the corrective actions that I've come up with to mitigate the situation:
a) either use cruise control
b) use a mode where the throttle response is significantly turned down and the suspension is softer
I'm pretty sure most of us understand feathering / smooth on-smooth off for pedals. I learned to drive with a pendulum on the dash and I'm teaching my daughter that way. I'm personally totally fine in the Rivian except when I'm bouncing in the seat. Maybe I could 'practice' my way into not bouncing in the seat so foot doesn't move uncontrollably as much - more practically I just need to use a mode that reduces the bumps and throttle response in the conditions.
But back to first principles - my argument is basically: Having driven both, back and forth on a daily basis between the two models for half a year now - I much prefer / enjoy having separate controls for acceleration and deceleration, rather than a unitary control. And then I cited one negative effect of the unitary control that I've experienced.
So it is a bit ironic for the stick-shift folks to say: eh, I went from three controls to one, it's the same thing. Yes but no, learning how to feather a pedal - sure. Having discretionary control over the vehicle's functions, not the same at all. Why did you want a stick shift in the first place? Fuel economy or vehicle control?
Realistically - Rivian isn't going to change a thing and it isn't a deal breaker for 90%+ of us, certainly not me.
Summarizing the comment section so far - and I really appreciate that folks kept it pretty civil for a very binary like it / don't like it topic , we have:
50% Love it. "If you don't love it , then you must be doing it wrong."
50% Eh, it could be better. "I've had the car for 10K+ miles, and the car is still hard to drive as smoothly as my previous car and people are getting car sick."
I would posit that building a car where 50% of the people cannot get it right after a year of ownership is perhaps not ideal?
There are a lot of useful suggestions that folks contributed here, to summarize:
a) using cruise control is going to be very smooth (and it works well off highway)
b) using 'conserve' or other modes that dampen the throttle response also help.
And yes, I'm self admittedly a jack*ss for ripping around country roads that are under construction in sport / low mode and then whining that it is hard to control the throttle perfectly as my and my kids heads are bouncing off the roof. Maybe I need to see how Baja trophy truck drivers do it - though I'm pretty sure they don't go into a full regen braking if their foot lifts off the pedal on a bump...
Baja drivers could drive full regen just fine because they are never completely off the pedal unless applying brake. Its also nowhere near of 50% of year long owners not liking one pedal.
If I had to give a percentage I would say its more like 95-5 for one pedal. My wife managed it just fine after her first couple drives and everyone else I've had drive it did fine as well usually much sooner. My uncle was as good as me in 5 min. He calibrated himself in a couple stop starts and he was pushing my truck through corners easily.
He's 65 and never drove an EV before testing my truck. Granted if I was to list the number of super cars he has owned it would be an impressive list. Still I maintain its a skill issue not an issue with the truck. If others can do it with no problem over the same roads then its not the truck.
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