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If you're including me in that group, then I appologize that $90k is a lot of money for me, and I'm sorry that I care about how it's spent. One day I aspire to have so much money that it doesn't matter what I get in return for it. Until then...
At this point given the overall discrepancies in answers to various members here on a variety of topics, including the purpose of this thread on the power tailgate, I’m simply waiting for an official reveal and test drive to get my hands on it to confirm just about anything rather than rely on CS. As mentioned many times, their official communication has been abysmal and needs to be addressed. I certainly understand the change process for releasing a product, but the continued black box raises concerns, at least for me, which I have voiced to Rivian.
Amen. I expect my current vehicle to be the last ICE car I own. I'm happy to pay a premium for a BEV that fills a niche that no other BEV in the market does right now, and suits our desires for our next vehicle perfectly.
I never understand responses like these. It's the same as people coming on and yelling 'first world problems'... like no kidding, we're all in line to buy an $80K truck.
Isn't the gear tunnel designed as step into the bed? None of us have had a chance to crawl around on the truck, so I can't say how effective of a step. But that is another purpose the gear tunnel was created to serve.
It's not just a lack of communication, but conflicting information. The charging speed is a great example. RJ is on video at the last public event in 2020 stating that the vehicles have 300kW peak charging. The preliminary RAN charging station diagrams that were leaked support 900v and 300kW
Don't confuse peak with average charge rate. We still know nothing about the Rivian's charge profile including for how long it is able to support peak charge rate and how it tapers off from there.
I agree, my initial post came off a bit harsh. Of course people are entitled to share opinions/provide feedback, it just honestly seems like many of these threads are essentially people talking into the void about things they're sad that have been changed, or wishing they had more communication from Rivian - you're certainly allowed to do so, I just doubt it's an effective pathway to voice those opinions.
Perhaps it's a huge deal to the OP. He/She can express this how they'd like, and you're free to disagree with the net impact to you. But saying they should just get their deposit back and leave is like me telling my buddy that I will no longer be friends with them because of something they did that I didn't agree with. That's not how life works. We can voice dissatisfaction with Rivian, while still being friends with them.
Yep - totally free to express their opinion. I'm viewing the pulling deposit option as a way to actually send a signal to Rivian of your dissatisfaction, as opposed to talking into the void that may or may not be actually followed by anyone at Rivian.
At the end of the day, I think I just see being in line to pay $70-90k as way different than someone who is actually committed to buying the product (the refundable deposit most of us have put down doesn't qualify IMO) or someone who has a vehicle in hand. Rivian can't possibly please everyone, and once the final specs are announced folks will have to decide if the value proposition is there for them.
For sure. That may end up being the only way to get our views across, but I hope not. I think a lot of us are holding out hope that they're still listening to the folks that have supported them for several years now. I'm certainly still believing that's the type of company they are, but nobody really knows since their communication is so poor.
Agreed. The market and money has certainly spoken. Much of my concern is that the cynical perspective you laid out might actually be taking hold. I'm a firm believer that in the end, it's the small details to the customer that can make or break a company. Even one valued at $50B.
I think the problem with going this route is you often are going to be over-representing people who are unhappy (and maybe even hearing from the most unhappy of the unhappy potential customers), and that may not actually be reflective of total sentiment. For example, I'm not going to create a thread saying "Overall, I'm neutral to happy to see the removal of the powered tailgate". This "representation bias" makes the job of someone trying to parse through feedback on social media very difficult.
While I am not faulting your approach, it is important to recognize that purchasing a new vehicle - let alone one of the most anticipated BEVs - is an emotional experience for most folks. We get excited about the features, run the value proposition calculations, see ourselves in the vehicles, pore over the scant scraps on details thrown our way, make plans for what we're going to do in our Rivians, figure out how to pay for it, how to dispose of our current vehicle, etc. It's just human tendency to build up some expectation around the experience; on the other hand, it's normal to expect features to change as well.
You're right, and this is important for everyone to remember. There is a lot of stuff going right for the Rivian. It's still a badass vehicle. Some of these feature removals might be dealbreakers, or they just might push the value proposition down. But it's still a quad-motor 300+mile range truck/SUV with luxury level interiors and above-average software.
