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therealhoff

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Since a lot of what I read in the forums was freaking me out before I took delivery, I figured I'd write up a quick summary of what I have experienced in the first week of Rivian R1T ownership. I am also new to EV ownership.

Before delivery: I ordered the wall charger and it showed up 3 days before the delivery date for the vehicle. I had an electrician come out last week and do an estimate for the wiring and install and he's coming back later this week to do the work. If I had to do it over again, I would have the electrician come estimate the work well before the delivery so the install can happen very shortly after the wall charger shows up.

Delivery:
Guy showed up, I signed a couple things so they could register the truck in my name, he spent 30 minutes going over stuff, and I told him to hit the road. I'd already done a first drive and spent way too much time reading material so I had a reasonable idea of how most things worked. The little tutorial in the App is plenty to get you on the road as a daily driver. Since a lot of early issue reports have been with the tonneau cover, I tested that in front of him and on the second cycle of open and close, it stopped an inch and a half from going all the way closed. After reading up on the forums, if you hold the button down when it's closing, it will go all the way closed. That worked after the fact but I did open up a service ticket in the app. The truck came at about 80% charged with ~230 miles estimated range.

Early impressions: So of course the first thing to do is take it out for a spin, put it in sport mode, and do some launches. The acceleration is like driving around your own amusement park ride. Having come from never driving an EV and the fastest thing I've owned being an explorer ST at about 5.6 0-60, the R1T was a revelation in awesome. Punching it puts a smile on my face every single time. Even after a week. Now that said, if you punch it several (5+) times in close succession, I think the battery heats up. I know this because some fan noise kicked on that was really loud. Like too loud. Loud enough that it was audible over music in the car and also annoying to conversation in the front seat. Loud enough that if you have a passenger, they will comment on it with something like, "What is that noise?". I made a little video of the noise and sent it in with a ticket to service. We'll see if anything happens. I went back to driving the truck mostly normally and I haven't heard the fan get that loud since. So if you punch it every once in awhile, maybe you don't get "maximum deafening fan", but if you are having a racing session/horsing around, max fan may happen. Outside of that, everything worked fine.

First few days/charging: I took it to work and back and on a few errands the first few days. Everything was pretty awesome and I didn't experience any issues. I've seen competing posts here about how the sound of the audio system is amaaaaazing and other posts where, "meh, my xyz system in pdq vehicle is better." My subjective opinion is that the sound is very good but may not change your life. If you're coming from a relatively standard vehicle, you will be really happy. If your current vehicles already have some really premium sound, it probably won't be an upgrade. There were a few little issues with the bluetooth to my iPhone not picking up correctly but swapping the source to another source and then back to the phone seemed to remediate whatever the problem was and the music would play. My family has a spotify account but I don't regularly use the app. I opened up the app on my phone and favorited one of my son's playlists. I then opened up the in-truck spotify app, authenticated my account, and there that playlist was in my library. That made me happy. I then adjusted the settings for the in-truck spotify app to maximum quality and it sounded quite good. At least as good if not better than bluetooth from the phone. So at this point the battery was down to about 150 miles in range. I tried plugging it into a 110v outlet at home to test the portable charger and the verdict is, 110v is useless. After leaving it plugged in for 1.5 hours I had gained like 1 mile. To EV old hats this is probably not a surprise but to EV noobs like myself, you have to see it to believe it. It turns out that there are Electrify America level 3 chargers at a Sheetz near my work. I figured I'd download the EA App, sign up for an account, and test them out. I went over to the Sheetz, pulled up to a charger, plugged it into the charging port on the R1T, selected the number of the charger in the app (my billing credentials were already in the app), and voila, it started charging at about 130kw. I was a bit nervous but there is nothing more complicated than pumping gas to the process. At this point, I figured I'd have some time so I would go into Sheetz and get a sandwich while I waited for the charging to be done. I walked into Sheetz, ordered my sandwich, and was waiting when I got an alert on my phone that the charging was complete. At this point it had been about 10 minutes so I was surprised it finished that quickly. I had the charging capped to 70% so it went from about 50% to 70% in a little under 10 minutes. Now I had a problem because Electrify America starts charging you extra if you don't get your car within 10 minutes of it being finished and my sandwich wasn't ready yet. Fortunately, my sandwich finished up in about 5 minutes and I moved the truck with 4 minutes to go on the grace period. What I took from this experience was that it's easy to charge the R1T and if you are using a level 3 charger, it will probably charge faster than you think. I read that the best thing for the battery is to keep the charge between 30% and 70% and use level 2 charging to maximize longevity. When I get the wall charger installed at home, this is what I'm going to aim for as this is my daily driver, I don't drive very far each day (25-40 miles) and I'll only have to charge overnight every few days. The next thing that's freaking me out is charging in the rain but thankfully it hasn't rained yet. As far as "vampiring" overnight, I seem to lose about 1% or about 3 miles range give or take, overnight. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I can live with it and I know they've improved that a lot since launch. Hopefully that trend will continue.

Week 1 takeaways: After reading a few horror stories in the forums, I was really worried about initial quality and issues. After one week, I have no significant issues to report. The R1T has performed really well and is a joy to drive. Do I miss carplay and stuff like that on the infotainment system? It's not a dealbreaker for me. I am coming from a 2015 Tacoma as a daily driver and I used my phone over bluetooth for all audio and the phone itself sitting in the cupholder as my "navgation system" as needed (not very often). As long as the audio system was great and the vehicle controls through the infotainment were both clear and responsive (in terms of interface lag), then I would be happy. Both those boxes are checked. My 2021 Explorer ST (wife's daily driver) has Ford Sync 3 and Carplay, etc.. The Carplay is kind of nice but the interface itself is a little laggy and the embedded SiriusXM software runs like garbage. I mean it's terrible. I don't miss it over an interface that is performant and actually works. Several people have reported some wind noise at 60mph+. I can confirm this and I doubt there is a fix. To me it sounds like the wind noise is coming from the top of the windshield between the windscreen and the moonroof glass. I've looked at the outside and the fit and finish seems good, no trim pieces miss installed, body panels are tight, so it's hard to see where it might be coming from. The only thing I can think of is a design issue that is causing wind noise at higher speeds. It's not like deafening or anything but it is noticeable.

Summary: I love this truck, driving it makes me happy. It's not perfect but at this point I have no regrets even given the issues and would buy it again if given the choice.
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RBR1S

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Great review. I like seeing reviews of first time EV drivers since I'll be in that bucket.

Note to self, limit to 3 head snapping launches per hour. :CWL:
 

DaveA

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Maximum enjoyment and clarity of the sound system at this point is using Alexa to launch Amazon Music. Highest bitrate available currently and streams through the vehicles LTE connection. THAT will change your life....to my ears anyway. Bluetooth sounds fine, but is a significant step back, to my ears.
 

Zac

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Thanks for the writeup. I've had my R1T for 3 days now and totally agree with your assessment on getting the wall charger assessment up-front. I am still trying to get an electrician to show up and who knows how to install it. :confused: Hopefully, this afternoon. The 120V outlet provides about 15 miles of range if you charge it for 10 hours or so. I've done that already. Pretty useless.

I did have some fit and finish issues (about 5 I've submitted), but they are all minor things. The biggest issue I've had is that the sensor for the front passenger seat airbag is saying the airbag is having issues and needs to be serviced. Rivian knows about it, but I am still waiting on what they are going to do.

Also, it seems my 7-year-old Genie garage door opener does not work with Rivian's software. I can't get the remote to sync with the car. I find that strange given that it is compatible with Homelink. I am hoping that will be fixed in a future software upgrade. They told me they launched that feature with only a few that are compatible.

Overall, I too smile when I drive the vehicle, and when my teenage-son's friends all say, "Sweet ride!" :D
 

DaveA

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Thanks for the writeup. I've had my R1T for 3 days now and totally agree with your assessment on getting the wall charger assessment up-front. I am still trying to get an electrician to show up and who knows how to install it. :confused: Hopefully, this afternoon. The 120V outlet provides about 15 miles of range if you charge it for 10 hours or so. I've done that already. Pretty useless.

I did have some fit and finish issues (about 5 I've submitted), but they are all minor things. The biggest issue I've had is that the sensor for the front passenger seat airbag is saying the airbag is having issues and needs to be serviced. Rivian knows about it, but I am still waiting on what they are going to do.

Also, it seems my 7-year-old Genie garage door opener does not work with Rivian's software. I can't get the remote to sync with the car. I find that strange given that it is compatible with Homelink. I am hoping that will be fixed in a future software upgrade. They told me they launched that feature with only a few that are compatible.

Overall, I too smile when I drive the vehicle, and when my teenage-son's friends all say, "Sweet ride!" :D
Did they say which openers are compatible? I am finishing up a detached garage and want to get one that works.
 

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SANZC02

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Did they say which openers are compatible? I am finishing up a detached garage and want to get one that works.
I seem to remember it being Chamberlain hardware Rivian is using. I would bet any new Chamberlain or Liftmaster would be compatible.
 

Zac

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Did they say which openers are compatible? I am finishing up a detached garage and want to get one that works.
They didn't. Sorry!
 

howler99

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Nice review, and I would say just about reflects my experience with the R1T that I've had for a couple of months now.

I was having to use L1 charge for a while, and on a good day I was getting 1.9 additional miles of range per hour. :confused: Now, I have my Rivian L2 charger at 48 amps, I usually see better than 21 miles per hour which is fine.

I had a problem at a ChargePoint L3 DCFC initially, and spoke with the Rivian service team. The service rep said when using the DCFC, you really had to get all the connectors (5, I believe) lined up and insert quickly with authority. Since then, I've used that same DCFC with his recommended technique with no issues.

I've never tried multiple launches in quick succession. Just 1 is enough to get my adrenaline going! :rock:
 

SantaFeSpence

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Nice review and much appreciated. While it’ll probably be sometime in 2023 when I get my R1T w/Max pack, I’m a bit concerned about the wind noise issue - as you are not the first in this forum to mention it.
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