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SF Bay Area Rivian Adventure Owners?

BillArnett

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Reading this thread late, and wonder @BillArnett if some of your earlier trepidations regarding which trails the Rivan can handle (you specifically mentioned some concern w/ Rubicon) are alleviated with the recent Trans America Trail crossing and other videos we've seen.

Also, you mentioned concerns stemming from "limited approach angles", but the Jalopnik article (I think) made it sound like that while approach and departure angles were less than some vehicles, break over was what mattered and Rivian had nailed that (and nailed the geometry overall) Do you agree with that assessment?

I hope my questions don't come off as accusatory or otherwise, they are genuinely not. I'm a complete neophyte when it comes to off roading, so appreciate any insights.
The Trans America Trail is a freeway compared to the Rubicon. Not even in the same universe. But even on the TAT they managed to destroy a couple of tires. So no, my concerns vis a vis the Rubicon trail are not alleviated, they're confirmed.

I agree with his assessment of the suspension geometry: that it will fly a wheel sometimes when a Wrangler will keep on four on the ground is just not that big a deal. That Wrangler's very lightly loaded wheel isn't doing much good anyway.

And I agree that " approach angle is the most important of the three" and that Rivian is significantly poorer in that regard. But I don't agree that a slightly better breakover angle makes up for it. I have taken many bone-jarring hits on the middle underside of my Jeep with no problems; there's a lot of heavy steel down there that usually takes all of the abuse. I will be VERY CAREFUL not to do that with my Rivian. Despite their claims of good underbody protection I find it hard to believe it can take a solid hit on a rock.

Furthermore, when the approach angle to an obstacle is too steep to take head-on, the usual practice is to take it at an angle. My Jeep has a very short front bumper that does not extend out to the tires so that when taking an obstacle at an angle it's the tire that hits first. And if the bumper does hit, it's made of steel and can take a pretty big hit with no damage. (Granted, mine is an after-market bumper but a stock bumper is still infinitely tougher than Rivian's. I'm hoping there will be an after-market industry for Rivians but I'm not holding my breath. )

Sure, the good ground clearance means one can take a rock in the middle instead of putting a tire on it. But there's a limit to that, obviously. And when it does become necessary to drive a tire over a big rock what happens when the tire comes down and the rock hits the rocker panel? On my Jeep there's just a big piece of steel there for it to hit and scrape over. On a Rivian it would probably destroy the door. :-( He seems to think the plastic trim under the doors will be sufficient. I doubt it.

Two points about his discussion of wheel-spin. First, the whole thing struck me as a complicated apology for a system that's clearly flawed. If the thing doesn't work right, fix it, don't give me a lot of mumbo-jumbo about why it's so hard. (Why can't they simply have a "locker simulation mode" where all four wheels are simply commanded to rotate at the same rate? And if the 100Hz response time is too long, go to 1000Hz. I would happily pay the extra cost of a slightly faster computer :) Second, and we've seen this in all the Rivian videos, while all that wheel spin is ugly and probably makes it a little harder to keep the vehicle on track it does get up the hill. Maybe we'll just have to learn different driving techniques? And maybe we can hope for software improvements in the future? All in all this is pretty disappointing. The four motor design in my mind has always been a huge plus, now it's becoming a minus.

I suspect suspect he's right that after a while one can learn to control the throttle more smoothly over the rocks. And I very much agree that an off-road cruise control would be helpful.

The very first mod I made to my Jeep was to add a winch. At the event a year ago in Marin the Rivian engineer I spoke to promised that there would be a winch option but that doesn't seem to have happened. So I'll again have to be VERY CAREFUL not to get stuck. Worrying about babying the vehicle takes away from the enjoyment of the scenery :-(

He only mentioned the Rivian's tires in passing. IMHO, this is Rivian's biggest drawback. Tires, not angles are the most important aspect of an off-road machine. 20" rims and 34" ATs are fine on the highway but on the rocks they're gonna be a huge let down from my 37s. And Rivian inexplicably makes it impossible to fit larger tires. Boo!

Finally, there's no doubt in my mind that the Rivian will be infinitely better on-road than my Jeep. This is a huge deal for me since I have to drive many hours to get to the trails. Whether that is enough to make up for it's off-road weaknesses remains to be seen.
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mgc0216

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The Trans America Trail is a freeway compared to the Rubicon. Not even in the same universe. But even on the TAT they managed to destroy a couple of tires. So no, my concerns vis a vis the Rubicon trail are not alleviated, they're confirmed.

<much goodness snipped>
Thanks very much for the detailed reply!
 
 




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