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sk00pie

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Just finished my First Mile test drive! Overall even better than I imagined.

Performance
- MUCH faster than my Model 3 Standard +
- Unsure the top speed, but I saw 114 on the speedo
- In sport mode shocked how planted it felt on twisty roads. My father in law drove and basically pushed it as far as it could possibly go without crashing.
- One surprise was the speed was not instant like in my Tesla. It's MUCH faster yes, but there is a lag and semi gradual smooth but brutal power. The Tesla while not as fast, is instant, almost predicting that you're going to floor it and the second you think it, you feel it. This didn't have that feeling to that degree. Not a negative since it's more practice and better for every day use, less twitchy.

Fit and Finish
- First time actually siting in one but wow shocked how high the quality was. The materials, spaces, gaps, all amazing
- I love all the Easter eggs. It seems like every inch was another oh cool feature. But in a way where it did not feel gimmicky.
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mgc0216

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- In sport mode shocked how planted it felt on twisty roads. My father in law drove and basically pushed it as far as it could possibly go without crashing.
Is your FIL a professional driver? I would love to see what a pro driver on a closed course could do with the truck - maybe a few drivers on a few courses: city streets, track, twisty backcountry, and rally.
 

DJG

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I would guess that it some of the delay might be the weight difference between the two.
This exactly. Plus I'm guessing AT tires contributing some as well.
 

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I've driven an R1T on two different occasions. Both times I went from my Model 3 into the truck. I relate to a lot of what the OP refers to. The truck is amazing, but it's a totally different feel from the Model 3. The Model 3 feels like a nimble fighter jet and the R1T like a lightening fast tank. I don't mean that in a negative way -- just a bigger, more solid and capable of driving over anything kind of vehicle.

I think a lot of that snappy, instant feel of the accelerator in the Model 3, as compared to the R1T, has to do with the throttle mapping. It takes a light touch on the Tesla to send the car flying down the road. In contrast, the R1T has much more pedal travel, so it takes pushing the accelerator further to launch it. It's a necessary difference -- an off-road vehicle can't be trigger happy and needs to be easy to modulate the pedal with precision for things like rock crawling, etc.
 

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sk00pie

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I've driven an R1T on two different occasions. Both times I went from my Model 3 into the truck. I relate to a lot of what the OP refers to. The truck is amazing, but it's a totally different feel from the Model 3. The Model 3 feels like a nimble fighter jet and the R1T like a lightening fast tank. I don't mean that in a negative way -- just a bigger, more solid and capable of driving over anything kind of vehicle.

I think a lot of that snappy, instant feel of the accelerator in the Model 3, as compared to the R1T, has to do with the throttle mapping. It takes a light touch on the Tesla to send the car flying down the road. In contrast, the R1T has much more pedal travel, so it takes pushing the accelerator further to launch it. It's a necessary difference -- an off-road vehicle can't be trigger happy and needs to be easy to modulate the pedal with precision for things like rock crawling, etc.
Youre 100% right. The lag has nothing to do with weight or tires itā€™s hard to explain. Mash the throttle and you wait a second, then the power kicks in. The Tesla you floor it and its instant. Again not a negative and Iā€™m sure it was done intentionally.
And nope not a professional driver! Just an extreme personality who totally pushed the truck to its limits. After his turn was up the rotors and wheels stunk!
 

hed

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I received my R1t yesterday. It is obviously a bigger/heavier vehicle than my M3P.

There could be a few reasons for the way the R1T feels. Weight, wheels, throttle mapping, transition to/from hold mode, etc. It might be some of these are having impact or even all may be conspiring to create this feel.

Whatever you want to attribute it to, imho, the Tesla and even my Raptor are just easier to drive. Great maneuverability, well done throttle mapping. Everything reacts to what my expectations are.

With my Rivian, it feels 'heavier' in all sense of the word. Of course it is physically heavier, but that extends into throttle and brake feel and a heavy heft feeling in movement and driving sensation. I am not necessarily assigning a negative value to it but it is different. There are lots of positives too and I am just expressing my current thoughts based on 1 day of mixed driving.

I would like more finesse in going from stops to starts. It's almost as if I can feel the weight of the motors while in motion and I'm a little surprised it's not as smooth overall as I was expecting.

As I mentioned in another post, I need more driving time. Time to play with all the settings and really dial them in. I'm sure my current vehicles and my familiarity with them has some impact on my perception.
 
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shamoo

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Is your FIL a professional driver? I would love to see what a pro driver on a closed course could do with the truck - maybe a few drivers on a few courses: city streets, track, twisty backcountry, and rally.
As someone who has track experience (and has instructed in the past), the Rivian R1T or S would not be very good on a road course. No matter the suspension or low center of gravity or power, it is still an extremely heavy truck. The brakes would fade very quickly and on very aggressive cornering, there would be a lot of sliding. I have a feeling the battery would also heat up like Teslas.

That's not to say it wouldn't be FUN, because any car on a road course is fun. It allows you to learn the limits of your vehicle (and your skill!).

Will it perform better than a standard SUV or pickup, most likely (excluding things like BMW X5M, Audi RSQ8, Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT, etc) but I'd say the Rivian is more suited toward canyon carving than track duty.

I don't think there's been any extended track testing (at least publicly available). I wonder how it does on the Nurburgring :p.
 

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As someone who has track experience (and has instructed in the past), the Rivian R1T or S would not be very good on a road course. No matter the suspension or low center of gravity or power, it is still an extremely heavy truck. The brakes would fade very quickly and on very aggressive cornering, there would be a lot of sliding. I have a feeling the battery would also heat up like Teslas.

That's not to say it wouldn't be FUN, because any car on a road course is fun. It allows you to learn the limits of your vehicle (and your skill!).

Will it perform better than a standard SUV or pickup, most likely (excluding things like BMW X5M, Audi RSQ8, Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT, etc) but I'd say the Rivian is more suited toward canyon carving than track duty.

I don't think there's been any extended track testing (at least publicly available). I wonder how it does on the Nurburgring :p.
For me it's not about would it do "good" or not (compared to other vehicles) - I was more wondering how good would it do (if that makes sense). Like give it to someone who can really drive, and get their impressions. I 100% don't expect them to say "oh this blows away any porsche I've ever driven" but it would be interesting to see what they would say.
 

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I received my R1t yesterday. It is obviously a bigger/heavier vehicle than my M3P.

There could be a few reasons for the way the R1T feels. Weight, wheels, throttle mapping, transition to/from hold mode, etc. It might be some of these are having impact or even all may be conspiring to create this feel.

Whatever you want to attribute it to, imho, the Tesla and even my Raptor are just easier to drive. Great maneuverability, well done throttle mapping. Everything reacts to what my expectations are.

With my Rivian, it feels 'heavier' in all sense of the word. Of course it is physically heavier, but that extends into throttle and brake feel and a heavy heft feeling in movement and driving sensation. I am not necessarily assigning a negative value to it but it is different. There are lots of positives to and I am just expressing my current thoughts based on 1 day of mixed driving.

I would like more finesse in going from stops to starts. It's almost as if I can feel the weight of the motors while in motion and I'm a little surprised it's not as smooth overall as I was expecting.

As I mentioned in another post, I need more driving time. Time to play with all the settings and really dial them in. I'm sure my current vehicles and my familiarity with them has some impact on my perception.
I think this is a fair and honest assessment. It does sort of validate what my experience was driving the R1T on two occasions. I will say, it was almost a relief when I got back in my Tesla after driving the R1T. The Model 3, as I mentioned before, feels like a fighter jet in comparison -- just so quick and responsive in every way. But, in fairness and as you've stated, it could just be a matter of spending more time in the truck.

I had to remind myself after test driving the R1T that I wanted a truck and it would be unrealistic of me to assume the truck is going to drive like a sporty sedan that's half its weight. And, frankly, part of what I like about trucks is that they are big and beefy and drive different than a sports car. I'm looking forward to taking possession of my R1T and getting more time behind the wheel. I'm sure I'll fall in love with it. There are so many people who have said they don't miss their Model 3 at all after getting the R1T and it's hard to find anyone who has spent time with the truck that doesn't rave about it.
 

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AdamUCF

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Ya'll making me worried about trading in my Corvette. I mean I'm not expecting a track truck but hoping it'll be fun and somewhat sporty. šŸ˜¬
 

hed

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Ya'll making me worried about trading in my Corvette. I mean I'm not expecting a track truck but hoping it'll be fun and somewhat sporty. šŸ˜¬
There are so many variables here.

What you are used to driving, what you are looking for, etc.

Honestly the only real way to be sure is to find a way to get behind the wheel of a R1T. Otherwise you won't know until yours gets delivered. You do have a 7 day return policy so if you end up not liking it you could always return it or sell it for a possible profit.

I wouldn't stress too much about it, you have options.
 
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sk00pie

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Ya'll making me worried about trading in my Corvette. I mean I'm not expecting a track truck but hoping it'll be fun and somewhat sporty. šŸ˜¬
oh itā€™s crazy fast. Just doesnā€™t have the millisecond throttle response of a Tesla. Itā€™s much faster than my Tesla, the torque is nuts. My Tesla feels fastest punching from 30 or 40. The rivian felt brutal from a stop. The tires spin a tiny bit and then it just shoves forward. Make no mistake this is a high performance truck.
 

zefram47

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Ya'll making me worried about trading in my Corvette. I mean I'm not expecting a track truck but hoping it'll be fun and somewhat sporty. šŸ˜¬
Trading a Corvette for a Rivian?! Yeah...not even remotely close in handling. Acceleration will be way better in the Rivian, but it won't stop as well as the Corvette. I went from test driving the R1T back into my electric MINI and started having second thoughts because the MINI was so much more nimble and light on its feet. I'm still planning to merge my 4Runner and MINI into a Rivian, but currently keeping my Corvette. That all said, the Rivian still corners better than probably any truck you'll ever find from an OEM. I romped it up a canyon and sent it into corners at close to double suggested speeds at times and it took it in stride on the ATs. I'm sure the 22s would be even more fun. But a sports car it is not when it weighs 7000 lbs.
 

LaunchGreen

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I think this is a fair and honest assessment. It does sort of validate what my experience was driving the R1T on two occasions. I will say, it was almost a relief when I got back in my Tesla after driving the R1T. The Model 3, as I mentioned before, feels like a fighter jet in comparison -- just so quick and responsive in every way. But, in fairness and as you've stated, it could just be a matter of spending more time in the truck.

I had to remind myself after test driving the R1T that I wanted a truck and it would be unrealistic of me to assume the truck is going to drive like a sporty sedan that's half its weight. And, frankly, part of what I like about trucks is that they are big and beefy and drive different than a sports car. I'm looking forward to taking possession of my R1T and getting more time behind the wheel. I'm sure I'll fall in love with it. There are so many people who have said they don't miss their Model 3 at all after getting the R1T and it's hard to find anyone who has spent time with the truck that doesn't rave about it.
I find it interesting you say fighter jet. Model 3s feel like a toy car to me. Small, kinda rickety, almost fragile; center screen hits knees, interior quality of Nissan.

Iā€™m coming from a Range Rover, but I drive a friends fairly often and It just feels like a major step down in quality. It could 100% just be the size difference.

The R1T, in comparison, feels like home. Solid, stable, smooth, enough room, high quality.

On second thought, Iā€™ve never been in a fighter jet. I could totally imagine them being cramped and rickety.
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