Thoughts on removal of Off Road Upgrade

[jagged]

Don't forget that you may not need the underbody protection but if you are out on a trail, you can always use those tow hooks to help someone else that is stuck. ?

Hopefully we can find aftermarket tow hooks to add.

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[sevengroove]

Hopefully we can find aftermarket tow hooks to add.

I think you can add those to the back (I assume, since most vehicles have this) but the front hooks might be a factory-only thing. Look at how the configurator shows the front with and without the off-road package. Without, it looks like a completely flush panel with no room to add your own hooks:

 

[SoCal Rob]

I think Rivian should include those front hooks as standard on LE and Adventure models. It feels like that would fit with the special nature of the LE and the concept of the Adventure. With any luck the black portion of the bumper with the hook cutouts is a separate piece so Explore people can have the piece swapped and the hooks added at or after delivery. Of course the price will probably be too high, but still way less than $2,000.

I’m still getting the off-road package because we do deal with some sizable sharp rocks on occasion. In our Land Rover, coming down hard on a rock in a place without skid plates could result in damage which would render the vehicle undrivable. It hasn’t happened yet, but it is possible. However, it is unlikely that any damage caused would result in a fire which we couldn’t stop with our fire extinguisher. I want every protection to prevent battery pack damage sufficient to start a battery fire which leads to a wildfire in an area far from help. It seems like good insurance to me because of how we use our vehicle.

I doubt most people need it, it appears that it will decrease range, and it isn’t something showy that people would buy for aesthetics. Something tells me there won’t be a lot of takers.

 

[Rivian-WI]

The tow hooks should become standard equipment like the compressor!

 

[SANZC02]

I think Rivian should include those front hooks as standard on LE and Adventure models. It feels like that would fit with the special nature of the LE and the concept of the Adventure. With any luck the black portion of the bumper with the hook cutouts is a separate piece so Explore people can have the piece swapped and the hooks added at or after delivery. Of course the price will probably be too high, but still way less than $2,000.

I’m still getting the off-road package because we do deal with some sizable sharp rocks on occasion. In our Land Rover, coming down hard on a rock in a place without skid plates could result in damage which would render the vehicle undrivable. It hasn’t happened yet, but it is possible. However, it is unlikely that any damage caused would result in a fire which we couldn’t stop with our fire extinguisher. I want every protection to prevent batter pack damage sufficient to start a battery fire which leads to a wildfire in an area far from help. It seems like good insurance to me because of how we use our vehicle.

I doubt most people need it, it appears that it will decrease range, and it isn’t something showy that people would buy for aesthetics. Something tells me there won’t be a lot of takers.

If it is a range thing and not supply or exactly what they told us is they heard from many who did not want or need the option.

Seems like another 1-200 lbs added to the bottom essentially smoothing it out would not be a huge impact to range. If it is lost range could be the air disruption around the tow hooks disrupting airflow for aero dynamics may be impacting range.

Personally, unless there is a lot more to the off-road package than they have listed, not sure how it could be a big impact to the range.

 

[DucRider]

The $2K drop for something I wouldn't otherwise configure is good, no matter the reason.
If they would have asked me, I would have told them just that. Apparently their sampling showed enough people that didn't need it to make it optional.

Edit:
People configuring with 21s and 22s are less likely to do much off road (unless they plan on swapping sets which some have indicated)

 

[Gshenderson]

I’m interested to see whether that offroad skid plate wraps the kick panels below the doors to effectively become a rock slider. That would definitely make it worth it to me.

 

[LoneStar]

I can't prove it, but Rivian saying the 'Off-Road pkg.' became optional after "talking to potential customers about their adventures" and determining it was unnecessary or rarely called-for in the Launch Edition is a bunch of hooey. The EPA rating for the L.E. fell below 300 and this is their adhoc solution done to get a range value with a 3 at the front.

Mark my words, once the dust clears and they come clean with all the EPA ratings for various configurations/options it will show that the original L.E. would have earned that 280 rating that popped up recently. Eliminating the bash plate may just get them the 20'ish miles they need for the L.E. to satisfy years of posturing on 300 miles.

 

[SANZC02]

I can't prove it, but Rivian saying the 'Off-Road pkg.' became optional after "talking to potential customers about their adventures" and determining it was unnecessary or rarely called-for in the Launch Edition is a bunch of hooey. The EPA rating for the L.E. fell below 300 and this is their adhoc solution done to get a range value with a 3 at the front.

Mark my words, once the dust clears and they come clean with all the EPA ratings for various configurations/options it will show that the original L.E. would have earned that 280 rating that popped up recently. Eliminating the bash plate may just get them the 20'ish miles they need for the L.E. to satisfy years of posturing on 300 miles.

I don’t buy into this theory. Companies do their own EPA testing based on specific parameters and then submit the results for verification. They would have known those numbers awhile ago probably well before they released the original configurator.

My guess is they have been tweaking the software to see what else they can squeeze out of it and that is why they are reluctant to provide the final results. Speculation when they dropped the battery pack sizes and went with the names was so they can have flexibility to size them to reach numbers they want/need.

In my opinion, this is as good a guess as any of the others considering none of us has any of the test data to review/analyze.

 

[davrow_R1T]

.Eliminating the bash plate may just get them the 20'ish miles they need for the L.E. to satisfy years of posturing on 300 miles.

I don't think it's going to be enough. Either they are going to have to admit to "almost" 300 mile range, or we see another delay as they try something else.

 

[SeaGeo]

I can't prove it, but Rivian saying the 'Off-Road pkg.' became optional after "talking to potential customers about their adventures" and determining it was unnecessary or rarely called-for in the Launch Edition is a bunch of hooey. The EPA rating for the L.E. fell below 300 and this is their adhoc solution done to get a range value with a 3 at the front.

Mark my words, once the dust clears and they come clean with all the EPA ratings for various configurations/options it will show that the original L.E. would have earned that 280 rating that popped up recently. Eliminating the bash plate may just get them the 20'ish miles they need for the L.E. to satisfy years of posturing on 300 miles.

If the plate is a 20 mile hit, then we're all going to go about 100 miles with one passenger, two bikes, and then tent on an R1T. ?

 

[jjwolf120]

The EPA rating for the L.E. fell below 300 and this is their adhoc solution done to get a range value with a 3 at the front.

The EPA rating is immaterial. What actually matters is the highway range.

 

[EVSport7]

I'm glad they just gave everyone the compressor. Now I'm hoping for them to breakup the Adventure trim too haha. Not gonna happen but I would just want the nicer seats on the Explore trim

 

[Ty012]

People configuring with 21s and 22s are less likely to do much off road (unless they plan on swapping sets which some have indicated)

I am one that is going with 21s but still decided to add the off road package back to my config. I figure if I end up doing more off roading down the road I can change out wheels but not sure how difficult (plus cost) it would be to add the plate and hooks. Also, additional protection to battery pack is worth it IMO and will likely help with resale if ever needed. I am happy they didn’t make the off road package more expensive and instead dropped the price without it.

 

[RivianXpress]

What happened to the winch?

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