Husky
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Dave
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2023
- Threads
- 4
- Messages
- 249
- Reaction score
- 438
- Location
- New Hampshire
- Vehicles
- Genesis G70, Porsche 997.2, BMW E36 M3 sedan
- Occupation
- Retired EE
- Thread starter
- #1
My wife and I picked up our R2 today at the Hudson, NH SC. It's Esker Silver with the 21" wheels and black interior.
The communication with Rivian and the SC was top notch. Everything went very smoothly. I noticed that they had a bunch of new R2s in their back lot. They said deliveries were ramping up very sharply. Mine is S/N 73xx.
I did a careful walk-around and checked the interior and had no fit and finish complaints.
I spent about fifteen minutes in their parking lot getting familiar with the menus and getting the seat, mirrors and wheel adjusted. I found that was very easy and intuitive.
After an hour's drive home (due to traffic), and then another drive this evening, here are my thoughts (spoiler, it's great):
The AC seemed to do a respectable job, although it took a few minutes and was only around 85 out. I'll probably buy a roof shade, but probably not until next year. Then I'll see how the Rivian one compares to the aftermarket alternatives.
I had no issues with using the haptic wheels, other than I found that the force required to push them in and out, and to tilt sideways, was higher than I remembered from my test drives (I know there was an update with that). At no time did I scroll by accident when using them.
I love the displays. The screens are so sharp and clear. I was surprised to see the satellite view in the Nav screen. Awesome.
The ride, power, handling, road noise and brakes/Regen were all great, no surprises. It does feel like a bigger, taller, heavier vehicle than our EV6, because it is, haha.
The seats were comfortable enough. I found the bottom seat cushion to be a bit firm and flat for my scrawny ass after a while, but not too bad. The split in the seat back cushions, across your shoulders, can be noticeable but it certainly didn't bother me. (Why can't manufacturers just copy the seats I had in my E46 M3? They were the best ever!)
The amount of interior space still blows me away. Sitting behind myself (6'--1"), there was 6" of space between my knees and the front seatback.
I also had about 5-6" of headroom in the driver's seat. Of course the cargo area is equally impressive for this size vehicle.
I found the sound system to be just fine. (My audiophile days are well behind me). Phone calls sounded better than in any other car I've owned.
After reading various (conflicting) reports of how the frunk and rear hatch window buttons are supposed to operate, and even seeing the SC reps have issues with the buttons at first on my test drives, I'm pleased to report that they were very simple and worked well each time. As most (but not all) seem to know, they are NOT touch sensitive. You have to press on the three little lines. I think some of the confusion with the rear hatch button stems from the fact that if you press for too long, the window will go down but then stop when you release it (just like when you're raising it). So don't press too long. If you want the window to go down all the way, just press once very briefly. Simple.
The storage is great, with the door pockets, center console, pull out drawer (perfect for a Kleenex box) and the two glove boxes.
I did have a concern that the hatch would hit my garage door if I opened it while in the garage with the door up, since Rivian shockingly didn't include the feature where you can program how high the hatch goes. But then I thought I would be ok after hearing a couple of reports that it was only 81 to 82" at the peak when open. Well, that's not accurate. It's actually about 85" and does indeed hit my open garage door. Boo-hoo. Maybe they can fix that with an OTA.
I found that the "cup holder" in the door is so large (for those huge water bottles), that my normal-sized insulated steel CamelBak bottle was knocking around when I accelerated or decelerated. I can see that my first 3D print for the R2 will be a "bushing" of sorts to fill some of that space and provide a better fit.
I hate to close on anything negative, but there a few minor "issues" I'll be paying attention to, and may report to the SC. One was a slight vibration or noise from the front (AS) tires when I was on the highway doing around 75. But I didn't notice it in any of my later driving (but at lower speeds), so.... not sure if it might have been the road surface.
I noticed another potential issue when I was driving slowly through my neighborhood. I heard a very subtle, high pitched type of noise (hard to describe) coming from the front. I tried doing a few things while I was driving, and the only thing that had an effect and made it go away was when I switched to ECO drive mode, so it's probably associated with the front motor/drive train. We'll see.
Lastly, when I was backing out of a friend's driveway, with the window down, I noticed the odd sounding noise to warn people that you're backing up. It's not a beeping like my EV6, but more of a "raspy" noise like some of the UPS trucks make when backing up. My only concern is that the sound was coming from just the front of the vehicle, not the rear, where I would expect it to. Maybe this is normal, or maybe someone forgot to plug in a speaker, haha.
Well, sorry this was so long, but I thought it might be useful to some. Overall we just love it already. It's been a long wait.
The communication with Rivian and the SC was top notch. Everything went very smoothly. I noticed that they had a bunch of new R2s in their back lot. They said deliveries were ramping up very sharply. Mine is S/N 73xx.
I did a careful walk-around and checked the interior and had no fit and finish complaints.
I spent about fifteen minutes in their parking lot getting familiar with the menus and getting the seat, mirrors and wheel adjusted. I found that was very easy and intuitive.
After an hour's drive home (due to traffic), and then another drive this evening, here are my thoughts (spoiler, it's great):
The AC seemed to do a respectable job, although it took a few minutes and was only around 85 out. I'll probably buy a roof shade, but probably not until next year. Then I'll see how the Rivian one compares to the aftermarket alternatives.
I had no issues with using the haptic wheels, other than I found that the force required to push them in and out, and to tilt sideways, was higher than I remembered from my test drives (I know there was an update with that). At no time did I scroll by accident when using them.
I love the displays. The screens are so sharp and clear. I was surprised to see the satellite view in the Nav screen. Awesome.
The ride, power, handling, road noise and brakes/Regen were all great, no surprises. It does feel like a bigger, taller, heavier vehicle than our EV6, because it is, haha.
The seats were comfortable enough. I found the bottom seat cushion to be a bit firm and flat for my scrawny ass after a while, but not too bad. The split in the seat back cushions, across your shoulders, can be noticeable but it certainly didn't bother me. (Why can't manufacturers just copy the seats I had in my E46 M3? They were the best ever!)
The amount of interior space still blows me away. Sitting behind myself (6'--1"), there was 6" of space between my knees and the front seatback.
I also had about 5-6" of headroom in the driver's seat. Of course the cargo area is equally impressive for this size vehicle.
I found the sound system to be just fine. (My audiophile days are well behind me). Phone calls sounded better than in any other car I've owned.
After reading various (conflicting) reports of how the frunk and rear hatch window buttons are supposed to operate, and even seeing the SC reps have issues with the buttons at first on my test drives, I'm pleased to report that they were very simple and worked well each time. As most (but not all) seem to know, they are NOT touch sensitive. You have to press on the three little lines. I think some of the confusion with the rear hatch button stems from the fact that if you press for too long, the window will go down but then stop when you release it (just like when you're raising it). So don't press too long. If you want the window to go down all the way, just press once very briefly. Simple.
The storage is great, with the door pockets, center console, pull out drawer (perfect for a Kleenex box) and the two glove boxes.
I did have a concern that the hatch would hit my garage door if I opened it while in the garage with the door up, since Rivian shockingly didn't include the feature where you can program how high the hatch goes. But then I thought I would be ok after hearing a couple of reports that it was only 81 to 82" at the peak when open. Well, that's not accurate. It's actually about 85" and does indeed hit my open garage door. Boo-hoo. Maybe they can fix that with an OTA.
I found that the "cup holder" in the door is so large (for those huge water bottles), that my normal-sized insulated steel CamelBak bottle was knocking around when I accelerated or decelerated. I can see that my first 3D print for the R2 will be a "bushing" of sorts to fill some of that space and provide a better fit.
I hate to close on anything negative, but there a few minor "issues" I'll be paying attention to, and may report to the SC. One was a slight vibration or noise from the front (AS) tires when I was on the highway doing around 75. But I didn't notice it in any of my later driving (but at lower speeds), so.... not sure if it might have been the road surface.
I noticed another potential issue when I was driving slowly through my neighborhood. I heard a very subtle, high pitched type of noise (hard to describe) coming from the front. I tried doing a few things while I was driving, and the only thing that had an effect and made it go away was when I switched to ECO drive mode, so it's probably associated with the front motor/drive train. We'll see.
Lastly, when I was backing out of a friend's driveway, with the window down, I noticed the odd sounding noise to warn people that you're backing up. It's not a beeping like my EV6, but more of a "raspy" noise like some of the UPS trucks make when backing up. My only concern is that the sound was coming from just the front of the vehicle, not the rear, where I would expect it to. Maybe this is normal, or maybe someone forgot to plug in a speaker, haha.
Well, sorry this was so long, but I thought it might be useful to some. Overall we just love it already. It's been a long wait.
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