First 24 Hours with R2 - impressions, positives, nits

[godfodder0901]

Were you able to program liftgate height? Also was it easy to setup a garage door opener?

Garage door opener comes in the next update, and there is no programmable height for the lift gate.

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[bnolan]

Does the rear washer clean the backup camera on the R2?

 

[tate16t]

Did you experience any vampire drain?

 

[sparked]

Did you experience any vampire drain?

There was a promising post from another new R2 owner recently:

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...rison-to-r1t-efficiency-and-range-data.60868/

VAMPIRE DRAIN: Many, many threads on this forum about R1 vampire battery drain while parked. For 2 nights I left both our R1T and R2 unplugged in the garage over night with about 70% on the batteries. Using the "energy monitor" function on the software and looking at the "8 hour usage" screen I observed much less drain on the R2. The R1T had 0.9kwh and 0.8kwh those 2 nights. The R2 was 0.0 and 0.2 kwh. Encouraging.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

no we sold our Tesla when we got our first rivian. We had been using a J1772 charger with an adapter with our teslas. We just switched to a charger with the NACS connector because I read in the R1/R2 manual that they don’t recommend using an adapter for “daily charging”. I am not sure why maybe poorly designed chargers or adapters can have issues. They also say it may void the warranty so we bought an new NACS charge but not the rivian branded one since they didn’t say it had to be theirs.

That’s just the most broad and safest CYA for any corporation to adopt, because god knows which adapter the masses will buy and use (without reading a single page of the owner’s manual), then assume it’s the vehicle manufacturer’s fault when something goes wrong. A well engineered and manufactured adapter, with the correct fail safes built-in, should not have any problems. Regardless whether it’s AC or DC. Do not misinterpret as “adapters are not safe”. If that were true, ask why Rivian sells them and is/has given adapters to customers.

 

[Budman]

There was a promising post from another new R2 owner recently:

I’ve continued to monitor my R2 vampire drain referenced above. It continues to show much less drain than my R1T.

 

[Jeffvisor]

no we sold our Tesla when we got our first rivian. We had been using a J1772 charger with an adapter with our teslas. We just switched to a charger with the NACS connector because I read in the R1/R2 manual that they don’t recommend using an adapter for “daily charging”. I am not sure why maybe poorly designed chargers or adapters can have issues. They also say it may void the warranty so we bought an new NACS charge but not the rivian branded one since they didn’t say it had to be theirs.

oh, I didn't know you shouldn't use a adaptor for everyday charging I have a WallBox Pulsar Plus I guess I have to see it and buy a NACS charger

 

[jimk]

Haven't seen any other reports of R2s landing in Vermont, so you may be the first! A slim chance, perhaps, that I'll be second ... my order invite should be coming soon and I'll be picking mine (Catalina Cove) up at the factory in Normal and driving it home to the Brattleboro area. See you on the roads neighbor!

 

[Mikey]

I just wanted to say, that's just amazingly cool.

I camped there often in our RV. Love that area.

 

[defcon888]

We picked up our R2 in Clifton Park NY yesterday morning and drove it 2 1/2 hours back to Vermont. For context we have had an R1T Quad gen 1 and a 1 year old R1S Gen 2 and previously a 2012 Chevy Volt, 2014 BMW i3 (still own), and Tesla Model S.

We were not able to see of test drive prior to picking it up. I ordered Half Moon Grey because we were married in Halfmoon Bay CA 35 years ago and having our last three cars were Silver and White so wanted to try something different.

It is much darker than I expected though it has a really nice dark bronzeish highlight in the right sun angle.

The poor delivery guy had our delivery and 18 demos and he was the only one working. As a result we signed the paper work and he helped us setup my digital key and then we were on our own. Glad we were experienced Rivian owners.

Positives
- I haven’t been able to find a single thing wrong with paint or fit and finish - truly excellent and better than our R1s by quite a bit.
- I find the driving experience an improvement over the R1’s - no rattles, better size for us, smooth and quiet even on rough pavement and a dirt road.
- HVAC seems better tuned - set it and forget it. The temp/fans in our R1s sometimes wandered and needed adjustment.
- I haven’t noticed extra “plasticyness“ that others have noted - yes there is hard plastic in certain spots but many of them have similar plastic on R1.
- It is early but Efficiency is much better than R1 around town and on the interstate on the way home.
- the rear glass open is SO QUIET even @ highway speed - amazing. Dog hasn’t figured out how to stick her head out there yet but will come in handy.
- the height and width will make it much easier reach everything when I wash it.
- No issues with the 21” wheel comfort - better than 20” and 22” on our R1s
- I like we won’t need to be taking up 2 slots @ the older V2 Tesla chargers during our road trips.
- the rear cargo height is about 5-6 inches lower which makes it more comfortable for our dog to jump in and out of the R2 than the R1S

Slight nits
- my back/shoulders don’t fit the design of the back cushion cutouts as well as the R1 did. I was able to change my recline, seat height, lumbar, and steering wheel position a bit and it is fine - just not my default position.
- while I didn’t notice any sun/heat from the sunroof (Only 85 degrees here) but definitely feel it from the driver’s window and windshield. Will probably be adding ceramic heat reduction film to the car as we have done with the R1s.
- it is taking a bit to get used to the new software interface differences and missing features like Pet Mode which is coming soon apparently.
- one example is in our R1S we would have to go to the 2nd row screen of HVAC to turn on the rear vents for our dog. I tried the same in the r2 but nothing happened. Support didn’t know the solution. Turns out if you press the center console graphic between the two front seats from the main/front HVAC screen, it turns on/off those vents.
- they were supposed to have the NACS/CCS adapter like the other gear but will be coming later.
- I will miss the larger size of the frunk and underneath storage of the R1S on our trip back and forth between UT and VT but should be fine.

My sister is buying our R1S so nice that it is staying in the family.

For our needs, Rivian did a great job with R2 (we named Vortex) we are really and excited to take it on a lot more adventures.

There are tons of photos and videos so I didn’t bother adding them.

Let me know if you have questions I can try to answer.

Final a real world honest review. Your review is what 99% of readers want to know. There are the people out there that I have read their comments and it was like reading a quadratic equation of the density of speed of light (don’t even know if that is a thing). They nit picked everything….the one that makes me chuckle a bit is “no native FM radio”. I get it, people want a standalone FM antenna blah blah….i haven’t listened to FM in over 5 years

 

[ABFEVTX]

I had a showroom person show this to me, it CLEARLY needs an icon above the fan. Such bad interface design in an otherwise incredible vehicle.

 

[bnolan]

oh, I didn't know you shouldn't use a adaptor for everyday charging I have a WallBox Pulsar Plus I guess I have to see it and buy a NACS charger

When I bought our home charger for my ID.4 I got one with NACS for better future compatibility even though my current vehicle uses a J1772. I just leave my A2V stellar adapter connected all the time and have never had any issues.

Not all adapters are created equal so I suspect they are just covering their backsides. The key is to buy a good adapter, not the cheapest one you can find and always verify the adapter is still firmly connected each time you charge.

 

[Matchbox]

Excellent review! Now if only Rivian would make an R2T.

 

[MLW]

Does the rear washer clean the backup camera on the R2?

No. The rear camera is down in the bumper above the license plate.

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