Canceled my R1S order :-(

[docwhiz]

The indignity of have one’s Range Rover referred to as a mere Land Rover!

Seriously, though, I see the Land Rover Defender as being the closest new vehicle to an R1S in terms of premium (not luxury) truly off-road capable SUVs.

Unfortunately, Land Rover abandoned the solid axle, long trailing arms suspension vehicles in favor of independent suspension which gives a softer ride and reduced off road capability. They're all mall crawlers now. I think the old Defender and the Discovery 2 are the last of the off road Land Rovers.

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[docwhiz]

Just to clarify, I'm not the OP. I happily took delivery of my R1S about a month ago. I just felt it was important to defend the OP's right to critique Rivian/the R1S without having some forum members be so dismissive.

Sorry, I was confused.

 

[AWDrift0]

Can you share the address that they sent you too so we can check it out on Google maps..lol?

 

[JayinNJ]

I really wasn’t in a bad mood at all from meeting in a park in a bad neighborhood and I didn’t care that the guy was young (he was actually super nice) so you are misreading that there. I was simply pointing out that it’s surprising that a big corporation would not strive to provide a better test drive experience from the get-go; they should at least set someone’s expectations to know where to go, instead of sending them to an address that makes you feel like you must have gotten lost...

Inspite of the above I was like a kid in a candy store and super excited with a huge smile on my face the entire time. Keep in mind I’ve been in Rivian fan-boy mode for 18 months now. I’ve watched every YouTube video 2 or 3 times, I’ve read many of the forum posts here, good and bad and based on everything I saw and read had already made up my mind. We even got solar at home in anticipation of getting the Rivian or similar.

I’ve driven and ridden in many Tesla’s, so my expectations were already tempered via flat out luxury vs utility and doing something good for the environment etc.

And read, the deal breaker at the end was the ride quality not the other observations which I could have probably lived with if the car would have kept the smile on my face when it came to handling and performance, which sadly it didn’t.

At the end of the day though, spending $108k on a vehicle is no joke and I don’t think it’s unfair to compare it to other vehicles in the same price range.

Car and Driver said the R1T seemed pretty dialed in, so it’s surprising that the R1S seems to ride more truck-like than the actual truck Model.

Then you should not have been surprised about a lot of the options you said were missing. Since it was well known it doesn't have those features. For the $72k I paid for it out the door, it was a good value. You have to include the battery cost and performance as a huge feature not in the BMW or Range Rover.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Unfortunately, Land Rover abandoned the solid axle, long trailing arms suspension vehicles in favor of independent suspension which gives a softer ride and reduced off road capability. They're all mall crawlers now. I think the old Defender and the Discovery 2 are the last of the off road Land Rovers.

I respectfully disagree. Our stock LR3 was amazing off-road and better than the stock Discovery 2 we had before it, even with the addition of the lever to lock the center diff.

You had to handle obstacles differently, but that didn’t make it worse. Most of the time we centered rocks and small boulders under the LR3 and simply drove above them. A friend of ours who was a Jeep guy was on a drive with us and he was dumbfounded that the LR3 could handle driving over rubble, large rocks, and small boulders while crossing steep washes with absolutely no drama and while giving us a very comfortable ride both on- and off-road.

Our experience with the LR3 (independent height-adjustable suspension and different driving modes) is what drew us to the R1S. The R1S has nearly 4” more clearance, though, which almost feels like cheating.

 

[SANZC02]

Sorry, @SANZC02 I wasn't speaking to you directly but maybe more to the folks on some of the "Cross Shopping" posts. I did try to explain my use case which I think is a fair cross shop. Three car seats in a car without second row captains chairs (Model X) appears to be best handled by putting three straight across and not even using the third row. Once I accepted that fact, I opened up my search to anything electric really.
Honestly, running boards, 2nd row captains chairs, and a built in skylight cover that I can retract - heck I'll even do it manually - and I think I would be scheduling my delivery.

No worries, it really was an innocent question.

I was just curious, usually I have a pretty tight criteria for my needs and wants and just seemed odd having those both in the list of options.

Good luck with whatever you end up with.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Some of the “disappointments” expressed relative to your BMW are fair,

Sure, it seemed reasonable, right up to the part about "Omg I had to see homeless people" when all respect went out the window. ?

 

[WorldComposting]

I completely agree with everything OP has said. I rented an R1S on Turo and had the same disappointment with the manual setas and how difficult theya re to use. Lets all stop rpetending that the third row of any vehicle is comfortable for adults other than a full size suburban or similar or a minivan. That said, it shoudl be easy for my children to get to this third row and in the R1S it was not.
The skylight/sunroof is also a mystery to me. Why can Audi and Kia figure out a retractable sunshade and Rivian cannot? The AC couldn't overcome the sun bating down and I was sweating on my ride as well.
Overall, it's not a luxury vehicle. Its not. For all the reasons you listed and the above. And for all the tesla haters - if you want to claim Rivian is a luxury vehicle then the Model X and Y might as well be SUVs.
That all said, if the AC worked I could also look past all of the negatives and agree this is an awesome vehicle that is more than capable. And fueling up a BEV for $10 a charge vs the $100 a tank in my ICE is something I will enjoy every single time and then again when I drive past a gas station and see people wasting their time on their commute gassing up. I just can't see paying 80-100K for it. It's a perfect BEV replacement for my ICE Toyota 4Runner except it's priced like an S Class Benz.

Me personally, I am actually considering getting a Nissan Leaf and waiting until someone comes out with something cheaper.

Looks like you live in DC area if the sun was causing that many issues and the A/C couldn't overcome the heat I would take the vehicle in. I live in Baltimore and left my car in the sun on a 90+ degree day and it has zero issues cooling down with 6 people (two in each row).

I respectfully disagree. Our stock LR3 was amazing off-road and better than the stock Discovery 2 we had before it, even with the addition of the lever to lock the center diff.

You had to handle obstacles differently, but that didn’t make it worse. Most of the time we centered rocks and small boulders under the LR3 and simply drove above them. A friend of ours who was a Jeep guy was on a drive with us and he was dumbfounded that the LR3 could handle driving over rubble, large rocks, and small boulders while crossing steep washes with absolutely no drama and while giving us a very comfortable ride both on- and off-road.

Our experience with the LR3 (independent height-adjustable suspension and different driving modes) is what drew us to the R1S. The R1S has nearly 4” more clearance, though, which almost feels like cheating.

This is why I wanted the R1S I was looking at the Discovery or Defender but had a tough time convincing myself that getting terrible MPG would be worth it. I also have been wanting an EV so this was the best choice.

 

[Ric G]

Since this is an entertaining thread, I'll chime in with my 2 cents worth... From my experience as an owner and driver of quite a few of the vehicles in this thread, here's my opinions:

Cayenne (recent model 9YA Audi based chassis and engine). Out corners anything on the list, but with 315mm rear and 285mm front tires it should anyway. But too many issues, Driveline drone vibration at 60mph that Porsche could never fix. After filling up with fuel the first 50-75 miles there is a terrible helicopter resonance in the cabin from the fuel tank vapor flapper valve. No fix. Porsche PSCB tungsten coated brakes, fantastic stopping and no dust, trade-off squeak like crazy at low speed and grabby. Engine started requiring oil top offs between servicing, seemed a bit excessive.

Range rover Sport Nice front seats, terrible back seats, (not sure why they even bothered to ventilate the rears seats since no one would want to ride back there for long). Tech felt like they were 10 years behind anything else. Very slow throttle tip in, and just overall Meh driver's experience. I have to admit my wife loved that car though. Oh and the stupid A-pillar plastic cover on ours just would not stay on, took to dealer over and over and I gave up and used black duct tape. Kept telling them its got to be the door alignment , they never listened. Nit picky but so annoying to have to deal with that issue.

BMW X7, drove like a minivan or similar big boat, seats were softer than an 80's Cadillac. (That's not a compliment) Motorized rear seats seems like a good idea, but way too slow. I wanted to like it but just wasn't the car for me, got rid of it after only a brief time. Don't get me wrong I'm not a BMW hater, I owned a 550i and a few others over the years and a current long time owner of what BMW once was, an E30 M3 ;-)

Mercedes GLE53 AMG A hoot to drive. Makes all kinds of ridiculously entertaining farts and burps from the exhaust in sport mode. Tradeoff is terrible mileage with me driving. I was getting somewhere between 10-13MPG. MBUX UI has it's plusses but also not the greatest experience. Was the car worth $100K+? Probably not and even in near top spec it had no where close to the torque or acceleration of the R1. I'd rate the ride overall at the top of my personal list though.

Mercedes EQS SUV brief test drive at the dealer, but a friend owns one so I've got some time in it. Slow, too soft, no access to front trunk! What's up with that?? and just not a fan of the look either. Dealers are giving great discounts though. The one I drove (a demo) listed for close to 120k and if leased was marked down into the 80s.

If you've read this far you can probably get an idea of my likes and dislikes and what I find important in a car. What I like, certainly is my opinion and not going to be the same as others. To each his own. The Rivian checks off all the right boxes for me, and I am really enjoying it. Its not perfect, nothing is, but I feel that the overall experience meets or exceeds my personal expectations and isn't that what its all about anyway? A smile on your face and the feeling of wanting to get in and just go for a drive!

 

[RivianPioneer]

Sure, it seemed reasonable, right up to the part about "Omg I had to see homeless people" when all respect went out the window. ?

I did say “some”

 

[EVfanboy]

Consumer reports rates ride quality in a Land Rover 5/5 and in a Rivian 3/5. I have found their assessments in the past quite reliable.

 

[RivianPioneer]

Consumer reports rates ride quality in a Land Rover 5/5 and in a Rivian 3/5. I have found their assessments in the past quite reliable.

Actually, in recent years I have found Consumer Reports has missed the boat more often than not in their reviews. They base their ratings on this not-exactly-transparent system that relies upon the reports of Consumer Reports members who respond to surveys. Therein lies a huge problem with them these days. It seems that a majority of their survey responding members are older, status quo, ICE centric auto aficionados. As a result, their reviews of electric cars are more often than not questionable. The days of opening up a Consumer Reports review and believing that it’s the Bible on auto reviews is over for me because of their process.

 

[EVfanboy]

Actually, in recent years I have found Consumer Reports has missed the boat more often than not in their reviews. They base their ratings on this not-exactly-transparent system that relies upon the reports of Consumer Reports members who respond to surveys. Therein lies a huge problem with them these days. It seems that a majority of their survey responding members are older, status quo, ICE centric auto aficionados. As a result, their reviews of electric cars are more often than not questionable. The days of opening up a Consumer Reports review and believing that it’s the Bible on auto reviews is over for me because of their process.

But don’t they buy the cars and then test it themselves? Yes they have a section for consumer reviews and most Rivian R1S ratings from the consumers are through the roof, solidly at the top. Here are few of the past ones that I have found spot-on. Lexus ES 350 - 5/5, I owned one and I agree. Subaru Outback 5/5- Rented one for 1 month, completely agree. Mach E 3/5- Currently own one. Agree but I may put it at 3.5 - probably because I have 18 wheels. Model Y - 2/5, 100% agree although I would have rated it as 1/5. I am just hoping the R1S is at least 3/5 in reality. They said that the ride quality has marginally improved with the recent update. I had read the review before and they updated this section/statement so its nice to know they did that.

 

[RivianPioneer]

But don’t they buy the cars and then test it themselves? Yes they have a section for consumer reviews and most Rivian R1S ratings from the consumers are through the roof, solidly at the top. Here are few of the past ones that I have found spot-on. Lexus ES 350 - 5/5, I owned one and I agree. Subaru Outback 5/5- Rented one for 1 month, completely agree. Mach E 3/5- Currently own one. Agree but I may put it at 3.5 - probably because I have 18 wheels. Model Y - 2/5, 100% agree although I would have rated it as 1/5. I am just hoping the R1S is at least 3/5

They do buy cars and test them and do podcasts and write articles and that is taken into account when they review, but their ratings are based upon response to member surveys on all of the products they review. They are not completely transparent about their process. Here's what they choose to disclose; https://www.consumerreports.org/car...re ranked,owner satisfaction are also factors.

 

[ThumprMN]

I decided not to get Taco Bell tonight. It’s been weighing on me all day. #JustThoughtYouShouldKnow

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