500-800 miles from Service Center......from those with Rivian experience....how risky will this be?

[MaskedRacerX]

Proximity to a service center was a primary reason for bailing on a previous R1S reservation. We were in St. Aug, closest SC was in Orlando, and even that was too far for me (~2 hours).

FF to today, not only is there a SC in the St. Johns area (back in SA), but we're now in DTO (Orlando) close to 2.

Umm, rambling aside, for me, an hour or less away is my line-in-the-sand.

Sponsored

 

[mkhuffman]

No. Right now it's probably going to be a Lexus GX 550.

That is my favorite Lexus SUV. Great looking truck.

Sorry to see you go.

 

[Jeremy3292]

No. Right now it's probably going to be a Lexus GX 550.

I love Lexus, my wife has a GX460, but I'd be very concerned about purchasing a GX550 until it is clear they sorted out the engine issues.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I love Lexus, my wife has a GX460, but I'd be very concerned about purchasing a GX550 until it is clear they sorted out the engine issues.

From what I've seen, the ones in Japan are good and have the updated bearing. Honestly, though, I don't want anything else that's out, and even if I do need a new engine, it's still going to be less than what I've gone through with my R1S so far. I have a Lexus dealer about 30 min from my house, opposed to Rivian which is over 3 hours one way.

Plus, even if my GX turns out to suck they are selling for MORE used than new because of the backlog and waitlists nationally for one. Unlike my R1S that I paid 113K for less than 2 years ago and has now taken a huge depreciation hit and is worth low 70's on trade. I'm just fortunate to have the finances to be able to move on before my warranty expires.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

That is my favorite Lexus SUV. Great looking truck.

Sorry to see you go.

It will be hard to get one, so I'll still have this for a bit. I'll post a review about it on here if and when I do get it.

 

[Jeremy3292]

From what I've seen, the ones in Japan are good and have the updated bearing. Honestly, though, I don't want anything else that's out, and even if I do need a new engine, it's still going to be less than what I've gone through with my R1S so far. I have a Lexus dealer about 30 min from my house, opposed to Rivian which is over 3 hours one way.

Plus, even if my GX turns out to suck they are selling for MORE used than new because of the backlog and waitlists nationally for one. Unlike my R1S that I paid 113K for less than 2 years ago and has now taken a huge depreciation hit and is worth low 70's on trade. I'm just fortunate to have the finances to be able to move on before my warranty expires.

They all come from Japan. But yeah the GX550 is the only thing I would want too unless I could find a nice 2023 GX460 (the last with the V8 engine).

 

[lefkonj]

I came to the above conclusion. Buying a Rivian is a gamble on if you'll get a good one or not.

I don't believe it is anymore of a gamble than most other brands. I had a VW that was less than 2 months old, sensor issues took 2 weeks to figure out and fix. I know others with Benz, BMW, Honda any brand that have had issues with their vehicles. I also know plenty of folks who have owned cars and not had any major issues period for decades.

If you are expecting a vehicle, especially with todays amount of tech and software to be problem free you should buy a bike.

 

[Apprunner]

I watch these videos and I get a bit worried:

 

[mkhuffman]

I don't believe it is anymore of a gamble than most other brands. I had a VW that was less than 2 months old, sensor issues took 2 weeks to figure out and fix. I know others with Benz, BMW, Honda any brand that have had issues with their vehicles. I also know plenty of folks who have owned cars and not had any major issues period for decades.

If you are expecting a vehicle, especially with todays amount of tech and software to be problem free you should buy a bike.

Toyota/Lexus may be slow to go full electric, but that go slow, low risk approach is what makes them so amazingly reliable.

I am not up to speed on the GX 550 issues, but those kind of things are very rare from Toyota. And you can bet it won't happen again, ever. Nobody takes quality more seriously than Toyota. IMO, of course.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

They all come from Japan. But yeah the GX550 is the only thing I would want too unless I could find a nice 2023 GX460 (the last with the V8 engine).

I mean the engines. The majority of the engines recalled are for the Tundra, and those are made in Alabama. You are correct, the GX is made in Japan, but they have a different manufacturing process, I guess, that's less likely to cause the debris issue. The V6 is supposed to make more power than the V8 does.

I've already done the test drive; while it's no tri-motor R1S, it feels powered enough for daily driving. I'm going to lose the supercar performance, but that might wind up being a net benefit, as I find that having a fast car just amplifies how slowly other people drive.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Toyota/Lexus may be slow to go full electric, but that go slow, low risk approach is what makes them so amazingly reliable.

I am not up to speed on the GX 550 issues, but those kind of things are very rare from Toyota. And you can bet it won't happen again, ever. Nobody takes quality more seriously than Toyota. IMO, of course.

For sure. I'll be going from one of the least reliable vehicles to one of the most. I know I've shit on Toyota in here many times, but the fun of high performance comes with the frustration of low reliability, and I'm willing to take a few steps back off the cutting edge in exchange for something that's going to get me where I need to go without looking for the new errors every couple of days.

 

[mkhuffman]

For sure. I'll be going from one of the least reliable vehicles to one of the most. I know I've shit on Toyota in here many times, but the fun of high performance comes with the frustration of low reliability, and I'm willing to take a few steps back off the cutting edge in exchange for something that's going to get me where I need to go without looking for the new errors every couple of days.

The new GX 550 was just coming out when I got the Jeep Grand Cherokee for my wife. I wish I would have waited a little longer and got in the GX instead, but the Jeep is a great truck. Maybe when she finally decides she wants something new we'll do that. She doesn't want to go electric.

 

[2kwik4u]

I don't believe it is anymore of a gamble than most other brands. I had a VW that was less than 2 months old, sensor issues took 2 weeks to figure out and fix. I know others with Benz, BMW, Honda any brand that have had issues with their vehicles. I also know plenty of folks who have owned cars and not had any major issues period for decades.

While I do agree that everything is a risk, Rivians is highest among all automakers. It's not anecdotal at this point either; by just about every available objective metric, they are the worst.

If you are expecting a vehicle, especially with todays amount of tech and software to be problem free you should buy a bike.

This is an absurdly outlandish and downright embarrassing take. Expecting a machine to work properly and with the features it was presented to you with during purchase should be neither unreasonable nor unexpected. If anything we, as a consumer group, should be moving the OTHER direction on this scale, and expect a company to release a complete product for sale and not "patch it after release" or "fix it in service".....Both of which are exact quotes I've had from Rivian personnel regarding problems I've had. This is, quite honestly, unacceptable and it's poor takes like this that let manufacturers think that it is.

I run a company that builds custom industrial process equipment. If I ever heard one of my customers say something along these lines I would consider our company a colossal failure on that project. It's just unacceptable.

 

[skyguyscott]

FWIW, the last three new vehicles I purchased were: a Honda CRX Si, a Nissan Murano, and a Nissan Pathfinder. I drove each vehicle for ~10 years and never experienced a major manufacturing defect. The worst was having to replace the spider gear on the Honda after an ill advised attempt to teach my then-girlfriend on how to drive a stick whilst in the Rockies. Both Nissan's had a CVT tranny, yet both managed to last 10+ years and hundreds of thousands of miles, although I could tell it was near the time they were wearing out. I took good care of the vehicles, nipping any hint of a problem in the bud before they became major expenses.

So far, after 10+ months my R1T is performing flawlessly, taking it to the nearest SC (80+ miles) only for a tire rotation and fixing a whistling driver's window (the latter under warranty)

 

[Jeremy3292]

I mean the engines. The majority of the engines recalled are for the Tundra, and those are made in Alabama. You are correct, the GX is made in Japan, but they have a different manufacturing process, I guess, that's less likely to cause the debris issue. The V6 is supposed to make more power than the V8 does.

I've already done the test drive; while it's no tri-motor R1S, it feels powered enough for daily driving. I'm going to lose the supercar performance, but that might wind up being a net benefit, as I find that having a fast car just amplifies how slowly other people drive.

The manufacturing process is the same no matter the plant as they all follow Toyota/Lexus blueprint; they're running identical lines in Alabama as they are in Japan. They are notorious for that - no deviations between plants. That's why both plants had the same issue and why they recalled all of the 2022-2024 LX600 and 2024 GX550 models, even though those are made in Japan and not Alabama like the Tundra's are. They sell way more Tundra's then LX600 and GX550, that's the only reason why there are more recalled Tundra engines on a pure numbers basis.

To make matters worse, just 2 weeks ago they added even more Tundra's to the recall that were manufactured after the supposed fix was implemented:

https://www.nhtsa.gov/?nhtsaId=26V320000

Unfortunately I think more are coming for Lexus too. It seems they still haven't fixed it.

Trust me I'm not trying to convince you not to buy a GX550; I'm a Lexus enthusiast myself. Just sharing that even the infamous Toyota/Lexus is having some really bad problems lately. Quality is in the toilet everywhere these days as sad as that is. We're keeping my wife's GX460 as long as we can as it has the bulletproof V8 in it. The 2022 and 2023 GX460's are selling for damn near the MSRP they were sold at 3 years ago! Crazy times.

I wish you nothing but the best! As I said before, still a big Lexus fan myself.

Sponsored