A Beautiful Disaster — Rivian Is Not Ready for Prime Time

[gurbhejsd]

@OP
100% Rivian has fallen short on many fronts not just SC's.
There are just way too many design flaws (just not due to cost cutting) that a $100000+ vehicle simply shouldn't have.

Not only that, the sheer ignorance on not acknowledging the flaws from Rivian is amazing - issues repeating in Gen2.
Only if Rivian would listen to actual real world complaints rather than some youtube guy's.

Anyone thinking Rivan is a Luxary/Premium vehicle would be disappointed.

I am at a point, where I think the iterative process of SC visits is just not worth it and neither is discussing with these forum fanboys.

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[SASSquatch]

This forum doesn't matter; no one here is "making a difference" with their comments. Complaining here will never motivate Rivian to expand its service centers, because they are doing that as fast as possible. I've read several articles lately about how difficult it is to find trained techs, plus we all know how permitting works.

Tough love is for your teen using heroin, not for a vehicle manufacturer. I have never gotten an issue solved by being an asshole or a whiner that couldn't have been solved by being a decent human being. I've had 30 day wait times for an oil change with an Audi in the past. Go to the Hummer forum and you hear many of the same service stories and both of those vehicles were with established dealer networks.

Like it or not, EVs are a newer technology and all the shade tree mechanics or veteran techs don't know about them. Most dealerships are lucky to have ONE EV tech. It's a problem across the board not exclusive to Rivian.

I don't buy the "human nature" explanation either. There is no excuse for poor behavior, as being able to rise above our animal nature separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. You can train a dog to suppress their basal instincts to a point, there's no excuse for a member here. Whining doesn't solve problems.

You need to read up on behavioral economics if you don't think people who spend $100K on a product don't expect that product to reflect the kind of value and ownership experience reflective of that investment.

Apparently you haven't read or heard about any of the exchanges Rivian (specifically Wassym Bensaid, Chief Software Officer at Rivian) has had on Reddit AMA directly addressing questions and issues that people have raised in that forum. Rivian may not be paying all that much attention to this forum, but their listening somewhere.

Tough love doesn't come from people posting in this forum it comes from people reading about the issues people are having and making an informed decision to take their business elsewhere.

Rivian has had a demand problem now for quite some time and creating customer experiences like the OP had doesn't help.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

You need to read up on behavioral economics if you don't think people who spend $100K on a product don't expect that product to reflect the kind of value and ownership experience reflective of that investment.

Apparently you haven't read or heard about any of the exchanges Rivian (specifically Wassym Bensaid, Chief Software Officer at Rivian) has had on Reddit AMA directly addressing questions and issues that people have raised in that forum. Rivian may not be paying all that much attention to this forum, but their listening somewhere.

Tough love doesn't come from people posting in this forum it comes from people reading about the issues people are having and making an informed decision to take their business elsewhere.

Rivian has had a demand problem now for quite some time and creating customer experiences like the OP had doesn't help.

You can talk about your negative experiences without whining like a petulant child. That's my point. I don't take issue with people having a negative experience or selling their truck because of it. I take issue with people dramatizing every little minuscule thing or having unrealistic expectations of perfection, discounting the performance simply because it's an arbitrary price point.

Nothing else at 100K dollars does with Rivian does, NOTHING. Nothing is as adaptable, while being as fast and having the level of software that Rivian does. THAT is what you're paying for, NOT Toyota reliability. If someone buys one thinking it will be super reliable or they will have instant service despite the readily available service center backlog information, that's on them, not Rivian.

100K dollars doesn't guarantee you anything, and it's up to the buyer to understand what they are buying. You want the performance of this startup manufacturer? Then take the risk and shut the fuck up if you get bit by it.

 

[andrewgrhogg]

You can talk about your negative experiences without whining like a petulant child. That's my point. I don't take issue with people having a negative experience or selling their truck because of it. I take issue with people dramatizing every little minuscule thing or having unrealistic expectations of perfection, discounting the performance simply because it's an arbitrary price point.

Nothing else at 100K dollars does with Rivian does, NOTHING. Nothing is as adaptable, while being as fast and having the level of software that Rivian does. THAT is what you're paying for, NOT Toyota reliability. If someone buys one thinking it will be super reliable or they will have instant service despite the readily available service center backlog information, that's on them, not Rivian.

100K dollars doesn't guarantee you anything, and it's up to the buyer to understand what they are buying. You want the performance of this startup manufacturer? Then take the risk and shut the fuck up if you get bit by it.

The only thing the R1S does better than a Model Y is having 3 rows (thats not to be applauded - theres nothing "difficult" with that) and going off road. By pretty much every other metric (range, efficiency, charge times, service times, quiet cabin (new Model Y only), comfort, self driving, acceleration, software, etc etc, the Model Y does better and for half the price! Im not a Tesla fan boy - i sold my three because of Elon, and because it was time. But i know what they got and im not afraid to say it how it is. And if you look at most of the posts on Rivian issues, they are specifically NOT the hi tech things. They are axles, and AC systems, and squeaks and rattles, and just shitty design and shoddy manufacturing. There is no excuse, even for a $50k car....

 

[Donald Stanfield]

The only thing the R1S does better than a Model Y is having 3 rows (thats not to be applauded - theres nothing "difficult" with that) and going off road. By pretty much every other metric (range, efficiency, charge times, service times, quiet cabin (new Model Y only), comfort, self driving, acceleration, software, etc etc, the Model Y does better and for half the price! Im not a Tesla fan boy - i sold my three because of Elon, and because it was time. But i know what they got and im not afraid to say it how it is. And if you look at most of the posts on Rivian issues, they are specifically NOT the hi tech things. They are axles, and AC systems, and squeaks and rattles, and just shitty design and shoddy manufacturing. There is no excuse, even for a $50k car....

It doesn’t look like a melted jelly bean POS with a no class ikea interior either, so it has both those things on the model Y

 

[shap]

if you look at most of the posts on Rivian issues, they are specifically NOT the hi tech things. They are axles, and AC systems, and squeaks and rattles, and just shitty design and shoddy manufacturing. There is no excuse, even for a $50k car....

Right on spot - basic mechanics. Rivian has a great software, but basic car mechanics is what failing them. However, this is due the fact that they did not have enough time to test it and polish as other manufactures.

 

[paco180]

Only thing guaranteed in life is Death & Taxes!

 

[Hillbilly]

Love my R1T! Wife loves her R1S!

With the minor headaches from a startup. Shocking that they got so much right.

 

[ozziegt]

Appreciate the thoughtful response—and yeah, I get that service varies from center to center. But honestly, that’s part of the problem. When you’re spending over $100K, your ownership experience shouldn’t depend on local management roulette. That’s not sustainable if Rivian wants to scale and retain trust.

Guess what? The two nearest Porsche dealers to me are owned by Penske automotive and they suck ass. I've taken my car to them twice and left extremely disappointed both times. So yeah, every manufacturer, except maybe the super exotic ones, have issues with inconsistent owner experience depending on location.

I haven't been happy with the Gaithersburg SC either. There is another one opening closer to me this summer, I am hopeful that it will be a better experience. I agree that Rivian needs to improve their service, but even if they do some owners are still not going to have a great experience. No company gets it right 100% of the time.

 

[TomServo2112]

It doesn’t look like a melted jelly bean POS with a no class ikea interior either, so it has both those things on the model Y

To say nothing of the flimsy body paneling. Holy hell when I'd open my frunk on my Model Y it felt like my 1978 Honda Accord.. if I exerted too much torque the thing would just totally bend. It was nice getting out of that and in to a real well-built car.

@andrewgrhogg can make any comparisons he wants. Now take that Model Y and compare it to a Camry Hybrid, or a 63mpg Prius. The comparisons are arbitrary. I can get a Little Caesar's pizza for $6 so therefore it's better than the $18 Neapolitan from handmade dough and fresh made mozzarella. "A $100K car should not do X".. by whose value? You know how many $100, $200, $300K cars have amazingly horrible problems, or ridiculously expensive service visits by virtue of being relative unicorns? People forget that early Model X's were priced at $120 to $140K... and early Model Ys priced upwards of the least expensive Rivians. So price isn't necessarily reflective of value. If you think spending $140K on a car from a startup whose yet to reach real profitability is going to match the $140K on a Panamera or Cayenne Turbo, you need to use a different metric than the MSRP.

 

[NY_Rob]

How can someone compare a Model Y with an R1 vehicle? One is a low slippery sedan designed for highway use, the other(s) is a truck/SUV designed for more rugged utilitarian use including towing insane loads.

Of course you can compare Rivian as a vehicle manufacturer to Tesla and on that front please keep in mind that Tesla has a 10-year head start on Rivian when it comes to actually producing vehicles and making corrections on the fly as needed. Rivian will get there, but they're still on their first gen vehicles.

 

[White Shadow]

I'm starting to think it's the same 3 trolls making sock accounts to troll this forum.

I can't believe that the thread got to four pages before you chimed in with your infinite wisdom!

Now go get 'em, tiger! You beat down those nasty 3 trolls with your zucchini stick!

 

[White Shadow]

What I never understand about these thread is they still own the vehicle and there a lot of these threads. If I had any of these issues with my T I'd be out. Carvana will give me what they'll give me and I'll go get something else.

Complaining on a Rivian Forum is just as much a wasted effort as trying to wish Rivian to do better on a Rivian forum. Rivian is doing their thing on their strategy with their timelines and no forum post is going to change that. At this point it's R2 and that's probably #1-10 on the priority list with other items getting a normal amount of focus. Improving service is not at the top of the list, period. Listen to RJ, it's something on the list, but not the top......That's R2.

If you're that unhappy, please just get rid of the car and save yourself the aggravation. It's a freaking vehicle, come back when they get it right.

I appreciate threads like this one as someone still sitting on the sidelines who has not yet decided to purchase. You learn far more on forums than anywhere else. It's good to see the real story with owner's who struggle with issues or owner's who are completely happy, etc...

One thing I've learned here are that most people agree that Rivian has a lot of room for improvement, but most of those people are willing overlook (or simply deal with) many of the issues because they had realistic expectations from the beginning, knowing that they were dealing with a new manufacturer.

 

[dgennetten]

Balancing out the anecdotes (and that's all these one off stories are).. I've had mine for a year and a half and it's been flawless and wonderful.

 

[captainjp]

To say nothing of the flimsy body paneling. Holy hell when I'd open my frunk on my Model Y it felt like my 1978 Honda Accord.. if I exerted too much torque the thing would just totally bend. It was nice getting out of that and in to a real well-built car.

@andrewgrhogg can make any comparisons he wants. Now take that Model Y and compare it to a Camry Hybrid, or a 63mpg Prius. The comparisons are arbitrary. I can get a Little Caesar's pizza for $6 so therefore it's better than the $18 Neapolitan from handmade dough and fresh made mozzarella. "A $100K car should not do X".. by whose value? You know how many $100, $200, $300K cars have amazingly horrible problems, or ridiculously expensive service visits by virtue of being relative unicorns? People forget that early Model X's were priced at $120 to $140K... and early Model Ys priced upwards of the least expensive Rivians. So price isn't necessarily reflective of value. If you think spending $140K on a car from a startup whose yet to reach real profitability is going to match the $140K on a Panamera or Cayenne Turbo, you need to use a different metric than the MSRP.

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