Giving up on keeping my Rivian?

[iansriv]

Very cool. I can't remember Rob, are you carrying around a full-sized spare in back or donut? I lost my cool the other night arguing with a "Gen 1 is trash" poster, so I'm glad you proved me right. Lol! Great adventure!

I just don't get this G1 trashing as well. It's a great vehicle and so is G2. As soon as a new model comes out we can't trash the old one. I'm just glad at the trajectory that Rivian is taking. Cheers.

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[Dark-Fx]

the nav screen doesn’t show a scale indicator, even while zooming, like most other navs and map apps I’ve used. The pic above was zoomed out pretty far, ut there’s no way to judge.

Been a complaint of several since release. Also missing is the ability to trace your path on the screen so you could backtrack in an unfamiliar area if necessary. Also loading GPX files... There's so much capability here Rivian could add that they've barely touched.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Been a complaint of several since release. Also missing is the ability to trace your path on the screen so you could backtrack in an unfamiliar area if necessary. Also loading GPX files... There's so much capability here Rivian could add that they've barely touched.

Those features should apply to both generations, too. I know I shouldn’t necessarily make the comparison, but our 2006 LR3 let you leave breadcrumbs so you could backtrack if you need to. I’ve always used GaiaGPS for that because I like being able to see the (offline) satellite view for landmarks, too.

 

[RivianRunner]

Been a complaint of several since release. Also missing is the ability to trace your path on the screen so you could backtrack in an unfamiliar area if necessary. Also loading GPX files... There's so much capability here Rivian could add that they've barely touched.

Maps without a scale on them are next to worthless. To be fair, Tesla does this too. I keep expecting a scale to show up via over-the-air update, but the scale hasn't shown up yet. I can't imagine it takes much memory or processor to put a scale in the corner.

 

[CoastalR1T]

Pristine no more as well... not from a cool off-road fight with a rock, but instead from a turkey vulture that just couldn't hold it till they got home...

 

[Greg614]

After just over a year of ownership and finally taking a real off-road adventure, I’m giving up on keeping my Rivian... looking like new.

Seriously, we’re not intentionally trashing it, but now that we’ve scratched a wheel and scuffed the lower plastic trim on a door it’s going to take a lot of the pressure off our next adventure.

Regarding the trash suspension of the Gen1 R1S and the potato-quality cameras of the Gen 1 R1 siblings, our Rivian was at least as good as our capable and comfortable 2006 LR3.

With the Rivian, we were able to keep our settings in all-purpose, soft ride feel, standard right height most of the time whereas we would’ve needed the equivalent of high ride height on our Land Rover. This meant the ride was more comfortable than what we’re used to. I’m sure the Gen 2 is better, but even Gen 1 is a major improvement from my perspective. More importantly, when traversing larger obstacles I could see using the firm ride feel to keep the suspension from getting unsettled. While this will undoubtedly reduce the comfort for passengers, my experience is that excessive bouncing / unsettled suspension can make things more difficult, especially in tight quarters.

We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere and on a 3-hour off-road drive we didn’t see another vehicle or person.

Unless I’m missing something, I have a minor gripe: the nav screen doesn’t show a scale indicator, even while zooming, like most other navs and map apps I’ve used. The pic above was zoomed out pretty far, ut there’s no way to judge. At 4:10 with the temperature down to only(!) 100 the air conditioning and ventilated seats kept us comfortable the whole time. I cheated a bit, however, by using Pet comfort mode whenever we stopped to stretch, take pictures, or hike. Like our Rivian, Rover had a large glass roof but with mesh roller sun shades. Still, given the volume of the interior, once these vehicles heat up it’s tough to cool them back down in 100+ temps and bright sun. Another major win for the Rivian.

Now, regarding the dreadful cameras in the Rivian Gen1, our perspective is coming from a 2006 vehicle with an XGA (1024x768) touchscreen with no camera support. I added a backup and forward facing camera to our LR3, but the Rivian’s camera views and surround video in particular are truly game-changing for us. Yes, I’m sure the Gen 2 blow them away, but from my perspective the Gen 1 are the best I’ve ever used. Another minor gripe is that it would be really nice if we could move the off-road instrumentation view to the driver display and continue to use the sender display for cameras.

Since this is Show & Tell, here are some more pics from our little adventure:

I wish I knew about geology. I am fascinated by the rock formations in the Joshua Tree area. This giant boulder was very curvilinear on the outside yet one end of it sheared off so cleanly it looks like it was done by a human.

We saw an awful lot of green and what appeared to be large trees through a little canyon. We took another trail we hoped would take us there and it did. Compare the plants in the foreground with the hills in the background for an idea of how unusual this is. With an R1S to provide a sense of scale, these are seriously large trees for the desert.

Another rock which interested me, you can see that the left end is cantilevered with nothing below that side to support it.

Again, to show the size of the rock, here’s our R1S next to it.

As we pulled up to this giant rock pile which is part of a mountain, I told my husband that it looked like there was a person up there.

From a different angle and zoomed in, I was close:

Who lugged this up there, and why? It’s a bit of a mystery so I’ll just assume it’s an art installation which and adds to the general quirkiness of the high desert.

Here are some views from a ridge on a mountain we hiked to.

Some more rock formations.

Edit:typo

Beautiful pictures! Were these pictures taken with your phone or a camera? I feel like I am there!

 

[SoCal Rob]

Beautiful pictures! Were these pictures taken with your phone or a camera? I feel like I am there!

Thanks! They were taken with a phone.

 

[A A Ron]

Living in the Midwest we have trees on our off-road trails and after having my R1T for a week I had scratches on the sides from trees on skinny trails. This thread is making me chuckle. Have fun!

 

[beyond]

I personally find it so funny when people give me looks as I load up drywall or plywood in my R1T. It's like they just expect these things to be babied! Nope! It's a truck, use it as one. I see the small scratches from tree limbs as battle scars .

 

[elatrickWheels]

Bravo Rob. It’s an adventure vehicle, and a great one at that! I notice no rooftop tent in your pics. Are you sleeping in the truck, in tents or in motels?

 

[SoCal Rob]

Living in the Midwest we have trees on our off-road trails and after having my R1T for a week I had scratches on the sides from trees on skinny trails. This thread is making me chuckle. Have fun!

Our old Land Rover was pinstriped from narrow trails with dusty scrub brush. I sprung for a full PPF wrap for our Rivian. I am very impressed with the job it did since it looks good as new once cleaned up.

 

[Treebeard]

After just over a year of ownership and finally taking a real off-road adventure, I’m giving up on keeping my Rivian... looking like new.

Seriously, we’re not intentionally trashing it, but now that we’ve scratched a wheel and scuffed the lower plastic trim on a door it’s going to take a lot of the pressure off our next adventure.

Regarding the trash suspension of the Gen1 R1S and the potato-quality cameras of the Gen 1 R1 siblings, our Rivian was at least as good as our capable and comfortable 2006 LR3.

With the Rivian, we were able to keep our settings in all-purpose, soft ride feel, standard right height most of the time whereas we would’ve needed the equivalent of high ride height on our Land Rover. This meant the ride was more comfortable than what we’re used to. I’m sure the Gen 2 is better, but even Gen 1 is a major improvement from my perspective. More importantly, when traversing larger obstacles I could see using the firm ride feel to keep the suspension from getting unsettled. While this will undoubtedly reduce the comfort for passengers, my experience is that excessive bouncing / unsettled suspension can make things more difficult, especially in tight quarters.

We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere and on a 3-hour off-road drive we didn’t see another vehicle or person.

Unless I’m missing something, I have a minor gripe: the nav screen doesn’t show a scale indicator, even while zooming, like most other navs and map apps I’ve used. The pic above was zoomed out pretty far, ut there’s no way to judge. At 4:10 with the temperature down to only(!) 100 the air conditioning and ventilated seats kept us comfortable the whole time. I cheated a bit, however, by using Pet comfort mode whenever we stopped to stretch, take pictures, or hike. Like our Rivian, Rover had a large glass roof but with mesh roller sun shades. Still, given the volume of the interior, once these vehicles heat up it’s tough to cool them back down in 100+ temps and bright sun. Another major win for the Rivian.

Now, regarding the dreadful cameras in the Rivian Gen1, our perspective is coming from a 2006 vehicle with an XGA (1024x768) touchscreen with no camera support. I added a backup and forward facing camera to our LR3, but the Rivian’s camera views and surround video in particular are truly game-changing for us. Yes, I’m sure the Gen 2 blow them away, but from my perspective the Gen 1 are the best I’ve ever used. Another minor gripe is that it would be really nice if we could move the off-road instrumentation view to the driver display and continue to use the sender display for cameras.

Since this is Show & Tell, here are some more pics from our little adventure:

I wish I knew about geology. I am fascinated by the rock formations in the Joshua Tree area. This giant boulder was very curvilinear on the outside yet one end of it sheared off so cleanly it looks like it was done by a human.

We saw an awful lot of green and what appeared to be large trees through a little canyon. We took another trail we hoped would take us there and it did. Compare the plants in the foreground with the hills in the background for an idea of how unusual this is. With an R1S to provide a sense of scale, these are seriously large trees for the desert.

Another rock which interested me, you can see that the left end is cantilevered with nothing below that side to support it.

Again, to show the size of the rock, here’s our R1S next to it.

As we pulled up to this giant rock pile which is part of a mountain, I told my husband that it looked like there was a person up there.

From a different angle and zoomed in, I was close:

Who lugged this up there, and why? It’s a bit of a mystery so I’ll just assume it’s an art installation which and adds to the general quirkiness of the high desert.

Here are some views from a ridge on a mountain we hiked to.

Some more rock formations.

Edit:typo

I scratched mine week two, tiny dent in tail gate month 6, scratched rim not sure when. Green paint marker used on all sides. Still looks darn good. One pal calls them war wounds on his and proof of actual use.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Bravo Rob. It’s an adventure vehicle, and a great one at that! I notice no rooftop tent in your pics. Are you sleeping in the truck, in tents or in motels?

This was just a day trip. We drove 2 hours and 15 minutes from Laguna Niguel to land we own near Joshua Tree so we could check on our camper. Then we continued on to grab a bite for lunch before heading to an EVgo station in Yucca Valley where we charged to 80%. From there we drove to the trail / open routes so we could explore, hike, and take pictures for about 3 hours before heading back home and arriving at 20%.

I regret that I didn’t keep track of exact times and distances but from past experience in our ICE LR3, we stopped the same number of times to refuel, spent a lot less money on the energy, and unlike the Land Rover, we kept the air conditioning on continuously from shortly after leaving home until shortly before getting back.

Speaking of energy costs, I know a lot of folks grumble about the cost of EVgo, but we could not have done this trip without the EVgo station since we don’t have our NACS adapter yet. Until EVgo opened this station in Yucca Valley, we were at the mercy of a 50kW Loop station with 2 dispensers. Early on, there was supposed to be a RAN location in this general area, but I think it got removed from the potential site map. It’s a shame because we’ve seen up to 4 Rivians charging simultaneously at this EVgo station so there seems to be decent demand with Joshua Tree National Park and Johnson Valley OHV area a short drive away.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Those features should apply to both generations, too. I know I shouldn’t necessarily make the comparison, but our 2006 LR3 let you leave breadcrumbs so you could backtrack if you need to. I’ve always used GaiaGPS for that because I like being able to see the (offline) satellite view for landmarks, too.

Yeah, I'm really hoping something with this patent comes to fruition.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Yeah, I'm really hoping something with this patent comes to fruition.

I really don’t know what Rivian is planning with the navigation. I’ve noticed that a lot of dirt roads are shown in the non-satellite view as known roads, yet the nav seems unable to recognize these roads or route along them to legit street addresses. There doesn’t seem to be any logic to the discrepancies. Both Apple Maps and Google Maps provide directions using these dirt roads which get you to a driveway for a known street address.

I find it interesting that Rivian gave us a way to provide feedback via nav which captures the types of problems people are encountering yet without a way to explain exactly what the issue is or how to correct it. I wonder if they’re just trying to gauge dissatisfaction with MapBox.

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