Honest Opinion From Current Owners? - Re: R1S

[9527]

I’d not get a Rivian if I were you just because the SC is 5 hours away. Even if the R2 is available to you now. It’s all about peace of mind.

I couldn’t really think of any non-Tesla that can go 225 miles in 10F weather. Maybe a Lucid Air? But it also has its own share of issues. And Lucid SC are even more scarce.

I’d stick with a Tesla.

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[mudito]

I test drove a R1S in Austin. While the cabin itself was quiet, the car was loud when standing outside. Which was surprising for an EV. The show room guy said something about AC was loud?

I was surprised to hear such a loud motor in an EV. Anyone else notice it?

YES, there was a Service Bulletin to relocate brackets and other stuff (is around the forum if you want to search for it) and I might have been one of the first to get it done. The change is night and day.

My wife has a Model 3 and now the outside noise is on par with my R1T

 

[mpshizzle]

If you go for a gen 1 (2022-2024) you'll see a bit better reliability and slightly worse efficiency in the winter due to the LACK OF heat pump (You'll probably want dual motor to get the range you're looking for).

If you get a gen 2 (2025) you'll see more bugs and glitches as it's a new platform. But it will get better over time. I own a 2025 and it definitely has some minor glitchiness. But nothing major for me personally.

Keep in mind that it seems like a lot of people on here complaining about reliability. But this is where people go for problems. Rivian is CERTAINLY no Toyota, but for every owner you see complaining loudly here, there are probably 100 more living happily with their rivians not on this site.

Frustrating that there is no alternative to Tesla and Musk.

Genuine curiosity here. What is the importance of this? If the answer is political, this is not the place for that discussion. Just genuinely curious

**EDIT**
Gen 1 does NOT have a heat pump

 

[Dmroc]

If you go for a gen 1 (2022-2024) you'll see a bit better reliability and slightly worse efficiency in the winter due to the heat pump (You'll probably want dual motor to get the range you're looking for).

If you get a gen 2 (2025) you'll see more bugs and glitches as it's a new platform. But it will get better over time. I own a 2025 and it definitely has some minor glitchiness. But nothing major for me personally.

Keep in mind that it seems like a lot of people on here complaining about reliability. But this is where people go for problems. Rivian is CERTAINLY no Toyota, but for every owner you see complaining loudly here, there are probably 100 more living happily with their rivians not on this site.



Genuine curiosity here. What is the importance of this? If the answer is political, this is not the place for that discussion. Just genuinely curious

Not political.

 

[KBabione]

August 2023 R1S buyer here. I think your idea to buy used is a good one - If there were any issues then they would have been handled by the original buyer. We've had ours for exactly 14 months today and we did have one service issue (HVAC). Our service center is 2 hours away and it couldn't be done with mobile service. You'll need to find someone locally who can rotate your tires and just be prepared that if you need significant service then you'll be looking at losing two days (they'll keep it for days) to get it there and pick it up. I get it if that's a deal breaker. Feel lucky?

You say your commute is 180 miles daily - that's easily done even with a Quad in AP mode (we have a max range of 273 with our 20" AT's if we charge to 100%). What's the extra 45 miles (you said 225) for? If it's "just in case" then again you'd be fine running your battery down to single digits occasionally, but if you really need 225 daily you'd want to look at a dual-motor and you should be okay charging to 85% every day. Mostly highway would allow you to use conserve mode with a Quad which would give you enough range. It's such a comfortable ride - it would make your commute really pleasurable and you won't have to worry about the snow. The other thing with snow is that you'll slow down and that will help extend your range considerably.

In an ideal world you'd find one on Turo to try for a day or borrow one from someone as a proof of concept. Once you knew it worked you'd only have to work out the service concern. Good luck!

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

Hi
I currently own a model Y with 142,000 miles on it. I commute daily 180 miles, mainly in highways. I live in upper NY where it snows and there can be snow squalls when driving in the winter, highway maintenance crews can't keep up with the 1-2 feet of snow falling rapidly. My Y works but I run in to range issues in the winter. Also I am looking for a Musk alternative. I am on the wait list for R2, so another 2 years before I get my hands on it.

R1S with Max Pack would be my suggestion for a 180mi daily commute with winter temps and weather.

We do not have a local service center, nearest one is 5 hours away. How reliable are the R1Ss? I see so many negative comments and people selling their R1S due to poor construction and support.

This will be the biggest challenge. Some folks have had zero issues but others have. They are a new brand and Gen2 is a brand new architecture so there are bound to be some teething issues.

Rivian has mobile service but they are limited in the types of issues they can address.

If the distance or wait time for service appointment might be an issue then it may not be a good choice for your needs. I’m being totally honest here. Patience is still required for service appts.

Please be honest. Would you recommend a used R1S 2023 for my purpose? Range [need 225 miles on a single charge at temps in the low 10s], reliability and support if needed.
A 2023 is a good choice also with the large or max pack. 225 daily in the winter might be a challenge. It’s best for the battery to avoid discharging below 20% or charging above 80% daily.

If you precondition the battery in the winter and can average 2 mi per kWh you should be able to get 150ish miles out of it between 20-80% soc.


Thanks.

Responses in bold inline

 

[krb1183]

2025 R1S dual motor max pack. I picked up mid-august and will bring it up for it's second service appt the beginning of November. I love the vehicle and expect a few glitches here and there, but it's still annoying to me that i have to drive 2 hours to bring it up for service when they can't service my issues with mobile. I personally would not get the vehicle is i was 5 hours from a SC. Just my honest opinion, but it depends how much you mind doing that drive if you need to. hah. My latest issue was i had the car plugged in to my home wall charger, showed a friend my halloween costumes quickly, came out the next morning to unplug and close charge door, and my charge door is broken/disconnected from the mechanism so it wont actuate or stay closed. I can only assume that it tried to force close automatically when i activated halloween costumes and broke. but i was on the opposite side of the vehicle and didn't think about it. It was also weird because when i came out the next morning it had stopped charging so wasn't back to full.

 

[mudito]

@Electrified Outdoors Not a person of words, huh?

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

Two real factors. 1. Range at 10 deg. of 250 miles, necessitates a Max Pack Battery. 2. Service Center is 5 hours away.

We own both an R1T (52,000 miles) and an R1S (10,000 miles). Ordered both at the LA Auto Show in Dec. 2018. My R1T had some teething issues early on (minor), but has been flawless for 40,000+ miles and I tow, drive long distances and off road. The R1S has been perfect, period.

If you can find a used Max Pack battery R1S, it will meet all of your needs, otherwise you should gut it out with the Model Y or get the new Porsche Macan EV. It will 100% meet your needs.

 

[Mellowyellow]

@Electrified Outdoors Not a person of words, huh?

If you expand his replies are all there

 

[jambaman84]

Hi
I currently own a model Y with 142,000 miles on it. I commute daily 180 miles, mainly in highways. I live in upper NY where it snows and there can be snow squalls when driving in the winter, highway maintenance crews can't keep up with the 1-2 feet of snow falling rapidly. My Y works but I run in to range issues in the winter. Also I am looking for a Musk alternative. I am on the wait list for R2, so another 2 years before I get my hands on it.

We do not have a local service center, nearest one is 5 hours away. How reliable are the R1Ss? I see so many negative comments and people selling their R1S due to poor construction and support.

Please be honest. Would you recommend a used R1S 2023 for my purpose? Range [need 225 miles on a single charge at temps in the low 10s], reliability and support if needed.

Thanks.

We had a Model Y and ended up selling it to buy a R1S. It was the best decision we made. Reliability wise, we've had a few issues, but nothing major. It was mostly wind noise that wouldn't' go away and some rattles that they had to fix. If you are worried about range, I would highly recommend going dual motor MAX pack. We have the quad motor, while we love it.. the speed and acceleration is something that we don't really use that often (my wife drives the R1S). We are very happy with our R1S. I think you'd enjoy it as well. But the 5 hour drive to a service center is also terrifying. Mine is 1 hour away and I dread going there to drop off the vehicle to get it fixed.

 

[Jonger1150]

Yes, unfortunately not enough range.. only options with longer range is Lucid, Rivian, then Tesla.

Charging from home a 180 mile round trip commute will be doable all year.

The Scout unveiling tomorrow might give you a second option and it will almost certainly be using Rivian Software.

Not sure who's servicing that, it's a VW Group brand.

 

[mkg3]

Have you considered Kia EV9 or Ford Mach-E? Both have large discounts and meets your range requirements. New Mach-E comes with the heat pump so it will be much better in the winter range.

I own 2023 R1S and if I was looking today, probably would not buy R1S. Might see how R2 is but not available for awhile. Fundamentally, R1 is a too much of a truck for our needs. It's built on frame rather than the unitized body and drives like a truck and is too heavy in its feel. Our use case is much more in line with what R2 will be than R1 today. We only got it because my wife liked the looks of the vehicle.

When we are ready to replace the R1 in couple of years, there will be lot more options including R2, electric Range Rover, Wagoneer S, and so on....

 

[NY_Rob]

If you do go with a Rivian, try to get one with 20" wheels as there are a great many winter tires available for that size wheels compared to the other Rivian wheel sizes. Check it out on Tirerack beforehand.

 

[Dmroc]

If you do go with a Rivian, try to get one with 20" wheels as there are a great many winter tires available for that size wheels compared to the other Rivian wheel sizes. Check it out on Tirerack beforehand.

Thanks Rob.

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