How Does the Dual Performane Upgrade Work? (Here's the Process & My Review)

[s0ysauce]

Appreciate the detailed review of the upgrade process an your impressions. Most of my questions were answered. How does this affect your range? Just purely looking at AP mode.

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[mpshizzle]

Appreciate the detailed review of the upgrade process an your impressions. Most of my questions were answered. How does this affect your range? Just purely looking at AP mode.

No affect on range... but there's an asterisk.

Performance Dual is rated the same EPA as standard dual. It can and will get the same range.

BUT (here's the asterisk) that's if you're not gunning it and using the extra power. That will hurt your effeciency just a little bit. But for highway cruising it's the same.

 

[s0ysauce]

Thanks, this makes it more appealing to me now. I don't drive with a lead foot, but I'm not one of those hypermilers. Knowing the range impact will be minimal when I drive normally makes me want to upgrade.

No affect on range... but there's an asterisk.

Performance Dual is rated the same EPA as standard dual. It can and will get the same range.

BUT (here's the asterisk) that's if you're not gunning it and using the extra power. That will hurt your effeciency just a little bit. But for highway cruising it's the same.

 

[RWerksman]

Thanks for the overview. I was wondering what the process actually entailed.

 

[PaythePiper]

Gotta pay to play. Or also known as paying the piper haha.

Lol! Well crap. Maybe they do a Black Friday sale ?

 

[AZMurph]

Adding another thumbs up after upgrqde. I saw the email about the 4.5 to 4.1 0-60 change before I did it, but I didn’t expect it to feel different with just general driving and it does. I previously had a Model Y Long Range with the speed boost. The Rivian now feels peppy like that in normal driving. So, I’m really happy with it.

The boost in Sport Mode is more of a party trick, but it’s an awesome trick. Wholly cow!!! I’ve owned a Model X, Model 3, Model Y and a BMW i4 (drive 40) and the feeling when you floor it in the Rivian in Sport mode tops all of those. You feel it in your face! No torque steering. It just takes off like a rocket!

 

[Andy Wallace]

Sounds cool, but probably not for me. I just wish they had a range upgrade....

 

[Gandy14]

Nice review! I would have to agree with you on everything. I was not wanting to upgrade because of the cost but I really did want to use our R1T to its full potential so I did it and totally noticed the AP peppiness as well. That was unexpected and it actually makes it more tolerable financially. Sport Mode is now used on windy roads and if I get the front at a stop light on a highway. Good Fun

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Here’s a question for you upgraders. Do you think you would have been as happy with the performance had you gotten it initially as you are now, or did driving it for some time in the lower performance mode make you appreciate it more?

I realize this question will be speculative but I’m interested in what those who’ve upgraded think about this.

 

[Gandy14]

Here’s a question for you upgraders. Do you think you would have been as happy with the performance had you gotten it initially as you are now, or did driving it for some time in the lower performance mode make you appreciate it more?

I realize this question will be speculative but I’m interested in what those who’ve upgraded think about this.

I definitely appreciate more now that I can feel the upgrade. Having got an early test drive in a Quad and then not being able to receive a dual for 15 months later I couldn't quite recall the feeling. Now after owning the dual for over a year it is noticeable with the upgrade and I have a better understanding of our R1T.
I think if Rivian gave a 7 day trial out to this it would grab some more people to upgrade

 

[MikeWilliams_R1T]

Here’s a question for you upgraders. Do you think you would have been as happy with the performance had you gotten it initially as you are now, or did driving it for some time in the lower performance mode make you appreciate it more?

I realize this question will be speculative but I’m interested in what those who’ve upgraded think about this.

I think I appreciate it more. Adding a little performance to all purpose mode helped push it over the top for me. I’ve also come to appreciate the new Rally mode on one of the TVA trails I frequent.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I think I appreciate it more. Adding a little performance to all purpose mode helped push it over the top for me. I’ve also come to appreciate the new Rally mode on one of the TVA trails I frequent.

Are there trails in the area that aren't going to destroy your Rivian? All I know of is Wind Rock park and I wouldn't take mine there.

 

[MikeWilliams_R1T]

Are there trails in the area that aren't going to destroy your Rivian? All I know of is Wind Rock park and I wouldn't take mine there.

I’m not doing anything crazy… muddy is ok, nothing too narrow and nothing that can get me in trouble. The OnX off road app has a pretty good database with descriptions and trail reports of what to expect. I mostly do easy and low end moderate (based on the OnX database). There are a lot of options around here.

I have a place in Maynardville near Norris. There is a trail at the end of the street that goes into TVA unimproved land.

Many of those TVA trails are wide enough for a full size truck some even have some gravel but there are a few ruts and mud holes to pass through.

One clearly marked easy off road in the area is Parsons Branch Rd. It’s a 6 mile branch off Cades Cove that exits onto the Dragon. I’ve done that trail many times. Put the suspension in high and leave it in all purpose is just fine.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I’m not doing anything crazy… muddy is ok, nothing too narrow and nothing that can get me in trouble. The OnX off road app has a pretty good database with descriptions and trail reports of what to expect. I mostly do easy and low end moderate (based on the OnX database). There are a lot of options around here.

I have a place in Maynardville near Norris. There is a trail at the end of the street that goes into TVA unimproved land.

Many of those TVA trails are wide enough for a full size truck some even have some gravel but there are a few ruts and mud holes to pass through.

One clearly marked easy off road in the area is Parsons Branch Rd. It’s a 6 mile branch off Cades Cove that exits onto the Dragon. I’ve done that trail many times. Put the suspension in high and leave it in all purpose is just fine.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[woodcan]

There's been a few threads started documenting people who have done the dual performance upgrade, and their thoughts on it. But thus far, nobody has shown the process or how it works. So I figured I'd screen record and show you all here!

Before the Upgrade
I did some 0-60 tests using a drag race timer app to see if I could get a before. That was the biggest waste of time EVER. The app told me my 0-60 was anywhere from 3 seconds to 6, topping out at 93.... Which was not the case. So..... yeah.

What I can say that AP Standard height, normal stability didn't feel any different from AP Low height reduced stability.

Buying the Upgrade
Finding the upgrade feels a little half baked to me. The "upgrades" section on the infotainment screen is very clearly designed to house upgrades like this. But as of right now, only connect + shows in there. The only way to get to the upgrade right now is by going to Manage Account -> Upgrades on the app. VERY buried and unintuitive. The only reason I knew to go there was from the email Rivian sent out about the upgrade. Once there, it was an easy enough process

Installing the Upgrade
You may have noticed that at the end of the screen recording that it said the upgrade would be available within 24 hours. I also got an email at that point saying the same. I was surprised to see that it actually requires software to be downloaded and installed. I figured the software was already there, but it would just besome sort of vehicle restart to enable it. But not the case. Fortunately when I went to the software update screen it was already there. Of note, I was sitting in the vehicle, away from wifi the entire time. No sleep or wifi required to queue up the update.

I pushed install immediately, because patience is my number one virtue . After about 5 minutes, the vehicle rebooted and I was greeted with this:

And that was it! Very easy and fast!

My Thoughts on the Upgrade
Even though all of my "scientific" 0-60 measurements failed miserably, I didn't need the numbers to feel the difference.
The first thing I noticed was in All Purpose mode. It was IMMEDIATELY noticeable that it was a bit peppier. Not a mindblowing, shocking difference. But even so immediately noticeable. So I can definitively say AP is NOT the same between Standard and Performance (also confirmed via an email from Rivian)

What WAS shocking, though was sport mode. WOW... Insane how much more power got unlocked from the same motors that were already there. When taking @cpucrazy (who has both a dual and a quad at home) for a spin, his words were "That feels like the quad!" Obviously, the quad (and tri) are still faster, but as far as the feeling of acceleration, it doesn't feel far off from those when you launch.

Where I did notice a bit more of a difference from the tri/quad is on the freeway. It was noticeably quicker at highway speed, both in AP and in sport, but still not to the level of tri/quad.

So overall I'm VERY happy with the new, unlocked performance. Even if I'm not in sport mode it makes a difference. But I will definitely use sport mode a fair bit. This upgrade is not for everyone, but for those that want it, it's spectacular.

As a side note, for those comparing to Tesla's "acceleration boost": The difference in performance of AP before an after is more ore less equal to what acceleration boost does. The difference in performance between Standard AP and Sport is FAR beyond "acceleration boost".

Other side note - I appreciated that in ALL of the GFX shown thorught the process, both on the phone and in the vehicle matched my actual R1S



---------EDIT-------------
I forgot to add - there is an interesting thing I noticed on the "About" screen post upgrade. Instead of saying R1S Performance Dual Max, it still just says "R1S Dual Max". Then at the bottom of the about screen it shows performance as an upgrade.

Curious if anyone with a factory optioned Performance Dual can confirm - did they change how it's displayed on yours now, to show like this? Or is your screen the same as before and they're differentiating between vehicles that got the software from the factory vs later upgrades. If that's the case, that would be interesting indeed, given that there are no physical differences.

Out of curiosity, just watched your video of the purchase, did they not charge tax on the upgrade?

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