My new R1S: First thoughts

[RivRohr]

Got my new R1S LA Silver right before Xmas. Never test drove, never sat in one. I guess I was going on faith. Love the looks features, etc. I have a Tesla Model Y, so this is so much larger. Plenty of 3rd row space, I am 5’9”. The frunk is enormous. Taking a bit to get used to the controls as opposed to my Model Y. The 3 downsides so far, the Bluetooth to open is a bit slow at times, the ride is much rougher that I would have thought, and lastly the charging network. For the ride I have settled on 1 height higher than the lowest in efficient mode. I went out of town to Philly for the week and needed to charge before heading home. Went to a mall with 4 chargers, Electrify America. 1 not working, other 3 in use, with 3 other people waiting. Went back to the hotel. Signed up for the. $7/month plan with EA. Went back at 6am, same location, all 3 in use again! Luckily, the one person left a couple minutes later. I pull in to the spot, it’s drizzling out, plug in, go thru the screens, EA app not working, need to pull on my credit card. Amex fails…unplug, replug, use my other cc, it works. Charging starts at 25kw, oh boy…this could be long. About 10-15 min later is gets up to 120kw and the session ends up not that bad. Drive home, recharge to full in prep for trip to Maine. Look up chargers where I normally stop with my Tesla. 6 chargers, 200kw, great. Read the reviews, 2 down, long lines for others, that barely get up to rated output. I drive the Tesla with no issues. I cannot wait till this spring when I we can use the Tesla supercharger network, though somewhat concerned with how many non Tesla users will swarm the network. Should be interesting. The two networks are night and day different. Sorry for the extended thread, just wanted to share my experience as we move into an EV world. I remind myself that when the horseless carriage started there probably were not a lot of gas stations around…yet here we are.

Sponsored

 

[Supratachophobia]

Got my new R1S LA Silver right before Xmas. Never test drove, never sat in one. I guess I was going on faith. Love the looks features, etc. I have a Tesla Model Y, so this is so much larger. Plenty of 3rd row space, I am 5’9”. The frunk is enormous. Taking a bit to get used to the controls as opposed to my Model Y. The 3 downsides so far, the Bluetooth to open is a bit slow at times, the ride is much rougher that I would have thought, and lastly the charging network. For the ride I have settled on 1 height higher than the lowest in efficient mode. I went out of town to Philly for the week and needed to charge before heading home. Went to a mall with 4 chargers, Electrify America. 1 not working, other 3 in use, with 3 other people waiting. Went back to the hotel. Signed up for the. $7/month plan with EA. Went back at 6am, same location, all 3 in use again! Luckily, the one person left a couple minutes later. I pull in to the spot, it’s drizzling out, plug in, go thru the screens, EA app not working, need to pull on my credit card. Amex fails…unplug, replug, use my other cc, it works. Charging starts at 25kw, oh boy…this could be long. About 10-15 min later is gets up to 120kw and the session ends up not that bad. Drive home, recharge to full in prep for trip to Maine. Look up chargers where I normally stop with my Tesla. 6 chargers, 200kw, great. Read the reviews, 2 down, long lines for others, that barely get up to rated output. I drive the Tesla with no issues. I cannot wait till this spring when I we can use the Tesla supercharger network, though somewhat concerned with how many non Tesla users will swarm the network. Should be interesting. The two networks are night and day different. Sorry for the extended thread, just wanted to share my experience as we move into an EV world. I remind myself that when the horseless carriage started there probably were not a lot of gas stations around…yet here we are.

The supercharger network is the moat that protects the Tesla castle.

 

[Surferdude]

Coming from a Y and saying the ride is rough is very disappointing. This is my biggest concern never having been able to test drive one yet. I thought the entry system has been vastly improved according to posts I've read.

 

[RivRohr]

Coming from a Y and saying the ride is rough is very disappointing. This is my biggest concern never having been able to test drive one yet. I thought the entry system has been vastly improved according to posts I've read.

the Model Y is no Cadillac ride for sure, but I did notice a difference.

 

[srjinatl]

the Model Y is no Cadillac ride for sure, but I did notice a difference.

Did you think that the R1S rode rougher than your Y? Curious - what are the specs on the R1S that you purchased? So far I have test driven and then test rode in 2 R1S's but both were quad motor variants - and that is not what I would likely order assuming I end up purchasing one.

 

[tate16t]

I own both a Model Y performance and R1S quad. The R1S is better in every way except for infotainment/software.

 

[ElGuapo]

I also have a Y and do not think the ride in my R1S is rougher. It may even be smoother in my R1S and I have 20” ATs. My kids and my wife have all remarked the R1S is “less bumpy”. That said, keep in mind the Y is built on a car frame. Totally different type of car.

Now, our X is a much smoother ride, but I would expect that to be the case.

 

[Jabbahop]

the Model Y is no Cadillac ride for sure, but I did notice a difference.

interesting. We had a 2021 Model S with 19” wheels and it was rougher riding @ slow speed than our R1T (20” wheels) but smoother @ high speed. Not sure what to expect from the R1S (trading the truck) but hope it isn’t much different in terms of ride.

 

[dradam]

Got my silver R1 S on November 3. The ride is a bit more boxy than my Lexus LX 470 but I’ll tell you with every drive. It gets more comfortable and more easy. I can’t imagine ever going back to a gasoline vehicle. Super excited that the superchargers will be available to all. That will be a game changer. Good luck to you.

 

[RivRohr]

I have the quad motor R1S version, the ride is rougher. It’s strange that the sounds are very rough, though that does not always translate into ‘feeling’ the bumps. I don’t see how anyone would say the ride is smooth, that is definitely not the case. Maybe my settings are off, but I don’t think so. Let’s just say this, my son noticed it too while riding in the car right after we picked it up. He has zero skin in the game, outside of the fact that he and he twin brother are getting the Model Y next week when they turn 17.

 

[DuoRivians]

MY ride is horrible versus the R1. I have both

 

[SANZC02]

interesting. We had a 2021 Model S with 19” wheels and it was rougher riding @ slow speed than our R1T (20” wheels) but smoother @ high speed. Not sure what to expect from the R1S (trading the truck) but hope it isn’t much different in terms of ride.

I have a Model S with 19s without air suspension and an R1S with 22s. I will be curious to try the new middle setting coming out in the next update.

Overall I use All Purpose on the R1S when I drive in standard height and go between soft and hard suspension settings. In general the R1S jounces around a lot more on parking lot approaches and squats more when accelerating but once on the road and driving it is pretty comparable to the Model S ride at least for me.

Where I find the Model S to be better is the acceleration and throttle response are much smoother than the R1S.

 

[ljx83]

I do notice the roughness is more at low city speeds and is more cabin noise than road feel. It almost feels like the entire car vibrates or resonates at certain speeds.

I test rode with the SC and they acknowledged the issue as due to the 22s. Which seems odd since I am not the only one with 22s riding around.

interesting. We had a 2021 Model S with 19” wheels and it was rougher riding @ slow speed than our R1T (20” wheels) but smoother @ high speed. Not sure what to expect from the R1S (trading the truck) but hope it isn’t much different in terms of ride.

I have the quad motor R1S version, the ride is rougher. It’s strange that the sounds are very rough, though that does not always translate into ‘feeling’ the bumps. I don’t see how anyone would say the ride is smooth, that is definitely not the case. Maybe my settings are off, but I don’t think so. Let’s just say this, my son noticed it too while riding in the car right after we picked it up. He has zero skin in the game, outside of the fact that he and he twin brother are getting the Model Y next week when they turn 17.

 

[NY_Rob]

I had a Model Y for a full year and sold it to buy my R1T (which I've now had for one full year).

IMO, the R1T has a much nicer ride quality than the Model Y. I can't compare the Model Y to an R1S as I've never driven an R1S.

Sponsored