R1T (Tri) Vs Lightning

[Donald Stanfield]

No details on the conserve mode for the ATs. I thought I saw a 350 number somewhere in my research. The Ford number is likely around 210 on the trip with my setup and in Texas. It is painful.

It's EPA rated 350 for the AT tires in all purpose mode. You should get even better than that in conserve mode as it's a tri-motor, so you'd be running on just the front motor instead of the 3. On the 22s, it's rated 370 regular and 410 conserve.

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[Rividiculous]

I think you are past the largest depreciation hit. (50%?) I'd drive it at least one more year possibly two.

Indeed. A big factor is whether you have money to spend on luxuries. The Lightening seems like a good vehicle. Like most people on this forum, I love the Rivian. It’s just a pleasure to own and drive. Lots of little things add up. But unlike now, during most of my life I didn’t have the cash to spend. (In fact, I sometimes feel a bit embarrassed to be driving such an expensive car.)

My heavily used VW Golf was a great car for me for many years. If you can comfortably afford it, go for the R1T. If it’s a stretch, enjoy the Ford a while longer and maybe spring for the Rivian when the stars align.

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

Yeah I’m missing something. I thought the question was about a range benefit. That’s not likely to be really impactful from the switch. But, give it a shot. Maybe chemistry and physics work differently down there!

 

[DayTripping]

I live in Texas and have a quad motor large pack (130 usable) R1T. I was running the Gen1 20" ATs for a while. Here is typical consumption rates. All figures are in all purpose mode. When running my 21" "range" tires, and in conserve mode, add about 5- 10%. Running in coserve mode is where it is FWD only.

80mph: ~1.6-1.7 mi/kWh (~225-230 mile range)
75mph: ~2.2 mi/kWh (~295-300 mile range)
70mph: ~2.3 mi/kWh (~305-310 mile range)

The efficiency just falls off a cliff over 75 mph as you can see. So most of the time, I just set the cruise at 75 mph on trips. Around town, I don't care.

I absolutely love my truck so far. Last pickup was a Ram 1500 turbo diesel which was awesome. This rides even better, is more comfortable, quicker and the only thing I gave up was about a foot of bed space.

You can pick up used Gen1's for a steal right now. That is what I did. A new tri motor was going to cost me almost 50k more than what I paid for my almost new 2023. Affordability wasn't the issue, but I guess I am a value shopper. So I'll admit that in some ways the Gen2 trucks are an improvement, I'd say they are maybe 10-15% for the R1T. Much greater improvements on the R1S. So I could see spending 80% more to get a 15% better truck when most of those things won't matter to me. The heat pump in Gen2 likely doesn't make that much of a difference in Texas. I have had them on 3 of my Teslas and 2 without.

Home charging will be MUCH slower for you if you go with Rivian as it is capped at 48amps but you will gain at the superchargers for sure. I gain about 24 miles of range per hour on my home 48 amp circuit and about 20 on my 40 amp. My wife always snags the 48 amp one even though her car has a tiny pack by comparison.

Honestly, in our situation it would be a tough choice since you already took the depreciation hit. I went into the EV truck buying experience with an existing reservation for a CyberTruck but after driving one I decided to bail. So I looked at all the available EV trucks and SUVs. I drove everything that I could get my hands on, new and used, that was under 120k. When the dust settled I bought a 2023 R1T quad motor with 6k miles. Now with 4k miles later, knowing what I know now, I'd do it all over again. At least until the new R1T quad motor starts shipping and I can drive one of them. I'd just have to buy it in the same interior and exterior color as my current truck and swap the wheels before it gets home, and my wife would never know.

I will say the things that put me in the Rivian camp was the driving dynamics of the truck. Put it in sport mode and it is quick and handles amazing well. Couple that with a very nice interior, decent range, cool feature like the gear tunnel, and I was sold.

Where I think the truck really lags compared to my Teslas, are the autonomous driving aids. They lag way behind here even on the Gen2 trucks. Adaptive cruise control is very well sorted and their version of autopilot (not FSD) doesn't work in as many situation as Tesla does. If on major freeways, it is well sorted. I like actually driving the truck, so that is fine with me.

 

[DevonD]

I owned a Platinum Lightning for 2 years and got my Quad R1T in September. People always ask which is better and honestly, they’re so different it’s hard to say which is “better”. Bigger, more comfortable, better storage and functionality? Lightning.
Better range, tech, UI, driving dynamics, charging, styling and a bunch of other things.. Rivian.

I was worried I would miss CarPlay but I can say I 100% don’t. I still have a 2019 F150 with CarPlay in it and I use that all the time. I prefer Rivian’s UI to CarPlay. I don’t ever use CarPlay to text so that doesn’t really factor in for me. I do sometimes miss the size of the Lightning. Especially the back seat. I also prefer the Lightnings center console and cupholder area but didn’t care for the console shifter. Don’t love the Rivian’s cupholders or lack of storage for small things up front. Yes, I know the floor is there but that’s not great.
Overall, I’m very happy with my switch from the Lighting to the R1T and would do it again. Especially to the Gen2. But if you’ve got a big family and need more room, the lightning is substantially bigger.

 

[testandinspect]

The tri range is 410 miles in conserve, so you'll be ahead. It's not a ton more efficient than the Ford though. The interior is a significant step up in the Rivian but you are paying for it. I am trading my gen 1 quad for a new tri next week. I personally think its worth it. You can listen to bluetooth music as you said or if you have apple music or tidal, stream directly from the app.

Just watched your videos . (i think). I enjoyed the camera work and Gary. Well done! You made a comment at the end of the video on the heat pump noise. I noted it in a test drive. How bad is it?

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Just watched your videos . (i think). I enjoyed the camera work and Gary. Well done! You made a comment at the end of the video on the heat pump noise. I noted it in a test drive. How bad is it?

Not my video. I don't have a YouTube channel; I prefer my privacy. With that said, the heat pump on my new Tri Max isn't any louder than my old '22 R1T. It doesn't bother me, I've heard much louder in ICE cars.

 

[jasonthepro]

I think you're right about depreciation on the Fords.

I can't speak to efficiency on the G2 R1T tri, but I can tell you my G1 Quad R1T gets about 2.4kWhr/mi, down to about 2.1 in the winter here in CO.

As for charging speeds, you should get better, but nothing like the GM products those are beasts. You should get just over 200kW until about 30% then it will drop to around 150kW until maybe 50-60%? Not sure, I don't DCFC that often.

For home charging you would drop to 11.5kW, the Rivian can only accept 48amp charging (unless this changed for G2, I don't think so).

For range, I get just under 300 miles on 100%-0% in all purpose mode, but this is going to be impacted by what battery you have and what tires you are running. Conserve mode adds another 10% or so in my quad. Again, not sure how that impacts the tri.

I do wonder if you might benefit from a different charging strategy on your trips to Austin. Where are you coming from? You'd probably do better arriving at around 5% and charging up to 30-50%, just enough to get to the next charger so that you can take advantage of faster charging speeds lower in the pack.

It is a smaller back seat, but the interior materials are much higher quality.

I don't miss Android Auto/Apple CarPlay at all. The Rivian software is MUCH better.

You can stream audio from your phone.

My phone connectivity is great, I never bring the key with me, I just use my phone. Something I couldn't do with my Mach-E.

I think you'd be happy, but if you use the bed a lot, want the larger cabin, and value charging speed the GM products are very hard to beat.

So what's more important to you?

In vehicle software, frequent OTA updates improving the vehicle, higher interior material quality, not having to deal with a dealership (Rivian)

Or

Range, charging speed, bed and interior space (GM)

I'm in CO too, I'm in the Springs.

 

[jasonthepro]

It depends if you like the cab on frame, stiffer suspension, open differentials with body roll in all directions. Or the luxury of an air suspension, suspension damping on the fly, auto lowering for stability on the highway and comprehensive warranty to 60k miles. I almost bought a lightning but a used R1T quad was much cheaper and a LOT faster lol. The best part was not having to deal with markup from a stealership and shaddy practice of selling a persons credit for the most kickback $. If you have a chance take a look at your credit report when you financed the lightning, there will be a multitude of hard credit pulls.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

It depends if you like the cab on frame, stiffer suspension, open differentials with body roll in all directions. Or the luxury of an air suspension, suspension damping on the fly, auto lowering for stability on the highway and comprehensive warranty to 60k miles. I almost bought a lightning but a used R1T quad was much cheaper and a LOT faster lol. The best part was not having to deal with markup from a stealership and shaddy practice of selling a persons credit for the most kickback $. If you have a chance take a look at your credit report when you financed the lightning, there will be a multitude of hard credit pulls.

Can you expand on what the selling your credit means? Sounds like the sort of corruption stealerships pull.

 

[foxerson]

This rides even better, is more comfortable, quicker and the only thing I gave up was about a foot of bed space.

That sums it up for me. Better in every way except for bed space.

 

[jasonthepro]

Can you expand on what the selling your credit means? Sounds like the sort of corruption stealerships pull.

From what I've heard is they'll run a persons credit with multiple banks then see who gives the most $ as a kickback for using them for the loan.

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