Rivian R1T Interior: Pros and Cons - Sandy Munro Live

[CommodoreAmiga]

Maybe the quality is so good it fooled them ??‍. If I didn’t know it was vegan leather I would’ve told you it was real leather too.

I've seen a few R1Ts in person (and sat in them). The seat material is pretty good for fake-leather, but it's still obviously fake. I immediately knew it wasn't real cow hide. I have a hard time believing that any credible "expert" wouldn't know the difference.

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[Blueassassin]

I've seen a few R1Ts in person (and sat in them). The seat material is pretty good for fake-leather, but it's still obviously fake. I immediately knew it wasn't real cow hide. I have a hard time believing that any credible "expert" wouldn't know the difference.

Exactly. I miss the real Texas edition trucks where they smelt like a dead cow.

 

[SoCalTravels]

I’ll take that video for what it’s worth. It’s content created for Rivian engineers, designers and management, not for customers like us. Their goal is to find ways to brings costs down. Many of the things they would like to change on the vehicle, I actually appreciate. I love the look of the dash. Definitely not “too busy.”

- Good video for Rivian to use for internal conversations.
- Less usual for Rivian customers. None of what they said bothered me. And from a customer perspective I actually leaned the other way on many points.

 

[jollyroger]

Looking at a couple of other of the videos, I'm not seeing tiger striping anymore, unless something about the lighting hides it.

 

[RivRev]

That was a great video. I've done woodworking, as a hobby, for decades and even tried woodbending a few times. I found the discussion of the driver's side wood piece to be fascinating. I'm a little concerned about the rough texture described for the wood surface but even more worried about that corner that was frayed. It could lead to the wood cracking over time.

Still, all in all, I'm very happy with what I've seen. This vehicle was in the 2000 range so I'm hoping Rivian makes a few fixes when they get to building my truck (probably around the 50000'th truck)

During my test drive I noticed the rough wood texture as well. It is definitely rough and doesn't seem to have any finish protective coat on it. It also is hard to even notice that it is real wood unless you get very close and touch it.
My initial thought was that using real wood was almost certainly more trouble (and cost) than it was worth.

 

[RayzorBEV]

now that's diving into the weeds, and examining the weeds' DNA. I liked what I learned but my take on Rivian's interior design, construction, materials and execution is that it's Top-shelf stuff.

Totally agreed. Between my Teala Model 3, Polarstar 2 with the optional napa leather interior, the Rivian beats out both!

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

My initial thought was that using real wood was almost certainly more trouble (and cost) than it was worth.

Lot's of vehicles use wood. It's a well-understood and established material.

 

[koersontap]

Lot's of vehicles use wood. It's a well-understood and established material.

Yeah, but to be fair, I don't see many that use the rough finish that Rivian does. Mostly I see super glossed wood that has a thicker lacquer coat than the veneer itself.

 

[R1Tom]

There was alot of opinion in this video I don't agree with. The cloth strip up center of seats looks great. The rough wood texture also looks great. I don't want it to look like a thick coat of plastic over a thin veneer of wood, like most wood in vehicles looks like. I like the content regarding how to make things better, etc... but not the I like this...I dont like that...stuff... I personally think the designers nailed it on this truck both inside and out.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Yeah, but to be fair, I don't see many that use the rough finish that Rivian does. Mostly I see super glossed wood that has a thicker lacquer coat than the veneer itself.

That is more common, I agree. Both of my current vehicles happen to have natural wood without the lacquer -- so that is not exclusive to Rivian, however.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

During my test drive I noticed the rough wood texture as well. It is definitely rough and doesn't seem to have any finish protective coat on it. It also is hard to even notice that it is real wood unless you get very close and touch it.
My initial thought was that using real wood was almost certainly more trouble (and cost) than it was worth.

Nah, it's easy to work with. It's just that odd design decision that led to some issues on the flow of the grain. Not sure about why that finish is that way but I haven't looked at it yet.

Lot's of vehicles use wood. It's a well-understood and established material.

Agreed..

Yeah, but to be fair, I don't see many that use the rough finish that Rivian does. Mostly I see super glossed wood that has a thicker lacquer coat than the veneer itself.

Yea, they poot to much polyurathane on it and make it way to shiny. There are exceptions though. Jag/LandRover and Lincoln have a very nice finish. Their wood almost looks like it was planed instead of sanded.

 

[mabowden]

Yeah, but to be fair, I don't see many that use the rough finish that Rivian does. Mostly I see super glossed wood that has a thicker lacquer coat than the veneer itself.

Agreed- After my first mile I'm not a super huge fan of how rough the wood was. I was quite surprised. Hope it is a little different with OC when it comes out

 

[kylealden]

This might be the whiniest garbage I've ever watched.

They're not whining, it's pretty clear they think it's overall excellent. They're providing an expert assessment of the tradeoffs. None of this is "Rivian is bad because the wood grain isn't perfectly symmetrical;" it's "here's how these things could affect yields, potential failure points, and cost tradeoffs."

I personally love most of the choices Rivian made in the interior (and disagree with the comments about too many materials on the dash). It makes it feel more intentional and luxurious than any other vehicle I've owned, without being stuffy or ostentatious. But it's clearly complex and expensive to build. Time will tell if these things hold Rivian's yields back and need to be simplified. (It will also be interesting to see how the Explore trim compares in terms of complexity.)

 

[kylealden]

They made a complaint about chrome on the dash trim. I can't think of a car at this price point or higher that doesn't have chrome somewhere in the dash area as an accent.

I mean, the facts that that trim piece is smudge city and introduces a source of undesirable glare are objectively true.

Source: I have one, and it's smudged and throws glare at the driver occasionally. I think it looks great, and on balance don't really mind, but it's a tradeoff.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

They made a complaint about chrome on the dash trim. I can't think of a car at this price point or higher that doesn't have chrome somewhere in the dash area as an accent.

Every one of her comments made me think SHE wants a minivan. For me, what Rivian did is better. I don’t want hard hose-me-down plastics.

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