Test drove gen 2 R1S today (PDM, Max) -- Initial Pros & Cons Review

[Cactus]

I’m really starting to think people just don’t know how to use a car air conditioner. I had three Teslas. Two with heat pumps and one without. The air conditioner and heat were faster in the non heat pump model 3 but I’d say I noticed more of a difference with the heat.
My R1T has the coldest a/c I have ever had. I could chill wine in my vehicle. I have preconditioned my truck a couple times and it was 46 inside while it was 85 outside.
Are you not putting in on the lowest setting to cool things? Turning the seat ventilation on? Do you precondition? Use a sun visor in the windshield or roof? I have zero issues with my vehicles in the summer and I go to Arizona where it’s 116°.

I live in Phx and had to sell my R1S last year, mainly due to AC problems. The vehicle's AC just never got cool (certainly not cold), even with pre-conditioning. All my other vehicles cool reasonably well in 116°F heat. Maybe the electrochromatic roof will help in the new gen 2 R1 vehicles. Rivian also put the center vent below the display which is the wrong location. Vents should be higher on the dash. Look at vent location on almost every other vehicle; they are not low on the dash.

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[AlpMan]

Thanks very much for the detailed review. I'm wondering if you are familiar with the suspension "clunk" that many of us have on our 1st Gen vehicles where it just feels / sounds like there is something loose especially when traveling at slows speeds over not so perfect road. Does it still exist in the revised design?

 

[Eric9610]

I live in Phx and had to sell my R1S last year, mainly due to AC problems. The vehicle's AC just never got cool (certainly not cold), even with pre-conditioning. All my other vehicles cool reasonably well in 116°F heat. Maybe the electrochromatic roof will help in the new gen 2 R1 vehicles. Rivian also put the center vent below the display which is the wrong location. Vents should be higher on the dash. Look at vent location on almost every other vehicle; they are not low on the dash.

I agree on the vent location. I really wish they mounted them on the top!

 

[Dataport]

Thanks for the review and responses. Any word on improvements to the third row access/2nd row movement for access?

 

[Hillbilly]

No motor whine, what the hell?1?!! I actually love the motor whine in my truck as do anyone that has ridden in it. Often saying it sounds like a jet spooling up, why would they take out a part of its personality.

Other than at&t connectivity (fuck at&t) it's my main complaint. It's like extra tinnitis.

 

[evhelphub]

Thanks everyone for the questions. Hopefully I got them all below, but If i missed yours please quote me and re-ask.

Curious what you thought in terms of upgrade value for the money for current owners.

I have a < 1yo R1S Quad. Range is a big deal for us so 360mi or 410mi would be nice. I can't see paying the $40k it would cost to get a Gen2 Quad but I'm not rock crawling, just family of 5 hauling so curious about updating to a Dual Large which is more like $20k extra. It's still a gut hit of an extra cost for that range. Watching the videos it seems like an improved vehicle, granted if I paid for all the options mine came with, it would add another big chunk of cost.

Anyone know how much faster the new one charges ? Now THAT would be nice update.

I would not pay to upgrade unless there's something you really don't like about gen 1. It's a more polished vehicle, yes, but not worth tens of thousands of dollars of lost value.

The new Standard pack will charge slightly faster (240 kW). The large and max packs are supposed to have the same top-end charging speed (220 kW).

Large and max packs could have improved charging curves, but I haven't heard anything to support that, other than Rivian did rework the battery-related components and thermal systems. AFAIK, they aren't advertising anything related to charging changes.

No motor whine, what the hell?1?!! I actually love the motor whine in my truck as do anyone that has ridden in it. Often saying it sounds like a jet spooling up, why would they take out a part of its personality.

I hear you, but I have sensory things and constant whiny noises really bug me. I also often hear sounds that others can't. In this case, it seems most can hear the original quad motors and I found it to be quite bothersome. It's one of the things I really didn't like about the truck.

I do appreciate a good electric motor spooling up when giving it the juice, but not in day-to-day driving. Regardless, if you are someone who was bothered by this noise, and clearly Rivian thought it was an issue, you'll be much happier with gen 2.

any improvements in the dash wind noise? it's almost worth jumping to another vehicle ... very annoying interstate driving it's so loud

We did not go out on the interstate, so I can't comment on this. I think I hit maybe 50 mph and can only say I didn't hear any rattles and outside noise was very muted, even sitting next to a very loud city bus at one point.

Can you expand on why the electrochromic roof was great?

Thanks for asking. I have the same question. Did it block the heat? What did you like most about it?

I just don't think the glass roof blocks enough on its own. I live in a very hot climate and being able to reduce the sun's glare with a quick touch of a button is ideal. Not to mention the very weak AC system and anything that can reduce out heat will be worth it.

Tesla has gotten better, but now the glass is so dark you almost can't see anything anymore. What's the point? I believe the electrochromic roof will be the best of both worlds. You can have light come in when you want, block it when you don't want it. I think the solution would be better than a tint for this reason.

My R1S test vehicle didn't have the feature, but the showroom model did. It's certainly not the brightest area, but it basically blocks a significant amount of light. The roof looks like a dense cloud when its activated.

Here's some information about electrochromic glass and its impact on air conditioning needs, as well as blocking the sun: https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanostructured-glass-controls-light-and-reduces-energy-costs

It will depend on exactly what Rivian implemented here, but this seems to be a known effective technology.

Thanks very much for the detailed review. I'm wondering if you are familiar with the suspension "clunk" that many of us have on our 1st Gen vehicles where it just feels / sounds like there is something loose especially when traveling at slows speeds over not so perfect road. Does it still exist in the revised design?

Yes, very familiar with it, and one of the reasons I sold my truck. I don't want to say this has been fixed with absolute certainty. It can take a few miles thousand miles to develop.

What I will say is that the suspension did not make any noise at all during my test drive, knocks or squeaks like my '22 R1T had. While the setting I test drove in was too bouncy for my liking, it was otherwise perfectly fine. I did try to listen and specifically look out for these noises.

One thing I forgot to add is on regen braking. It's also very refined and incredibly smooth. So smooth in fact, I didn't remember to call it out. I was pretty happy with gen 1 regen though.

 

[AlpMan]

Awesome, thank you for the answer. The suspension sounds are actually the reason I sold my R1T as well but really want to get back into a Rivian. I saw someone comment here that Denver (my SC) has a Gen2 demo so I think I am gonna try to get a ride in that and if all good pull the trigger on a Gen2 R1S.

 

[evhelphub]

Awesome, thank you for the answer. The suspension sounds are actually the reason I sold my R1T as well but really want to get back into a Rivian. I saw someone comment here that Denver (my SC) has a Gen2 demo so I think I am gonna try to get a ride in that and if all good pull the trigger on a Gen2 R1S.

No problem. I am hoping those crazy suspension issues are behind us. I was always afraid something would break apart eventually. Let me know what you think once you test drive.

 

[natedogg]

With the move to Gen 2, do we know if moving to the heat pump has fixed the compressor noise when running in hot climates?

re: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...knowledges-r1s-ac-noise-problem.16133/page-20

 

[Electron]

For me the camera is the biggest upgrade. Gen 1 cameras are garbage, and the dash cam is border line useless. I still ran a regular dash cam to capture license plates in case I had an accident. With Gen 2 the 4k cameras should provide good enough clarity to actually not need a 3rd party dash cam.

Same story with Teslas. HW3 was terrible, a complete joke like 90s flip phone quality, then HW4 with the 5.0MP came out and it was a breath of fresh air.

Other than at&t connectivity (fuck at&t) it's my main complaint. It's like extra tinnitis.

LOL crApT&T. Dropped calls and horrible it remains. They still have issues and just recently an issue with their customers not being able to make calls.

I hate that Tesla uses them too. I have to use Waze on my phone with T-Mobile when driving through rural areas, because the darn map won't even load on the display in the car. It's so annoying.

 

[Dataport]

@evhelphub thanks again. Any changes/improvements to the third row access?

 

[strykerwsu]

not everyone, but the majority agree it’s a subpar sound system. Perhaps the R1T is better since it’s has much less room to fill with sound? (I have no experience with it); the R1S isn’t great though.

I have both. R1T is Meridian and excellent. I like more bass but for most people it is perfect for clarity and overall I'm really happy with it.

R1S is Rivian house speakers and is really bad. Never heard a Meridian R1S so can't compare, but was really surprised how bad the R1S is compared to R1T. I'm going to have to upgrade it eventually when my wife isn't looking.

 

[Jared2]

Thank you for this.

The two points that stood out were the smaller frunk and the new sound system.

Do you happen to know what the cubic feet is for the new frunk? The Gen 1 is 11.1 cubic feet if I recall. The new Gen 2 being smaller is a bummer and hope that it's not too significant. The frunk storage space is really important for a lot of folks.

My son and I can put 2 full sets of golf clubs, bags, shoes, etc in the frunk. This is a major selling point to me. We take the drivers out of the bags as it’s about 1” too narrow with them in the bags.

will this still be possible with the smaller frunk? Did the make it smaller side to side?

 

[Electron]

My son and I can put 2 full sets of golf clubs, bags, shoes, etc in the frunk. This is a major selling point to me. We take the drivers out of the bags as it’s about 1” too narrow with them in the bags.

will this still be possible with the smaller frunk? Did the make it smaller side to side?

I completely understand. Normally I have my golf bag with me so I'll add this to the list along with the strollers to test fit.

 

[Mathington]

Wassymn comfirmed in Kyle video that the infotainment computer is the same as gen 1

Interesting Do you happen to have the timestamp for that part of the video? I have watched the video twice but don’t remember any mention of the infotainment computer being the same. I thought all the computer(including the infotainment) was new and much much faster. This also contributes to the much improved reduction in phantom drain.

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