Traded in my R1T for an F150 Lightning

[Scoiatael]

tldr; Both are awesome trucks. If you don't need the extra cabin space, R1T is the better truck.

After having another child a few months ago, it became pretty apparent that the back seat of the R1T was not sufficient for our family anymore. With the newest discounts for the F150 Lightning coming back, I decided to jump on the opportunity. We still plan on leasing an R1S for my wife once the standard+ batteries go into production.

Below are a few of my thoughts after having both trucks.

Software:
Win for Rivian here, really no comparison. Ford's software isn't as bad as people have made it seem. Its completely workable. Android Auto is great, and puts Ford ahead when it comes to navigation and being able to use texting while driving. Overall though Rivian puts out updates quicker, and is actively improving their vehicles. Losing gear guard is the biggest thing I'm going to miss. I was already using a Garmin dash cam in my R1T, because the R1T has potato cameras, and I will be using the same one for the Lightning once my new mount is delivered.

Driving:
The Lightning is quieter than the R1T, and drives more smoothly on smooth roads. When it comes to medium/large bumps, R1T handles those a lot better. The Lightning bounces around quite a bit when you hit a big bump. The R1T drives like a big sports car, and the Lightning feels like a full sized truck. The throttle mapping on the Lightning is nice, but I prefer the R1T's regeneration.

Interior:
This is the main reason I switched. The Lightning has a huge interior. There is so much space in the back seat now with 2 car seats. My wife can sit comfortably in the back to watch the baby on long drives. Folding up the seats and having a huge flat storage area is great too. There is also so much internal storage. There are 2 glove boxes, and the center console is twice the size of the R1T's. Plus there are 5 cup holders on the center console, and cup holders on each door. Lack of storage and cup holders was one of my main complaints about the R1T. In terms of the screens, they are both good. I don't have a preferences either way.

Driver+ vs Bluecruise:
I've used Bluecruise on quite a few drives now. It is almost equal to Driver+ at the moment. I still hold onto the wheel when using it, so the hands free option doesn't really apply. Bluecruise 1.3 is supposed to be pushed to Lightning's soon, and is supposed to be much improved. I've found Bluecruise has trouble on the same roads that Driver+ had, and worked the same on other roads. The only advantage Driver+ has is it handles cars merging much better. Bluecruise doesn't really seem to care if a car is merging and I had to press on the bake. The one advantage the Lightning has is copilot 360 works on unmapped roads. Pretty much everything is mapped around me, so I haven't really used it yet. Driver+ has much better visualization of what it sees. Bluecruise just has a small truck showing a car in front of you. I prefer the Rivian/Tesla visualization that gives you an idea of what the truck is seeing.

Storage:
The Lightning has a nice frunk, but combining the R1T's frunk with the gear tunnel pretty much makes that a tie. In terms of bed space, I don't necessarily need a bigger bed. Having the powered tonneau was nice on my R1T. I'm getting a lomax trifold for my Lightning. It won't be as secure, as the R1Ts bed, but will likely be slightly more water resistant.

Overall I will miss my R1T, but the Lightning is more practical for our family.

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[CharonPDX]

On the "quieter/smoother" - which wheels/tires did you have on the Rivian, and which do you have on the Ford? Those could make the difference.

Yeah, the Lightning has a few things I would have loved to have -a rear seat that folds up rearward instead of forward; 240V in the bed; lower load height front trunk access. But with my kids grown, the dog is the primary user of the back seat, and the gear tunnel more than makes up for the frunk size mismatch. The extra foot of bed length would have been nice once or twice, but the smaller bed has never truly prevented me from doing anything. (The load-bearing tailgate has helped there.)

Heck, I put in a deposit on the Lightning during the launch event - if their dealer round-robin distribution system hadn't been so terribly broken, I might have had the Lightning instead of my Rivian. (I had preorders for both, plus the Cybertruck - figured I'd take possession of the first two to ship and decide which to keep. CT went out of the running when it was clear it would be the last to deliver; I *SHOULD* have gotten the Ford first, but they screwed my dealer. By the time I could even lock down my order, Ford had increased the price so that the cheapest Extended Range no longer qualified for the tax credit. I already had my Rivian for 4 months by that point, so I just cancelled my Lightning deposit. If they'd been willing to sell me a Pro Extended range for $50k? I almost certainly would have sold the Rivian and kept the Lightning.)

 

[sd250]

@Scoiatael , great write up!

Agree with pretty much everything. Personally I find Bluecruise works better than than Driver+ on long highway drives, but Driver+ does a better job handling merging cars and also with stop and go traffic.

 

[MGA]

Many people can't understand one simple thing: if you don't buy a product from a promising new American startup and instead overthink every minor sh&t and weigh them with apothecary scale, then this or any other startup will not survive and you will be left with less competition and foreign cars and old sh&8ty OEMs, which can't compete with foreign cars worldwide. Of course, a startup typically has a not fully baked product and some drawbacks, but for the first 3-5 years it has right on mistakes.

 

[Tr4ckD4ys]

Out of curiosity what was the MSRP on your R1T and what did you get for your trade-in? How many miles did it have on it?

 

[Supratachophobia]

Many people can't understand one simple thing: if you don't buy a product from a promising new American startup and instead overthink every minor sh&t and weigh them with apothecary scale, then this or any other startup will not survive and you will be left with less competition and foreign cars and old sh&8ty OEMs, which can't compete with foreign cars worldwide. Of course, a startup typically has a not fully baked product and some drawbacks, but for the first 3-5 years it has right on mistakes.

Wait, whut?

This has been every startups Achilles heel, spending customer goodwill for a premature to market product. This whole software design mentaily that "we'll just fix it with an update later" doesn't sit well with device users, and even less so with 3 ton killing machine operators.

Sure there's grace to be given if you are so inclined, but it's not mandatory. You traded money for a good&services as advertised. The end user isn't setting the expectations, the manufacturer is. When they fall short, you can't blame the consumer.

 

[moosetags]

We put a deposit on our R1T om Nov. 28, 2018. We were some of the earliest adopters. We wanted to try an EV and we need a pickup truck. Rivian was the only game on the horizon. We finally got the truck in early 2023. We absolutely love our Rivian. It serves our purposes and does a fantastic job. We have a friend who has a Lightening. It's a nice truck, but it looks just like the ICE version. We appreciate looking a little different. We also like being able to support an American start-up.

Brian

 

[SDH]

Good write up and I can understand the need for the switch. Curious what sort of a deal you got on the Lightening and what sort of trade in for the R1T (don't feel the need to give actual numbers, ball park is fine).

I'm guessing all those Lightnings (with mark ups) gathering dust on lots should see prices start meeting reality.

 

[MidnightRivian]

Let me take stab at pricing while we wait for @Scoiatael to verify the amounts.

Lets go with $77,500 for the F-150 Platinum Lightning and $65,000 trade in for the R1T.

 

[SDH]

WOW. Some big discounts on MSRP. I hope those dealers who wanted $25k over are feeling the squeeze now. Greedy [******]

 

[COdogman]

Thanks for the comparison and I hope the Lightning is a better fit for your family!

 

[sd250]

Ford's currently offering $12,500 retail bonus cash on the platinums, so those are likely the prices after applying the discount. Looks like a great deal especially if you qualify for the federal rebate too.

Like the OP said, the R1T is the better truck if the size is right for you. But if you need the interior space of a full size truck, the high end Lightning trim is looking pretty appealing.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

We just decided yesterday to order the R1T and Ford called us making an offer on a Lightning that's so good the $1,000 non-refundable deposit on the R1T is becoming just background noise in the decision.

We think we're sticking with the R1T, but gosh is the price on a Lightning looking good. The lightning meets more objective/paper specs checkboxes for us than does the R1T, but the R1T meets more subjective desires.

 

[Supratachophobia]

WOW. Some big discounts on MSRP. I hope those dealers who wanted $25k over are feeling the squeeze now. Greedy [******]

None of us should EVER forget what dealers tried to do to consumers with market adjustments and dealer markups.

 

[Golfer04]

Let me take stab at pricing while we wait for @Scoiatael to verify the amounts.

Lets go with $77,500 for the F-150 Platinum Lightning and $65,000 trade in for the R1T.

In Central Illinois no way are you getting $65,000 on trade for a used Rivian (especially on a $20,000 marked down Lightning). You can buy used Rivians with under 20,000 miles for 67,000. Admittedly I'm high mileage (58,000), but I got offered $53,000 from Tesla and $46,000 on a used 2023 Riv with 14,000 miles (they asked 68,000). TBH I should have bought the model X. Get $7500 tax credit off the price at purchase too.

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