TL;DR- Yes, but it’s still not perfect.
Our road to Rivian was a long one. We put in an early reservation for the Rivian R1S years ago. A 3-row EV SUV is still pretty hard to come by. Yes the Model X was the first, but its 3rd row is a little tiny, plus the falcon wing doors are a bit much. Sure there’s a Model Y technically, but my kids have heads and legs, so that makes that 3rd row pretty moot. There are the Mercedes-Benz EQS and EQB SUVs, former is generally $120,000+ (although today they can be had with discounts over $20,000!) without a great amount of space in the 3rd row and the latter is yes cheaper, but also still a pretty middling size overall. The most direct quasi competitor may have just arrived in the Kia EV9, but it’s definitely a different persona.
The R1S started production after the R1T trucks, with first customer deliveries starting around August 2022. We didn’t get ours until May of 2023, but it was love at first sight. Now the reservation and order process wasn’t without hiccups. In early 2022, Rivian looked to raise prices by nearly 20% citing inflation and supply and parts price increases. Seemed to plague nearly all vehicles at the time, but they also had looked to flow these price increases through to reservation holders, some of the brand’s earliest supporters and biggest fans. Cue customer backlash. Many canceled their reservations and there was so much churn that Rivian ended up walking back the increase for existing pre-orders. Phew! Another moment of pause was then the rule around the federal tax credit ($7,500) changed near the end of 2022. Vehicles like the R1S would potentially be ineligible for the full credit amount. Rivian was able to align a program to help grandfather pre-order customers and lock in the original credit amount even for customers taking delivery after 2022. Second phew! So the value portion of our R1S purchase was still in tact.
It may seem odd to talk value in an ~$80,000 vehicle, but I still stand by that after our 6,000+ miles.
Our configuration:
Quad-Motor R1S with the Large Battery pack, Adventure Package, All-Terrain Upgrade, Rivian Blue Exterior Paint (affectionately nicknamed Cookie Monster) and Ocean Coast interior with Dark Ash trim. All in all, this was ~$80,000 at our pre-order pricing, but would be just a hair over $100,000 if ordered today! Rivian has since brought out lower priced configurations like the Dual Motor and Standard and Standard+ batteries, as well as an upgraded Max battery.
Size:
At 200 inches long, the R1S is about the same length as the Toyota Grand Highlander and a few inches longer than the Hyundai Palisade. It’s a good 10″ shorter than a Chevrolet Tahoe or Ford Expedition though. This makes the R1S easily garageable while the EV footprint still allows for good interior space in all 3-rows and space behind the 3rd row at 17.6 cubic feet and a sizable frunk at 11 cubic feet. While part of me initially wanted the R1S to be the same length as the R1T 217″ (Grand R1S anyone?), that likely would’ve made it a bit cumbersome for most daily driving needs on our part.
Seating:
Seats are set up in a 2-3-2 configuration for 7 passengers in all R1S builds. Up front seats are pleasantly comfortable and supportive, even on longer drives. There are nice easy, direct physical controls on each seat and 4-way lumbar on driver and passenger sides. Headrest is fixed in position though, so make sure that’s comfortable for you. While front seats are heated and ventilated, they don’t offer any additional seat back articulation points or extendable lower cushions. And no massagers either.
In the 2nd row, seats do slide fore-aft and recline. There’s also a nice 40-20-40 split to allow for long items to slot through the middle. They don’t offer a captain’s chair set up for the 2nd row, but I hope they are studying offering one as it would help with access to the 3rd row. While the R1S does offer an easy button for slide away access to the 3rd row, the 2nd row seat tilts and slides in a way that a car seat inhibits the ability to do that. Some SUVs do offer a pivot and slide that allows for car seats to remain installed.
3rd row seats are split 50-50 and provide good headroom, seat cushion height and even legroom, so long as the middle row slides forward a bit. Seatback cushion is at a nice angle, but doesn’t offer any additional recline or adjustability. Biggest gripe about the 3rd row was convenience in raising it, as there isn’t a way to easily do it from the rear lift gate area. The seats lock in the down position, which is typical, and they’re manually controlled, again not bad since that allows for quick operation, but Rivian failed to provide a pull-strap that would allow an adult to reach in from the rear of the vehicle and raise the seatback. Instead you have to go around to the side door, slide the 2nd row forward and then unlatch and push the seatback into the upright position. At least there are 2 additional sets of lower LATCH point for car seats and boosters back there.
Technology:
We are now in the era of the software defined vehicle, or SDV, and it is WILD. Rivian has the ability to continually make updates and manipulate so many facets of the vehicle and its functionality at the drop of an over the air update. Just the other week R1 owners started to receive an update that brought added functionality to the 2nd row control screen! Software updates continue to improve the menu structure and other controls, and they even were able to markedly improve the ride quality of the R1S, something I initially didn’t think would be possible. Will be curious to see how long vehicles are supported with meaningful updates and enhancements throughout the lifecycle, especially as Rivian has new models like the R2 and R3 to support.
An area of technology where Rivian continues to need work is in the advanced driver assistance systems. The adaptive cruise control in itself is good and smooth, but the next level in the Driver+ system of Highway Assist with more of the guided/lane centered steering assist is behind that of many automakers like Hyundai or BMW. It was often a bit too rigid in not being able to take in small driver steering corrections without completely canceling out of the system. There were also many sections of our DC metro highways and roads where the Highway Assist level just wasn’t even available.
The embedded navigation system routing is still a bit suspect at times and I wish there was a clean way to just use Google Maps, but this too has improved over the past few updates. Shoutout to the “tech” of the integrated air compressor, good for self tire inflations.
Drive:
For something the size and weight of the R1S, it can hustle and drive nearly like a sports car. Usually a jack of all trade is a master of none, but the R1S is a near master of many situations. Even on our tall sidewall 20″ wheels with all-terrain tires, the handling and initial turn in is crisp and there’s minimal body lean. Power is superfluous with 835 horsepower and a whopping 908 lb-ft of torque available in the blink of an eye. 3 blinks of an eye to reach 60 miles per hour. For a 7-passenger family hauler, that’s entirely unnecessary, and yet oh so much fun. Even a “mere” dual motor (not even the performance dual motor) can reach 60 miles per hour in just 4.5 seconds. So the R1S really can be part sports car and part SUV, with good space inside as well.
As you might expect from an EV, there is regenerative braking with a few modes that allow for one-pedal type driving. One unfortunate miss is that there isn’t a non-regenerative braking mode available that would allow the car to coast like gas vehicle does. There’s a standard level and then a high regenerative level available in most drive modes. There’s even a light regenerative mode profiled, but only paired with the Snow drive mode. Curious that it isn’t available in other drive modes and would still appreciate a non-regenerative mode. Seems like a simple software profile option that could be added later though.
The ride quality, which we noted a bit earlier, was pretty rough when we first got the R1S. Lots of bumps and road impacts were immediately felt in the cabin. This seemed off given that it does ride on a full air-suspension and there were damping settings available. While I feared this might be hardware/suspension geometry limited in terms of improvement, Rivian did (and continues to) fine tune the ride options with subsequent updates. Pretty cool!
Features we’d like to see next:
Already mentioned the 2nd row captain’s chairs and a better 3rd row open/raise mechanism. As a parent I’d also appreciate sunshades for the wonderfully large panoramic roof, yes there’s some solar tinting, but I still would appreciate the ability to close it off altogether. 2nd/3rd row sunshades would also be nice. We’d also like to see an opening sunroof option for added air/breeze on nice days/evenings.
Love the split tailgate at the rear, reminds me of the Land Cruiser I grew up with! But while the upper lift gate is powered, the lower half is not. There’s also no provision for a kick to open/close type function, something that is handy when juggling lots of groceries and kiddie gear.
Living with the R1S overall:
The R1S is a tremendous first product showing from the folks at Rivian and one that continues to be improved and refined, which is awesome to experience first hand. While the updated pricing feels high, especially with the $100k mark being crossed, it’s good to see the still impressive Dual Motor configurations able to be had for the mid to high $70k range now.
You get used to so many technologies like the phone as a key with approach unlock and walk away locking, as well as the just sit and drive function. No more start/stop button! I’ve often left other cars running after getting used to this feature.
Rivian is able to handle some service appointments through their mobile techs right at your home or office, but some do require visits to your (hopefully) local service center. And we’ve heard stories of appointments being hard to come by or pushed far out if it isn’t deemed urgent. Over our 6,000+ miles we had a few visits at home (minor build and various trim replacements under warranty) and two that required service center appointments (cracked windshield – our fault and front suspension warranty repair).
The R1S is a superb 3-row EV. It may not be the most efficient, and there are plenty of competitors on the way, but it’s definitely worth a drive and consideration for your EV SUV dollars. Even for people on the EV sidelines, if you have a way to charge with a Level 2 station at home and/or work, this drive may rock your world. Would we still get a Rivian today? While the pricing of our Quad Motor config is a bit too steep now, we’d certainly consider a dual motor variant and we recently put in a reservation for the upcoming R2!
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