2022 M3LR owner here. Rented a Rivian R1T Launch Edition for a 5-day weekend trip (LA - Santa Barbara - LA - Vegas - Zion National Park - LA). Obviously, the two cars are in totally different classes and for different uses. But here are some general thoughts:
PRO
OVERALL
PRO
- Interior is gorgeous. Super comfortable seats and overall very luxurious fit/finish/feeling.
- Powerful and clean acceleration.
- Sound system is very solid. But definitely feels inferior to M3LR. It felt like the sound was behind me (and didn't really improve when I tinkered with the location of the audio on the interactive graphic).
- Wow factor is obviously fun. We never saw another Rivian, and it turns heads everywhere.
- Automatic trunk/cover was really nice. Deep frunk also came in handy
- Lumbar support great for both driver/front passenger.
- Ventilated seats were fantastic.
- The back left tire was at 39 PSI compared to 50 for the rest. Luckily the air compressor was super easy to use and was honestly a fun problem to fix.
- Feel like it's missing an extra A/C vent area on the dash. It was kind of annoying trying to adjust the vents to point in just the right direction.
- The app is a joke. Can't access Sentry. Can only "turn on climate" to cool to 72 but can't control it to specifically go lower than that, or to heat up the seats/steering wheel (maybe I missed an area where I could do this?)
- Second row felt a hair cramped re: legroom.
- Not being able to watch movies/play games on the main screen while charging was a big bummer.
- The front passenger seat door/window wasn't sealed properly. We'd constantly have to open/slam the door while traveling at highway speed to try and re-establish a good seal. Otherwise, if we didn't, there would be a terrible wind whistle.
- My god...the EA network is somehow worse than I realized. A total *sugar*-show all weekend. Maybe 2 plugs working at any given station. Several times I would walk away from a charging car, check the app from inside a store, and see that it has stopped charging. I know this isn't Rivian's fault, but it really ruined momentum at several stops along the way. Also - other EV owners don't know how to park, don't understand etiquette, don't realize charging speed differences, etc. One woman asked me why her e-Tron would take so long and I said because you've set it to charge to 100% (not necessarily all the owners faults, it's also on the carmakers. But man. Brutal).
- R1T is 128-129kWh battery pack size. That's a solid 50-60 more than Model 3's. I really had to change my mental math on charging speed. Despite pulling 140-215 a lot of the time, I was really disappointed with the overall charge speed from 10-70%. The entire weekend was with non-EV owning friends, and each stop felt like an anti-EV commercial.
- On our final leg home, we charged to 74% at Baker, CA stop (EA chargers). The car stopped at 74% and wouldn't accept more charge. Tried another charger, but car wouldn't accept it. We decided to drive back to LA and arrive with 4-5%. As soon as we started driving, three separate display errors came up -- Limited Performance (no driver assist cruise control), Drive Mode disabled (luckily we were in Conserve, but couldn't change to sport/all-purpose if we needed), and a battery warning symbol. Also, the acceleration was crazy limited and going from 0-30mph was dangerously slow and cars would honk/pass us. And then we'd be okay driving at 60-80, but the acceleration was dangerously slow.
OVERALL
- I generally really enjoyed the car. But I'm definitely realizing how far behind other companies are compared to Tesla (while acknowledging plenty of Tesla owners have quality control issues). The EA/DCFC network is pathetic, straight up. And with 120+ size battery packs, road tripping is way more of a chore.
