The Rivian R1T deep in California’s Mojave Desert. It boasts 300+ miles range.
Credit: Brooke Crothers
It’s December 2023 and it’s hard to be heard above the din of Cybertruck chatter but I’ll give it a try.
I’ve now driven the Rivian R1S SUV and R1T pickup — both for a week. This past week it was the 2024 R1T.
Like the Tesla Cybertruck, it’s a pickup. And like the Cybertruck it’s designed with off-road toughness. And like the Cybertruck — at least the current iteration — it’s expensive.
But, alas, it’s not a Cybertruck. Some would say it doesn’t have the sharp, steely “funky edge” (via WSJ) of the Cybertruck. Let me push back and say that Rivian has an aesthetic edge. I prefer the R1T. Plus the fact that you can actually get one. No waiting in line for a year or more.
What I like most about the R1T (the R1S as well) is the marriage of beauty and beast. A feeling that you can do anything and go anywhere in style.
So, I put the R1T to the test. Not the ultimate test (see this YouTube video for that) but I did take it deep into the Mojave Desert in California to a place where if you get stuck you’re out of luck — as in no cellular signal and no nearby human civilization.
But first some more mundane, but important, things about the pickup.
(Note: what follows is a short first-take review — not a comprehensive review — and touches on the features of the R1T that I used the most.)
Highway assist: The R1T is packed with the kind of technology you would expect in an expensive electric vehicle, not unlike a Tesla Model Y (which I’ve also driven extensively).
Highway Assist is a lot like Tesla’s Autopilot. The car will more or less drive itself on major highways. It’s not perfect (nor is Tesla’s Autopilot) but I found it invaluable on the long trip to the Mojave Desert where long, endless, ruler-edge straight highways can test your alertness.
Highway Assist doesn’t always work when you want it to. It errs on the side of caution. If it faces a situation it doesn’t recognize it shuts down immediately and makes you take back control.
At times, it will drift to the right side of the lane, i.e., doesn’t center completely, and that can get dicey when you’re passing a large truck. I had to shut it down manually a few times because of this.
Fast: for a 7,000 pound vehicle it’s fast. If you need instant torque, no problem. It’s not quite as fast as a dual-motor Model Y but, again, for a heavy truck the torque is outrageous. Faster than a Mustang Shelby GT500. It doesn’t hurt that I had the quad-motor model (which puts the price near $90,000). I did not get to test the cheaper dual-motor variant, which starts at around $74,000 and is new this year.
Charging: when you own an EV (like I do), you quickly learn to “always be charging.” No, it’s not like the first generation of EVs such as the 80-mile-range Chevy Spark EV (which I drove for six months back in 2017) where you live with a constant creeping fear of the car dying on the highway.
But the ABC rule still applies. With the third generation of EVs it’s the fear of not having access to a public charger. In the Mojave Desert that’s real. On top of that, there’s the fear that some charging locations will be unreliable or completely broken. (In Santa Clarita, Calif., where I usually charge, it’s a crapshoot if a public CCS fast charger will work or not.)
Luckily, the Electrify America fast charging station in the small town of Mojave, Calif. did work. And it was fast. The R1T showed peak charging rates above 40o mi/hr. And I got a full charge in a little over 30 minutes — just over 300 miles from a starting point of about 50 miles.
(As an aside, charging next to me was an identical R1T. The owner was hauling a massive trailer. The owner told me that the R1T had no problem hauling around big loads.)
Off-road: this is what impressed me the most. In my misspent youth, I spent a disproportionate amount of my summer vacations at my family’s summer house in Nantucket, Mass. driving a Jeep Wrangler on very soft sand. (Certain parts of the island are only accessible by 4WD vehicle.) And I mean soft and deep. The Mojave Desert sand, in spots, is similar.
The R1T plowed through soft sand like a hot knife through butter. That gave me the confidence to go deeper into the desert and never worry about getting stuck. So, I spent the rest of the day driving into the remote desert (see photos at bottom). Up steep inclines and sometimes at scary angles. And lots of soft sand. But I was never worried. And the R1T emerged at the end of the day unscathed despite very challenging off-road conditions in some areas.
Summary: what Rivian has done with its first crack at an electric vehicle is nothing short of a miracle. When you drive it, you feel that it’s screwed together well. It’s quiet inside the cabin and the suspension handles bumpy, badly maintained paved roads (Los Angeles has no shortage of these) with aplomb. In short, a well-built, high-quality car. I highly recommend it based on my experience above.
There’s one serious drawback: price. Only a tiny minority of American car buyers can afford a $75,000 – $90,000 vehicle. That makes it an elitist car accessible only to affluent Americans. That seems to be in conflict with what Rivian purports to aspire to: “We’re building for a future that includes everyone.” (Though I suspect that you can make it work if you’re willing to make serious sacrifices or take on debt or an expensive lease.)
The lower-cost R2 platform is due in 2026. That’s a long time to wait for an affordable Rivian. I’m hoping that the CEO RJ Scaringe under promises and over delivers on this goal.
——
Notes: Full specs of the R1T I drove: Red Canyon, Quad Motor, Large Pack R1T with Black Mountain Interior and 22″ Dark Sport Wheels.
The California Mojave Desert where I spent the day in the R1T. Not a soul in sight. I didn’t see a … [+] single person the whole day.
Credit: Brooke Crothers
Soft sand? No problem.
Credit: Brooke Crothers
The photo doesn’t do this slope justice. The grade was steeper and the angle sharper than it looks.
Credit: Brooke Crothers
Squeezed in next to a GMC Hummer pickup EV at an Electrify America charging station in Santa … [+] Clarita, Calif. The Hummer EV weighs in at about 9,000 pounds.
Credit: Brooke Crothers
The R1T outside of my home in Los Angeles.
Credit: Brooke Crothers
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