Two days after I pulled into Death Valley, California, to check the Rivian R1T, a sandstorm rolled via. Not fairly biblical, extra Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol. So intense was the climate, mobile towers stop working and no one was capable of hold their eyes open lengthy sufficient to search out the slat-board normal retailer that was offering refuge. Worse, we could not discover the one saloon. It seems these had been good circumstances for testing a rugged EV from a beginner model seeking to make its mark.
Not lengthy after my California sojourn, I used to be cruising round lush, forested upstate New York in an R1S, the SUV model of Rivian’s truck. This mannequin has its sights firmly set on Range Rover’s prospects, and it’ll arrive earlier than the British model even will get its first official hybrid out of the gate.
The R1T begins at $67,500, and the R1S begins at $72,000, and the choices add up quick. The loaner R1T that I drove got here out at a cool $90,000, however in reality the $22,500 price of choices had been simply gravy on an already stellar truck. You might purchase the base-level mannequin with none choices or upgrades in any respect, and you’d nonetheless get all the perfect components of the R1T.
I put 1,300 miles on the R1T in all types of circumstances—from Los Angeles rush-hour site visitors to open freeway, chilly mountain roads to off-road desert trails. Later I drove one other 100 miles on an R1T and an R1S via rural New York, ending on a muddy off-road path simply to make sure. Here’s why it’s, thus far, the highest-rated EV I’ve reviewed.
Home From Home
Tent tenting wasn’t going to occur the primary evening the sandstorm hit, clearly. Cruising on the final 30 miles of juice within the Rivian’s 300-mile battery vary, I discovered Death Valley’s solely charging stations—4 gradual chargers powered by an array of photo voltaic panels—and bunked down for the evening.
I by no means sleep properly in automobiles, however with the driving force’s seat leaned all the best way again and the charging station pulsing slowly because it fed the Rivian’s batteries, I nodded off very quickly. Automakers have gotten awfully good at creating artificial leather-based that may be mistaken for the true factor. The R1T’s faux-leather seats might’ve fooled anybody, and even after a number of 12-hour days driving (and sleeping in) the Rivian, I by no means as soon as felt a pang of discomfort.
I did not spend a lot time driving within the again seat, however with a touchscreen for the rear-facing local weather controls and a snug fold-down armrest, the second rows of each the R1T and R1S had been as snug because the entrance seats. The R1S has a 3rd row of seats for a complete of seven passengers. There’s no choice for second-row captain’s chairs (two particular person seats) as an alternative of the three-person bench. Both rows fold flat, as is typical, and must be anticipated in an SUV nowadays.
As a part of the $5,500 Adventure bundle, you achieve ash-wood inside panels. They’re accessible in three colours: tan, brown, and black. What impressed me most is that they weren’t lined in a thick layer of plasticky varnish, just like the wooden trim of most automobiles. The stain used on the wooden is simply sufficient to paint it, and while you run your finger over the floor you possibly can really feel the wooden grain. The carpeting on the Adventure Trim is equally tactile and contains woven flooring mats from Chilewich. They supplied a pleasant, distinctive design element, whereas most flooring mats are plain previous carpet or rubber.
You can retailer no matter you want within the pass-through gear tunnel that runs horizontally beneath the entrance of the truck mattress. It serves as a second lockable trunk, along with the entrance trunk underneath what we’d usually name the hood in an internal-combustion-engine (ICE) truck. There’s loads of room for a load of groceries within the frunk, and I carried round a few massive duffel baggage and a backpack in there with room to spare. There’s even a helpful devoted Bluetooth speaker with subwoofer, tweeter, and two mid-range audio system that shops underneath the middle console and might be eliminated fully from the cabin. If solely all automotive producers had such consideration to element.
Exemplary Interior
Photograph: Elliot Ross/Rivian
The person interface of the oblong 15.6-inch touchscreen is the perfect of any all-screen infotainment middle I’ve seen but. It’s all of the extra spectacular as a result of a towing, hauling, off-roading, commuting truck just like the R1T has so many extra driving configurations than, say, the Polestar 2, which has a equally industry-leading and intuitive UI, however isn’t as aesthetically pleasing or filled with as many driving screens and settings. The touchscreen interface is a weak spot for a lot of automotive corporations, and it’s astonishing that they do not take a look at techniques like this for precious classes. On the rear of the middle console, back-seat passengers get their very own 6.8-inch touchscreen to manage the heating and air-conditioning vents.
