Spent 3 hours in a Rivian R1S - comparing it to the Mach E

[gryphon]

Thanks for the post and your take on the R1S! Reservation holder here.

Any other R1 owners on here? Would love to hear your opinions.

Just in case you're not aware, if you go to the top of this page and click on "Sites" there is a sister-forum for all things Rivian.

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[IamIA]

Charging setup options. The Rivian can be set to charge to 70%, 85%, or 100%. That's it. If you are set to a lower percentage and decide you need to switch it to 100% for a long trip, you need to go into the car and do it there - you can't do it in app.

That is a pure BS.
Yes you can change the desired max from the app and you can even stop charging with a push of a button. Ford's app can't do that. It even shows you kwh charging rate and how long and other data points. I have both and will be dumping the GTPE as it sucks for the most part.

 

[IamIA]

Thanks for the post and your take on the R1S! Reservation holder here.

Any other R1 owners on here? Would love to hear your opinions.

i am an owner as of 1/6/2023 and guess which car gets driven more, haha

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/members/imai.5334/

 

[IamIA]

2) One-pedal driving on the Rivian is, and this is a direct quote, "waaaay better" than the Mach E. Much smoother.

true. way better on the Rivian for those that like the 1-peddal driving. I see how it could be a negative for those that still want a soft or coasting option.
The default regen setting is already stronger on the Rivian than MachE but the Max is really strong and i am loving it.

 

[SWO]

I was really excited about Rivian and I still hope they succeed (though I worry people are buying cars they won't be able to get serviced in 5 years...), but their vampire drain is atrocious and "showstopper" for me.

TFL did a video on this recently and, though Rivian has come out with multiple updates to supposedly address the issue, they released a statement saying that 3-12% battery drain overnight is "normal."

1. I have a crowded driveway and plugging in every night isn't possible.
2. Battery drain like that really makes mileage tests like Out Of Spec does pretty worthless. What good is the more efficient vehicle if you lose 10% of your battery overnight when you get to your destination? A Rivian might get better mileage/kwh than a Lightning, but it will cost more to power over a year.

 

[mkhuffman]

I was really excited about Rivian and I still hope they succeed (though I worry people are buying cars they won't be able to get serviced in 5 years...), but their vampire drain is atrocious and "showstopper" for me.

TFL did a video on this recently and, though Rivian has come out with multiple updates to supposedly address the issue, they released a statement saying that 3-12% battery drain overnight is "normal."

1. I have a crowded driveway and plugging in every night isn't possible.
2. Battery drain like that really makes mileage tests like Out Of Spec does pretty worthless. What good is the more efficient vehicle if you lose 10% of your battery overnight when you get to your destination? A Rivian might get better mileage/kwh than a Lightning, but it will cost more to power over a year.

Actually, this is exactly what I was going to post.

Vampire drain is a very serious problem that most people don't know about until after they get the truck home. And it is the biggest issue that makes me think twice about getting one.

I don't want to have to worry that my car is going to die, literally, at the airport when I am on a trip. And if you deplete the HVB on the Rivian it is very, very hard to get it running again. It won't accept a charge. There is a procedure for recovering the HVB but if it doesn't work, only Rivian Service can fix it.

 

[MW1515]

I was really excited about Rivian and I still hope they succeed (though I worry people are buying cars they won't be able to get serviced in 5 years...), but their vampire drain is atrocious and "showstopper" for me.

TFL did a video on this recently and, though Rivian has come out with multiple updates to supposedly address the issue, they released a statement saying that 3-12% battery drain overnight is "normal."

1. I have a crowded driveway and plugging in every night isn't possible.
2. Battery drain like that really makes mileage tests like Out Of Spec does pretty worthless. What good is the more efficient vehicle if you lose 10% of your battery overnight when you get to your destination? A Rivian might get better mileage/kwh than a Lightning, but it will cost more to power over a year.

Vampire Drain sounds like something they could iron out with a software update at some point...

 

[MW1515]

A friend took delivery of a Rivian R1S this week (the SUV version). I got to spend several hours in it, and thought it would be interesting to compare it with my 2022 Mach E ER Premium AWD.

In short, the Rivian is amazing. Such a fun car. Without comparing things like looks, here were my impressions of where the Rivian falls short of the Mach E, and where it's superior:

Where the Mach E is superior:

• Charging setup options. The Rivian can be set to charge to 70%, 85%, or 100%. That's it. If you are set to a lower percentage and decide you need to switch it to 100% for a long trip, you need to go into the car and do it there - you can't do it in app.
• Car Play. Rivian doesn't have it. Very surprising to me. And I thought the GPS voice in the in-car Rivian sounded a bit robotic - it was distracting. The Rivian software is just fine, but for people used to Car Play it's annoying to learn another system.
• Blue Cruise/adaptive cruise/lane keeping. The Rivian even at its closest setting stayed pretty far away from trailing the next car using adaptive cruise control - people were cutting in front of us which slows you down more. (Unless we had it set wrong). Also when using the driver assist, at one point in the right lane when a entrance ramp was merging in, it lurched to the right to follow the new lane marking. I feel more comfortable using Ford's Blue Cruise and adaptive cruise control.
• Middle seat legroom. This is a little silly because the Rivian has a third row too, but second row is a bit more comfortable in the Mach E
• Cupholders. Very few in the Rivian, which was weird for an American designed and made car! We Americans love our cupholders!
• Mileage. Rivian is bigger so it uses more juice.

Where the Rivian seemed superior:

• Overall refinement of the center console software. The center screen was easy to use, responsive, and intuitive. To be clear, I don't hate the Mach E center console (it's not like the ID.4 - yikes), but Rivian's was easier, snappier, and more intuitive. Also things like phone as a key are seamless and easy to use.
• Several software options. Things like a "gear guard" mode (basically Sentry mode) and a pet mode. All easy to use, all well designed and easy to get to.
• Acceleration. Just insane. We went full throttle in sport mode from a stop, and it even blows away a GTPE I've been in. Amazing.
• Storage. The frunk is enormous. The back has a ton of room (even before you fold back the third row). The "gear tunnel" is hilarious.
• Third row. I wouldn't use it for adults for a road trip but for quick trips around town it would be just fine.
• Ride. We tried different settings. The normal mode (forget what it's called) is many times more comfortable and less bumpy than the Mach E
• Functionality/Flexibility. This is where the car shines. You can use it for anything and it'll adjust for what you need:
  • You can change the suspension height (even while driving 70mph). It's absolutely wild and fun.
  • It has a "kneel mode" which lowers the entire car when you put it in park, so it's easier to get in and out.
  • It has a "camping mode" that will level the car on uneven ground so you can put a sleeping bag or mattress in the back and use it to camp.
  • Of course you can off road (we didn't), and with all the different modes and suspension heights you can do pretty much anything.
  • A bunch of fun extras - some gimmicky, some useful - an air pump in the back, a portable speaker, a flashlight in the car (yeah that one is pretty gimmicky)
• Turning radius. For a large car, it was amazingly good
• Range and range estimates. You can turn off the back wheel motors to add range - useful when you're on the highway and it made a significant difference. The range estimates were pretty darn accurate for our 200 or so miles of driving.

Overall I came away very impressed. If the two cars cost the same I would buy a Rivian. (Of course, they don't cost the same!). Also, when the charging network gets to the point where I'm comfortable taking long trips in an EV, a Rivian is the kind of car I would want to do it in. Whether for dropping kids off at college, camping, or going on vacation, it just seems like the perfect vehicle.

One other thing about the Rivian - you get a *lot* of attention on the road. Other EV drivers and pickup drivers seemed to notice us the most. We saw several EVs wave at us - a Lucid (first one I've seen), a Mach E, and a zillion Teslas (given we both own non-Tesla EVs, we were jokingly laughing at them - sorry Tesla owners, you're no longer the cool kids on the block).

Where did you see this Lucid??? I still haven't seen one in the wild

 

[awp0]

Actually, this is exactly what I was going to post.

Vampire drain is a very serious problem that most people don't know about until after they get the truck home. And it is the biggest issue that makes me think twice about getting one.

I don't want to have to worry that my car is going to die, literally, at the airport when I am on a trip. And if you deplete the HVB on the Rivian it is very, very hard to get it running again. It won't accept a charge. There is a procedure for recovering the HVB but if it doesn't work, only Rivian Service can fix it.

3-12% per night...... for real? That would be a non-starter for me, and thank you for helping me move past my Rivian envy.

What the heck is it doing to use this much energy?

 

[NotGreen75]

• Charging setup options. The Rivian can be set to charge to 70%, 85%, or 100%. That's it. If you are set to a lower percentage and decide you need to switch it to 100% for a long trip, you need to go into the car and do it there - you can't do it in app.

All controllable via the app actually. Looks like you've now corrected this above.

• Storage. The frunk is enormous. The back has a ton of room (even before you fold back the third row). The "gear tunnel" is hilarious.

The Gear Tunnel only exists in the R1T, not the R1S. Curious what you were looking at that you thought was the gear tunnel in the R1S?

• You can change the suspension height (even while driving 70mph). It's absolutely wild and fun.

Yes and no. There are speed limiters to which settings you can switch into and when.

Thanks for the post and your take on the R1S! Reservation holder here.

Any other R1 owners on here? Would love to hear your opinions.

Moved from a Mach-e to an R1T. As others have pointed out the vampire drain is the biggest downside. As much as the R1 platform is great, the vampire drain needs to be fixed. I miss being able to park the Mach-e and come back from a trip a week later and have it at the same charge level. The Mach-e is also ~30% more efficient (due to being smaller, more aerodynamic, etc.) - range is similar because the battery is about 30% larger in the R1T, but it means it takes longer to charge.

 

[CB1234]

Where did you see this Lucid??? I still haven't seen one in the wild

On I-55 driving north, a bit south of Chicago. Couldn't believe it!

All controllable via the app actually. Looks like you've now corrected this above.

Correct - we actually got wrong information from the guy taking us through the car when I asked (because my Ford app has it I figured they would, and was surprised when he said no) - my friend discovered he could change it in the app today.

The Gear Tunnel only exists in the R1T, not the R1S. Curious what you were looking at that you thought was the gear tunnel in the R1S?

Just a mistake, thanks for the correction. I didn't see it in his car. Must have mis-remembered it from watching a ton of videos the day before, and then we picked up the car at the Rivian plant, so I saw a lot of Rivians that day!

Good to hear about the vampire drain comments - I'll make sure my friend knows.

 

[Cm12]

I’ve had 2 Mach E’s and now have an R1T. Vampire drain is much worse in cold weather. It’s gotten better and Rivian discovered that it was a trunk latch sensor issue causing the 10% drain issues on some of the trucks. Most of us have 3% on the high end or less. That’s still way too much, I agree, but people experiencing more than that are the exception, and hopefully the new software update this week fixed it. That update specifically noted that it was designed to fix excessive drain (yeah, we actually get update notes!).

TFL has an issue with Rivian going back to before deliveries even started. I don’t know what caused the TFL and Rivian to not get along, but Rivian wouldn’t even invite TFL to public events in Denver. For those who don’t follow it all - TFL is in Denver and Rivian has a massive presence in Denver. They did lots of demos and media events, none of which TFL was a part of. TFL mentioned it in videos about how they didn’t know why they were the only ones excluded, but only the people involved know what really went down. Basically, take anything TFL says about Rivian with a grain of salt.

 

[markbolick]

We have both a 2022 Mach E GTPE (my wife’s car) and a 2022 R1T (my ride). I absolutely love driving both vehicles for completely different reasons. I’ll say that the R1T is, by leaps and bounds, the more comfortable driving of the two and we have the magnaride on the GTPE. The R1T just kills it in terms of comfort. They are tuned a little different. The GT just feels like it wants to be driven fast every time you drive it. It’s just super responsive to the road. The R1T is no slouch, but it definitely feels like a truck and not a sports car (I have not tried Sport mode in my R1T and that may change the driving dynamics of the truck- will have to check it out at some point).
‘The huge battery in the R1T makes road trips super easy. We can easily drive 3-4 hours before stopping to charge. almost twice what the MachE gives us. BlueCruise is 1000 times better than the Rivian Driver+ but they continue to improve it so I hope it, at least, gets to the quality of Bluecruise. Bluecruise is just about flawless for us.
the lack of CarPlay in the Rivian is super frustrating. Anything to do with my phone feels like I‘be fallen backwards a decade, but the rest of the Rivian software is so much more refined than the MachE and crazy fast in comparison.
overall, these are the two best vehicles I have ever owned. Love them both.

re:vampire drain; I guess I’m one of the lucky ones as I only experience maybe 1% loss on my R1T on average. The MachE is 0 though.

 

[IamIA]

3-12% per night...... for real? That would be a non-starter for me, and thank you for helping me move past my Rivian envy.

What the heck is it doing to use this much energy?

another purse BS.

I know some folks report drain of x percentage points per night, but on my R1T with VIN ending in 16890, i see maybe 1% per night and i have the Gear Guard turned on to record videos.
It seems to be an issue with some sensors, for example frunk being closed or not, but my truck is not affected. Having said that, i left my GTPE for about 10 days in 40-60 F weather and it only lost 1%--that was impressive.

 

[SWO]

According to TFL, Rivian was only giving vehicles to "reviewers" who won't give negative reviews.

Meanwhile, Kyle jumped to the front of the line for his Rivian, refused to discuss the terms on the InsideEVs podcast, and hasn't mentioned vampire drain (or the warranty issues) on his youtube channel.

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