(gentle music) - Seems like
over the last few years,
I keep driving vehicles from carmakers
that didn't exist (laughs) just a few years ago.
This is the latest one.
This is a Rivian R1T,
a brand new offering
from an upstart automaker called Rivian.
It's designed in the US.
It's built in Illinois.
It's also available as an SUV model as well.
It's an all-electric pickup truck,
and, despite the fact that it's been out
for a little over a year now,
I hadn't had a chance to drive one until just now,
and after having spent a few days with this new R1T,
let me tell you,
I've come away seriously impressed
from the first ever offering from this brand new automaker.
First of all, look at this thing.
This thing looks like the concept trucks
that I was doodling in high school algebra class
instead of actually paying attention,
which is, if we're being honest, why I'm a journalist now
and not an actual engineer.
Anyway, the styling of this thing is fantastic,
from the LED front end
with the very unique light treatment,
to the fact that it has a frunk,
with a pretty sizable storage area as well.
You can put a couple of good-sized suitcases in there,
maybe even a couple of roller boards,
your groceries for on the way home.
It's a useful space.
Down the side of the vehicle,
you have a couple of different options for your Rivian R1T.
You can have an on-road version,
or you can have the optional off-road version
which is this one.
It comes with these Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain tires
which look pretty butch
and are really great in the dirt,
but do sap, I think, a little bit too much range on road,
and they also affect your handling a little bit.
Now, given that this is an electric pickup
from the ground up,
it enables them to do a lot of really cool things
like have this.
This is a lockable gear tunnel
that extends the entire width of the truck,
but it's lockable and it's washable,
so you can actually put dirty, muddy gear in there
that you don't necessarily want to keep in the bed
where it's a lot more secure.
They even offer a camp kitchen that slides out,
that's electrically powered,
that you can use when you're going camping.
And you can cook dinner right off your pickup.
Now it is a pickup, so it has a powered bed
(tailgate clunks)
with a lot of really cool features in there as well.
There are power outlets on the right side.
There's a built-in air compressor on the left side,
and you've also got under-floor storage
with a drain plug in the floor
for keeping tasty beverages
or maybe today's latest fresh catch.
The extraordinary thing though about the R1T is its size.
It looks like a full-sized pickup in pictures and on TV
and probably here on YouTube,
but it's not.
This is about the size of an F-150 from 20 to 25 years ago,
in which to say,
it is smaller than most full-sized current pickups.
It's a little bit larger than a Ford Ranger
or Chevy Colorado.
It's also significantly wider than those two.
It is instead, I think, the perfect size pickup
in that you can still seat five people comfortably
in the cabin,
but you can park it anywhere.
You could park it in a parking lot.
You could park it in your home garage without a problem.
It will actually fit.
That, to me, makes it pretty much the perfect size.
Unlike some electric automakers
that are considered luxury brands
because of the price of their vehicle
and not necessarily the interior quality,
Rivian backs up its luxury price with a luxury cabin.
It's really nice in here.
Now you've got vegan leather, as they call it,
which is obviously not real leather,
but it still feels and looks really nice.
You've got real ashwood trim.
There's really nice metal trim as well.
All the stitching in here is very straight.
It feels like a really premium, high-quality interior.
Not everything is perfect however.
They have decided to go
with a fully touchscreen control system,
so there are no buttons or knobs
pretty much for just about anything here
except the windows and a couple on the steering wheel.
Everything else is done
through this large 16-inch touchscreen.
It's good that it's 16 inches
because it does help you find things rather easily,
and it's organized very well.
You've got the dedicated buttons along the bottom,
things like navigation or music
or actual vehicle control systems as well,
but the thing is, it's all really bright.
It's easy to use. It's easy to find.
A nice thing, as well, is that you have a display
in front of the driver,
an actual gauge cluster display,
something you don't get in most Teslas,
and it actually has quite a lot of information
on it as well,
which is something you don't get
in any of the electric Polestars.
They're not reconfigurable pretty much at all.
Here, you've got a lot of control.
You've got a lot of information.
You've also got some ergonomic quirks in here
like these cup holders that feel kind of flimsy
and almost like an afterthought,
and both the lights and the windshield wipers
are on this little stalk on the left side
with a couple of little toggles,
but they're not lit,
so you have to know pretty much where everything is.
Otherwise, when the sun goes down,
you're pretty much operating by touch.
We also miss the fact that there isn't things
like a volume knob for the audio system.
It's okay for the driver
because you have the controls on the steering wheel,
but if you're a passenger in here,
well, you're outta luck.
You gotta go try and hunt
for where the actual volume control is
if you wanna operate the audio system.
In terms of comfort, however, this is really exceptional.
The seats are very large.
They're very supportive,
and you have a lot of width in here.
As I said, this is about the size of a 20-year-old F-150.
So you've got an older style,
full-size pickup cabin in here,
which is plenty comfortable for most people:
plenty of leg room, plenty of headroom,
even with this solid glass ceiling
that you actually can't open unfortunately.
But there's also plenty of room in the back as well.
There's enough room for three people,
and you have lots of shoulder room,
lots of hip room as well.
So it's, again, I think perfect size pickup,
perfect size cabin.
Now, as we said, the Rivian R1T is all-electric,
and you have a choice of two electric powertrains.
First is the Dual-Motor All-Wheel-Drive system,
and that has two motors:
one on the front, one on the rear axle,
and it makes a combined 600 horsepower
and 600 pounds feet of torque.
Now there's also a performance upgrade version for that
which will bring that up to 700 horsepower
and 700 pounds feet of torque.
Nice round numbers by the way, Rivian.
Thank you for that one.
But if you really wanna get a little bit crazy,
you want this version.
This is the Quad-Motor All-Wheel-Drive version.
It has four electric motors:
two on the front, two on the rear.
It makes 835 horsepower and 908 pounds feet of torque.
What happened to the round numbers? Come on.
But this will zip you from zero to 60 in three seconds flat
according to Rivian,
but even the slowest version of the R1T,
that Dual-Motor All-Wheel-Drive,
will do it in four and a half seconds, which is just crazy.
Now how can you tell which version you're looking at?
Well, the Quad-Motor All-Wheel-Drive version
has yellow brake calipers,
whereas the Dual-Motor version has black brake calipers.
That's the best way to tell.
This version has the middle-sized large battery pack.
You can supposedly get an EPA-rated 274 miles of range
with this battery and the all-terrain upgrade trim
as the off-road tires have some range.
The best I've seen on the screen
estimates about 280 miles of range.
Supposedly, if you get the Dual-Motor version
with the Max battery pack
and skip the off-road equipment,
you can get up to 400 miles of range in your R1T.
Max towing is up to 11,000 pounds when properly kitted out,
but you better believe that your range is gonna drop
when you do that.
But the range isn't what you're thinking about
when you're behind the wheel of this electric beast.
You're thinking about how absolutely astonishingly good
it is to drive.
You have multiple drive modes,
but just keeping it in the normal all-purpose mode
is perfectly fine for around-town driving.
The R1T also has an adjustable air suspension,
allowing you to both change the ride height
and the firmness of the suspension to suit your conditions.
But even just in its standard normal mode,
the R1T is a blast.
First, the acceleration, (laughs)
which is absolutely explosive.
You get the most zoot when you put it in sport mode,
which lowers the vehicle
and turns on the stiffer suspension.
But the explosive power of the thing
is just (laughs) ridiculous fun.
But the thing is, it arrives without any fanfare
or without any kind of real drama.
It's just a mechanical whine.
And the actual speed is delivered in such a way
that you don't realize you're going quite that fast.
It's a lot less scary, quite frankly,
than it is in, say, like a GMC Hummer EV pickup
because this thing is about 75% the size
of the GMC Hummer EV pickup.
So it's not that whole alarming (laughs) kind of idea
of just something that huge going that fast.
Instead, you've got something a lot more compact,
a lot more easy to drive,
also going that fast (laughs).
But it turns as well as it flies.
The steering field is exceptionally good,
let down only by the chunky low-grip off-road tires
in terms of feedback,
but it turns in well,
it exhibits very little body roll,
and it tracks beautifully through corners.
The ride and handling combination is outstanding,
especially when you realize that this mid-sized truck
weighs as much as a Ford Super Duty pickup,
and, you know what, batteries are heavy.
Then you put the suspension into stiff mode,
and the suspension is, well, stiff,
but left in soft mode,
while it's not exactly Rolls-Royce posh,
it's very acceptably compliant
over Michigan's cratered moonscrape roadways.
Overall, this is one of the best driving pickups
I've ever sampled.
It's quick. It's tossable.
It's solid. It's confidence inspiring.
It's kind of amazing that this is the first vehicle
that this company has ever made ever!
Good job you!
Now, it is easier to believe
that this is the first ever vehicle
from an upstart automaker
when you start looking
at some of the assembly quality details.
The body panels don't necessarily line up exactly perfectly
like you would find in a legacy automaker's offering,
and things like the wordmark on the tailgate here
has a slight curve to the end of it maybe
when it should be probably a little bit straighter.
But, quite frankly, these are very, very minor things.
Given the fact that this is the first vehicle
from a brand new automaker,
and the first one they've ever made,
the assembly quality is actually really very good.
Nothing squeaks. Nothing rattles in this version.
Nothing that I've found that doesn't work, as well.
It really does represent an exceptional achievement.
Now, there is also the matter of price.
The base model Dual-Motor All-Wheel-Drive version
starts at about $73,000,
and you can add $20,000 to that for one like this
which is the Quad-Motor All-Wheel-Drive version
with the off-road package and the middle-size battery pack.
And if you opt for, say, the Dual-Motor performance version
with the Max battery pack,
which is a $16,000 option, yikes,
that will get you pretty close to $100,000.
But that is where a lot of the competitors are,
say like the GMC Hummer EV pickup.
This thing costs about the same,
but this is a lot easier to drive, much easier to park.
It'll actually fit in your garage,
and it's not embarrassing to be seen in either.
Now until the Tesla Cybertruck does arrive
sometime, whenever,
unless that Cybertruck has a hover mode,
quite frankly, I'm thinking that the R1T
is gonna be the luxury electric pickup to beat.
If you like to learn more about the new 2023 Rivian R1T,
or any of the other electric Rivians that are on sale now,
you can learn everything at cars.com.
(gentle upbeat music)