Key Takeaways

• The Rivian R1S is a versatile all-electric SUV that is ready for any adventure, with features like quad-motor AWD, a range of up to 321 miles, and a towing capacity of up to 7,700lbs.
• The R1S offers a spacious cabin with modern technology integrated throughout, including a helpful birds-eye camera view for parking. However, the third-row legroom may be cramped for adults.
• While the R1S has a luxurious touch with its rear hatch lift gate and plenty of storage space, it currently has a CCS charging port, which may be less convenient than NACS ports that are coming in 2024.

Trying to decide between two different electric vehicle brands can be tricky, but picking between Rivian’s similar all-electric SUV and truck is downright tough. While the R1S (SUV) and R1T (truck) EVs are very similar, they do differ in some potentially meaningful ways. I’ve driven both and have some thoughts about trying to decide between the two—as well as how the R1S compares to other EV options.

R1S Price and Availability

The Rivian R1S starts at $78,000 and includes a 260-mile range, being able to seat seven passengers. The quad-motor AWD trim I tested had a top range of 303 miles because it added a large battery pack, which was slightly offset by its 22-inch sport wheels. The review unit had a retail price of $95,500.

R1S External Design and Features

Parked next to each other, there’s no mistaking the R1T from the R1S. One is clearly a truck with an open bed, made to haul things, while the other is fully covered and better suited to hauling people. They’re very much related, but the exterior design is the first major consideration in choosing between the two. Will you be carrying more things or people?

Both vehicles feature the same front trunk storage space and powered hood that raises and lowers with the push of a button. Unfortunately, however, there is no gear tunnel for storage on the R1S, like there is on the truck.

Frankly, the storage tunnel added enough useful protected storage to be a meaningful consideration. The tunnel side doors, one on each side, added the additional function as a step or seat. They were neat!

The R1S is more traditional, with its storage area in the back, behind the third row of seats. The quirk of the SUV comes with its rear hatch lift gate. Instead of a single door, three-fourths of the door lifts up, while a bottom quarter section folds down, reminiscent of a tailgate.

This luxurious touch helps keep items from falling out when the rear door is opened. But I suppose the lower half could also provide a place for people to sit too. It let my legs dangle off comfortably. Only the top part was powered. The smaller bottom section needed to be manually lowered or raised.

Interior Design: (Mostly) Comfortable Seating With a Third Row

The driver's cockpit of the R1S is so similar to the R1T that there were a couple of times I forgot I was driving the SUV and thought I was driving the truck. (This applies to the way the vehicle drives, too.) Sitting in the driver’s seat, looking forward, it was nearly impossible to tell which Rivian I was in.

The seats were clad with perforated vegan leather. This allowed for ventilation on hot days and heating on cooler mornings. The ash wood accents looked nice but felt terrible to touch as they were rough.

A huge 15.3-inch center screen grabs all the attention up front, while a 12.3-inch screen resides behind the wheel to show the driver information. A third, small screen in the middle row provides climate controls for those passengers.

Like most vehicles with third-row seats, the two in the far back were compromised. The rear seats were comfortable to sit on and included armrests with storage and USB-C ports, but the legroom could be nonexistent, depending on how the middle-row seats were positioned. It will take a bit of negotiation between all rows to make sure riders in the way back can survive a several-hour trip, if need be. Mostly, it will be times carrying seven adults where things could get tricky. Carrying five adults shouldn't be a problem. I also didn't hear any complaints when my kids rode in the far back seats.

Each side seat in the middle row had a button to slide forward and let passengers get to the last row. All of this seemed common compared to other vehicles with seven seats. Lowering the rear row can provide a healthy amount of cargo room, although lowering all the seats makes for a massive amount of storage.

Packed into the trunk area is an air compressor and a 120V power outlet. Each one is protected by a sliding cover which also hides it away. Under the false trunk floorboard, where several extra inches of storage reside, also housed the hose for the compressor. I didn’t have a chance to use the compressor this time around. But when I did in the truck, I found it incredibly helpful to pump up the tires of bikes that I also carried in the bed.

Driving: A Quick and Nimble 7-Seater

The Rivian R1S was a joy to drive—plain and simple. It felt physically large, in the way a Kia Telluride or Chevy Tahoe might, but it was extremely nimble and responsive. Its turning radius was always impressive. I also never felt like I couldn’t see things around me. There were plenty of video feeds and safety features to navigate comfortably.

Coming in at the high-end, with quad-motors, the R1S I drove had a quick 0 to 60MPH speed of three seconds. The pedal was stiff to press, but that didn’t hinder any driving ability. Most of the time, it felt like I was going slower than I actually was. That had to do with the combination of vehicle weight, its larger size, and the electric motor that didn’t roar when heading up hills.

There are different driving modes available, depending on the vehicle’s trim, but my Adventure Series had Conserve, All Purpose, Sport, Snow, Off-Road, and Tow. I stuck to the two extremes of Sport and Conserve the most. It's where most people will probably find themselves as well. When driving the R1S, I either wanted the most torque and power or I wanted the most battery life.

The R1S will adjust its ride height depending on which mode is selected, or it can be changed manually. It was an odd sensation to feel the car raise and lower itself at a stoplight or at other times different modes were activated.

If accelerating is half of driving, then stopping is the other part. The R1S, like its truck counterpart, has aggressive regenerative braking. People new to EVs will probably have a solid week of rewiring their brains to feel completely comfortable with Rivian’s style. As an avid EV driver, it still took me a couple of trips around the block to fully adjust.

The great part of the R1S’s hard regen braking is how natural one-pedal driving feels. In hindsight, it made me wish that Tesla’s regen was a touch stronger on its highest setting.

R1S Technology and Infotainment

Comfort, driving, and exterior design were all great, but the technology in the R1S shouldn't be ignored. The amount of technical features doesn’t quite match what Tesla’s vehicles offer, but Rivian isn’t far behind. There was at least one meaningful feature that surpassed what Tesla offers.

In terms of entertainment, the R1S doesn’t offer much. Newer sources like Spotify and streaming radio are built-in, but otherwise, most people will need to rely on Bluetooth to stream their music or podcasts. There’s no CarPlay or Android Auto, unfortunately.

There are also no streaming video services available. This might not seem like a big deal, but having Netflix and Disney+ built-in can be really helpful for times spent parked at a charging station or even just parked during a kids’ sports practice. (These video services aren’t for use during driving, of course.)

The mapping and navigation can be sprawled across the main 15.3-inch touchscreen. Charging stations can be toggled on and off on the maps to display as you drive. Possibly even more helpful was the 12.3-inch driver’s screen that displayed navigation, car visual, and speed information, all blended together.

That car visual would show where I was in the lane and where other cars were in relation to me. So I could see a car approaching from behind me on the left or right as it came into view on the screen. This looks similar to Tesla’s visualization of cars around you and is enabled by the sensors and cameras around the R1S’s exterior.

Cameras play a large role across multiple areas of safety. Beyond helping to eliminate blind spots, they also keep a watch over the vehicle. Gear Guard security is the all-encompassing feature for the dash cam and activity monitor.

Video footage can be captured and saved if incidents happen while you’re driving. The system can also capture events automatically while you’re away. If the R1S detects someone or something nearby, it can record and save video clips of what’s happening. It worked as expected and captured a neighbor of mine admiring the vehicle at one point.

Tesla also has this feature, and it’s been very helpful. It has also been very painful in the past to relive exactly how a shopping cart rolled downhill and hit my car.

While it’s not exclusive to the R1S, or even Rivian, the vehicle’s birds-eye camera view was amazing. The backup camera was fine, though a little stretched on the 15-inch screen. Having a front camera was also helpful to avoid running over a curb in a parking lot. But the combination of all the cameras to provide an overhead view made parallel parking a breeze.

When I put my Tesla in reverse, the side mirrors angle down so I can better see the curb and any on the ground. It’s helpful, but the R1S’s overhead view was still a better experience and one of the hardest advancements to give up when I returned the vehicle.

Although I don’t have a pet and Tesla has the same feature, I would be remiss not to mention the Dog Mode feature. When enabled, it keeps the climate set to a comfortable temperature for as long as you need it to and also alerts passersby to the fact that the dog left inside is safe and not too hot or cold. I've heard it makes traveling with pets so much better.

I had to use a keyfob for this review because of an issue gaining access to the Rivian app—available for iPhone and Android. I did use the app as my vehicle key for my previous review, and it worked great. The app allows for most of the interactions you'd want for your car remotely, like setting a charging schedule, setting a charging limit, unlocking it, opening the hood, controlling the climate, and so on. This is a modern vehicle app, similar to Tesla's, unlike the myVW one offered for the ID.4.

R1S Charging: Stuck Between Now and the Future

The R1S has a Combined Charging Standard (CCS) charging port, but the company has said it will switch to the North American Charging Standard (NACS) sometime in 2024. While I was able to find a DC fast charger near my house, there were only a couple of them, compared to the more than 30 Tesla fast chargers in the same vicinity, which use NASC connectors. It means that this current crop of R1S vehicles is kinda stuck in an awkward phase. If you can hold off on buying an R1S until the port is changed, that might be ideal, but if not, an adapter converting the CCS port to NASC chargers will be available to customers at some point.

The most popular CCS fast chargers are currently offered by Electrify America or maybe EVGo. I used an EVGo station and was able to get some meaningful double-digit range in a short period of time. I've never seen a Rivian faster charger in the wild, but the company claims it can provide around 140 miles of range in 20 minutes. Based on using Tesla's and other public chargers, the charging experience definitely varies by location.

Frankly, as more time passes, I’m less thrilled by the idea of using the slower level 2 public chargers, especially for long-range vehicles like the R1S. I plugged the R1S into a couple of different ones for short periods when I was running errands, and I could only add a few miles of range when I plugged in for 15 or 20 minutes. Using a slower charger at home, on the other hand, to charge overnight is perfectly fine.

What I really liked about the Rivian charging experience as is, however, was how proactive it was about providing all the charging information I wanted to see. For example, it showed how fast the station was charging at, when it would finish, how many miles had been added, and what the total range would be for the different driving modes when finished. This is in direct opposition to how unhelpful VW's ID.4 was in regard to charging.

In addition to that information on the vehicle’s screen, it also allowed me to slow down the charging speed if I wanted to. You might want to do that to not stress certain locations, like when visiting relatives. Plus, the automatic charging port would close when the vehicle was engaged so I didn't have to manually close it.

Head-to-Head: R1T vs. R1S

The R1T and R1S look similar. They share most of the same features. The electric vehicles also drove nearly identically. But here are a few specs where they differ around size, towing, and storage space.

R1T (Truck)

• Max height (with antenna): 78.2in
• Length: 217.1in
• Wheelbase: 135.8in
• Towing: Up to 11,000lbs
• Storage space: 62cu-ft
• Outlets: Four 120V outlets

R1S (SUV)

• Max height (with antenna): 77.3in [shorter]
• Length: 200.8in [shorter]
• Wheelbase - 121.1in [narrower]
• Towing: Up to 7,700lbs [less]
• Storage space: 104cu-ft [more]
• Outlets: Two 120V outlets [fewer]

R1S Price and Availability

The R1S is currently available to order through Rivian’s website. New builds currently have about a four-month wait, while new inventory vehicles are available within one to six weeks.

Should You Buy the Rivian R1S or R1T?

If you’re considering the Rivian R1S, you’ve probably also considered a Tesla Model X or Y, maybe even one from Lucid or Polestar. In my experience, Tesla still holds the crown for the most technically advanced vehicle with rapid updates and the most entertainment options. There are plenty of reasons not to want a Tesla vehicle, however. If a Tesla isn’t right for you, then my next recommendation would be a Rivian. Frankly, there just aren't enough 7-seat EV options available right now.

Although there are a lot of minor details to fret over, the choice between a Rivian truck and SUV comes down to whether or not you'll ever need more than five seats. If you won't, pick the R1T. You'll love the gear tunnel and be able to haul around unwieldy items every so often. For everyone else, the R1S is the way to go.

I do think there are more people who will want the option for more than five seats, which makes the R1S the best bet for most people. I thought Rivian’s SUV drove great while providing enough room for people and their baggage without being too overbearing. The R1S might be the quintessential modern American vehicle.