Jonathan Gitlin
Last September we drove one of Rivian’s new electric trucks and found the R1 platform on and off the road was very capable, with an impressive level of engineering that made driving to the top of a mountain almost effortless. It’s been a rough few months for the electric vehicle maker since then, with supply chain problems slowing deliveries, a former executive filing a discrimination lawsuit and shareholders angered over a rather inconvenient price hike.
But Rivian remains very well-funded, and his plant in Normal, Illinois, finds its feet building electric trucks and vans for Amazon. Now another R1-based EV is entering production: the R1S SUV.
Like its sibling, the R1S looks friendly, especially when compared to the more aggressive SUVs coming out of Detroit. That’s partly because of the design of the lamps, which should make your pareidolia stand out, and partly because of what now passes for a relatively low shade height, with curved edges preferable to sharp creases in the corners.
Jonathan Gitlin
That said, the R1S remains a large SUV. It’s the same width (81.8 inches/2,078 mm) as the R1T truck, but at 200.8 inches (5,100 mm) long, the R1S is actually 16.3 inches (414 mm) shorter, and most of the of that difference (14.7 inches/374 mm) comes from the wheelbase. As a result, there’s no longer a gear tunnel – the innovative luggage compartment that lives just below and behind the R1T’s rear seats – but you do get a third row of seats that fold flat with the floor when not in use.
Under the hood there is a large powered frunk, just like on the R1T, with 11 cubic feet (313 L) of storage space. Open the split tailgate – the lower section can hold up to 454 kg, so feel free to sit on it – and there’s a useful load capacity of 17.6 cubic feet (498 L) that can add up to a spacious 46.7 cubic feet (1,322 L) if you do not need to use the third row seats. For really large loads, fold down the center row as well and take advantage of a payload capacity of 88.2 cubic feet (2,498 l).
As with the truck, the interior is a stylish place to be. I’m a particular fan of the recycled wood cladding, as well as Rivian’s thoughtful approach to placing USB-C ports and storage spaces. Visibility from the driver’s seat is good, without too many blind spots, but some readers may be turned off by a full touchscreen user interface for the infotainment system and the lack of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support.
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This is a buttonless zone, but there are plenty of USB ports and places to store your stuff. However, it could use handles and a retractable sunshade.
Jonathan Gitlin
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The middle row of seats is split 40:20:40 and moves forward and backward. Even with this row all the way back, there’s room in the third row, although, like all third rows, your feet come pretty close to your hips.
Jonathan Gitlin
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There is an additional storage space of 5 cubic meters under the floor.
Jonathan Gitlin
The cabin could use grab bars to make boarding easier, and again an automaker has made an EV with a full-length glass roof without a sunshade. Rivian says the panoramic glass blocks 99.9 percent of UV rays and heat, but it would be nice to have some retractable fabric that could block everything when the owner wants it. A passenger sitting in the middle row on the right side of the car can also be blinded by reflections from the main instrument display, as I found.
The family resemblance between truck and SUV is more than just skin-deep; mechanically, the R1S we drove in New York is basically the same as the R1T we drove in 2021. Our test R1S had the 835 hp (623 kW), 908 lb-ft (1,231 Nm) quad engine configuration, combined with the 135 kWh battery pack.
The front drive unit generates 415 hp (310 kW) and 413 lb-ft (560 Nm), while the rear drive unit contributes 420 hp (313 kW) and 495 lb-ft (671 Nm). Each drive unit contains two motors, one for each wheel, so the drivetrain does not require a conventional differential to distribute torque from one side to the other.
