The Rivian R1S Dual AWD Is A Luxury Off-Road EV With Incredible Range
The $100,000 SUV comes with clever camping features, supercar-worthy acceleration and a seriously impressive 410-mile range.
I took a 500-mile road trip in Rivian’s luxe dual-motor SUV. The power, speed, and range blended with an beautiful design and luxe modern interior made it one of the best luxury electric vehicles I’ve ever driven. What does $102,000 buy you in an EV? Everything you could want plus a few things you didn’t know you wanted.
Design & Interior
As it was backed out of a covered trailer in front of my house, my first impression of the R1S was that it’s longer and wider than I expected. It has serious curb presence, with a vast interior to match. For a road trip for a family of four from Charleston to the Smokey Mountain foothills, everyone could stretch out their legs and there was plenty of room in the back for all the gear—the fire pit, sleeping bags, and tailgating paraphernalia—we could possibly want.
The sound of the doors closing and the way they close takes some getting used to—more of a click than a thunk. Inside the luxury is minimalistic, but details like the thick wood trim add an organic element to an otherwise austere cockpit. Overhead, the dynamic panoramic roof will switch instantly from clear to opaque—for sun glare or privacy. But it’s not until the 15.6-inch infotainment screen and the 12.3-inch driver’s digital gauge cluster come to life that the full experience kicks in.
There are few actual buttons on the dash and doors; most features beyond power windows and driving are controlled by the screen. For those of us who like a tactile experience of buttons and knobs, this takes some getting used to. Things like adjusting a side-view mirror that you’re used to knowing where the knob is, you’ll find behind a menu in the Rivian. A drawback for some, but a major benefit to the lack of knobs and buttons is that new software updates can improve the functions of a vast number of features because they’re all controlled by the same brain. Whereas in other vehicles, the one function mapped to that one button will never change.
One thing about the infotainment setup worth mentioning is that Rivian doesn’t support Apple CarPlay. Ironically, this is something that Apple would do—preferring to create their own software ecosystem rather than using off-the-shelf software from another company. But the promise of not supporting CarPlay is that their native software will be better than CarPlay, or at least just as good. While I don’t consider a week in the Rivian enough time for me to fully weigh in on this, I will say that in the mountains there were times when I had both the native GPS navigation and the navigation on my iPhone going at the same time, because the Apple version at times was able to provide faster and more accurate info on the fly. This is another thing that will improve over time no doubt, but it became a source of front-seat conversation on the trip.
Experience & Performance
Performance is where the R1S Dual really defies perception. For a vehicle this size with a curb weight of nearly 6,500 pounds, having 665 horsepower and a zero-to-sixty time of 3.4 seconds is insane. If you really give it full power on a stretch of flat tarmac, you will feel serious Gs. It’s far faster than you would have the guts to drive it unless maybe you were on a drag strip. So yeah, this thing laughs off steep mountain passes and highway lane merges.
Another driving dynamic feature I loved is that you rarely touch the brakes because the regenerative braking usually provides enough stopping power on its own. A small thing that I got addicted to after a week—I never knew how annoying it is to constantly be tapping the brakes other vehicles.
But it wasn’t that crazy power that I fell in love with most. It was the 410-mile range. What this meant for me is that I could get in the car without a full charge and drive 250-miles to our destination without worrying about stopping. I did choose to stop at a fast charging station because it was on the way, but I didn’t have to. Knowing you don’t have to is worth a lot in terms of peace of mind. The version I drove had the max battery, which is a $7,000 add-on, but it changed the entire experience. I think the base battery would be fine if you primarily do city driving and short road trips, but anything longer and the max battery will ensure you talk about more interesting things with your partner than what your battery percentage is. I didn’t get to take it off road, other than navigating the insanely steep driveway at the lake house where we were staying, but the off-road features of the R1S are serious, as evidenced by its six off-road driving modes: All-Terrain, Rock Crawl, Sand, Rally, Drift, and Soft Sand. For ground clearance, the adjustable air suspension can raise the clearance from 7.9 inches to 14.4 inches for maximum height and approach/departure angles.
I took it tailgating at a Clemson football game and fielded a ton of questions from admiring strangers, a reaction not all EVs elicit right now. Even at an NCAA football game packed with every luxury SUV under the sun, dozens of people ogled the Rivian and wanted to know what it was. One feature that came in handy while tailgating was “Camp Mode.”
Camp Mode is a feature that automatically levels the vehicle on uneven terrain—for sleeping, cooking, or in my case, tailgating. Camp mode also lets you use the SUV as a power supply or a light source while letting you set limits power usage so you never wake up with a drained battery. There’s also a “courtesy” mode that turns off all exterior lights for nearby campers (or tailgaters) while still letting you use the powered features on the inside. Camp Mode was introduced as a software update in 2022 and is another good example of the way your Rivian will evolve and improve through software updates over time.
Final Thoughts
Some 500 miles later, I didn’t want to see it leave my driveway. At just over $100,000 as tested, this is not the everyman’s EV. It’s a luxury EV that doesn’t carry any brand baggage, but what it will do is carry you in style a hell of a long way on a single charge—pavement optional.