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Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

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Re: Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

#121

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

hnburnsy wrote: post #78
freetime2 wrote: post #60

Looks like a great car. As Marques Brownlee puts it [1], this is Rivian's "Model Y fighter". And I personally find the R2 to be much more appealing than a Model Y in terms of size, shape, and interior. But we have been misled so many times about EV prices prior to launch, I think it's important to wait until we see what it actually costs for different trim levels before making comparisons to the Model Y. That $45,000…

None of these car reviewers ever take into account build quality and customer issues. Example they all lashihly praised the EX90, but owners struggled for a year with software problems, then found out the LIDAR they paid for is never going to assist their driving and they need a new computer. Same with Rivian, all of today's reviews praise the R2, but ignore the troubles current owners have not just with the car but…

I would love to come in and buy a BYD with the exact same design flaws, but for 1/3 of the price. Sadly protectionism disallows me from doing that

Re: Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

#122

Post by olyjohn »

dalyons wrote: post #107
baumy wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely false. I own one. It goes up to the low 80s mph before the gas engine kicks in. Acceleration from a stop is sub 6 second 0-60. Hardly weak. Charges from fully empty to full in about 2.5 hours. Mine gets a 40-45 mile all electric range. I drive 10-12k miles per year, and ignoring extended multi-day vacation road trips once every couple years, I fill up the tank 2-3 times per year.

Toyotas hybrid uses gas when you accelerate hard to get that 0-60, it’s a combined system horsepower. Unlike phevs, EREVs are only driven by the electric drive, and the gas system is a series generator, so the EV is fully capable & always doing 100% of the work. PHEVs fundamentally aren’t. Anyway, the real world data from PHEV usage shows you are the outlier, most people don’t bother plugging them in regularly due to…

What limitations stop someone from plugging them in regularly? If you have a charger at home, what stops people from plugging them in at night?

And who cares if this guy is the outlier? You're going to bash on the car because people are dumb and don't know how to operate their cars?

Re: Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

#123

Post by socialcommenter »

maxdo wrote: post #29
joshstrange wrote: post #13

No CarPlay, not interested. I wish Rivian would stop trying to emulate Tesla on this front and add support for CarPlay. I don't want your UI. I actually like the look of the Rivian and this is something I'm somewhat in the market for (or will be in the next few years) but I won't touch it without CarPlay.

as a tesla owner, all I can tell, carPlay is ugly child was born due to EU car makers, not capable of building proper infotainment system. I want to drive, not constantly connect/accept privacy etc. Especially if that is a $100k+ car. When i get into the car, the last thing I'd like to know how my car is getting connected to my phone, if there are any issues, especially if that is not my car. I love how my car knows…

CarPlay has become somewhat of a standard. It's fine to say you personally don't need it, but many/most laymen will still expect their new car to support it.

If a PC was launched without Windows support, most people on HN might be able to live with it day-to-day, but it would still be a dealbreaker for the general population. Admittedly this isn't a fair comparison, but hopefully you understand my point.

Re: Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

#124

Post by wanderr »

dalyons wrote: post #112
baumy wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, false. You can clearly hear when the combustion engine kicks in and it's indicated in the dash. I can floor it in electric mode and it still gets up to 60 in around 6 seconds, no gas involved. Hybrid mode is probably slightly faster but it's a very marginal difference. I don't believe your last statement because you've been wrong about everything else, and it doesn't make sense. Plugging it in is exactly as ea…

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/16/plug-in-... “ The researchers attributed most of the gap to overestimates of the “utility factor” – the ratio of miles travelled in electric mode to the total miles travelled – finding that 27% of driving was done in electric mode even though official estimates assumed 84%. ” Perhaps the rav4 prime @ 41ml max ev range is a better system than all the other low range…

0 mention of rav4 in this article which seems to be about European cars.

Re: Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

#125

Post by bdamm »

pstuart wrote: post #65
freetime2 wrote: post #60

Looks like a great car. As Marques Brownlee puts it [1], this is Rivian's "Model Y fighter". And I personally find the R2 to be much more appealing than a Model Y in terms of size, shape, and interior. But we have been misled so many times about EV prices prior to launch, I think it's important to wait until we see what it actually costs for different trim levels before making comparisons to the Model Y. That $45,000…

> It's an EV most of the time Nowhere on the Toyota site did I see anything about range on battery only. Still, I wouldn't mind having one. I settled for a refurbed Leaf and have only needed an ICE vehicle twice, because of cargo capacity, not range.

A friend of mine bought one. It ended up being kind of awful. 53mi of range for a 40kwH battery? That's abysmal. Where's all the power going?

He traded it in for a used 2023 Model Y. Does 9-hr road trips all the time. I don't think he's going back.

Re: Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

#126

Post by dbt00 »

tempestn wrote: post #106
freetime2 wrote: post #60

Looks like a great car. As Marques Brownlee puts it [1], this is Rivian's "Model Y fighter". And I personally find the R2 to be much more appealing than a Model Y in terms of size, shape, and interior. But we have been misled so many times about EV prices prior to launch, I think it's important to wait until we see what it actually costs for different trim levels before making comparisons to the Model Y. That $45,000…

The only thing I'd miss about the MY is the 7-seat feature. I love the fact that you can technically cram two more people in the car on the occasional times when you need to, without needing to drive a giant 7-seat boat. I wish more mid-size electric SUVs did the same.

I sat in the back seat of a model Y with two other adults and it was extremely painful.

Re: Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

#127

Post by jader201 »

baumy wrote: post #100
dalyons wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The RAV4 EV capacity is so small, the electric engine so weak (cuts to gas well before highway speed), and the charge speed so slow, that in practice its a 100% gas car. Only a small number of disciplined owners are going to be able to run it as an EV most of the time, as its actually impractical to do so. It’s a gas car, with greenwashing.

This is completely false. I own one. It goes up to the low 80s mph before the gas engine kicks in. Acceleration from a stop is sub 6 second 0-60. Hardly weak. Charges from fully empty to full in about 2.5 hours. Mine gets a 40-45 mile all electric range. I drive 10-12k miles per year, and ignoring extended multi-day vacation road trips once every couple years, I fill up the tank 2-3 times per year.

> Mine gets a 40-45 mile all electric range.

That sounds like the real issue, vs. EVs. This sounds like you basically have to plug it in every time you park it. And there’s no way you could do any sort of (even small) road trip without using gas.

(For comparison, our EV6 has about 200-250 mile range, and we charge it about once a week or so, give or take, unless we take a road trip.)

Also, one of the main advantages with EVs is their insane low maintenance, but sounds like PHEVs still have to all the same maintenance issues of ICE vehicles.

Re: Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

#128

Post by jerlam »

Someone1234 wrote: post #41
toomuchtodo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Average price of a new vehicle in the US is $50,000. This is priced appropriately considering total cost of ownership delta against a combustion vehicle. Rivian needs more volume for prices to decline from manufacturing efficiency at scale. https://www.axios.com/2024/12/19/cars-prices-inflation-suvs

People keep repeating this uncritically. There is a car-debt crisis, and wages haven't kept up with house/car costs. We have one person saying "well in Californian wages..." and another saying essentially that 50K isn't a lot of money when the average SALARY is $66K/year.

I wonder how much of this ridiculous car money was previously buy-a-house money. If you don't think you'll ever buy a house, you might as well spend it on a car.

Re: Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

#129

Post by Marsymars »

jader201 wrote: post #127
baumy wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely false. I own one. It goes up to the low 80s mph before the gas engine kicks in. Acceleration from a stop is sub 6 second 0-60. Hardly weak. Charges from fully empty to full in about 2.5 hours. Mine gets a 40-45 mile all electric range. I drive 10-12k miles per year, and ignoring extended multi-day vacation road trips once every couple years, I fill up the tank 2-3 times per year.

> Mine gets a 40-45 mile all electric range. That sounds like the real issue, vs. EVs. This sounds like you basically have to plug it in every time you park it. And there’s no way you could do any sort of (even small) road trip without using gas. (For comparison, our EV6 has about 200-250 mile range, and we charge it about once a week or so, give or take, unless we take a road trip.) Also, one of the main advantages…

> Also, one of the main advantages with EVs is their insane low maintenance, but sounds like PHEVs still have to all the same maintenance issues of ICE vehicles.

I keep seeing this repeated, but I kept a detailed decade-plus spreadsheet of maintenace costs for my last ICE car, and ~2/3 of the costs were for components that are common to EVs.

Re: Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

#130

Post by dalyons »

wanderr wrote: post #124
dalyons wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/16/plug-in-... “ The researchers attributed most of the gap to overestimates of the “utility factor” – the ratio of miles travelled in electric mode to the total miles travelled – finding that 27% of driving was done in electric mode even though official estimates assumed 84%. ” Perhaps the rav4 prime @ 41ml max ev range is a better system than all the other low range…

0 mention of rav4 in this article which seems to be about European cars.

European registered cars. The RAV4 PHEV is a popular car in Europe so is assuredly well represented in this data set of 800,000 phevs.
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