u/ascottallison

It's got a canopy!! Desert charging done right.

I've charged at this off grid charging station many times but I've never seen inside the bunker. Very cool! Can't wait to see this open one day. Built by u/charge2025

I towed my trailer and another very aerodynamic one on the exact same route and compared how many mi/kWh I got with each.

Around 2 years ago I test drove a first generation Rivian R1S and a Kia EV9 on the same day. At the time I far preferred the way the Kia handled and that's what I decided to go with, and I've loved it. No regrets at all.

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My lease is ending soon so today I went for back to back test drives of the second generation R1S and the brand new R2. Yes, I know the R2 and EV9 aren't entirely comparable, but I figured it would still be useful to compare all three.

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First impressions:

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They all look great. The R1S is 4" longer than the EV9 but really very similar. R2 is noticeably smaller as you would expect.

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Inside: both Rivians have very long hoods, so they feel like bigger cars than the EV9. I really like in my EV9 that I'm closer to the front of the car.

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Cabin quality: R1S is a step up from the Kia, feeling more premium. The EV9 still has a very nice cabin and friends who have been in it and have premium German brands have been impressed. R2 is a step down from the R1S and I think is pretty similar to the EV9 overall.

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Displays: both the Rivians and the EV9 have a screen in front of the driver as well as a bigger one in the middle. The driver screen on the R2 is much smaller but still usable.

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Buttons: the Rivians have basically no buttons, but does have scroll wheels and some controls on stalks. I thought the lack of physical buttons would bother me, but the Rivian software is nice and adjusting the AC is easy as it's always on the main screen, right next to the driver (and passenger). R2 scroll wheels feel pretty great at first. It will take a little time to figure out exactly what they can do, but i didn't find them to be a red flag at first try.

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The AC and sunroof. Both Rivians have massive glass roofs. In the R1S there is a secondary one over the third row as well. But you can make these opaque at the touch of a button. That actually worked surprisingly well, and while the glass was hot when you touch it, it wasn't like the glass on the R2 which was red hot.

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On the R2 you can't make the glass opaque and if you live in a hot climate like I do, in Vegas, there's no way you can live with it as is. You would have to get a shade at minimum or put vinyl on the outside of the glass. After my brief test drive I felt like I might as well have been outside with no sun protection

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Wind noise. They didn't let me take the R2 on the freeway, but on the R1S it had way way more wind noise than my EV9. I was shocked how noisy the R1S was. After my test drive I even went back and drove the same section of freeway, in the same direction, on my EV9 just to confirm. The R1S was loud.

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Handling. The second gen R1S has been vastly improved. R2 was good, maybe better, but it was a short drive. I do think overall the Kia is more refined than both. The ride quality was a deal breaker for me two years ago but the improved R1S would work for me.

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Regen. Rivian regen is way better. Their standard regen is one pedal and seemed to just get it right everytime I had to slow down or stop. EV9 one pedal is not nearly as good and off course you have to engage it every time you drive.

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Handsfree driving tech. The R1S is much improved from two years ago. One very obvious thing is the visualization on the display of other cars. Our Kias are incredibly basic in comparison, but surprisingly the R1S crapped out on me on part of the freeway drive, got confused and wouldn't let me turn on handsfree driving. The EV9 isn't great, but it would've coped better in this example. I think the EV9 is "good enough" and I don't feel like I need or want full autonomy which Rivian is promising. I would need a much longer drive to really draw a solid conclusion though on exactly how good the Rivians are.

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2nd row: EV9 wins here, more room and you can have captain's chairs or bench. R1S is bench only. Obviously it's not fair to compare R2 to EV9, it's a smaller car. R2 is bench of course, and unlike some of the reviews I've seen I wasn't really impressed with the rear legroom. I'm 6 feet tall and it seemed like my legs were right up to the front seat. EV9 beats both cars hands down, especially if you want captains chairs.

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3rd row: R1S third row is good once you're in it but it's very hard to get in and out of. The EV9 is the clear winner here. R2 of course has no third row.

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Storage: both Rivians offer more storage space. Even the frunk on the R2 is bigger than the EV9. The trunk on the R1S is a little bigger than the EV9 but has proper under floor storage making it much much bigger overall. With no third row the R2 has a bigger trunk than both, and also has under floor storage too.

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Rear view mirror: having had the electronic mirror for the last two years it was weird going back to an "analog" one. It wouldn't be a deal breaker but I love the EV9 screen mirror as you can see way more. And you can load up the back of the car and you still get that same great view because the camera is on the back.

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What will I do when my lease is up? I'll almost certainly stick with the EV9. Either buy out mine or buy a used one depending on prices at that time.

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One thing that would make me get a new EV9 would be a bigger battery. If they upsize it to the 110 kWh pack like on the Ioniq 9 that would be very tempting.

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Unless you need more range, or much larger tow capacity, or more storage then to me, it's very hard to justify the difference in price of the R1S. What you get with the EV9 is a phenomenal car with great value for money.

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Any questions, let me know.