Ive had my Rivian for just over 9 months now, and for the most part it does everything I want it to do..
There are however a few issues. Some more important than others..
My Rivian is by far my favorite vehicle (right now) so making the decision to get rid of it isn’t easy. There are some factors to consider though. Like every other car I’ve replaced in the past, not one issue is enough to make me want to trade it, but all issues do add up to become overwhelming.
Issues:
- Ive started to have issues with it going to sleep and not waking up. Sometimes I will be standing outside the truck in a parking lot for upwards of 4 minuets before it wakes up and unlocks. Not good..
- Another rattle has developed in the front suspension. (Last rattle was in the rear, and was fixed under warranty no issue)
- There is a wobble in the front at speeds above 70 Mph.
- The truck has developed a squeak at low speeds.
- (As mentioned before) a gripe is the size. The truck is a small truck. 4.5ft bed doesn’t really leave a whole lot of room for hauling anything, and my general thought was that the cabin was bigger to make up for the smaller bed. But we found that we really couldn’t comfortably fit more than 4 people in the truck. Even at 4, they weren’t comfortable.
- (Not the Rivian’s Fault) There is damage on the rear tailgate. I have been unable to find a Rivian Certified shop as of yet that can fix it.
Most of these issues can be fixed at a service appointment. But service is over a month out on the schedule, and I have to drive 4.5 hours each way to Georgia for service. I actually have a service appointment coming up in October for these very issues.
Is it worth replacing?
This whole question can really be covered in parts.. First part is, Would it be worth what I could get for it? To start by saying the minor damage on the rear of the truck (its just a paint scratch) would probably greatly lower the value of the truck.. A truck whose MSRP today is $95,000.00 I feel I would be lucky to get an offer for $75,000.00. Factor in that I still have a loan of $25,000.00 on the truck, I would only potentially walk away with $50,000.00. Any potential replacement is going to have to be financed to make any sense.
The loan will pose a whole new headache, because I really cant shop around for the best price. If I do, id have to wait for the final payoff on the loan and be without a vehicle for 2 weeks until the buyer could cut me a check (they likely wont cut me a check without the title).
So I’d be forced to trade it on whatever I chose to purchase, which could mean getting a much lower offer for trade.
Then we have to think about what options are out there for replacement.
Ideally I’d like to stick with Electric. Some features of Electric entice me, and simply cant be matched by ICE trucks. So let’s go ahead and get the only possible ICE choice out of the way. I found a 2023 Ford F350 Platinum. I was very tempted because its brand new sticker price was $90,000.00 but when I did some more digging into the truck, I found that it was missing many features that I would have wanted in a truck, features I thought Platinum included (but didn’t).
Obviously the elephant in the room on the list of possible Electric Pickup Trucks is the Tesla Cybertruck. While most electric trucks will soon have access to the Tesla Supercharger Network, they will still be forced to pay a higher price, and it’s likely the experience will NOT be as seamless as Tesla vehicles. When doing some research on the CyberTruck pretty much anything I could possibly want in it, it’s going to have. While my Rivian only has 2kW On-Board Power, I do find myself using it! I definitely want a truck with this ability. When ford offer 9.6kW, that makes the ford look really good. Tesla claims to match that on the upcoming cybertruck, but as of yet its not available for purchase..
Other possible contenders (simply because they are electric trucks) are the Hummer EV, & Chevy Silverado EV. Those prices are way outside of my budget, and until Tesla’s “Open supercharger network” is fully changed over to 1,000 volt architecture those cars will charge dog slow…
So really, that leaves one option.. The Ford F150 Lightning. I’ve had my eye on the lightning for a while, but really we need to do an old fashioned pros and cons to compare it to the rivian.
Comparison:
| Rivian | Lightning |
| 200kW Max Charging Speed | 150kW Max Charging Speed |
| Smaller, means more efficient | Larger, More room inside and out |
| 4 Motor AWD | 2 Motor AWD (Less Traction) |
| Faster Acceleration | Less Power |
| Built in Dash Cam & Gear Guard | Has 12v for aftermarket cam |
| Stats while charging | No stats while charging |
| Nice, But less premium interior | More Premium Interior |
| 2kW On-Board Power | 9.6kW On-Board Power |
| Spotify Only | SiriusXM |
| Horrible Route Planner | Better Route Planner |
| Better Navigation View | Hardly any info on Nav |
| No Plug & Charge | Supports Plug & Charge |
| Driver + Is good, But its Hands on | Ford Blue Cruise is Hands Off |
| No monthly cost for Driver + | Blue Cruise has a subscription cost |
| Own network of FREE DC Chargers | Relies on Electrify America |
| Includes Mobile Connector | Includes 80A Home Charger |
| Static Sun Roof | Moon Roof w/ Shade |
| Lower cost, Bad Resell Value | Higher Cost, Bad Resell Value |
| Un-Mistakenly Electric | Is it electric? Most don’t know. 1 |
| Regular OTA Updates | Does get OTA Updates, not regular |
| Charge Limit works like Tesla | Charge Limits suck |
| Strong Regen | Regen.. works. |
| Service Center is 8 Hours Away | Use any Ford Dealer for Service |
| 10,000 Lbs Towing Capacity | Only 7,000 Lbs Towing Capacity |
| WiFi Hotspot is Free | Monthly Cost for WiFi Hotspot |
- This could be a positive actually. Some people are HIGHLY against Electric vehicles, and if they think its just a F150 you may be less likely to be Verbally attacked, or keyed. ↩︎
At this point, I’ve pretty much concluded that both trucks aren’t really worth their weight in gold. Neither are good for traveling any further than say 200 miles from home. It almost seems like a waste of money to buy either. At least Rivian has the “Adventure Vehicle” thing going for it..
So as you can see, I don’t even know what I want to do as of now LOL.
Every time I’ve talked about selling the Rivian, I always back out because I really do like the truck, and it does a lot of truck things I need it to do.. I really wish it were a little bigger, or maybe the Lighting were nicer..
Another upcoming contender is the Ram REV, But there isn’t enough info out about it, and its also one of those 800V architecture vehicles, so its going to also charge slow on Tesla’s Supercharger network once it has access.
Ultimately, there really is no other like the Tesla Cybertruck, and it’s not even out yet. It’s going to have faster charging speeds, better navigation, and be overall bigger.
At this point, the only question I have for myself is: Do I keep the Rivian, and keep enjoying it until the Cybertruck is out (And it potentially loses value), or do I sell it and just go truck-less until then… If we had some more certain info and dates on the cybertruck, I might consider the latter. But it’s too risky to not have a truck when I need to do truck stuff. So I guess ill continue to pile the mileage on my Rivian..
If all else fails, I do still have 2 Rivian Reservations at the grandfathered pricing, I could just trade my Old Rivian for a Newer Rivian to keep a low mile truck.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
TLDR: Not selling the Rivian LOL 😂😂😂
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