As a former owner (and new owner of a 2026 R1S) of many Land Rover vehicles including the LR3, LR4, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover and most recently Defender (2023) I will give you my comparison to those vehicles. I know there is a newer RR and RRS and I can tell you a bit about that comparison as well. Hubby and I have been Land Rover owners through the same dealership for over 20+ years now and so I am not going to talk about purchase experience or dealership or otherwise as our Land Rover dealer treated us excellently and really was amazing.
Let me put a caveat here, for all the Range Rovers and Range Rover Sports and we owned multiple version of each of those including the autobiography for the RR. So I have a lot of experience with what they are like and capable of.
Let’s start with the Defender vs the R1S. Honestly the vehicles have various similarities more then everyone would imagine. Let’s go past the engine/EV part, as the Rivian has better power and better range (all Land Rover vehicles get terrible gas mileage). On the interior, the materials and quality definitely go to Land Rover. But the R1S is no slouch. Both are incredible, but there are just so many thought fully placed storage/charging/ease of use capabilities in the defender. The R1S is really close and with some additional accessories can get to be equal to it. The seats are great in both, I do wish the Rivian had the massage seats like our RR but hey difference price point/class of vehicle. Both sets of seats are super comfortable and easy to get into where you want to sit for a few hours. The Rivian glass roof is amazing with the opaque feature. I did not use the third row in our defender, so can’t compare that. Both have ok second row seat room, defender has a bit more but the vehicle is longer so it’s a trade off. I will say the AC controls in the 2nd row are way better in Rivian. Overall it’s really close between the two, and no one can honestly say it’s better in one than the other in any significance. The trunk space and frunk space are far superior in the R1S btw (well no frunk in the Defender), for anyone considering that a factor.
As for comfort overall, while both sets of seats are great, the Defender has the better ride. It’s so well balanced in all it’s modes, and keeps it comfortable, not bouncy, and can handle sport/offroad/snow/etc. all with ease and automatically switch as needed or manually trade of as needed. The R1S reminds me of the Land Rover about 7-10 years ago in terms of ride quality so I guess they will get there soon enough. Land Rover has decades of experience with this so it’s just way more refined. The advantage Rivian has here is they are able to adjust this with software so hopefully they advance it quickly, but my guess is in a generation or 2 they will catch up.
Tech wise it is no comparison. When Tata bought Land Rover they started advancing the tech signficantly, but it’s still no where close to a competition with the R1S. Let’s see how this goes over the next few years, but it definitely seems Rivian has a huge advantage here.
We have not had a chance to take our R1S off road to see how she handles. All our Land Rover vehicles experienced off roading, so we definitely got spoiled by it. And honestly the Defender was the best of them all. Not many folks realize but Range Rovers and Defenders tend to be the vehicles camera crews use when shooting off road in general, because they are so good at dealing with so many elements, terrains and so on. I mean just having our Rover go through 3 foot high snow and serious snow drifts was a bit stunning when we had to do it due to getting caught in a massive snow storm in the mountains.
Reliability wise one is a Land Rover. They have their issues and part supply issues means when problems arise you are waiting a while for a fix. Honestly this is so dependent on the dealer quality for how it gets handled and fixed. Our dealer was amazing and that made a huge difference for us so those issues never became significant for us over all that time.
I have heard of some issues with Rivian, but I am guessing it’s going to be about the local service center techs and mobile techs here in Southern California. So let’s see how that goes. But there are so many fewer moving pars on these vehicles that I am guessing it’s going to be way less.
So overall, how does it feel? Honestly for both of us we said that the R1S feels like a Defender sibling that is electric. One with way better tech. Both companies are focused on adventure for these vehicles and understand some of their owners will actually do that. So they really are similar in many ways.
Now the RR (Range Rover) and RRS (Range Rover Sport) are different vehicles. The RR is very much more about luxury and accomodating a blend of that into the ability to have a refined meal at a Michelin star restaurant, and then drive through the dirt to get to somewhere else easily. They are remarkable and the comparison on interior and luxury is not in Rivian’s favor. As for power/sport/off road capabilities that’s a separate discussion, but the RR audience is not interested in those. The Range Rover sport is really an urban vehicle with Land Rover lineage. It’s comfortable, but a bit cramped in the second row. It’s powerful for a gas engine but compared to EV’s it not. It is refined, but the sportiness of the suspension reduces that true luxury experiecne. It’s a fun car, really meant to compete with the BMW’s XM series. And as such it’s a 5 seater with that feeling of an urban vehicle, not one meant to double duty on and off road (I mean even the tires they come with OEM aren’t rated to go off-road worth a damn). So if you feel that’s a comparable vehicle, I believe you will find the R1S roomier, better tech, in my opinion better looking and more of a head turner. The R1S is also faster in urban settings, and my guess is due to ride height alone better off road. So I feel it’s a bit of an apple/orange comparison.
Hope you all enjoy your vehicles, and we are both glad to be R1S owners. Have fun!
Let me put a caveat here, for all the Range Rovers and Range Rover Sports and we owned multiple version of each of those including the autobiography for the RR. So I have a lot of experience with what they are like and capable of.
Let’s start with the Defender vs the R1S. Honestly the vehicles have various similarities more then everyone would imagine. Let’s go past the engine/EV part, as the Rivian has better power and better range (all Land Rover vehicles get terrible gas mileage). On the interior, the materials and quality definitely go to Land Rover. But the R1S is no slouch. Both are incredible, but there are just so many thought fully placed storage/charging/ease of use capabilities in the defender. The R1S is really close and with some additional accessories can get to be equal to it. The seats are great in both, I do wish the Rivian had the massage seats like our RR but hey difference price point/class of vehicle. Both sets of seats are super comfortable and easy to get into where you want to sit for a few hours. The Rivian glass roof is amazing with the opaque feature. I did not use the third row in our defender, so can’t compare that. Both have ok second row seat room, defender has a bit more but the vehicle is longer so it’s a trade off. I will say the AC controls in the 2nd row are way better in Rivian. Overall it’s really close between the two, and no one can honestly say it’s better in one than the other in any significance. The trunk space and frunk space are far superior in the R1S btw (well no frunk in the Defender), for anyone considering that a factor.
As for comfort overall, while both sets of seats are great, the Defender has the better ride. It’s so well balanced in all it’s modes, and keeps it comfortable, not bouncy, and can handle sport/offroad/snow/etc. all with ease and automatically switch as needed or manually trade of as needed. The R1S reminds me of the Land Rover about 7-10 years ago in terms of ride quality so I guess they will get there soon enough. Land Rover has decades of experience with this so it’s just way more refined. The advantage Rivian has here is they are able to adjust this with software so hopefully they advance it quickly, but my guess is in a generation or 2 they will catch up.
Tech wise it is no comparison. When Tata bought Land Rover they started advancing the tech signficantly, but it’s still no where close to a competition with the R1S. Let’s see how this goes over the next few years, but it definitely seems Rivian has a huge advantage here.
We have not had a chance to take our R1S off road to see how she handles. All our Land Rover vehicles experienced off roading, so we definitely got spoiled by it. And honestly the Defender was the best of them all. Not many folks realize but Range Rovers and Defenders tend to be the vehicles camera crews use when shooting off road in general, because they are so good at dealing with so many elements, terrains and so on. I mean just having our Rover go through 3 foot high snow and serious snow drifts was a bit stunning when we had to do it due to getting caught in a massive snow storm in the mountains.
Reliability wise one is a Land Rover. They have their issues and part supply issues means when problems arise you are waiting a while for a fix. Honestly this is so dependent on the dealer quality for how it gets handled and fixed. Our dealer was amazing and that made a huge difference for us so those issues never became significant for us over all that time.
I have heard of some issues with Rivian, but I am guessing it’s going to be about the local service center techs and mobile techs here in Southern California. So let’s see how that goes. But there are so many fewer moving pars on these vehicles that I am guessing it’s going to be way less.
So overall, how does it feel? Honestly for both of us we said that the R1S feels like a Defender sibling that is electric. One with way better tech. Both companies are focused on adventure for these vehicles and understand some of their owners will actually do that. So they really are similar in many ways.
Now the RR (Range Rover) and RRS (Range Rover Sport) are different vehicles. The RR is very much more about luxury and accomodating a blend of that into the ability to have a refined meal at a Michelin star restaurant, and then drive through the dirt to get to somewhere else easily. They are remarkable and the comparison on interior and luxury is not in Rivian’s favor. As for power/sport/off road capabilities that’s a separate discussion, but the RR audience is not interested in those. The Range Rover sport is really an urban vehicle with Land Rover lineage. It’s comfortable, but a bit cramped in the second row. It’s powerful for a gas engine but compared to EV’s it not. It is refined, but the sportiness of the suspension reduces that true luxury experiecne. It’s a fun car, really meant to compete with the BMW’s XM series. And as such it’s a 5 seater with that feeling of an urban vehicle, not one meant to double duty on and off road (I mean even the tires they come with OEM aren’t rated to go off-road worth a damn). So if you feel that’s a comparable vehicle, I believe you will find the R1S roomier, better tech, in my opinion better looking and more of a head turner. The R1S is also faster in urban settings, and my guess is due to ride height alone better off road. So I feel it’s a bit of an apple/orange comparison.
Hope you all enjoy your vehicles, and we are both glad to be R1S owners. Have fun!
