Munro on the Rivian
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That seems to be going on but I'll wait for when he finally gets it. The feedback then should be interesting.
Would be surprised if he comes off as taking sides, usually he doesn't.
Rivian R1T (Adventure - CR, BM, 21", Ordered 10/5/2021, Delivered 6/24/2022), Suburban 2500, VW ID.4
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Love (most of) his engineering information and teardowns, but can't stand his Tesla biased rants.
I wasn’t going to reply since I usually avoid leaving any negative comments (plenty of that already out there). But I had to get this off my chest.
Sandy is for real. As an engineer with 30 years of experience, I can spot the real engineers and the frauds out there and Sandy is definitely the former. He is a bit of a curmudgeon and is very opinionated about – well everything – but he has the engineering ability & experience to back it up.
There are 2 more checkpoints for me going through with the purchase on my Rivian and Sandy’s teardown is one of them. The other is seeing & driving it in person. And his tear down holds much more weight than the other. I’ve been watching his tear down videos for about a year now and have learned a ton about the design & execution of EVs – and other vehicles too. I am incredibly stoked that they are getting their R1T soon, I will be obsessively watching their videos. His tear down of the R1T will provide more real information about the Rivian than all the other review videos I have seen to this point combined. It’s great to hear people gushing about how fast they are and much they love or hate the ride quality, but in the end that’s all subjective.
He definitely is a huge promoter of Tesla (and other well executing companies too) but he bases it on real data that is in front of him. So he didn’t know that tank turn was delayed and will be geo-fenced? That’s probably because he wasn’t poring over every meager scrap of info that leaks out about Rivian. He is out tearing down and examining vehicles and helping to refine their designs. He also said he didn’t know how to make it work on pavement, which just indicated that he hasn’t been obsessing over the tiny bits of info Rivian has let slip over the past few years.
I know this is pretty strongly worded, but in a world of influencers and self-proclaimed “experts” declaring their opinions as totem, I think it’s incredibly lucky that there is someone out there like Sandy Munro who relies on facts and actually explains why he says what he says.
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I don't think it is strong worded. I appreciate that. I just don't know why an engineer would even want to do a tank turn on pavement? That's way worse than the equivalent of manually locking-out your old front hubs on classic 4WD buggy and trying to make figure-8 turns in a paved parking lot. What would that prove, other than you can wreck nice new Pirelli tires? If there's a guy that opinionated (clearly making money from his Tesla-fest on YT), why would I believe anything he says about tearing down a Rivian (with that sort of bias)? I'm sure he is a great engineer and has all sorts of interesting insights to share with his fanbase. Just call me skeptical.
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Just don't take his word as gospel. He's obviously got a lot of experience, but from a design standpoint (particularly UI) his opinions are still opinions. And sometimes they seem oddly off, and/or he just isn't very observant (watch him ordering his R1T). My biggest fault with some of what he has said on other teardowns becomes so focused on what he does (focus on cutting costs) that he misses the larger picture at times. Sure, having a custom built part that reduces manufacturing cost for vehicle X may save money on that vehicle, but it may increase the overall cost across multiple lines, or it may have been engineered to facilitate easier repairs, etc.
Skeptical is awesome! That's engineering 101.
I didn't interpret his comments as he wanted to do a tank turn on pavement. I think that he had heard through the grapevine that it was able to do a tank turn and that while he understood how to do that on gravel, he couldn't see how they could do that on pavement. So simply a misinterpretation of what the tank turn is capable of.
I don't think he makes money through his YouTube videos. He owns & runs a consulting company that has been around for a long time. AFAIK he operates kind of like Consumer Reports in that he buys all the vehicles they tear down. They aren't donated by the manufacturers. I know for his Tesla Plaid tear down (he just got the car) he asked for donations from subscribers, but apparently that didn't cover the cost of the vehicle ($113K). I have no idea how much income a YT channel with 255K followers generates but I suspect it's not nearly enough to cover the cost of the vehicles he tears down, nevermind his employees, facilities or production costs. I think he's one of the more impartial voices out there. Of course, I would love to hear of another dozen people doing similar things so I could get multiple points of view.
Sandy is all for innovation not stagnation, so he calls em as he sees em...
He frequently calls out GM/Ford, etc for just doing the same old thing for 100+ years when you have Elon literally saving 100's of parts, tons of labor and tons of $$ by going with one piece castings front and rear in their vehicles. Same with the doors, roof, wiring, etc.... he is an engineer and appreciates economy of proper design where one well though out part can replace 10 poorly engineered parts.
If you want to get to know him... watch his series of Model Y teardowns. Fascinating stuff.
Weber Auto is another great guy who is miles ahead of anyone else on YT.
He frequently calls out GM/Ford, etc for just doing the same old thing for 100+ years when you have Elon literally saving 100's of parts, tons of labor and tons of $$ by going with one piece castings front and rear in their vehicles. Same with the doors, roof, wiring, etc.... he is an engineer and appreciates economy of proper design where one well though out part can replace 10 poorly engineered parts.
If you want to get to know him... watch his series of Model Y teardowns. Fascinating stuff.
Weber Auto is another great guy who is miles ahead of anyone else on YT.
Thanks for the tip. I had run across his stuff before but didn't bookmark it and lost it. You're right - very good stuff!
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I think he might also make money from his teardowns by suggesting design/efficiency improvements and consulting with auto makers on implementing them. Sandy is a wizard at all things automotive, but not the most proficient YouTuber out there. On more than a few videos he appears a smidge tipsy and goes off on tangents. That said, I'm looking forward to seeing the guts of my EV laid bare and scrutinized, finding out what makes this $80K black box tick.
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