[MilesK]

I'll be honest, over the past few years I've never been blown away by electric cars. I never liked the way cars like the Leaf or i3 were designed and I didn't think the technology was fully developed yet.

But once i heard about Rivian and saw the R1T then I started getting interested. I like that it's a truck and that Rivian is trying to make electric vehicles exciting. I have a lot to learn but hopefully that will change soon on here!

 

[JimmyEV]

Welcome to the forum Miles! You've come to the right place! What do you currently drive?

 

[eHauler]

Welcome.

Are you looking at any other electric SUV options. I heard GM is planning a few.

And the new Ford Mach-E looks like a nice option.

 

[MilesK]

Welcome to the forum Miles! You've come to the right place! What do you currently drive?

Hi Jimmy, I currently have a 2014 Chevy Equinox.

Welcome.

Are you looking at any other electric SUV options. I heard GM is planning a few.

And the new Ford Mach-E looks like a nice option.

I've started looking at the Mach-E, it seems like a solid vehicle but in terms of styling I prefer the Rivian much more. As for GM I've heard about the electric Hummer but I'm not sure about what else they have planned.

 

[JimmyEV]

I agree, the Rivian's styling is much better than the Mach-E. If you got a R1T would it be your daily driver?

 

[MilesK]

I agree, the Rivian's styling is much better than the Mach-E. If you got a R1T would it be your daily driver?

Not at first, I'd have to see how it performs in the real-world first before making that decision.

 

[Tim_Towell]

Not at first, I'd have to see how it performs in the real-world first before making that decision.

Miles, as a fellow first time EV car owner, what are the criteria that you would be looking for in your real-world performance that would help you make the decision on making the R1T your daily driver. I currently drive a Chrysler 300c, and a Ford F350 Crew Cab that are my two main vehicles, and my wife trades off between a M3 Convertible, Mustang GT, and a Range Rover Evoque. She tried both the Prius III and the Lexus RX400H for a few years and both of those had significant downsides that caused her to hand them down to the kids in the family, and upgrade to the Mustang and Range Rover, and I would have to say that she isn't completely sold on the EV yet, those the reason for my question on how you rate the performance of the vehicle before deciding to make it your daily driver... I have preordered an SUV to see how the best of the EV's are going to be, but waiting to see what the options are, and how we will ultimately configure the vehicle options.

 

[MilesK]

Miles, as a fellow first time EV car owner, what are the criteria that you would be looking for in your real-world performance that would help you make the decision on making the R1T your daily driver. I currently drive a Chrysler 300c, and a Ford F350 Crew Cab that are my two main vehicles, and my wife trades off between a M3 Convertible, Mustang GT, and a Range Rover Evoque. She tried both the Prius III and the Lexus RX400H for a few years and both of those had significant downsides that caused her to hand them down to the kids in the family, and upgrade to the Mustang and Range Rover, and I would have to say that she isn't completely sold on the EV yet, those the reason for my question on how you rate the performance of the vehicle before deciding to make it your daily driver... I have preordered an SUV to see how the best of the EV's are going to be, but waiting to see what the options are, and how we will ultimately configure the vehicle options.

Hey Tim! For me I need to see if the R1T's range in the real world can actually live up to the billing. I'm sure I'm not the only one here that feels that way. If the R1T can easily get 350-400 miles of range then it'll be my daily driver. If not I'm likely going to still have a gas car in my garage.

When you say that your wife had "significant downsides" with her Prius and RX400H, what kinds of issues did she have?

 

[Tim_Towell]

Hey Tim! For me I need to see if the R1T's range in the real world can actually live up to the billing. I'm sure I'm not the only one here that feels that way. If the R1T can easily get 350-400 miles of range then it'll be my daily driver. If not I'm likely going to still have a gas car in my garage.

When you say that your wife had "significant downsides" with her Prius and RX400H, what kinds of issues did she have?

Thanks Miles, I guess I had always assumed that I will continue to have a gas and diesel vehicle in the stable of my personal vehicles, but I have the same concerns as to if this can ever become my goto vehicle when I want to drive from Portland to Phoenix, or a similar type of extended multi-day road trip, or if it becomes the inner city vehicle which is not really what I am looking for.

The Prius had severe problems in winter driving, and we live at elevation where we have snow on the road every year. First, I will try to explain the two systems that were the challenge, and differentiate b/w TRAC (Traction Control) and VSC (Vehicle Stability Control). They are different though related, and combined make the Prius a challenge in winter driving.

Every Prius has TRAC and it is essential for the protection of the hybrid system...spinning the tires of a Prius could result in direct damage to the Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) components. It is possible to disable the TRAC (I don't remember the exact technique of the secret squirrel technique, but it was something like the following:

• Turn the car to ignition by pressing START twice WITHOUT pressing the brake.
• Push the gas pedal all the way two times
• While pressing the brake pedal put the car into NEUTRAL
• Press the gas pedal two times
• Push PARK
• Press the gas pedal two times
• Now put your foot on the BRAKE and press START.

VSC is optional and relates to slide/skid prevention in cornering. It is signalled by some beeping when it kicks in and a VSC light comes on on the dash very briefly (hard to see b/c it goes off so quickly and most people aren't looking at the dash when the car is going fast enough and sliding enough for VSC to engage). It independently controls the braking and power distribution to the wheels to recover from the slide/skid. Whereas TRAC is simply to prevent the forward wheel spin when there is loss of traction.

There are times when I felt we needed to be able to accelerate the vehicle even though traction is not 100%. The prius traction control will NOT allow you to spin the tires at all, so you can stomp on the accelerator but the vehicle will go nowhere.


The problem we had with the RX400H was an inverter failure while driving, and while Lexus (Toyota) covered the $9K bill to repair and replace the burnt fuses and inverter that had failed, it is hard to ever regain confidence in a vehicle that had total power failure, which caused the engine, steering and brakes to stop working while driving at highway speeds. Not sure what caused the inverter failure, but it seems to have been a frequent failure at a particular VIN range of the RX400H vehicles.

 

[MilesK]

Thanks Miles, I guess I had always assumed that I will continue to have a gas and diesel vehicle in the stable of my personal vehicles, but I have the same concerns as to if this can ever become my goto vehicle when I want to drive from Portland to Phoenix, or a similar type of extended multi-day road trip, or if it becomes the inner city vehicle which is not really what I am looking for.

The Prius had severe problems in winter driving, and we live at elevation where we have snow on the road every year. First, I will try to explain the two systems that were the challenge, and differentiate b/w TRAC (Traction Control) and VSC (Vehicle Stability Control). They are different though related, and combined make the Prius a challenge in winter driving.

Every Prius has TRAC and it is essential for the protection of the hybrid system...spinning the tires of a Prius could result in direct damage to the Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) components. It is possible to disable the TRAC (I don't remember the exact technique of the secret squirrel technique, but it was something like the following:

• Turn the car to ignition by pressing START twice WITHOUT pressing the brake.
• Push the gas pedal all the way two times
• While pressing the brake pedal put the car into NEUTRAL
• Press the gas pedal two times
• Push PARK
• Press the gas pedal two times
• Now put your foot on the BRAKE and press START.

VSC is optional and relates to slide/skid prevention in cornering. It is signalled by some beeping when it kicks in and a VSC light comes on on the dash very briefly (hard to see b/c it goes off so quickly and most people aren't looking at the dash when the car is going fast enough and sliding enough for VSC to engage). It independently controls the braking and power distribution to the wheels to recover from the slide/skid. Whereas TRAC is simply to prevent the forward wheel spin when there is loss of traction.

There are times when I felt we needed to be able to accelerate the vehicle even though traction is not 100%. The prius traction control will NOT allow you to spin the tires at all, so you can stomp on the accelerator but the vehicle will go nowhere.


The problem we had with the RX400H was an inverter failure while driving, and while Lexus (Toyota) covered the $9K bill to repair and replace the burnt fuses and inverter that had failed, it is hard to ever regain confidence in a vehicle that had total power failure, which caused the engine, steering and brakes to stop working while driving at highway speeds. Not sure what caused the inverter failure, but it seems to have been a frequent failure at a particular VIN range of the RX400H vehicles.

I've had a similar scenario with other cars where you think you should be using more gas but the traction control has other ideas. It's incredibly frustrating.

That's really bad luck with the RX400H, I wouldn't feel confident after an experience like that at all. Hopefully everyone was ok when it happened.

 

[Tim_Towell]

I've had a similar scenario with other cars where you think you should be using more gas but the traction control has other ideas. It's incredibly frustrating.

That's really bad luck with the RX400H, I wouldn't feel confident after an experience like that at all. Hopefully everyone was ok when it happened.

Thats the good news, is that everyone was OK, and that roadside assistance was able to come get the vehicle, and get it taken to the dealership where they spent a few days trying to diagnose what had gone wrong, and then got the new parts and got it fixed pretty quickly.

 

[MilesK]

Thats the good news, is that everyone was OK, and that roadside assistance was able to come get the vehicle, and get it taken to the dealership where they spent a few days trying to diagnose what had gone wrong, and then got the new parts and got it fixed pretty quickly.

Thank goodness everyone was alright, that's what matters.