I try my best as a parent to avoid the phrase “Because I said so”. My child is no dummy, and if you give her a logical reason, she’s pretty good about relenting. This analogy also applies to the automotive industry, and this Rivian R1S is case in point.
No way any of those legacy auto makers would build something like this, and there’s not many remnants inside this R1S to make you feel like you’ve been here before. In other words, there’s nothing here “because they said so.”
Is being different for the sake of it good? Let’s find out.
2023 Rivian R1S Quick Take
Get one:
Very comfy and capable. 835 horsepower is hard to deny. Makes for a good daily.
Don’t get one:
Awkward to step into. Suspension tuned with the responses of an offensive lineman. Will they even be around in five years?
Soul Score: 6
Forget electric or ICE – the Rivian works well as a car.
The 2023 Rivian R1S Overview
I think I am the case study for electric cars. I’ve achieved peak buying power because of my age. I have only short drives during the week. And I have my own garage in which to park said electric wheels. Despite all that, I do not have one.
If I were going to make the leap for an electric daily (it’ll never be the special third car), it would have to be a car like the Rivian R1S – practical, comfortable, competent. It’s even capable off-road. I just don’t want to be annoyed by a car that must get me from point A to point B any more. An angry E36 M3 with half an interior isn’t going to cut it.
But Rivian is still new, and they are barely keeping their heads above water. Turns out, it’s not easy to build a car like the R1S, as complex as it is, and make a profit. I’d say that’s apparent when you’re driving it.
What’s also clear is the effort here. A suspension from Tenneco, who usually designs them for McLaren. Quad motors with 835 horsepower. The interior of an Audi.
And the price of a Porsche.
Performance Score: 6. Head, shoulders, knees and toes
835 horsepower is a lot, but so is the curb weight of 6,400 pounds. As a result, X5 M levels of fun should not be expected.
Motors
You can get an R1S with dual motors and “just” 533 horsepower. Instead, this – a quad motor layout (one per wheel) that produces more power than said X5 M, Cayenne Turbo GT, or any other sport SUV that runs on dino blood.
No doubt, it’s fast. 0-60 in 3.1 seconds is damn near supercar territory, and you can take the Rivian off-road. Despite the numbers, the R1S doesn’t feel fast, and you need to dig deep into the pedal to unleash fury. Everything is so computer-controlled that I’m sure we don’t get the full beans right off the line. Come on Rivian, I can handle it, trust me. Besides, I paid to use them all the time.
Because this is a big, tall thing, you don’t really enjoy the speed. Stomp it a few times, watch the nose rise, and giggle to yourself. Exciting, but you’re in a family SUV – the rest of the package doesn’t support the power.
Steering and Chassis
In theory, Rivian had the right idea here – consult a company that’s known for producing work with McLaren. But suspension tuning is notoriously difficult to do properly, and the heavier a car is, the more challenging it gets.
All the things are here. Adjustable ride height with three levels of stability and ride control, with on-road, off-road and trailer mode available through the digital dash. For our drive, we kept it on-road and lowered the ride height all the way. The result is an SUV with minimal body roll, but a sort of unpredictable nature. It’s not harsh like an X5 M, but still too firm in Sport.
The way it bounds over pot holes and bumps makes you feel like you’re on the Titanic and you know what’s coming. McLaren ties or not, the suspension is a bit of a mess.
The steering wheel doesn’t offer much help either, with a light but direct touch that belays its weight. Be gentle, it’s Rivian’s first time.
Brakes
The regenerative brakes on the R1S are superb, bringing it to a halt without the urge to even cover the brake pedal with your foot. If you do need them, you’ll find 13.5-inch front brakes with retina-searing yellow calipers. For reference, a Z NISMO that I’m currently in has 15.1-inch front brakes, and that car weighs 3,500 pounds.
I must admit that I’m getting used to one-pedal driving, and I miss it on conventional cars that aren’t at least somewhat special.
Who is this car for? Its performance aims at the extroverts, while inside it’s built for the Volvo crowd. Power is always good, but 533 is still plenty if you opt for the Dual Motor, and comes in some 20 grand cheaper.
Lifestyle Score: 8. You’d never know
Well you wouldn’t. Inside the Rivian, it feels as if Audi or Volvo made it and not some plucky startup.
There’s a split folding tailgate like on an X5, and its boxy profile offers a ton of cargo space. I still don’t know why everyone isn’t putting one it. This being electric, there’s also a useful frunk.
If your cargo features heartbeats, there is a third row that’s only appropriate for kids. I’m not even sure how you’d get back there. The second row too – a bit tight with child seats facing rearward. You’d hope that such a large SUV has the space for a family, and this does, but it’s not Escalade levels of room.
Move to the front and…why is it so hard to get in?! Might as well be trying to climb into my daughter’s Barbie Porsche. Running boards would help too, because it’s a BIG step up. Survive that to find a pair of very comfortable and supportive seats clad in soft leather. The R1S will push you into the seatback, so you might as well land on a pillow.
Companies making cars for 100 years haven’t done as well.
Fuel Economy: N/A
I’m going to have to come up with something for electric cars. The Rivian R1S with the Quad Motor setup gets 321 miles of range. You can get different configurations with larger or smaller batteries, but if you select the Quad, you must get the “large” battery pack.
That 321-mile range is probably optimistic depending on how many times you use all 831 horsepower. Hope you’re not towing anything either. I’ve no doubt you can drive the R1S every day without concern as long as you can plug it in at the end of your trip, but they tout it as an off-road lifestyle vehicle, and I’m not sure about that unless you live next to a camp site.
Features and Comfort: 7. Back to the Future
To this day, walk up to any Tesla and look closely. Actually, you don’t even need to be that close to see gigantic panel gaps. Teslas are built like crap.
Not so with Rivian. Paint looks great. I saw no big gaps. Everything actually worked. That’s good news, because this is not a cheap car.
We’ve gone too far
There is a war going on for your information. Automakers take yours and sell it for a lot of money, so they want to keep you in their interface. The big problem with that is Apple CarPlay: it works really well, and it’s become a feature everyone insists on. When you use it, auto makers lose some control.
To that, Rivian gives the big middle finger. No CarPlay, no Android. Two giant screens dominate the inside, with a really nice interface that looks clean and works well. Honestly – if BMW could come up with something half as pretty, we’d be singing praises. Still, no Waze, and you have to learn yet another way of doing things.
Elsewhere, find a complete lack of buttons. The two on the steering wheel can be programed to do multiple thing, but nothing is at a glance. Rivian goes to the extreme by putting it all inside the screen, more so than anyone else has yet.
Still, the R1S does feel the price, with beautiful real wood paneling, a gigantic sunroof, high-end leather everywhere you touch, even Alcantara on the roof. Look out, Audi.
One truck, no Cyber on the side
I do get the sense that Tesla and Rivian are very proud to make it this far, without much thought to what comes next. With BMW, Mercedes, etc., you know they have their LCI planned even if the car is just released. Lease is up, here’s a sort of new one to take its place.
Though not nearly as in-your-face as the Cybertruck, the R1S still has a polarizing look – feels like it belongs in Big Hero 6, with RoboCop’s visor for rear lights. Perhaps it’ll be timeless like an original Apple iMac, or maybe it’ll still be on sale in a decade like the Tesla Model X, looking sad and dated.
Here we have Launch Green, which isn’t available anymore because it commemorated the car’s uhhh, launch. Yellow details like the brakes and badges add some pop of special. A set of 22-inch polished wheels rounds out the semi-butch look.
Rivian has transposed this face on a pickup truck, the R1T, and upcoming smaller vehicles. Some say that’s economical, I say that’s generic.
The 2023 Rivian R1S is a fine family car, but technology doesn’t make it special
Good news: Rivian have already acknowledged the suspension issues and updated the car for 2025 with new springs, dampers, and a re-calibration for its hydraulic roll-control system. There will also be over 1,000 horsepower, which Hummer has already done and you absolutely do not need in a family SUV.
Ten years ago, if I told you I had an electric truck that had over 800 horsepower, McLaren suspension technology, and looks from a Jetsons poster, you’d have said “exotic!”. But we’re beyond that now. Electric cars are no longer new, and startups like this need to make a big initial impact before legacy automakers catch up. Which they are doing quite quickly. 
The Rivian R1S is a normal car for everyday use that just happens to get to highway speeds in the same amount of time a Corvette Z06 does. If that’s your jam, you won’t be disappointed.
Because I said so.
2023 Rivian R1S Specifications
VEHICLE TYPE
Electric, all-wheel-drive, seven-passenger, five-door SUV
PRICE
Base: $91,800
POWERTRAIN
Quad Motor (one per wheel), All-wheel drive system
835 hp
908 lb-ft
Single-speed Transmission
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 121.1 in
Length: 200.8 in
Width: 81.8 in
Height: 77.3 in
Curb Weight: 6,462 lbs
RANGE
341 miles
Want MWS to review your car?
If you live in the tri-state area and would like to be featured, contact me!
Each review comes with a free professional photo shoot.
Support Machines With Souls
Nikon camera bodies and lenses, a Westcott Ice Light 2, Manfrotto tripod, B + W filters and an iMac Pro are used to make the art on Machines With Souls.
