Rivian R1T EV pickup review: Why it's the ultimate vehicle, regardless of powertrain

When I first laid eyes on the Rivian R1T electric pickup at the New York Auto Show back in 2019, I thought it was a very cool proof of concept. But no way, in my mind, was Rivian (RIVN) going to build what the company was showing and promising at that time.

Over the next three years we’ve seen the company raise a lot of money and go public by offering an extremely compelling package at an attractive price — though that price was painfully and somewhat embarrassingly increased in order to make the truck more cost effective to build.

Rivian is now building these R1Ts, and despite the hiccups they have done the impossible by creating an extremely impressive vehicle from the ground up. But it needs to build them faster, cheaper, and more profitably to sustain itself.

Here’s why car and truck fans should root for Rivian to do just that.

Designing something new

With a clean-sheet design and skateboard-like platform, Rivian envisioned a truck from the ground up that's totally different from anything on the road. What could designers and engineers dream up when they didn’t have to design around space constraints like an engine, drivetrain, and exhaust, and instead could do whatever they wanted within the envelope of what we consider a pickup truck?

Rivian designers took us to the future with an aesthetic that’s clean, angular, and truck-like, but with a dose of TRON-like futurism. It could have gone traditional with an F-150 look, but the company wanted a fresh design that showed us its vision of the future of trucks.

Without the motor and mechanicals up front, the R1T gives its users a vast “frunk” with lockable storage, an area to store the mobile charger, and even the ability to use the frunk as a drainable cooler. Behind the cabin and right in front of the rear axle is the cavernous “gear tunnel” — another lockable, long, and wide storage space that can hold several suitcases, a surfboard, or even a camp kitchen if you so desire.

And then on top of that, R1T has its traditional pickup bed, plus niceties like an air compressor for airing tires up after off-roading and an optional mechanical retractable tonneau cover.

Inside, Rivian has taken the the materials, fit, and finish to an upscale level, with optional hardwood trim, vegan leather, and even a microsuede-like headliner made from recycled towels. Nice metal accents and limited use of plastics add to the premium feel, and the optional Meridian audio system sounded good with accurate and dynamic performance in the quiet cabin.

The (electric) drive

On the road is where the true test stood. And it is where the R1T really stands out from the pack — versus electric and even traditional vehicles.

The test vehicle here was the R1T in adventure trim with a quad-motor set up and off-road tire package. With these tires and its 135 kWh (kilowatt-hour) battery, range was estimated to be around 270 miles on a full charge; with the standard on-road tires, range would be around 315 miles, a significant bump up.

Driving around on the streets of New York, the R1T did not feel truck-like — it felt like most other EVs I have driven, with smooth, effortless power. It also didn’t push too hard into corners and have a clunky, body-on-frame type of ride like a typical truck. The independent front and rear suspension setup gave the R1T a car-like, planted feel, with the air suspension soaking up bumps and potholes.

At speed, this setup, along with 835 hp at disposal, gave the R1T otherworldly performance. The truck hovered over the road, maintaining a level track even through some aggressive curves in upstate New York. The true all-wheel drive, with motors powering each wheel, gave an immediate sense of traction and grip at all times — that coupled with the leveling air suspension meant the R1T felt like it drove on rails, something I'd never experienced in a big and heavy truck.

Not to mention with a 0-60 time in the 3 second range, the R1T could dust supercars off the line —all the while hauling your lumber in the back from Home Depot.

Off-road, the R1T shows off its adventure vehicle chops by being unflappable in almost all conditions. Over the rocky and loose gravel terrain I experienced upstate, the R1T in its off-load setting lifted the truck around 15 inches off the ground, giving it plenty of clearance from the rough terrain. Again, the motors driving each wheel not only gave the car effortless power but also the ability to detect slippage immediately and exert the needed amount of torque at each wheel to negotiate the terrain. That coupled with the air suspension, kept the truck at the right angle and height for the job.

It is hard to emphasize enough how capable and unique the R1T is. Our test truck, with its MSRP of $92,250, was worth the price in terms of what it is giving you - a jack-of-all-trades EV that doubles as an adventure truck, work truck, and speed demon when you want it to be. No vehicle can do what it offers — gas or electric.

Rivian and its visionary CEO RJ Scaringe have done something only few have done before — build a brand new vehicle from scratch and actually sell it to the public. Though it has a long way to go to build vehicles affordably and at scale, what it has accomplished with the R1T is extraordinary.

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Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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