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00:00The best SUV that you can buy right now just happens to be electric.
00:12Okay, that's a pretty controversial statement.
00:16Let's zoom out a little bit with maybe something we can all agree on, like electric cars are
00:21really expensive right now.
00:23That's just a fact.
00:24I think we can all be on the same page about.
00:26There are basically no really, really good, but also really, really cheap electric cars.
00:30But that's not for a lack of trying.
00:32Like they all know that that would kill like a $20,000 Tesla would do amazing.
00:38People would love to buy that.
00:39That's just not something that's possible with the prices and the way businesses work
00:43right now.
00:44So when I start just with the best SUV that you can buy happens to be electric, that's
00:48actually a strategy.
00:51Let's zoom out a little bit.
00:52So gas cars have been evolving.
00:53As you know, they've been maturing for years and years.
00:56And then now this suddenly very new and very expensive technology comes along.
01:00That is an electric drive train with a huge battery.
01:03And so if you're a company that's going to add it to your car, it will become a more
01:07expensive car.
01:08So if you're a car company, knowing that you want to start making electric vehicles, you
01:13have a very specific choice to make.
01:15And we get to like follow this in real time and see them all try to do this.
01:19And that choice is, do you want to compete at the highest end to be the best possible
01:24product?
01:25Or do you want to compete at the lowest end on price?
01:29And of course, business 101, if you've looked at these graphs long enough, you can understand
01:33that it just makes more business sense to try now when the technology is expensive,
01:38to compete on the highest end by just trying to make the best overall thing, a no brainer
01:43better product.
01:44And then, you know, in the future, when hopefully the price of the tech gets lower, we can also
01:48get those that are competing on price.
01:51That's why you're seeing cars that are expensive and electric and not a lot of cheap electric
01:56cars.
01:57I mean, there are some, but they're more expensive than their gas counterparts.
01:59So they don't really make sense.
02:00So I guess then that brings us to the question, is the Rivian R1S the best SUV in the world?
02:08Is it the best one you can buy?
02:10Well, it makes a pretty compelling case, and I think it's really good.
02:14So if you've heard me talk about the truck before, the Rivian R1T, well, then the name
02:18R1S makes a lot of sense because the front half is also R1.
02:23It's basically the same, but the back half, it trades the truck bed and the gear tunnel
02:28for a third row and all the benefits that come with a third row SUV form factor.
02:33So literally, like if one of these pulled up behind you from this angle, you could not
02:37tell if that was the truck or the SUV that just pulled up behind you because it's identical.
02:42Until you come to the side and you see the differences.
02:45Now I've been driving this brand new limestone colored R1S with the dark all-terrain wheels
02:51for about a week now.
02:52It's been really solid, and I'm not even going to highlight the front stuff because it's
02:56basically the same.
02:57If you've seen the video, go back and watch the R1T video.
02:59It's the same truck.
03:01It's the same interior.
03:02Not a lot interesting here, so let's just do the part that's different now.
03:06So let's take a look at the new and slightly improved interior.
03:11I'm in the second row right now.
03:13It's not as gigantic of a second row as like an Escalade or something gigantic like that,
03:18but in a lot of its competition, a lot of other three row SUVs, perfectly reasonable.
03:23And then behind me is the two seats of this seven seater, which is smaller.
03:28It's better for kids.
03:29I wouldn't want to be back there for a road trip, but it's fine.
03:32It's comfortable.
03:33You've got three kids.
03:34This is the type of thing in the U.S. you see a lot of.
03:36And they've made a lot of subtle improvements even since the R1T that I first checked out.
03:40Obviously, you've got this huge glass roof up here at the top.
03:44There are slightly improved, better speakers.
03:46So the Meridian sound system that was in the previous one was fine.
03:50Actually it was really good.
03:52These I imagine are in roughly the same locations around the cabin, but they sound way better.
03:58And then still, material choices are great and there are vents everywhere.
04:02Really solid builds.
04:03Nothing's creaking or scratching or squeaking or anything like that.
04:06This is nice.
04:07But of course, since it's three rows, you want to know how to get back to the third
04:10row.
04:11So let's do that.
04:12So there's a nice little button on the shoulder of the seat.
04:13You press that, it slides it forward on these rails and you can just pop right back here
04:19into the back seat.
04:20So look, as predicted, not a ton of leg room.
04:23That's the seat right there, but you do have the vents back here.
04:26You also do have additional sunroof behind this little pillar here, which feels pretty
04:30nice and you still have the entire trunk behind you.
04:33Spacious, airy, the light interior color helps of course, but yeah, that's the third row
04:39you didn't get with the R1T.
04:40Got a little cup holder back here.
04:41There's a speaker over here.
04:43The vents that you can point at yourself and of course on the other side, same deal.
04:46But I do want to show you the trunk space because I think that's what's the most important.
04:50Actually impressive.
04:51So of course, coming around to the back, you still have that distinctive light bar across.
04:54You still have the blinkers on either side.
04:56But now if you want to open this lift gate here, it automatically will pop open like
05:01that, which kind of reminds me, I think a Jeep Wagoneer or something does this, but
05:05you've got this sort of split gate.
05:08The top half opens, the bottom half stays closed.
05:11So if you've got stuff sort of rolling around in here, it's protected.
05:15It'll stay in.
05:16Then this button right here will pop this section down and it's got this little clever
05:20mechanism here that creates this sort of flat surface as it slides open.
05:24So now you can slide things in here and if you even want, you can use these locking and
05:29unlocking bits here that can slide around, lock into place, and then tie things down
05:36to the other side.
05:37So if you've got something that's actually going to stick out the back and you don't
05:40have enough room, that can help you out.
05:42Now I mentioned there's no gear tunnel, but they even kept things like what you find in
05:46the truck bed, which is 1500 watts of power.
05:49And you also have your air compressor back here.
05:51So all of that's still good.
05:53You still get to keep it.
05:54There's also this giant subwoofer on the other side.
05:56But of course, if this is going to be the best thru-air SUV, it's got to do better than
05:59this, right?
06:00I mean, all the seats are up.
06:01That's fine for groceries, I guess, but you already know it's electric.
06:05So that means there's even more space where there wouldn't be a gas tank.
06:09That's your first aid kit.
06:10This is, I believe, a charging kit or tire compressor.
06:14Yep.
06:15Air compressor.
06:16And then even more sub-trunk space.
06:18But just go ahead and pull this up real quick and you'll find an even more gigantic area
06:24underneath where you could put a spare if you had one, but you don't.
06:28So you just have a ton more space where you can put groceries that won't slide around.
06:33And all of that is closable and hideable under this flat surface.
06:37But I do think it's time to put the seats down just so you can see how ridiculous it
06:41gets when you put all that space down.
06:44Actually, this is kind of a sweet setup for me.
06:46If I don't have all of the seats needed at once, this is a sort of a giant flat area
06:52where you can fit a ton of stuff.
06:54I'll try to put numbers on the screen if there are any available to sort of contextualize
06:58how much that is.
06:59And then, of course, I can't reach from back here, but you've got the buttons to pop the
07:02last two all the way down.
07:04I don't know why the headrests don't go down, but when they do go down, it's just this gigantic
07:09massive amount of space.
07:10You could fit a bike or two back here and still have the front seats.
07:14It's pretty sick.
07:15So does having enough space for a mattress folded down make it the best SUV in the world?
07:22Not by itself, no.
07:23I mean, the sub-trunk space is great.
07:25You also can't forget about the front trunk, which the R1T also had, and all the power
07:29tool stuff, and all the space, and the green roof, and oh, yeah, and then you got to drive
07:34it, of course.
07:35Spoiler alert, this one's also really fun to drive, which is probably not a shock to
07:42anyone who knew anything about the R1T because, yes, this one is also a quad-motor 800 horsepower
07:50missile in a straight line.
07:52It is absurd.
07:53It has no right being this fast, being 7,000 pounds, but it is.
07:58So it is that fun again.
08:00Now, the difference with this and the R1T is this one is a little bit of a shorter wheelbase,
08:05which means it does actually feel a little bit more nimble.
08:08It does, like when I corner or when I turn around on like a tight road like this, it
08:13does have a smaller overall turning radius, which is great.
08:17It also means if you're off-roading, you have a better breakover angle, all these things
08:21like most people will not use 75% of the capabilities of this vehicle, but if you do, that'll be
08:28really good to know.
08:29But again, just like in regular driving, okay, I'm going to be in all-purpose mode because
08:34that's the typical mode you'll drive around in this thing, and it drives like as good
08:39as any other SUV you could possibly imagine, meaning soft suspension, check, firm acceleration
08:45if you want it, but very relaxed and drivable all the rest of the time, check, regen, great,
08:51stability control, great, no problems here.
08:54This is, it's, I couldn't expect much more.
08:56But now you can go into sport mode because if you're going to spend a lot of money and
09:00you want it to be the best overall product, you can hear the air suspension literally
09:05lowering it as I go into the lowest overall setting and now the firmest, most responsive
09:10mode, and it should be able to do both, right?
09:13If it's going to be super expensive, best overall product, it should be able to do both.
09:17And this is maybe the only place that I could possibly see anyone complaining, which is
09:23that it's not the sportiest thing in the world.
09:27It actually does drive a little bit looser than the R1T, which is interesting.
09:31This feels like a suspension thing, but a lot of the accelerations and decelerations
09:37and the way it sways a little bit back and forward and going around turns, I feel a little
09:41bit extra swaying where I didn't expect it.
09:45You could argue that that's a weakness of this particular vehicle, sure.
09:50But in literally 99% of the cases, especially with 99% of the drivers, nobody's actually
09:57ever going to notice.
09:58So I've been really, really impressed and just having a lot of fun with it.
10:01I actually find, I find it fine to just be in all purpose mode most of the time.
10:06I also don't have that much off-roading in my daily commute or my normal use of this
10:12vehicle, so that's also fine.
10:13But if I did, I would have off-road mode.
10:15Snow mode's cool to have.
10:17And of course, if I was towing something, I could pull that off too.
10:21The only thing I really tow is a camera rig.
10:24So I wouldn't get this if I was towing a whole ton of weight.
10:27You should watch Jerry Everything's video where he actually did test out how well it
10:32would tow.
10:33Actually, he had an R1T for that video.
10:35But I wouldn't get it for that either.
10:37But this just really fits the, that is nimble, this just fits the, it fits the adventure
10:42vehicle mantra.
10:44It really feels like it matches that description, adventure vehicle.
10:49So it's like, all right, Marquez, if you're going to call it the best, what is it competing
10:52against?
10:53Well, if you're just going straight six row SUV, there's a lot of them out there.
10:58And America loves these things.
10:59There are the Toyota Highlanders or the, I think that's a Honda Pilot right there.
11:03That's a three row.
11:04Lots of things that will all be cheaper than this, dramatically cheaper than this one.
11:09I think even the Escalade, the Cadillac Escalade will be cheaper than this Rivian R1S.
11:15But what this Rivian R1S does is it's able to offer all of the things that you want out
11:21of a vehicle like this and doesn't really skimp.
11:23So some of those might be really comfortable and well built, but they won't be as high
11:28tech or they might be really high tech and well built, but they won't be as fast.
11:34You see what I mean?
11:35Now, this is the electric one too.
11:37So it's going to be the quietest.
11:38It's going to be the most responsive, the most efficient.
11:42It's going to have the most space.
11:44And those are all benefits kind of over all of the other six, seven seat SUVs.
11:49So I think if the mission is just like make a great thing, that's just the most fun for
11:54the people who don't really have a budget and just want to go crazy and have the coolest
11:59best thing.
12:01I don't think that there's much else that I would take over this one.
12:04Like if you just pressed a button and I had three kids and I had to daily drive something
12:08that could, you know, go get groceries, take them all to school and just have a fun time
12:14in.
12:15Otherwise, this would be a, this would be pretty good.
12:17Now, the question for everyone else is like, okay, when is this experience, when is the
12:22electric vehicle experience that's actually fun and good going to come down in price?
12:28And that's just a tech and a development question.
12:30Keep in mind, this company also has to spend money on building a charging network and all
12:35the other things they're doing with the delivery vans.
12:38I keep seeing the Rivian delivery vans on the road all the time because there's an Amazon
12:43warehouse near here.
12:44So I feel like I see one like every single day, but you know, that's just one company.
12:50Rivian is doing stuff.
12:51Tesla's doing stuff.
12:52A bunch of other rock solid companies that have been making cars for a long time are
12:56all starting to make EVs and develop them and spend money and lower the price slowly,
13:00but we'll eventually get there.
13:01I actually talked to the CEO of Rivian, RJ on my podcast this week.
13:06I'll link it below if you want to listen to that.
13:08But we talked about the R2 platform and what that's designed to do, to be a lower priced
13:15version of this same experience.
13:19And if they're able to accomplish that in as short as a year from now, we're already
13:23moving in the right direction.
13:25So look, I really like this thing, uh, whether it's the best SUV ever or not, you know, that'll
13:32be up for debate.
13:33I really like it.
13:34I've had a lot.
13:35I think people will just have fun with it in general.
13:36That's pretty obvious.
13:37But I am really impressed with this first effort from this particular company and I'm
13:42hoping they're able to continue because R1T and R1S really set the tone for what we can
13:46expect from Rivian in the future.
13:48And then hopefully we get a bunch of other cool EVs following in those footsteps and
13:52lowering in price sometime soon, please.
13:57Okay.
13:58That's been it.
13:59Thanks for watching.
14:00If you want to watch the podcast with RJ or even watch the autofocus videos that I make
14:07on all kinds of other thoughts on cars.
14:08I'll leave both those links below if you want to check them out and I'll catch y'all in
14:12the next one.
14:13See you over there.
14:14Peace.