Rivian R1S
Published · Researched 2026-09-21
The Rivian R1S is the electric SUV for people who looked at a Land Rover and thought, "yes, but make it faster and give it a software update every month whether I want one or not." It's the most capable family EV you can buy, it wins IIHS Top Safety Pick+ while towing 7,700 pounds, and Consumer Reports ranks its maker dead last out of 22 brands for reliability. Both of those things are true at the same time. That's the whole review, but I'll elaborate.
This is a three-row, seven-seat electric tank with real off-road hardware — air suspension with roughly 15 inches of clearance, 43 inches of water fording on the Quad — and straight-line speed that embarrasses sports cars. The 2026 lineup runs Dual Large (533 hp, from $83,990), Tri Max (850 hp, $106,990), and the returning Quad Max (1,025 hp, 2.6 seconds to 60, $121,990), plus $1,895 destination on everything. Best range is 410 EPA miles on the Dual Max pack. The 2025 Gen-2 refresh replaced the drivetrain with in-house motors, moved to zonal electronics, and rewrote the software platform — owners and CR both say the car got meaningfully smoother. The 2026 cars add a native NACS port, so Tesla Superchargers are now first-class citizens.
What's genuinely good: the capability is not marketing. Owners tow 7,500-pound travel trailers and report back like field researchers — one two-year towing veteran in the 126,000-member Facebook group pulled a 32-foot Jayco 125 miles and found speed matters more than weight for range, averaging 1.3 mi/kWh at 50 mph. The crash story circulating in that group — an R1S owner walking away from a serious wreck with an injured finger while Rivian's support center auto-dialed 911 — is the kind of thing money can't buy. OTA updates genuinely fix things, including entire recall campaigns, without a service visit. And CarGurus' 4.71/5 all-generations owner rating says the love is real.
What's actually wrong: the first two model years were rough, and the company still hasn't fully escaped them. Gen-1 cars (2022–2024) accumulated a recall pile — seat-belt anchors, turn signals, the high-voltage distribution box, headlight modules, ADAS software, drive-power loss — with 2023 alone logging 9 recalls and 60 NHTSA complaints. Build quality on early cars was genuinely bad: panel gaps, misaligned trim, broken hood clips, door seals falling off within weeks. Gen 2 improved the driving experience but 2025 was another recall-heavy year (9 recalls, 45 complaints). Persistent owner complaints: stiff ride, rattles, software bugs, cold-weather range loss, and service that is slow or unhelpful when you actually need a human. The TorqueNews buyback case — repeated electrical failures, a corroded module, a rear-suspension clunk first blamed on "cargo shifting" before under-torqued bolts were found — is the nightmare version of the ownership experience, and it ended with Rivian buying the car back. Also: Rivian pushes software updates you can't roll back, and the recent one that owners hate (144 comments, 100 reactions in the FB group) is a reminder that "software-defined vehicle" cuts both ways.
The social pulse is a brand cult that knows it's a cult. The 126k-member discussion group reads like an owner's manual written by enthusiasts — towing data, software-update rebellions, UI complaints about widgets that won't stay hidden and seat settings that won't save. Nobody there is cross-shopping a Kia EV9. The debate is whether the bugs are character or a dealbreaker, and the answer splits along exactly the line you'd expect: people who've had a good car think the complainers are dramatic; people who've had a bad car have the service records to prove otherwise. The honest read from The Weekly Driver's three-year data review: early cars had above-average complaint volume in software, electrical, and safety systems, and Gen 2 "chipped away" at several categories. Chipped away, not solved.
Value call: the used market is doing you favors. TrueCar shows 2022s starting around $43,800, 2023s from ~$49,800 (CarGurus avg ~$62,500), and 2024s from ~$57,700 (avg ~$67,700, down 5.7% year over year). The 2024 is the sweet spot — late Gen 1, most recalls already remedied, still-falling prices. Skip 2022–2023 on reliability grounds. If the budget stretches to a 2025+, you get the Gen-2 platform and the rewritten software — but you're paying for it, with 2025s starting around $65,600 and 2026s around $75,000 used. New, the Dual Large at ~$85,885 all-in is the sane pick; the Quad is for people who want a 1,025-hp family car, and I respect that enormously while declining to recommend it.
Buy a 2024 used, budget for the possibility that you'll learn where your nearest service center is, and enjoy the most capable electric family hauler on the planet — with your eyes open about what "startup automaker" still means in year four.