2026 Rivian R2 First Drive - Rivian's Model Y Fighter!

https://youtu.be/EfReqcUJfBU?si=7gRLd_pv8QIeHGAR

Okay, so Tesla announced that they would be discontinuing the Model S and Model X pretty recently. And while that was sad, uh it actually isn't that much of a surprise because the volumes of those cars were super low. They were expensive and they were flagships, but most of their volume now is in the cheaper Model 3 and Model Y. And this car here, the Rivian R2, kind of represents the same opportunity for Rivian to scale up as a company. They've got R1T and R1S, but the R2 that I looked at a few months ago in the studio would be half the price and offer a lot of the same DNA. So, it's time to take a second look at the Rivian R2 and drive it for the first time. Now, this R2 we've got here is a camouflaged nearfinal prototype version. It's camouflaged because we are taking it on the street before it is unveiled. Uh there's a couple other YouTubers here doing similar things. I'm pretty sure that is Zach from JerryRig Everything about to go do some off-roading. My goal mainly is to see number one, how close is this to the thing that they showed me in the studio those months ago and number two, how close does this feel to the main R1 and R1S? Because R1S and R1T are flagships for a reason. They are all the DNA and all the adventure and all of the sort of overkill that most people don't actually need. R2. The challenge for them is to put a vehicle together that gives you a lot of the same experience and feels just like an R1S. Actually, looks a lot like an R1S, but it's half the price. So, the two main ways that they've done that, just as a sort of a refresher for those who don't remember, or if you want to just go back and watch that studio, one, this car is a bit smaller, and two, it's just a little bit simpler, less parts, and a little bit less of the extra overkill stuff. Like I said, it looks exactly like an R1S from a lot of angles. The sort of boxy shape and the big wheels and the the total clearance and the flat frontal area. All that stuff looks just like an R1S, but when you actually get up to it closer, it's definitely smaller. It's a two row SUV instead of the R1S's three rows. And it is just a little bit shorter and a little bit narrower and a little bit smaller in all dimensions. So, it looks like just a slightly smaller R1S on the road, but you still have, you know, the bar light and all the the logos and classic badges and stuff like that, the little yellow accents. And then throughout the entire interior of the vehicle, the theme here is simplicity by less parts. There's less harnesses, less miles of wiring and cables inside. A perfect example is where the Riven R1S would have a yellow accent and a badge and a left turn indicator. This little piece right here is all three of those things are on the R2. They've also now moved the NACS charging port to the back left corner here. And I've noticed there's also this sort of maze in here. Uh I haven't been able to figure out what this maze means, but I do know the entry point is up here and the exit is down here. So if someone wants to screenshot that and fill it out and see if it like spells Riven or something, that would be pretty cool. I think the fact that this looks and feels so much like an R1S from so many ways, including behind the driver's seat, is a success of this philosophy. There's a couple things that are a little bit concerning to me, like the fact that the front trunk opening is not a real button, but it's this capacitive area right here that feels like it could ice over, but you know, then you still have a very usable front trunk and all of that stuff. They've also done some things that are unique to R2. Like around the back here, you can open just the glass or you can open this entire back section by finding the V and Rivian. And then there's another uh power opening liftgate button right there. And we have a whole bunch of stuff behind the second row, which uh in case you don't remember that video is actually pretty spacious. Like a good amount of leg room. More leg room in fact than my R1T. So that's sick. And specs-wise on paper, they seem to be able to nail all of the basics. So, 300 mi of range for all the specs starting at $45,000, but of course going up from there when you option up drivetrain or paint or whatever other options. This is a nice simple black interior. But then 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds from the dual motor all-wheel drive, 650 plus horsepower, and 609 pound- feet of torque. This thing is going to be zippy and very capable even in its most basic version. So, there's not much left to do other than getting it out on the road and driving it. All right, driving the Rivian R2 for the first time. I'm one of the first few people, as you can probably tell, to actually take this out on the streets outside of Rivian itself. And it's still camouflaged. It's not exactly final, but should be pretty close. So, the R2 that I'm driving has the all-terrain tires and uh has all 650 plus horsepower and 600 lb feet of torque. So, starting off in all terrain or allpurpose mode, I feel like it's most closely it's it's definitely close to R1, Gen 2. It's it's softer than the Gen 1 Rivians. The challenge not having air suspension is how do you create a far enough difference between the all-purpose mode and the sport mode? And so, just starting here in allpurpose mode, I do feel like it is the soft a little on the cushier side, which I think is what I would want. This is what I think a lot of people were complaining about with the the first Model Y's where they're a little too firm and a little too crashy. This is definitely much more smooth and uh I'd like to cruise in this for a while. This is nice. So, another one of the big simplifications of the R2s versus the R1's is there's no longer an active air suspension. Instead, it's passive coils and semi-active dampers. So, all the differences between the drive modes will have to be felt through that and the throttle response and the steering weight and things like that. But, no active air suspension here. The more I drive this, the more it kind of feels like it shrinks a little bit around me. It's actually a very similar in size to a Tesla Model Y. I think it's about an inch shorter than a Model Y, but a similar height, similar width. And the Model Y is obviously proportioned differently and has a much more sloping roof line. This has much more interior cargo space because of the shape, and it's much less aerodynamic because of the shape, too. But yeah, it feels like it's about a Model Y size. These roads are of course nearly perfect because we're out here in California. So I'm not able to replicate my normal suite of New Jersey potholes, but I will say expansion joints and normal undulations, you can feel the car sort of take its time a little bit, smoothing it out. It's nice. Almost everything about the driving position feels just like as if I was in an R1S. I know it's smaller than an R1S, but it's still like the the view out the hood, the visibility, the shapes, and the sizes of things very much feels just like R1S, which is a good thing. People really like R1S. Uh, matter of fact, the back seat looks bigger than my R1T. So, there's more leg room. The packaging is super similar, but obviously we know all the things we know now about being half the price. The default in allpurpose mode is going to be rear wheel drive on R2 for efficiency. But if you ever put your foot in it enough, it re-engages the front motor and gives you all four all-wheel drive. But sport mode is still just like other Rivians, all four all the time. And I'm going to switch to that now so we can also feel the difference in suspension and handling and acceleration. So in sport mode, I've ride feel all the way up to firm. Still regen high, still stability on, but now it is definitely heavier steering is the first thing I notice. And we've got sort of these twisty roads, a little bit of a canyon feel. It's still on all-terrain tires. I'm not expecting magic here, but it is definitely firmer. So now over some of these undulations, I can feel the car settle itself a little bit quicker. It's a little sportier. I still think the most impressive and sportiest thing about R2 to a lot of people is just going to be how fast it is. Uh, these are not the fastest roads in the world, but 0 to 60 in three and a half seconds and a continued pull of 600 plus horsepower after that. Uh, just trust me when I say it feels very, very capable overtaking on the highway, having fun on canyons like this if you're in beautiful California all the time. It's nice. That said, there is a lot of regen in these cars and a lot of the liftoff regen, which starts the initial slowdown, uh, feels really good. You're mostly going to be using it in just like any other high regen car, the very end of your braking or in like heavy braking situations. So, I haven't used the brake pedal very much at all, but when I do, so far, it feels fine. It's It's funny. It really feels just like R1s on the road. If you put me in this and didn't tell me that it was an R2, I would probably just believe I was in an R1S. I have been driving a little bit in the different modes through different types of roads. And my miles per kilowatt hour number is close to five right now over the last 15 minutes of driving. Uh that is almost twice as high as I normally see on my R1T. Obviously, it's winter where I've been looking at those numbers, but this is clearly a much more efficient vehicle despite not having a ton of aerodynamic differences. The front still looks the same. You see it on the road and you're like, "Oh, it's an R1. It's got the flattish windshield. It's got the sort of square front." So, without a ton of aerodynamic change, it is actually significantly more efficient. I will say this steering wheel is really interesting from Riven. So, this is the normal cockpit view where you've got this slightly smaller, but still pretty large display with Google Maps and all the fun stuff over here on the right. And then you've got the second driver display right behind the stalks for switching to autonomy. We don't really get to try autonomy in these pre-production cars, but there's a lot of talk about self-driving in these. But then there's also these little dials here. This dial over here on the right and this other one here on the left. And I showed these in that original studio video uh of the R2 with R.J., But basically, these have motors in them and haptics in them to make them act a lot like a MacBook Pro trackpad. Uh, or maybe a PS5 controller is a better example. So, check this out. I'm going to scroll up on the right dial. And you can kind of hear that. And that changes the temperature that I'm going up and down with here. Then I can bump it over to the left and right to change other things like fan speed and my normal view from maps to autonomy view. When I'm bumping to the left and the right, this isn't actually physically moving, but it does give this really convincing haptic bump to make it feel like I'm pushing left and right. There's also pushing forward and backwards. So on this other side on the left, if I were to move up and down, it's just changing the volume of my media, which is right now uh is staff punk. But if I were to bump this towards me, then I can switch between these cards of what I'm showing on the left. So it's either media or efficiency or tire pressures. And that's just from turning. And then when I get to the top and there's no more, I can't actually turn anymore. So the twist gives me some resistance. So I go to the bottom and then it resists the turn. That is just really clever and really convincing and I think very intuitive. So this sort of softwaredefined experience where these two knobs can act as buttons to do a bunch of different things. It gives you a little flexibility and I think it's already really convincing when they dial this fully in. It's good stuff. So all right. At the end of the day, what I think a lot of people are wondering with this Rivian R2 is, is it good and should I get one? And here's my honest thoughts. I think if they can nail this price, which they're saying it will start at $45,000 and then go up from there, if they can actually deliver something this compelling at that price, it's going to be awesome. But there are going to be a bunch of trims of this and they're going to go up in price from the $45,000. So, of course, the one that I'm testing is the highest performance maxed out version. I, as of the time of this recording, don't know the price of this fast one yet. But if the base $45,000 version of the R2 with 300 plus miles of range and decent performance and all the same character and the same great setup and packaging is still a good product, which I think it will be. This I think can be their Model Y for lack of better comparison. I think this can be their actual entry into that mass market vehicle as long as their margins are good. I don't know if their margins are amazing on the $45,000 version, but I do feel like from $45 to $55,000, this is a very compelling vehicle. I mean, I I haven't driven many things that I prefer over it in the past year in this price. And we talk about a lot of other EVs that are expensive. EVs have been expensive for a while, and it's hard to make things in this price bracket that are really good. But, uh, I think they got something good here. Sorry about all the bugs I got on the front of it. I'm sure they'll clean it off. Either way, let me know what you think. Rivian R2 coming sometime 2026. Thanks for watching. Catch you guys in the next one. Peace.