Rivian R1 Refresh - Should you wait?

all right hello and welcome to the channel if it is your first time here please do like and subscribe because that definitely helps out quite a bit and uh helps me keep bringing these videos to you so today we are going to talk about the rivan R1 refresh uh which is apparently just starting to roll off of the factory lines after the big uh Factory shutdown in Illinois and so uh well our R1 us is excited about it and I am too so why don't we get into it we'll talk about everything that's new and whether or not it is worth waiting for or if you just just go with something that you can find right now so let's talk about all of the things that we think are coming along with it uh what we've seen so far and what you should do uh about your potential R1 order come along and let's [Music] drive all right so we're sitting here inside of our what would this be 2023 I guess rivan r1s so this is pre- refresh this is the adventure trim we've got the uh what is it forest green with the forest edge interior here uh and that's actually one of the first things here is that uh while we don't know a whole lot of things about the refresh there's only a couple of things that have been confirmed it does uh seem pretty clear that the forest edge interior is going to be going away and obviously this is our favorite one we specifically ordered this one and absolutely love it love the uh green Accents in here that which go great with the outside of the car but we also love all of the wood trim In Here Also which makes it feel a lot more like natural and kind of fits in here with the woods of New Jersey uh so uh this uh could be going away so if you're interested in this I would definitely not wait for the refresh and uh get one out of inventory uh right now before it is gone forever but anyway our r1s here is a 2023 we got it back at the uh very beginning of December of 2023 so we only had it a few months but um uh absolutely love it and it's holding up great but now we know that uh rivan shut down their Factory in Normal Illinois where we picked this one up you might want to go back and check out the video for cuz that was awesome um and they have done a bunch of retooling aimed at bringing cost down and uh with that a couple of potential changes and new features are coming out to the r1s so it includes both the r1ts the the pickup truck and the r1s the SUV here and the idea here is that uh they are making a bunch of like internal changes that you really wouldn't notice to things like the wiring harnesses and uh some of the drivetrain stuff uh all to kind of bring cost down and make profitability a thing that comes sooner along with that they're also doing some standardization that's going to make it easier for them to start producing the r2s there and potentially the r3s as well so they are still building the factory in Georgia they've recommitted to that and uh it will be happening but they have delayed that and are instead focusing on uh bringing production to the factory in Illinois uh where they'll be making both the r1s as well as the uh delivery vehicles for Amazon and uh trucks for other customers and then R2 will be coming there as well uh as early as 2025 so we've got our reservation in and can't wait for that and hope that the timelines are even shorter than what they have been predicting so far but with that they also got a big Grant of additional money from the state of Illinois uh to help them expand even more so seems like they're really going to be increasing their capacity considerably there and with that uh we saw that they will be aiming to produce over I think it was 120 or 125,000 uh art two vehicles uh once things are up and running there which is uh just incredible NS an addition to r1s so a lot of stuff will be coming out of there so the plant refresh uh or shutdown and retooling just completed uh we have officially heard from rivan that the first refresh r1s are coming off of the line now and they're going to employees right now no customers seem to have gotten them yet but there are some uh that have been spied out in the wild uh doing some testing and stuff so we're getting a little bit of an idea of what's there and then there have also been a bunch of rumors from the inside as well as uh some things that have been like noticed in press videos and uh even like the announcement that they had when they got the additional money from Illinois uh like they have these vehicles in the back so eagley people have been able to you know get screenshots of that and check some stuff out so uh a lot of this stuff right now is still you know rumor and conjecture we don't know officially but uh should be seeing this pretty soon so one of the biggest changes that they've got here are they are now going to be producing all Motors in house um and so in the past the initial vehicles that came out including ours here were all quad Drive uh motors which means that there's a motor on essentially each uh wheel and uh then later on they came out with a dual motor version where there's one on the front axle and on the back axle uh and that is called the Enduro Drive Unit and that has been produced in-house by rivan but the quad ones were always outsourced and so the prices were higher on that and uh margins were less so now they're moving to in-house produced ones for uh the as well and then the other rumor is that Tri Motors will actually be uh replacing the quad motor setup uh when this starts to to roll out uh and you'll still have like the same power power and everything just um little bit more affordable and higher margins for rivan and uh just as great performance and probably even better efficiency uh so all great from there there are also going to be two new exterior paint color options uh I believe this is uh what do they call it Shale and uh Evergreen I think something like that and uh it seems like these might be uh at least from like what the employees at the R2 event told me uh maybe accidentally uh the names of like what they had been teasing on the R2 were also uh Shale so could be the same thing as that so they might just be standardizing the color lineup across the entire vehicle lineup or these could be totally different ones so we'll see but uh it' be nice to see some new color options available here there's also going to be the uh existing Adventure trim level plus a new premium level so we really don't know much about like what the difference will be uh seems like premium will probably be the higher one uh sounds like that'll include some additional sensors but uh we really haven't heard too much you know specific about uh exactly what the difference in these trim levels will be uh could also be like some differences in the sound system uh for that as well and maybe like a couple of differences in accessories and stuff but uh time will tell on that so uh new sensors and charging Hardware uh were confirmed in the Q&A with the head of software uh about a month or so ago and so with that there going to be a new sensor suite and new computation hardware for the driver uh assistance system in here which they said there'll be like some new uh features coming with uh enhancements to it uh that'll all be coming with that and probably as part of a monly subscription package that you'll have to buy in the future so right now there's no subscriptions that you need to pay for with rivian the connectivity is uh standard included uh that's like 4G LTE connectivity uh and that's for like navigation and media streaming uh but it sounds like that may be going away and you'll end up paying for uh like a connectivity package probably similar to like what Tesla does in the future and then there may be another separate one or it might be part of that that would include uh some of these additional features and functionality of the highway plus driver assistance system that may also enable that to come to other locations right now it's only pre-mapped highways so with some of these changes maybe you'll be able to do it like more on surface streets or at least additional like highways that aren't just inter States uh cuz it is fairly limited right now where you can use it I actually love the system a ton I think it's uh even better than autopilot where it works you uh don't have to you um when you can do like Lane changes with it without totally disengaging the system which is quite nice and I find that it really doesn't ping pong very much or anything and it stays really locked into the lane and you can also like move a little bit uh within the lane um without disengaging it so uh I think that's quite nice but definitely some things that they can improve further with it and it sounds like they will be focusing on that so another connectivity or another new package that'll be available is a connectivity package that's going to be introduced in the summer and include additional uh features for uh driver plus which will probably require Those sensors uh but may also come with some additional capabilities for media and video streaming the video streaming will be coming in Q3 via an OTA uh over the software upgrade and uh that should probably bring us uh they haven't said exactly what services but I think there was some like uh speculation that that's probably going to be Netflix Disney Maybe YouTube you know things like that Paramount I think actually I may have seen uh so we can watch our uh our blue in here on Disney and uh I don't know what's on Paramount Nickelodeon stuff uh when we're charging which would be great with the kids the new uh sensors will also enable a summon feature which will allow owners to drive without being inside so that was confirmed as part of the Q&A as well so this is probably like the uh Tesla 1 where you can essentially have the car like uh remote control the car and have it like back up or go forward when you're not in it uh to get into like tight parking spaces uh I will probably forget that that exists and never use it but nice another feature that uh we have seen in uh vehicles that have been driving around and seem to be on the production line is that the front tow hooks have been removed uh so little bit interesting there I guess you know they're probably not used all that often uh they're really more of like a recovery thing and so uh just a way to save a little bit there and they'll probably be like an optional accessory I would guess uh because there are definitely some people that are going to want them in would probably pay for that it looks like there's uh also going to be redesigned side mirrors so these have been noticed on a whole bunch of the vehicles and uh haven't really been like hidden or anything they're like a little bit Slimmer I would say a little bit like less tall and um uh I think it even looked like the cameras maybe moved a little bit on them there's also some slight front Cur changes and a smoked light bar option uh as part of the rumors and that actually to me looked like something very similar from what we saw in the R2 when they initially unveiled it and uh some of the pictures I saw look like it might be a lot more similar to like even the R2 that I saw in person in New York make sure to check out that video If you haven't yet and you're interested in seeing what the R2 is going to look like got a ton of data on that including a Q&A with the head of the project for that and um I I'm guessing that they probably just want to consolidate some of these parts to save money on not having to have you know two totally uh distinct sets of parts for uh the different vehicles in their lineup in the future it looks like there's also going to be piano black lower bumpers I am not a big fan of that because it's gonna get smudgy pretty easily but uh probably saves a little bit and at least gives you kind of a visual cue of some of the styling changes there are also new wheel options which have been confirmed um I think they look great especially the road wheels um I like ours overall but uh you know they're definitely very obviously like The Arrow caps and these new ones I think are a little bit like less uh I don't know kind of nerdy looking and a little more sportier um so I am a big fan of those and those would be one of the easier ways to tell that it is a refresh vehicle also there's going to be an updated wireless phone charger uh which is something that they been rumored to be working on forever people uh constantly complain about this one because it is really hard to get things lined up and uh when you're driving around your phone moves a lot so actually does not do a very good job of charging so a lot of people like us have um these third-party mag safe adapter ones which tend to work much better and then uh last like I mentioned uh this forest green interior option is going to be going away so uh make sure you get that now uh if uh you are as interested in it as we are so overall I think you know some interesting changes here uh mostly you know kinds of things around bringing the cost down we still don't know one way or the other about uh the inclusion of a heat pump but that's been rumored for a while and um other than you know some of the like drivetrain options doesn't really seem like much that's going to translate very much to like a different experience for uh the driver or owners but uh certainly make the vehicles a little bit less costly bring the margins up uh and help rivan get to a point of profitability sooner so I think that's great to see and uh you know I would say overall I don't think it's really necessarily worth like waiting for to get the refreshed one um you may save a little bit on it I think maybe the try motor option is going to be a pretty cool one and uh you know probably have some benefits over the quad if you're looking for like efficiency gains if it does turn out that the heat pump is part of it that'll also be a nice benefit for efficiency especially in places that are you know a little bit more regularly cold but if it's super cold and like below freezing all time may actually not uh be any real benefit at all to you so um I don't think that either of those things are necessarily working for if you're a fan of like the new color options I guess uh you know that might be a reason to wait or if you really like the new Wheels uh you potentially do that but I bet they'll probably sell them anyway so U I would say other than that like really not any reasons that I would say to wait uh I know a lot of people uh you know with EVS these days want to get the latest and greatest and uh they'll they'll hold off their purchase so that they can get the very newest thing and kind of hold out hoping that they're going to get some big benefit but honestly to me I don't think anything here is like necessarily worth that weight and uh especially with some of the great deals that you have on uh in vehicles uh being able to be bought and uh great like leasing options right now including some uh incentives and even like uh what do they call it Conquest uh bonuses if you're coming from certain other vehicles especially like some uh competitors to rivan like 4Runners and stuff um then uh you can really get a great deal on like existing stuff right now and not have to wait so I would say go for that and uh really no reason here to um hold your horses if you're ready to get a rivan now this is a phenomenal vehicle and you'll be super happy with with what's already out there and existing and uh uh I really don't see a reason that you need to wait for something that you know might have be part of the rumors or something it's going to be at least several more months before these start rolling out to to more and more people and uh you'll be waiting for it and I would just get one now this is awesome you'll love it and super cool to be part of the rivan family so go for it now all right well with that I hope you found all of that interesting and useful so please do definitely hit that like button uh make sure to subscribe and ring that Bell and uh let me know what you want to know about the upcoming refreshed r1s is there any feature in particular you're super excited about or like really wish that they would add to it uh sound off in the comments below with that thanks so much for watching and we'll see you out there on the road [Music]