As a Swedish motor journalist, I have once again been the first to test drive a new car model. This time American Rivian and their second model R1S. Those of you who have been keeping an eye on CarsCollection.se may have seen article on Rivian R1T which I posted in mid-August. The R1T is a pickup truck while the R1S is a family SUV with seating for seven. I drove both Rivian models on a trip to Florida before the summer this year. On the same trip I also drove as the first Swedish journalist Telsas pickup Cybertruck.

Rivian R1S is really a nice car I can say straight away. So much power in a family SUV. Certainly it is in a bit of a lee compared to Tesla Model X Plaid which I also wrote about and experienced on the same trip to Florida, USA. But the Rivian R1S is certainly not far behind and also seats seven unlike the Tesla Model X which only seats six people. The interior of the R1S is really nice! The choice of materials and the way it is designed is clearly top notch and is in line if not above the competition.

Basically, the R1S and R1T are the same car. They have the same powertrains and very similar fronts. Inside, they're pretty much the same at the front too. It's only behind the front seats that the change begins. As mentioned earlier, the R1S seats seven people while the R1T has a flatbed and is 40 centimetres longer. What suits you best, I obviously leave to you to decide. But apart from the things mentioned above, the cars are almost the same. When I borrowed the cars, I first had the R1T and then switched to the R1S the next day. 

My test drive in the Rivian R1S was not nearly as long as with the R1T. But on the other hand, I felt that my experience from the R1T, which I drove the same day and the day before, was still there. So now it was more about trying out all the seats and feeling the difference from the pickup sibling. And you do, directly and clearly as long as you don't just look forwards and not in the rear-view mirror because then it is practically impossible to directly determine which of the cars you are actually sitting in and driving. That's how similar they are. So this article will be shorter than normal and that article on the R1T. Precisely because the powertrain and driving experience are largely the same. The four-motor version has 847 horsepower, and that's a lot! You can sprint from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in just 3 seconds. As I wrote in the article about the Rivian R1T, I wanted to be able to travel home and not spend time behind American bars. Of course, I had the opportunity to test the acceleration anyway but in a controlled manner. 

But Rivian is really a brand that will show what they can do. It feels very exciting and fun to be the only Swedish motor journalist to have been able to test drive both their models and do articles about it. 

Rivian R1S

Base Price: Price (US): From $77 700 (equivalent to 742 873 SEK) 

Engine: Two electric motors at the front, two electric motors at the rear, 847 horsepower, 1231 Newton metres

Transmission: Stepless automatic, four-wheel drive
Power: 847 horsepower, 1231 Newton metres Acceleration: 0-100 km/h in 3.0 seconds
Top speed: 185 km/h

Range: 505 km
Weight: 3 206 kg
Dimensions (length/width/height): 5100/2014/1816-1963 mm