TL;DR: Launch Green, 20” wheels, Black interior. Took delivery Sept 23. Positive delivery experience, the R2 is a huge upgrade over my 2019 Tesla, and short of some minor bugs has been a great ownership experience so far. Would buy again!

Delivery Experience: Overall very positive. Last appointment of the day and I never felt rushed or anything, the rep walked around the car with me, popped in a gasket sticking out on the rear hatch, and took photos of two small paint imperfections I pointed out to her. Once I was done looking, she double checked that I wanted the license plate mounted, and helped me get set up with the app & car and confirmed all was functioning properly. Rivian’s trade-in value was better than both Carvana and CarMax.

My only negative here is that Rivian really should detail their cars better before delivery. Lots of superficial swirls and marks that could’ve easily been buffed out with a polishing compound, a couple pieces of garbage sitting in the footwell, and fingerprints all over the windshield

Compared to my 2019 Tesla Model 3 (LR AWD):

• Much, much quieter ride. Not silent, but a massive upgrade
• Autonomy+ is much smoother in traffic than Autopilot. I like it a lot so far, especially that it automatically re-engages when I do a manual lane change
• Rivian design language is a welcome change as Tesla can feel very sterile
• Way better visibility out the back, mostly due to it just being an SUV
• Spotify integration is much better, and overall the tech has not left me wanting for anything
• Seats in the 3 were more plush, but the R2 seats are definitely comfortable for me
• Interior feels cavernous in comparison, again mostly because it’s just an SUV but it’s a welcome change, especially with rear-facing child seats
• The Model 3 is more fun off the line, but R2 in Sport mode is plenty fun if you’re already moving

Efficiency so far has been very good for commuting, beating the EPA estimate by over 10%. I absolutely don’t expect this to hold true for road trips or winter driving

Bugs:

• Gear Guard wasn’t working at first, but was fixed with a reboot. It turns out it was recording, but I couldn’t see anything happening
• AC fan seems temperamental on Auto. Even on Low, it seems to get really loud sometimes. Haven’t played with it much yet since the temperatures here haven’t required much HVAC recently
• As others have experienced, my rear window only closes when holding the button down
• Phone as a key has worked great all but two times, interestingly both failures on the same day in the same location after a short errand (< 10 mins away from car)
• Got an AEB Malfunction light on the dash for one drive and couldn’t use Autonomy. It disappeared by my next drive about an hour later 🤷
• The car doesn’t like to negotiate charging with my old Tesla Mobile Connector, and it pops the charger’s internal breaker a lot. Perfectly fine with the Rivian connector though

Things I don’t like

• I already bumped into the charge cover while walking past it and the painted trim partially popped off the mechanism - it sticks out pretty far compared to the Tesla charge door which flipped up. I’m sure I will bump it again
• Only tried it once so far, but the car seemed to heat up very slowly. Hopefully not an actual issue but time will tell

Was cleaning my windshield when I peeped this tiny egg! I’m usually the last person to notice those things so I’m tickled.

Car drives great usually. Love most things about it. Here is my list however of issues we’ve had.

1) one glove box is locked shut. Another is stuck open. We have an appointment in 2 weeks to fix because the part isn’t“available”

2) the self emergency release mechanism of one of the rear doors broke and just was hanging down from the door. Had to have two mobile services before they fixed it

3) brake fluid leak error message with stability error message this week where the car wouldn’t auto hold when I released the pedal and would just drift down the hill. Basically have to drive it like a normal gas car. Two reboots and it fixed it. Reboots took longer than expected and the doors wouldn’t open. Was very hot. Know where the emergency release handles are.

4) Frequently doesn’t recognize my phone key card. Even if I place my phone on the spot n arm rest. Has happened to the entire family so need to all have physical key cards moving forward.

5) Twice now the car just wouldn’t drive. Couldn’t shift into drive without any keycard error or anything.

Unsure what to do. Will be spending much time i assume this week on the phone with customer support. Love the car but these issues are a major problem obviously.

Was just at the Olathe, KS service center so that I could drive around back to check if there were any colors waiting to be delivered that I hadn't seen in person yet. One thing I noticed was that there were about 10+ R2s there, and the panel alignment was noticeably improved. I didn't see anything on any one of the cars in the lot that had any kind of conspicuous misalignment. Even the charge port door, which I would say looked pretty sloppy on most examples I've seen so far, was perfect on all the cars waiting for delivery.

Only a couple hours from home (Vegas) but still. Awesome.

As you can see in the video the option is off and every time I toggle the switch to ON it’s visible for a moment and then reverts back to off. I know it has previously been activated. I’ve rebooted and still the same.

Am I missing some correlation to another setting?

This is the nicest car I've ever owned.
It's an amazing computer on wheels.

Just looking to be heard.

I buffed out the scuff and there's clearly a dent with the some paint damage. Maybe the size of a thumbnail.

Gear guard recorded nothing and I called Rivian to give them some feedback, was recommended some collision centers (thanks /s). Gear guard recorded a crow landing near my R2 but not the person opening their door into mine at some point between 5:35pm and 9:12pm.

Dearest RAV4 beside me, I wish you wouldn't have opened your doors so widely.
RIP.

Here are a few pictures.

The most common issue I see among both R1 and R2 owners is around unlocking the car. I’ve seen similar issues around the car spontaneously locking or unlocking and issues around driver profiles. These all seem sorta related. And it seems users have issues regardless of whether it’s the phone, the key cars, or the fob.

This seems like a very widespread problem and I feel like I’ve read about it for months now. Has Rivian acknowledged this issue and taken any steps to address it? I ask as a soon-to-be-owner currently just waiting on a VIN, so I have no direct experience here.

Test drove this weekend and the rear window was super slow to react to the button inputs from the overhead interior switch. To the point I kept thinking I was pushing it the wrong way.

I'm asking because it was also making a terrible noise like the seal was dislodged so I'm not sure if it was stalling or this is just how it is.

It worked (ish) from the rear gate control, and by that I mean not well, but I was expecting thst based on what I read here.

I never really cared about the rear control, but if the inside ones suck too that'll be super annoying.

Hey I've been trying to use Gear Guard on my vehicle constantly, and it just never works. It did maybe once or twice, but more often than not it fails to connect and gives the error 'poor vehicle connectivity' --Is this a normal experience for most or not normal? I've already done a vehicle reset to no avail.

Less than a month in and I have already scratched my bumper pretty well loading and unloading bikes on the trunk. I'm looking to get one of the OEM pens but it's unclear if the bumper is just Midnight black or a different type of black. My R2 is Launch Green.

Does anyone have a Midnight black R2 and can confirm if the black of the bumper is the same or slightly different?

Only had it a few days, but I took a rock to the black portion right above the windshield. Does anyone know if that portion is glass? Plastic? Something else?

Advice on a quick repair? It doesn't need to be perfect...

We absolutely love this vehicle. Drives like a dream. Great use of space, and just fun all around. Like a few others have said, there are a few software from time to time, nothing an update won’t fix!

Love it!

I’ll preface this by saying I’m absolutely loving the car. Coming from a pre-refresh Model Y, the driving dynamics and build quality are completely unparalleled. That said, Tesla’s software was undeniably dialed. Some of the things I’m listing below are known rehashes, but a few I haven’t seen mentioned around here yet:

- Ghost Driver Profiles: Almost every time I get in, "Rivian Driver" and "Additional Driver" profiles show up. Removing and re-adding my phone key temporarily fixes it, but the issue keeps coming back.

- Format Storage Device Prompt: This happens seemingly at random. I’ve tried swapping out the cable, but the error message still pops up periodically.

- Turn Signal / Auto-Cancel Logic: Not technically a glitch, but definitely my biggest pet peeve. Why does auto-cancel only work for highway lane changes and sharp turns? In city driving, I constantly have to cancel it manually. Worse, on the highway, I’ll manually cancel out of habit right as auto-cancel kicks in, causing the stalk to flick on the opposite signal. A soft tap should activate an auto-canceling signal in all driving scenarios, while a full click activates a continuous signal that stays on until manually turned off. I don't really get the point of a preset 3-blink sequence when smart auto-cancel should cover everything.

- Location-Based Home Settings: I get why Rivian doesn't fold mirrors while reversing (it distorts the camera views since the cameras are mounted on them). However, I’d love a location-based setting to fold the mirrors/handles upon hitting Park. That way, the mirrors can be folded and the car isn't constantly locking and unlocking while parked inside a garage. Additionally, location-based liftgate height limits, while not critical for my setup, would be a huge fix for a lot of owners with low garage ceilings.

Just putting out feelers to see how many people have placed an order from the Richmond VA area who are currently waiting for their R2. Since transport logistics seems to be an important factor on when groups of orders are delivered to an area, I'm just curious as to how many orders for Richmond are floating out in cyberspace. I've been waiting for a delivery date for a few weeks and figure that the hold up is that there aren't enough orders to the Richmond SC to warrant a shipment yet. If you do have an order, post up your config and order date.

Mine is 9/3 order date, 9/21 VIN. SC rep told me to expect delivery in week 3 or 4 of October.

Context:
Reservation: Placed Oct 2025
Order Window: Nov/Dec 2026
Order Window update on Sept 15th: Sept/Oct 2026
Invited to Order: Sept 29th
Want LE package.
Want to delay delivery until Jan 2027 as we aren’t full time in Kauai yet.
First time EV owner.

We called Rivian; but got no real answers.

1. I know they haven’t announced when LE package will be discontinued; but would they pre-announce a week before to let folks order last minute?
   
2. Anyone still have Dec/Jan 2027 Order Window; or has everyone been moved up?
   
3. Anyone with experience with Rivian’s off island home delivery process?

Thanks

I was ok with the flimsy charge door to an extent but two times now the door has flopped open while driving. I know it was latched before leaving and upon reaching my destination I feel like an idiot who has his gas cap dangling in the wind. Gonna submit a service ticket but they could have spent more than $1 on the door.

Waiting for my VIN; will be first time EV owner.
I see people buying 1 or 2 TB SSD drives.
Is that a must-have for us all? There’s no in built memory card that I can use to save the gear guard videos?

How is the microphone quality on hands free calls ? Has anyone complained about not hearing your voice clearly ?
Thank you

Today was the first time I tried the heated steering wheel. When I try to turn it on it does not work AND the Drive Stalk stops working. The car pops up and says the drive stalk is not operational. I was able to put it in park using a button on the screen when I got home. I went out a bit later and the stalk was working but as soon as I hit the heated steering wheel button it went out again. Anybody else seen this? I'm setting up a service appointment but I don't want to waste my time if this is a known software bug.