Rivian R2 wishes as an R1 owner

After 7 years with a Tesla Model 3, we picked up a gen 2 Rivian R1S in April of 2025. We still have the Model 3 as a second vehicle, but it’s been really cool experiencing a new electric vehicle from a very passionate new company.

2026 is a really exciting time for Rivian, as in the first half of this year they’re launching their R2 vehicle - a smaller, less expensive SUV offering that should have a lot more mass-market appeal.

With a bunch of jourrnalists getting previews of the vehicle today, I thought I’d share what I’m really hoping for in this new vehicle having experienced their existing vehicle for almost a year, and a Tesla for the better part of a decade. None of these are in any particular order.

Better audio

We sprung for the “Premium Audio” package in our R1S and… it’s not premium at all. Whatever system just came with our Model 3 sounds demonstrably better, from where it feels like the sound is coming from (much more expansive) to the bass, the R1S just feels a lot weaker. Honestly for the base audio system it would be probably decent, but for a “Premium Audio” system it just falls short. They have been making it better and better with softwware updates of all things over the course of our vehicle’s life, where it’s noticeable better now than it was at the beginning, a recent update in December basically sounds like they figured out how to turn on the subwoofer in the trunk a little bit, but it’s still just not that much.

With the Tesla sometimes I’d park and finish out a song before leaving the car because it just sounded so good, have never had that happen in the Rivian so I hope they bring some of that experience to the R2 even through another “Premium Audio” package for those who care.

No dual motor EPA shenanigans

So our R1S is dual motor, meaning it has a motor for the front wheels and a separate motor for the back wheels, meaning you get AWD. Rivian allows you to get more range by only using the front motor, turning it into effectively a front…