A Week With: 2025 Rivian R1S

Starting a new car company from ground up has never been easy and the terrain is littered with recent failures like Canoo and Fisker. But one brand, in particular, seems poised for success. Rivian has earned kudos for its first generation of rugged EVs, with more in the pipeline. Headlight.News recently got a chance to get back into the updated Rivian R1S SUV for a week and has this review.

Among emerging EV companies, Rivian has taken the conservative route when it comes to design. It doesn’t build Cybertrucks. And its R1S sport-utility vehicle has no “gee whiz” gimmicks like the single-piece glass windshield/roof of the Lucid product line.

it does build some impressive on and off-road capabilities into its all-electric product line-up, as Headlight.News was reminded during a week behind the wheel of the Rivian R1S.

The SUV gets a number of subtle, yet significant updates for the 2025 model year, including improvements to its electrical system – the automaker eliminating 1.6 miles of copper wiring, not only shaving costs but reducing the weight of the R1S by 45 pounds.

Overview

The Rivian R1S is a luxury SUV that has been gaining sales and market share rapidly over the past year. In typical form, it’s made some changes for 2025 – but they go well beyond the normal mid-cycle “refresh,” enough for the automaker to refer to it as “R1S Gen 2.”

Along with the changes in wiring, the 2025 Rivian R1S adopts a new NVIDIA computer control system that offers 10 times more processing power. There’s an additional camera and other upgrades to the SUV’s sensor “suite.” There are upgrades to the air suspension system. And not only has Rivian upgraded its lithium-ion battery pack but it’s added a cheaper, shorter-range lithium-iron battery option.

Add the fact that you now have three different motor drive configurations to choose from, including a quad-motor package that delivers neck-snapping performance.

Exterior design

As before, the R1S is a large mid-size SUV capable of hauling up to seven passengers, making it a fully useful family wagon. There are several different configurations, including an off-road package with large, all-terrain tires and other exterior tweaks allowing it to move easily across rough trails.

From the outside, the Rivian R1S is well within current automotive design standards. There’s no “gee whiz” stuff like the single-piece glass windshield/roof of the Lucid products, and unlike the Tesla, the Rivian R1S will never be mistaken for a garbage dumpster.

Rivian’s designers went for a standard squared-off two-box design. Think Cadillac Escalade, Range Rover, or Lincoln SUVs for comparison.

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Interior design

Inside, the R1S is every inch a luxury SUV. It’s comfortable, quiet, and spacious. The second-row seats can be folded flat at the touch of a button, yielding a cavernous cargo space.

As an electric, there’s also a “frunk” where the engine would normally be found. When you slide into the front seats, there’s an expansive screen with all the infotainment and navigation services you can imagine.

Worth noting, the Rivian does not come with any kind of traditional key. Instead, you can open and start the vehicle with a plastic card that easily fits in your wallet, or you can program your phone to activate the SUV. This is brilliant innovation because it reduces the cost of a replacement key from hundreds of dollars to just the price of a card.

Powertrain

Rivian made some welcome changes to the R1S (and R1T pickup) drivetrains this year. The reduction in copper results in slightly improved efficiency, further enhanced by the vehicle’s reduction in weight.

The automaker also now offers dual-motor and triple-motor options. And a quad-motor version is on the way – this one making an astounding 1,025 horsepower, enough to hit 60 in 2.5 seconds, pinning you back into your seat. The twin-motor system makes a still-impressive 665 hp, the tri-motor package 840.

More importantly, you can choose from 270, 329 or 410 miles of range, depending on the battery pack. Those numbers do come down a bit with the tri- and quad-motor versions, of course. But you can buy extra range if you think you need it.

Charging is accomplished with a standard SAE DC fast charging, but there’s an adapter if you want to use a Tesla Supercharger/NACS unit.

Safety and Technology

The R1S comes with a complete set of safety and driver assistance features, and that’s standard on all trim levels.

Blind spot monitors with camera images of your vehicle’s blind spots are shown on the dash as soon as you actuate the turn signal, and of course there’s a 360-degree camera system for backing up. For 2025, Rivian added another camera and beefed up the Highway Assist system so the driver gets a 360-degree view.

Some buyers have been turned off by Rivian’s determination to keep Apple CarPlay and Android Auto out of the vehicle. There’s been calls to reverse that strategy but CEO RJ Scaringe is firmly dead set against those two systems.

Another thing Rivian hasn’t changed is the heavy reliance on the touchscreen for virtually all vehicle functions. That’s a controversial approach, especially when it comes to adjusting the position of the SUV’s sideview mirrors, steering wheel and even air vents. One can only hope Rivian will listen to the heap of complaints this approach has generated and go back to conventional controls.

Driving Impressions

On the road, and whichever version of the Rivian R1S you opt for, the SUV has far more power than you can legally use on public roads. As with most EVs, the power comes on instantly and has a linear feel as you press down on the throttle.

To its credit, R1S features 1-Pedal mode which, in most situations, allows a driver to modulate the throttle to speed up or slow down, without having to bounce back and force from accelerator to brakes.

The R1S also offers a driver-adjustable suspension with three levels of firmness. The softest setting allows the big SUV to bounce and wallow, but the medium firmness takes care of that.

With a curb weight up around 8,500 pounds, the firmest setting feels the best for driving, soaking up the bumps without being jarring. Overall, the driving experience of the R1S is very good, with excellent visibility and performance.

Wrap Up

The new R1T starts at $69,900, and the most basic R1S starts a bit higher at $75,900. For that price you get the dual-motor all-wheel drive system we spent our week with. It made  533 horsepower, and delivered 270 miles of range on a full charge. With this package, 0-60 acceleration is about 4.5 seconds.

Trim levels of the R1S range up to the $105,900 tri-motor setup we tested, but there will soon be that Quad-motor trim, and that’s not priced yet. Honestly, any trim level of the Rivian is an attractive proposition. Rivian is riding the crest of the EV wave, producing an excellent SUV right here in America at their production facility in Normal, Illinois.

This past month, Rivian offered the “Nothing But Adventure” promotion. For May, customers in the U.S. could order certain R1S or R1T configurations and take advantage of a $0-down payment lease (except for taxes and fees). With this offer, Rivian contributed $6,500 towards the lease of qualifying orders. With up to 410 miles of range on R1S and 420 miles on R1T, this offer made R1 ownership more flexible than ever.

For customers wanting a different R1 configuration such as the 850hp Tri-Motor, and who have a current electric vehicle to trade in, the company launched a $10,500 in leasing offers to get those summer adventures started off right. Note that for all “Nothing But Adventure” leasing offers, customers had to take delivery of their vehicle by May 31, 2025 to qualify.

We’re waiting to see if Rivian will repeat these offers – or come up with an alternative – in June and beyond.