We’ve wrapped several Rivians over the years, but there was one thing we had never really done: take one on a road trip.
So when we got our hands on a Glacier White Rivian R2 Performance, we decided there was no better way to learn the vehicle than to take it on a real road trip.
The plan was simple: drive from Nashville to Chattanooga, make a few stops along the way, learn how the R2 works, test Rivian’s Autonomy+ system, and figure out one big question:
As a Tesla owner, would I actually buy a Rivian R2?
What was supposed to be a relatively straightforward drive turned into a full EV adventure involving Rivian, Tesla, EV Auto, unexpected traffic, software bugs, nighttime driving, and even a surprise encounter with a fleet of Tesla Cybercabs. Watch the video above to share in that experience!
Here’s what we learned.
First Impressions of the Rivian R2
The first thing that stood out when getting into the R2 was the interior.
The seats immediately felt premium. They’re perforated, heated, ventilated, and have great stitching throughout. The overall material choices also give the R2 a very different personality from a Tesla.
There’s wood grain across the dashboard, fabric and acoustic-style panels, stitched surfaces, and a mix of softer materials throughout the cabin.
Coming from Tesla, the easiest way I can describe the difference is this:
Tesla feels like it was designed by engineers. The Rivian feels like it was designed by designers.
Tesla interiors are incredibly minimal. Rivian still relies heavily on a central touchscreen, but there’s more visual information, more textures, and more going on throughout the cabin.
At first, the R2 interface actually felt a little cluttered to me compared with a Model 3 or Model Y.
But that feeling started disappearing surprisingly quickly.
Learning Rivian’s Haptic Steering Wheel Controls
One of the biggest adjustments was Rivian’s steering wheel controls.
Instead of traditional buttons, the R2 uses what Rivian calls its Haptic Halo controls.
The controls can be:
- Pressed
- Scrolled
- Tilted left or right
- Pulled from behind
Depending on what’s displayed, those inputs can control things like climate settings, audio volume, drive modes, vehicle information, and other functions.
At first, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
After going through Rivian’s built-in tutorial, though, it started making a lot more sense.
Within the first part of the drive, I was already getting used to it.
That’s probably an important lesson for anyone moving from Tesla to Rivian: don’t judge the controls during your first five minutes in the vehicle.
There’s a learning curve, but once you understand what each input does, the system becomes surprisingly intuitive.
Autonomy+ From a Tesla Owner’s Perspective
One of the things I was most interested in trying was Rivian’s Autonomy+ driver-assistance system.
Coming from Tesla Full Self-Driving, my expectations were obviously shaped by years of using Tesla’s software.
And the important thing to understand is that the two systems are currently at very different stages.
Autonomy+ isn’t trying to do everything Tesla FSD does today.
On our drive, the system was primarily useful for highway driving. It could maintain the lane, control speed and distance, and assist with lane changes.
But there are important limitations.
It wasn’t automatically navigating intersections, handling traffic lights, making turns, or independently taking highway exits during our drive.
Lane changes also required driver input.
The experience actually reminded me a lot of earlier versions of Tesla Autopilot and FSD, when you initiated a lane change with the turn signal and the vehicle handled the maneuver once it determined it was safe.
And that isn’t necessarily a criticism.
For where Rivian is in its development cycle, Autonomy+ was impressively smooth.
Acceleration and braking felt natural, lane centering was confident, and assisted lane changes were surprisingly polished.
The biggest challenge for me was simply remembering what the system couldn’t do.
If you’ve spent a lot of time using modern Tesla FSD, you become accustomed to the car handling substantially more of the driving task.
In the R2, I had to recalibrate those expectations.
Similar to Tesla, the R2 uses a camera integrated around the rearview mirror area to monitor whether you’re paying attention.
And it is fast.
During our test, looking away from the road for around three seconds triggered a warning telling me to keep my eyes on the road. Continue looking away and the warning becomes more aggressive, including audible alerts.
Look back at the road and the warning disappears quickly.
For a hands-free driver-assistance system, that kind of monitoring makes sense.
Rivian clearly wants drivers to understand that Autonomy+ is an assistance system—not permission to stop paying attention.
A Few Early Software Bugs
It wouldn’t be a new EV experience without a few software quirks.
One of the first issues happened before we really got going.
The navigation keyboard simply wouldn’t appear.
We eventually parked the vehicle and performed a display reset. Once the system restarted, the keyboard worked normally again.
We also encountered a few smaller quirks throughout the drive, including occasional unwanted changes to the Autonomy+ set speed.
None of these issues ruined the experience.
They felt more like the kinds of early software bugs you expect from a newly launched platform.
That’s actually another area where the R2 reminds me of the early Tesla Model 3.
People sometimes forget what those cars were like when they first launched. There were quirks, panel gaps, missing features, software limitations, and plenty of things Tesla gradually improved.
But there was also a feeling that you were experiencing the beginning of something important.
The R2 gives me a little bit of that same feeling.
Our First Stop: EV Auto
Our first road-trip stop was EV Auto near Nashville.
We’ve worked with EV Auto before, including wrapping their Tesla Supercharger stalls, so we wanted to stop by, see the chargers again, and say hello.
It also gave us an opportunity to do something I’d personally never done before: charge at a Tesla Supercharger in a non-Tesla.
We plugged the R2 in and it started charging almost immediately.
That sounds like a small thing, but as someone who has spent years living inside the Tesla ecosystem, seeing other EVs integrate so easily into charging infrastructure that was once largely Tesla-specific is pretty cool.
EV Auto itself is also interesting because the dealership focuses heavily on used EVs. Walking around, we saw everything from Rivians to electric Ford F-150s, Chevrolet Silverado EVs, and Mustang Mach-Es.
After grabbing a free hat, it was time to keep moving.
Revisiting the Tesla Location Where It All Started
Next stop: Tesla Brentwood.
This location is actually special to me because it’s where my wife and I picked up our 2018 Model 3.
That car was really the beginning of this entire journey for us.
Going back years later—this time arriving in a Rivian—was a strange full-circle moment.
We also got lucky because there were some interesting vehicles to check out, including the new Model Y L.
Naturally, what was supposed to be a short stop turned into another vehicle walkthrough.
Checking Out the Tesla Model Y L
The Model Y L represents a slightly different use case than the R2, but there is definitely some overlap for families shopping in this price range.
We looked through the third-row space, captain’s chairs, interior features, and rear glass.
At 5’11”, with a longer torso, I found the third row fairly tight.
I could fit, but headroom was close enough that my head could touch the glass depending on my seating position. For children, that’s probably far less of an issue.
One thing we’ll also be watching is how certain child-seat configurations work with the seating and headrest design.
Otherwise, the Y L is an interesting family vehicle—and considering we’re getting one ourselves, you’ll definitely see more from us on that car.
We also saw Tesla’s new Marine Blue color in person.
It’s a deep navy with a lot of metallic flake and looks fantastic in sunlight.
Of course, working at DIY Wrap Club means seeing a factory color usually makes us think about what color we’re going to wrap the car instead.
Finally Visiting Rivian
We tried to make it to the Rivian location before closing.
Traffic had other plans.
By the time we arrived, the experience center was closed, but we still got to walk around outside and compare a few vehicles.
Seeing the R2 parked alongside an R1S really shows what Rivian has done with the design.
The family resemblance is immediately obvious.
The lighting, front-end treatment, body language, and proportions all feel distinctly Rivian, but the R2 packages everything into a smaller footprint.
The easiest description is probably:
It’s a mini R1S.
And I mean that as a compliment.
We also got to compare wheel configurations, including R2s equipped with different wheel sizes and corresponding range figures.
And Then We Found Cybercabs
While driving around Nashville, we came across a large group of Tesla Cybercabs.
There were about 15 in a random parking lot and seeing them together in person was surreal.
The vehicles appeared to be part of testing activity in the Nashville area, and these particular examples still had steering wheels.
We also noticed some differences compared with newer Cybercab configurations we’ve seen, including changes around hardware integration.
We went out to test a Rivian and somehow ended up staring at a fleet of Cybercabs.
I’ll take it.
Driving the Rivian R2 at Night
After all of our detours, we still had the most important part of the trip ahead of us: getting back to Chattanooga.
That meant testing Autonomy+ in completely different conditions.
And nighttime performance was surprisingly good.
On the relatively straightforward Tennessee highway sections we drove, lane keeping remained smooth and vehicle detection worked well.
When approaching slower traffic, the R2 recognized the vehicle ahead and gradually adjusted speed while maintaining distance.
Again, it isn’t doing everything Tesla FSD does.
But for highway cruising, I found myself increasingly comfortable using it as the trip went on.
The Interior Is Especially Nice at Night
Night driving also revealed one of my favorite details inside the R2: the ambient lighting.
Instead of simply having a visible LED strip around the cabin, much of Rivian’s lighting appears through or behind the interior material.
That diffuses the light and creates a softer glow across the interior.
It’s subtle.
And that’s why it works.
Rather than making the cabin feel like a nightclub, it gives the interior a calm atmosphere that’s especially nice on longer nighttime drives.
What About the Giant Glass Roof?
As people who make tinted roof protection products, we naturally paid attention to the R2’s enormous glass roof.
And one thing surprised me:
It didn’t feel particularly hot.
Even on a roughly 95-degree Tennessee day, I could hold my hand against the interior glass without it becoming unbearably hot during the portion of the trip we tested.
The roof is huge, but there also seemed to be plenty of distance between the glass and my head.
That matters because even glass with strong infrared rejection can absorb heat and then radiate some of that energy toward passengers.
Based purely on this initial experience, the R2’s factory glass performed better than I expected.
We’ll obviously test it much more thoroughly before drawing conclusions about whether additional heat-rejection film makes sense.
Comfort: Mostly Good, With One Complaint
For the first part of the drive, I loved the R2’s seats.
After several hours, though, I noticed something I hadn’t picked up on initially.
The driver’s headrest is fixed and protrudes slightly farther forward than I’m personally used to.
Over a longer drive, I started noticing it.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the seat is uncomfortable. Seat position and individual body proportions make a huge difference, and I hadn’t spent enough time dialing everything in perfectly.
Outside of that, the seating materials, ventilation, overall driving position, and cabin environment were excellent.
Range After the Road Trip
We arrived in Chattanooga after roughly three hours of driving once Nashville traffic and all of our stops were factored in.
At the beginning of the trip, the vehicle estimated we’d arrive with roughly 99 miles of range remaining.
We finished with approximately 83 miles remaining, or around 27% battery.
Considering the traffic, highway speeds, heat, stops, and the fact that we were constantly experimenting with the vehicle, I wasn’t disappointed with the result.
So… Would I Buy a Rivian R2?
This was the big question going into the trip.
And after spending several hours with the car?
I’m leaning heavily toward yes.
In fact, I received our invitation to configure an R2 the same morning we took this trip.
It’s comfortable, practical, good-looking, packed with clever design choices, and already has an impressive highway driver-assistance system.
Yes, there are software bugs.
Yes, Autonomy+ still has significant limitations compared with Tesla FSD.
And yes, there are small things I’d change.
But most of those issues can improve or I can get used to.
That’s one of the great things about modern software-defined vehicles.
The R2 we drove today isn’t necessarily the same R2 owners will experience a year from now.
Rivian R2 Feels Like an Important Car
The bigger takeaway from this trip isn’t really about Rivian versus Tesla.
It’s that the R2 feels like an important vehicle for Rivian.
When the Tesla Model 3 launched, it helped move Tesla from being a manufacturer of relatively expensive enthusiast EVs toward becoming a mainstream automaker.
The R2 could represent a similar transition for Rivian.
Rivian proved it could build impressive premium vehicles with the R1T and R1S.
Now it has to prove that it can bring the things people love about those vehicles into a more affordable and accessible package.
After our first road trip, I think they’ve built a very strong foundation.
And when more affordable R2 configurations arrive, the vehicle becomes even more interesting.
Competition is good for the EV industry.
Tesla pushing Rivian makes Rivian better.
Rivian pushing Tesla makes Tesla better.
And ultimately, consumers win.
What’s Next for Our Rivian R2?
You’re going to be seeing a lot more Rivian content from us.
We’re already working on protection and customization products for the R2, including PPF, wraps, and other DIY solutions.
And just like we did with Tesla years ago, we’re going to learn the vehicle by actually using it.
This road trip was our first real experience behind the wheel.
It definitely won’t be our last.
