Cross Shopping

[MaddMatt]

OK, not sure where I'm going with this - but hear me out.

I've had a plan for nearly two years now, (19 months to be exact, since I placed my Scout reservation): Lease the Hyundai to try living with a BEV, and drive my Xterra until the Scout is ready. Good plan.

Life has different plans, my youngest is graduating college this month, has a job lined up and is looking for an apartment. Right on plan.

BUT: her car has stranded her twice in the last 6 months, first was just a battery, 2nd was "undefined" - car just quit on the highway. In my opinion, life is hard enough for kids these days, and as I work from home we are going to trade cars, so she will get my 13 year old Xterra, and I will take on her older car - maybe trouble shoot it, or more likely just trade it on on something I want. Works for me, as a "car guy" I get to help my kid and justify something new for me!

So, I spent the weekend test driving. Narrowing things down to a Defender 110, a LandCruiser or a used Rivian R1, and I have an R2 reservation in my back pocket, if my number ever comes up - all are similar price ranges, and I think similar to what my eventual Scout will cost.

The Defender is by far the superior driving experience, (IMO) but I've had a Rover before (Discovery 2) and not sure I'm up for the inevitable maintenance, as I tend to keep cars a long time, especially at these prices. Love the Landcruiser, but at this price I'm not settling for less than exactly what I want, so I'm probably looking at a 3-6 month wait (per the two dealers I spoke with)

But here's my challenge: I had the opportunity to drive a 2 year old Rivian R1S, 27k on the clock. Two complaints:

1) The ride and the rattles. This one was challenged by the 22" rims, but even still we played with all the suspension settings, and frankly it rode horribly. Both my old Xterra and the 2024 Hyundai, on the same stretches of road (we were so surprised we went back and re-drove in our cars just to check) were more solid feeling and even the old Xterra (with 33" ATs on it) has far fewer rattles. The experience made me question my R2 reservation. Rivian owners, is this just how it is? Did I get a bad one? Did I have my hopes up too high? It can't just be the air suspension, the Defender has air shocks too, and rides perfectly.

2) The Rivian "tech" package. Having to go through the screen to do absolutely everything is a nightmare. I didn't realize how annoying it would be until I tried it, and I'm very glad that Scout, even though they are sharing tech, has made it clear they will have some real buttons.

I'm still excited for my eventual Scout, but the Rivian experience made me realize that it's not that easy to put it all together. Or did I just try a bad one? Curious about any thoughts....

 

[J Alynn]

OK, not sure where I'm going with this - but hear me out.

I've had a plan for nearly two years now, (19 months to be exact, since I placed my Scout reservation): Lease the Hyundai to try living with a BEV, and drive my Xterra until the Scout is ready. Good plan.

Life has different plans, my youngest is graduating college this month, has a job lined up and is looking for an apartment. Right on plan.

BUT: her car has stranded her twice in the last 6 months, first was just a battery, 2nd was "undefined" - car just quit on the highway. In my opinion, life is hard enough for kids these days, and as I work from home we are going to trade cars, so she will get my 13 year old Xterra, and I will take on her older car - maybe trouble shoot it, or more likely just trade it on on something I want. Works for me, as a "car guy" I get to help my kid and justify something new for me!

So, I spent the weekend test driving. Narrowing things down to a Defender 110, a LandCruiser or a used Rivian R1, and I have an R2 reservation in my back pocket, if my number ever comes up - all are similar price ranges, and I think similar to what my eventual Scout will cost.

The Defender is by far the superior driving experience, (IMO) but I've had a Rover before (Discovery 2) and not sure I'm up for the inevitable maintenance, as I tend to keep cars a long time, especially at these prices. Love the Landcruiser, but at this price I'm not settling for less than exactly what I want, so I'm probably looking at a 3-6 month wait (per the two dealers I spoke with)

But here's my challenge: I had the opportunity to drive a 2 year old Rivian R1S, 27k on the clock. Two complaints:

1) The ride and the rattles. This one was challenged by the 22" rims, but even still we played with all the suspension settings, and frankly it rode horribly. Both my old Xterra and the 2024 Hyundai, on the same stretches of road (we were so surprised we went back and re-drove in our cars just to check) were more solid feeling and even the old Xterra (with 33" ATs on it) has far fewer rattles. The experience made me question my R2 reservation. Rivian owners, is this just how it is? Did I get a bad one? Did I have my hopes up too high? It can't just be the air suspension, the Defender has air shocks too, and rides perfectly.

2) The Rivian "tech" package. Having to go through the screen to do absolutely everything is a nightmare. I didn't realize how annoying it would be until I tried it, and I'm very glad that Scout, even though they are sharing tech, has made it clear they will have some real buttons.

I'm still excited for my eventual Scout, but the Rivian experience made me realize that it's not that easy to put it all together. Or did I just try a bad one? Curious about any thoughts....

Aaah-what we dads do for our college daughters. And I thought your title was cross dressing and I was very curious where you were going with that .
Keep us posted and yeah-I’ve looked at LR several times in life and love them but don’t want to deal with all the gremlins

 

[cyure]

OK, not sure where I'm going with this - but hear me out.

I've had a plan for nearly two years now, (19 months to be exact, since I placed my Scout reservation): Lease the Hyundai to try living with a BEV, and drive my Xterra until the Scout is ready. Good plan.

Life has different plans, my youngest is graduating college this month, has a job lined up and is looking for an apartment. Right on plan.

BUT: her car has stranded her twice in the last 6 months, first was just a battery, 2nd was "undefined" - car just quit on the highway. In my opinion, life is hard enough for kids these days, and as I work from home we are going to trade cars, so she will get my 13 year old Xterra, and I will take on her older car - maybe trouble shoot it, or more likely just trade it on on something I want. Works for me, as a "car guy" I get to help my kid and justify something new for me!

So, I spent the weekend test driving. Narrowing things down to a Defender 110, a LandCruiser or a used Rivian R1, and I have an R2 reservation in my back pocket, if my number ever comes up - all are similar price ranges, and I think similar to what my eventual Scout will cost.

The Defender is by far the superior driving experience, (IMO) but I've had a Rover before (Discovery 2) and not sure I'm up for the inevitable maintenance, as I tend to keep cars a long time, especially at these prices. Love the Landcruiser, but at this price I'm not settling for less than exactly what I want, so I'm probably looking at a 3-6 month wait (per the two dealers I spoke with)

But here's my challenge: I had the opportunity to drive a 2 year old Rivian R1S, 27k on the clock. Two complaints:

1) The ride and the rattles. This one was challenged by the 22" rims, but even still we played with all the suspension settings, and frankly it rode horribly. Both my old Xterra and the 2024 Hyundai, on the same stretches of road (we were so surprised we went back and re-drove in our cars just to check) were more solid feeling and even the old Xterra (with 33" ATs on it) has far fewer rattles. The experience made me question my R2 reservation. Rivian owners, is this just how it is? Did I get a bad one? Did I have my hopes up too high? It can't just be the air suspension, the Defender has air shocks too, and rides perfectly.

2) The Rivian "tech" package. Having to go through the screen to do absolutely everything is a nightmare. I didn't realize how annoying it would be until I tried it, and I'm very glad that Scout, even though they are sharing tech, has made it clear they will have some real buttons.

I'm still excited for my eventual Scout, but the Rivian experience made me realize that it's not that easy to put it all together. Or did I just try a bad one? Curious about any thoughts....

First if all, what a good dad. It’s hard enough for kids out there these days to have to worry about expensive car repairs too.

Second, test drive a Land Rover awhile ago. Yep, lovely car but I’ve always read those are cars you lease.

You have to let us know what you end up with.

 

[R1TVT]

I have little experience with the R1S, but ride complaints do tend to come from R1S owners. I get a lot of comments & compliments about how well the R1T drives for a truck, FWIW.

Couple of thoughts:

1. 22's are definitely going to be very harsh on that vehicle. The stock tires on 22's also have very little sidewall.
2. SW updates have been made to the R1S and R1T suspensions (check SW updates & what version the truck is running)
3. Rattles are likely from half shafts (known issue). A recall was issued, so maybe that recall work was not performed:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2025/MC-11023488-0001.pdf

 

[MaddMatt]

I have little experience with the R1S, but ride complaints do tend to come from R1S owners. I get a lot of comments & compliments about how well the R1T drives for a truck, FWIW.

Couple of thoughts:

1. 22's are definitely going to be very harsh on that vehicle. The stock tires on 22's also have very little sidewall.
2. SW updates have been made to the R1S and R1T suspensions (check SW updates & what version the truck is running)
3. Rattles are likely from half shafts (known issue). A recall was issued, so maybe that recall work was not performed:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2025/MC-11023488-0001.pdf

Thats interesting - in this case the rattles were all from the dashboard - just sounded like all the plastic pieces vibrating at different frequencies over expansion joints. Coming from a short wheel base vehicle with larger tires, I'm used to expansion joint issues, but this was bad. No doubt smaller wheels/tires with bigger sidewalls would help...

 

[R1TVT]

Thats interesting - in this case the rattles were all from the dashboard - just sounded like all the plastic pieces vibrating at different frequencies over expansion joints. Coming from a short wheel base vehicle with larger tires, I'm used to expansion joint issues, but this was bad. No doubt smaller wheels/tires with bigger sidewalls would help...

That doesn't sound normal - at all. I would have serious misgivings about that vehicle too. My dash after 60K miles doesn't make a peep. Not sure what plastic pieces you are referring to, but the interior should be silent. Did you get a CarFax? Any accidents?

 

[strider]

Idk all of the dates for the R1S but I recall that when Car and Driver tested the first gen they said the suspension was horrible compared other the R1T. But when the 2nd gen came out they made a huge improvement.

As for the UI, that's also what is driving me away from Tesla and towards Scout (and GM for my son). The hope is that Scout picks the best bits of Rivian's software and does their own thing for the weak bits.