Image: Marques Brownlee on YouTube
In a recently published YouTube video, tech enthusiast Marques Keith Brownlee (aka MKBHD) gets hands-on with the recently launched Rivian R1T all-electric pickup truck, drives it around for a day, shares his experience, and reviews Rivian’s first electric vehicle (EV) to make it off the production line.
Right off the bat, Marques introduces the R1T as “the most impressive electric truck [he] has ever seen”.
“I do actually like a lot of the design,” said the YouTuber, pointing to the bar-shaped tail-light on the back, and the bar+lamps headlight set up on the front as standout features.
Marques went on to say that the interior is “really good” and feels premium, describing it as a mix between the layout from a Tesla and the wood, leather, and metal type interior finishes from a Volvo, with a bunch of features stuffed into it. The cabin is spacious, and there’s plenty of legroom in the backseats.
While the R1T has a relatively small footprint for a truck, it’s an electric truck. As it turns out, not having a clunky engine or other internals hogging real estate allows for storage space for days.
The R1T has a 4.5′ truck bed in the back that can be converted into a 7′ space, dedicated space for a full-sized spare tire, a roomy front trunk, more storage compartments in the cabin than you would even consider necessary, and a first-of-its-kind ‘gear tunnel’ located between the backseats and the truck bed. All in all, the compact electric truck boasts 68 ft3 of storage space.
The R1T’s quad-motor powertrain and excellent air suspension system make for unprecedented speed, with the truck pulling 0-60 mph in 3 seconds flat. The Drive Modes are intuitive,
The R1T is built to handle off-road adventures, and that’s exactly where all of that rambunctious storage space shines, as does the suspension and Drive Modes.
The software and UI on the in-cabin consoles is far from polished, and sorely lacks responsiveness. Marques noted that Rivian has, without question, taken inspiration from Tesla for a number of features and software design elements.
We saw another detailed review of the Rivian R1T earlier this month, complete with a walkthrough of the truck’s Tesla-like features.
Marques did seem pretty taken with the fact that the R1T’s front light bar turns green and pulses when you plug it in to charge, even though he wasn’t able to get anywhere near 100 kW on a 150 kW public charger. The R1T is rated for 200 kW fast charging.
“It starts at just over $70,000 USD, and it can quickly jump up into mid-80s or $90,000+ from there,” depending on how you configure it, said Marques about pricing for the electric truck that auto publication Motortrend crowned the “most remarkable pickup” ever driven in its review.
“I’ve never had more fun driving a truck,” said the YouTuber, which pretty much sums up his thoughts on the Rivian R1T. It’s interesting to see MKBHD’s perspective on the truck, as he’s also been a longtime Tesla owner.
