Rivian Recap: 11/21/2025

Let's dive in!

R1

I was recently able to get some first drive impressions of a well-equipped Lucid Gravity and there were certainly some surprised baked in.

A healthy ev marketplace makes everyone better, and of course consumers always win. So if you're looking for a premium 3-row, which one wins?

Check out the Lucid Gravity vs Rivian Gen2 R1S first impressions.

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We are speed running to December and it's worth noting that both KickTurn and the RAD Tuner for the Gen2 quad-motor vehicles that was promised for September is still nowhere to be found.

It also looks like the .42 update is being skipped so our next big update will likely be .46 after the AI & Autonomy day, shipping next month.

Given that I was able to experience a pre-release KickTurn on some quad's at the Joshua Tree event it's unclear what's holding up this release.

For a flagship vehicle and demos showing the features work, I hope they can find a way to merge those features into the branch soon for owners.

Are we really waiting for this to ship so the in-car Rivian Assistant can finally ship in coordination with the AI & Autonomy event?

It's starting to kind of feel that way.

R2 + Beyond

We get another look at the tour version of R2 that was in New York earlier this year, which is notably a reworked and repainted version of the launch vehicle.

This is not one of the DVB units that have been driving around Arizona, California or doing cold weather testing up in Alaska.

Even if this just a modified announcement vehicle, that silver under auto show lights is looking quite sharp.

It shouldn't be too long now before we start seeing an online configurator and know the full color pallet.

Fingers crossed to see what this thing looks like in Launch Green or Rivian Blue.

Autonomy

There are two bits of news this week around autonomy.

First, Gen1 owners finally hear what we all kind of knew, straight from RJ's mouth... new features are not happening from this "throwaway" hardware.

It pains me that it has come to this for Gen1 owners who were massively overpromised based on the hardware suite they shipped with.

This always felt like the inevitable outcome though, unfortunately.

Watch the interview here, the Autonomy stuff happens around the 33:45 mark.

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Next, Gen2 owners got an email update this week about changes to the data collection policy that signal a big shift in ambitions for Gen2+ autonomy.

The TLDR version is that Rivian is going to start collecting more data in the first and last 3 minutes of Gen2 drives, excluding Home/Work and saved locations.

It's clear they want more data to feed their models for parking garages, low speed maneuvers and more complex scenarios.

This is both exciting that work is starting on this, and has me curious about what they plan to show off at the AI & Autonomy day in just a few weeks.

Without all this data already, will the demos just be proof of concept?

I'm looking forward to finding out first hand, very soon.

Community

With the holiday season upon us, and the "big wet dark" firmly settled in here for the PNW, that means it's time to get lights on the back of the R1T again.

Thanks to active community member @Hilbe, I was able to get him to print me some parts to level up my over the bed light game this year.

With the bed outlets, sprucing up the truck with lights is one of the more joyous festive things I'm able to do now with this truck.

They are way more fun than 'red cup season' at the Bux, imho.

Here was my sloppy attempt last year:

Compared to the example image on the 3D files (maybe lights is more of a blue truck thing after all?):

My thanks to Chris for helping print these pieces and getting them shipped out.

Here's the link to the files for those with large 3D printers at home, and if Chris ends up doing a listing for these on Etsy I'll share that soon.

Latest Deals

The best deal going right now with a few days left is the $5k in lease cash towards any dual-standard.

Plus you can stack this with up to $3k in additional savings for purchasing the same day as a trade-in quote or demo drive ($1k) and accepting a trade-in offer ($2k bonus).

That's $8k in lease cash bonus value on top of the already improved money factor leasing available on the dual-standard.

Here's the bottom line for offers overall..

All 2025's are 1.99% financing, but their lease rates are often worse than the newer model year (dumb).

For 2026's, you can get 1.99% financing for the performance upgraded duals (large and max), or the upper-end tri and quad motors.

Must place your order by November 30th.

My suggestion remain the same as it was during recent 1-year review.

I'd go with a 2026 model year, and lease either a dual-standard (with premium audio upgrade) with $5k lease cash:

2026 R1S dual-standard (with premium audio)

2026 R1T dual-standard (with premium audio, tonneau, utility panel)

OR, I'd go up to a 2026 tri-motor for the improved driving dynamics.

2026 R1S tri-motor

2026 R1T tri-motor

Grab either of those on a lease, and snag the extra $2k when you trade-in, plus another $1k for doing it the same day as a demo drive or trade-in quote.

Plus get either 100 gear shop credits for dual-standard, 250 for dual-large/max or 500 points with a tri/quad-motor variants when you use a referral.

All referrals also get 3 months of free charging on the Rivian Adventure Network, which would be handy with holiday travel.

I hope enjoyed this weeks edition of the Rivian Recap. Let me know what you'd like to see more of in future editions!

Even if you just want to say hi, hit reply – I'd love to get to know you 👋

Stay curious ✌️,

Travis Ketchum

P.S. Thinking about buying a new Rivian?

Make sure you use a referral code. A friend, a neighbor, or someone who has helped you along the way.

Here's mine: TRAVIS4699411