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MotorTrend Names the Rivian R1T the Most Remarkable Pickup It Ever Drove

The good part about being one of the major car magazines in the world is that you get to test vehicles all other colleagues will be waiting for quite a while to drive. The bad thing is that you have so many vehicles in reference that you can hardly get thrilled with anything. Luckily for Rivian, that was precisely what happened when the Motor Trend team got to evaluate the R1T for the first time: they called it “the most remarkable pickup” they ever drove.
Rivian R1T 9 photos
Photo: Rivian
Rivian R1T and R1SRivian R1T and R1SRivian R1TRivian R1TRivian R1TRivian R1T and R1S InteriorRivian Skateboard PlatformRivian Skateboard Platform
The R1T also happens to be the very first electric pickup truck for sale in the North American market. China already has other models for sale. However, according to what Motor Trend stated, it would be safe to say none of them are like what Rivian conceived.

The first thing that impressed the experienced MotorTrend team was how powerful the R1T is. It would have a neck-snapping acceleration and the behavior of a sports car. That’s something to be credited not only to its four electric motors but mainly to the suspension setup.

In the video embedded in the article, Aaron Gold said Rivian engineers explained to him how the suspension worked, and he still did not quite get it. The four-corner air suspension has a hydraulic system that controls damping and body roll. Given the description, it looks like something Citroën would have used in the golden days before it ditched the hydropneumatic suspension that made it so famous for comfort. Motor Trend’s senior editor confirms the R1T has the same magic carpet feeling.

The most significant advantage of the hydraulic system is that the R1T has a lot of suspension travel and still behaves like a sports car. That would allow the new electric pickup truck to perform equally well on the tarmac or in a trail.

What Gold and Christian Seabaugh did not seem to enjoy very much was the R1T’s interface. It would lack buttons for simple commands and demand that you learn how to reach some functions of the vehicle on the central screen. It seems to be the same recipe Tesla tried to implement with the Model 3, which caused legal issues for the company and some customers in Germany. The good news is that Rivian can still try to improve that until deliveries start.

Read Motor Trend's article, watch the video, and thank these guys for letting us know how the R1T drives. It will take a while before most of us can check that for ourselves.

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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
Gustavo Henrique Ruffo profile photo

Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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