Rivian consistently tops consumer satisfaction surveys among EV brands. It also consistently scores near the bottom of reliability rankings. Those two facts coexist because the R1S is genuinely excellent at what it does, and also genuinely imperfect at the mechanical level for a significant number of owners. After one year and roughly 26,000 miles with a 2025 second-generation R1S dual motor Max Pack, the owner here presents the clearest-eyed version of that tradeoff yet. The vehicle covers the full spec: 143 kWh Max Pack battery, 410 miles of rated range, a performance software upgrade that unlocks 665 horsepower and 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. Price new is around $100,000. The short version is that the car is extraordinary, the reliability record is not, and the decision to buy one anyway is defensible.
The Gen 2 R1S uses what Rivian calls a zonal architecture, a significant internal reorganization that reduces the number of electronic control units and is designed with future autonomy capability in mind. This is not just marketing language: the structural changes affect how the vehicle handles software updates, and over-the-air improvements have been consistent throughout the ownership period. Battery degradation is essentially undetectable after one year according to the owner's third-party monitoring data, with the pack still reading 410 miles at 100% charge and 330 to 333 miles at the daily 80% ceiling. For a 143 kWh pack running 100 miles per day in an Arizona climate, that is a strong result. The R1S's range advantage over competing luxury SUVs is real: the Mercedes EQS SUV tops out around 305 miles in EPA testing, and even the Lucid Gravity sits below the R1S at this spec level.
The service count is the part of this review that deserves direct attention, not buried. Ten service appointments in twelve months. The list includes a charge port mechanism that failed on the first road trip in Minneapolis, a windshield wiper stalk control that stopped functioning, a dome light stuck permanently on, weather stripping on both doors and the tailgate, hydraulic leak repairs, recall-related front indicator light work, and various trim complaints. None of these incidents stranded the vehicle or caused a safety issue, and Rivian's service experience was described positively. But ten visits in a year is a material burden on an owner's time, and it is not an outlier in the Rivian community. This is a known characteristic of the product. You are buying a complex, capable, exhilarating vehicle built by a company that is still maturing its production processes, and some portion of owners will have a high-touch service relationship as a result.
Bottom line: The Rivian R1S remains one of the most compelling vehicles on the road. The range, the off-road capability, the interior quality, and the software experience are all class-leading or close to it. What you are accepting alongside all of that is the real possibility of frequent but minor warranty service. If that trade-off works for your life, buy one without hesitation. If ten dealership visits in a year would genuinely affect your daily routine, wait another generation or look at used examples with a clean service history before committing.