Rivian R2 First Drive and It Surprised Me More Than I Expected

I finally got to drive the production Rivian R2, on road and off road, and I vlogged the entire thing. Rivian invited me out to Park City to spend two days with the R2 ahead of it going on sale June 9th. These are the real production cars built in Normal, and I got to dig into everything before the keys went in my hand. I walk through the R2 Standard in Esker Silver, the R2 Performance Launch Edition, and the all new RivianOS 2.0, and I sit down with Wassym Bensaid and James Philbin to talk software and where the autonomy roadmap is actually headed. Then the next morning we drive it, first on road and then off road on the all terrains. Read the full written experience over on RivianTrackr: https://riviantrackr.com/news/rivian-r2-first-drive-on-road-and-off-road/ CHAPTERS 00:00:00 Welcome to this vlog 00:03:29 Intro 00:04:33 Rivian R2 Standard in Esker Silver Walkthrough 00:09:44 Borealis Performance and Treehouse Tent 00:10:43 Rivian Field Outlet 00:11:10 Premium Interior 00:14:17 Drive Unit, Battery, and Powertrain Breakdown 00:17:27 RivianOS 2.0 Walkthrough on Rivian R2 00:31:54 R2 Performance Interior Walkthrough 00:35:19 R2 Experience Management Module (Infotainment) 00:36:04 R2 Powerhouse and Wiring Harness 00:37:18 Wheels, Tires, and R2 Accessories 00:39:12 Rivian Treehouse Tent Walkthrough 00:41:00 RivianOS 2.0 Discussion with Wassym Bensaid 00:58:41 R2 and R1 (Gen 2) Autonomy Roadmap with James Philbin 01:09:19 R2 Exterior Lighting Package 01:10:47 Body in White Rivian R2 01:11:12 The Next Day, the One Where We Drive R2 01:14:29 Rivian R2 First Drive, R2 Performance on Road Tires 01:27:47 Rivian R2 Off Road Demo, R2 Performance on All Terrain Tires 01:31:08 R2 Heat Pump Sound Test 01:32:24 Outro and Thank You for Watching 01:33:32 Bonus, Attempted Charging Test MORE FROM RIVIANTRACKR Website: https://riviantrackr.com Subscribe for more R2 coverage: https://www.youtube.com/@riviantrackr Thinking about a Rivian? My referral: https://rivian.com/configurations/list?reprCode=JOSE1715716

Added 18 Sept 2026