AUTONEWS

New Rivian R3 and R3X previews praise the build quality and clever throwback design

Rivian's lineup is now seemingly more exciting than Tesla's, with a boxy $45,000 R2 scheduled for release in 2026, and a $35,000 R3 lineup coming right after.

Rivian has been travelling around automotive expos lately, with prototypes of its upcoming mass market R3 line available for a select few to preview.

The Rivian R3 starting price will be about $35,000 when it launches after the larger $45,000 R2 that is coming in 2026. The off-road R3X version will be priced at about $45,000 as per Rivian's CEO RJ Scaringe, and these price points make them a very enticing proposition.

Rivian brought the R3 to the Everything Electric Canada 2024 expo last week, and let Sandy Munro take a look at its cheapest crossover vehicle. Being the Teardown Titan, Sandy praised the Rivian R3's build quality, as his trained eye noticed the perfectly aligned component assembly, while cautioning that this is a showroom car, and he'd have to wait for the production vehicles to pass a final verdict on that.

Sandy Munro also liked the throwback design with modern twists, reminiscent of the legendary Golf Country lift-kit concept that made it into production with significant success. Clever ergonomics like holding the rear gate button to open just the rear window for a quick grocery bag drop instead of the whole gate also got a thumbs up.

Another recent Rivian R3 and R3X preview takes a look at the interior and tests the seating space and how comfortable would the crossovers be for tall people, with quite the positive remarks.

The Rivian R3 and R3X are also shipping with a NACS charging port, so their owners will be able to piggyback on Tesla's Supercharger network for longer trips. Hopefully, Rivian will move the R3's charging port to the driver's side, too, like it is reportedly doing with the R2 before its release.

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