I love a good gimmick: something that is sort of pointless other than the fact it’s meant to sort of entertain you. It’s severely lacking in the automotive world, but I’m happy to report gimmicks are starting to appear in more and more cars, especially electric vehicles. Adding more gimmicks makes sense with EVs, as engines are no longer differentiators for these types of cars. Sure, the tech underneath is different, but that’s so esoteric and invisible to the average person they may as well all be the same. Because of that, automakers are taking the time to add more whimsy to their vehicles.
This isn’t totally new. I mean, Tesla has been doing dumb shit in its cars for some time now, like the whoopee cushion and farting turn signals, and the GMC Hummer EV has the “Watts To Freedom” (WTF) acceleration mode, but stuff like that is a bit too juvenile and low brow for someone with as much taste as me. Luckily, Rivian has added the right type and amount of gimmicks to its R1S and R1T that make it stand out from the electric vehicle crowd.
Full Disclosure: Rivian lent me a fully-charged R1S to do with as I pleased for a week in the Berkshire Mountains.
One of my favorite gimmicks that Rivian employs is the Gear Guard mascot. I mean, how many other cars do you know of with their own mascot? None. He’s just a cute little cartoon that’s here to look after your stuff and accompany you on your drive. What’s not to love about that? It does basically the same thing as Tesla’s Sentry Mode, but this just makes it a lot more fun. Hell, Rivian is even throwing the little yellow fluff monster on badges around its cars now. It’s just silly and cute and fantastic.
Something else I absolutely love that Rivian didn’t have to include is the tweet noise the car makes when you lock the doors. It’s just so fabulous and distinctive. Click the lock button on the carabiner-shaped key (also a gimmick, folks) and the car will tweet like a bird to let you know it’s now locked. It’s just so goddamn cute. Making the Rivians even more fun are the ways you can customize the car, the lock sounds included.
Back in October, Rivian introduced a graphics package that would make your Rivian’s screens a bit spookier to celebrate Halloween. Basically, there were three graphics packages themed to “Back to the Future,” K.I.T.T. from “Knight Rider” and “Haunted Rivian.” That was all well and good, but my favorite part was the fact it let you change what the lock noise was. My personal choice was the owl hoot, which really just brightened up my day every single time I locked the R1S. Sure, it’s silly, but who said cars needed to be all that serious?
There’s just something special about the Rivian R1S, and a lot of that has to do with the little touches and cute features Rivian’s designers and engineers decided to include. Other automakers should take note, because this is the kind of goofy stuff we all need in our lives.
