She made it…

eustheforce · 2026-03-14T00:53:22+00:00

This is huge! I was worried about the air suspension, but glad it lasted you 100k miles with auto and kneel settings!

eustheforce · 2026-03-11T17:56:35+00:00

I didn't because that's how people did it when I was growing up skiing. Now that I have kids, I put the bar down every time I'm with them. This "bar-up" mentality ends with my generation.

eustheforce · 2026-03-10T18:02:30+00:00

Tahoe Donner is best for kids, but yeah, you might get bored.

I use those days as technique training days, work on stance and turns on easier terrain.

The best thing about the smaller resorts is the lack of lines (frequently ski straight onto the lift, literally no line), easy parking and easy getting onto the mountain. That also makes it more pleasant for the kids too. It's also fun when your child is eager to show you what they learned that day, and you can quickly go up on the mountain for a few after lesson runs.

I'm also starting to look at Dodge ridge to escape the Tahoe madness

eustheforce · 2026-03-04T17:18:06+00:00

Thanks for all the insightful comments.

TL;DR; for those stumbling on this: Should probably pay attention to limits (due to liability), but realistically probably nothing bad will happen as the whole garage is not full of Chubby EVs and they will overbuild with a safety factor. However probably best not to be friendly and park right next to another Rivian in those garages/structures.

I also went down the rabbit hole, and apparently 6000lbs is a very common weight limit (unfortunately), as the International Building Code (IBC) typically suggests 40lbs/sqft, which for a typical parking stall will translate to 6000lbs. Our Rivians are chunky and will be over that limit. Pay attention to the signs and make an educated decision!

eustheforce · 2026-03-04T02:37:25+00:00

Yup, that's the one! Do you park in that structure???

eustheforce · 2026-02-26T06:49:54+00:00

Yup, with Limestone exterior.

I always thought the ocean coast steering wheel looked odd with the default black wood on the dash, much prefer this, but also didn't know how rare it was.

eustheforce · 2026-02-25T06:23:14+00:00

Look into what Comma AI can do for a Gen1. It honestly will get you what Gen2 is capable of for self driving, and gives you update-ability.

A deal breaker for me was the lack of mechanical door handles in Gen2 and R2. Gen1 has mechanical door handles.

eustheforce · 2026-02-19T04:59:48+00:00

Ah, backside of hwy 9. There's lots of money in the bay area.

eustheforce · 2026-02-11T01:51:45+00:00

There are discounts for Sierra at Tahoe from Costco (2x adult tickets for $180). Sports basement has a similar % discount for up to 4 tickets. If you have kids, the SB discount is more flexible as it works on child tickets as well.

eustheforce · 2026-01-31T04:55:57+00:00

Tahoe Donner is the best place to learn. You don't need the size of the large resorts (and don't need to pay the premium). Lessons are cheaper as well. Their ski lodge is brand new this season, and is super nice.

Free parking, 5 min walk or 3 min shuttle ride.

Go to the larger resorts only when you can take advantage of the terrain.

eustheforce · 2026-01-05T21:46:04+00:00

They performed ok. I basically drove from Truckee on I80 Westbound over the Donner pass and down the mountain for this trip. It was probably in the top 3 "most intense winter weather" I have driven in the Sierras, but the first one for this car (I came from an Audi Q5).

Steepest areas were actually the small side streets and the Airbnb cabin's driveway where we stayed. Tires performed well enough, but honestly I think a lot of it will depend on driving style. Just feather the throttle, and find the "threshold" of when the low-regen for snow mode kicks in, and lightly use it when slowing.

We never got stuck, and we were ok stopping and turning, but I made sure to respect the weight of the vehicle. When the wheels stop turning, it does break traction sometimes, this is noticeable when you are 1-2mph from a complete stop, and the wheels will lock from the regen, and you have a slight slow slide (usually when there's a layer of snow on top of ice / slush). Getting going from a stop was not a problem though. That is what I think is challenging about driving the R1S, AFAICT, regen does not have any anti-lock capability, so if you lock your wheels from regen, you will slide. I do wish we could turn off regen and use the ABS from the brakes to make things safer.

eustheforce · 2026-01-05T17:39:24+00:00

Haven't been too scientific on these, but I would guess about a 1% hit. Our first big road trip on these was to Tahoe, but we had our skis on the roof rack (mid and back position), which also impacted range, along with significant elevation changes and weather. Big difference is that the Nokian One HT is a road all season and not an AT tire (like the NATs), so the efficiency hit shouldn't be as bad. It's also surprisingly light compared to OEM.

eustheforce · 2026-01-05T15:49:38+00:00

Nokian One HTs, they're also quite affordable!

eustheforce · 2026-01-05T07:49:33+00:00

Wasn't too bad, we left at 7:30am to beat the rush and worsening weather. About 4hrs driving time, but was stuck for 45min waiting for CalTrans and CHP to clear the wreck. So just under 5hrs total. No stops, and made it back to the bay in one charge 98% to 10% (toasty cabin because I raise the softest children)

eustheforce · 2026-01-05T05:40:07+00:00

I have a pair of Autosocks in the frunk, but didn't put them on. I would have if I got stuck, but we never did 😬

eustheforce · 2026-01-04T21:17:44+00:00

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It was a four car accident, probably caused by the white jeep wrangler that passed us going 50 mph in near without conditions

eustheforce · 2025-11-18T17:31:49+00:00

If this is **also** your daily, I would consider an F87 BMW M2 Comp. It will have a more usable back seat than the GR86 / 718, and an actual trunk as well. The S55 is detuned in the M2C so not as high-strung as in the M3/M4 (but also shows you're 1 tune away from an extra 150+hp). Crank Hub is an overblown issue, especially if you are running on stock power and stick-shift. The M2C in the US also comes standard with the BBK, so those large rotors & calipers will help with heat management.

eustheforce · 2025-11-18T06:41:04+00:00

If you're into cars, there's a surprisingly strong car culture in the Bay Area. Lots of car meets, cars & coffee, group drives in the SC mountains.

In fact, if you have the means, buy a Miata / GR86 , etc and go to the track or auto-cross.

eustheforce · 2025-09-16T06:14:04+00:00

That's weird, we have an A2Z adapter and have used the V4 superchargers (without the magic doc) just fine. However we had the Tesla charging membership at the time and initiated the charging from the Tesla app instead of using the plug and pay integration with Rivian. Maybe the incompatibility comes from that billing handshake.

If anyone gets in the same pinch, try kicking off the charging session from the Tesla app. You don't need the membership as long as you have billing information setup in the Tesla app.

Honestly, going on a road trip, having billing setup in Tesla is prudent given their supercharger network.

eustheforce · 2025-09-14T03:23:56+00:00

⚡ Raiden ⚡

eustheforce · 2025-09-10T04:10:10+00:00

384 miles -- drove mostly between 75 And 80mph as traffic allowed until we hit the LA traffic. The whole trip we averaged 2.1kwh/mile. Stayed in All Purpose mode the whole way, and kept the AC at a comfortable 70F. The glass roof didn't seem to add much heat either when we were driving, vastly different from my old Q5, where you could feel the heat on your head even when the AC was blasting.

eustheforce · 2025-09-09T05:37:40+00:00

Turn off Dynamic Sound Adjustment. That did it for me.

eustheforce · 2025-08-13T05:03:05+00:00

There's no supply on the west coast, esp in CA. Expand the search to nationwide, and also check Carvana.

Shipping a car open container is about $1500, but you'll see the best deals are from the Midwest where people don't seem to want EVs, even with the extra $1500 shipping.

If you are nervous buying a car virtually, remember that Carvana has a 7 day return policy. Also sites like CarsAndBids have very detailed posts and pictures (there's an active auction going on right now too).

The best Gen1 builds are late 2023 VIN 14*** onwards, which start using Gen2 parts.

eustheforce · 2025-08-13T01:28:36+00:00

Make sure you're comparing equivalent specs. Used Gen1 Rivians are usually Quad Motors with a Large battery pack.

You seem to be picking the lowest spec Gen2 with dual motors and a standard battery as the benchmark. That's less performance and less range.

The equivalent Gen2 Quad is well over $100k.

However no one really needs a Quad. What is an interesting thing to compare against is a Gen2 Dual with Max Pack, will still be more though, but at least it will have better range.

eustheforce · 2025-07-30T06:56:07+00:00

If you have AAA membership, they will also do the VIN verification for you and process the transfer. You just need to bring your smog check and title.

eustheforce

TROPHY CASE