Drove a Rivian today. Drove a Chevy, Ford. My thoughts.

[mcm4ss]

Drove a Rivian yesterday. I Found it stiff and vague. Steering is heavy. Go petal is stiff. Cab is really small. Deceivingly small. Nice rig but NOT even on the same level as the CT at all. I also have driven the Chevy EV. What a floating boat of a truck wandering and swaying compared to the CT. Fast starts rock it back a lot. Quick steering feels like it's going to just roll over. The Ford Lightning is just a F150 electric. It is confusing to use, body is soft and is like all my other trucks. It charges slow and does not even touch the Ct's software. Haven't driven the Hummer but it's just too damn tall for all of us. My opinion is NOTHING compares to the amazing CT. I think with Ford halting the Lightning, Chevy and GM constantly rethinking their models and cutting back as well they really felt the heat from the CT. I think Rivian is amazing but still so far to go for their 6 digit price. Gut feeling is in a few years the CT will be the benchmark all these "influencers and YouTubers" will compare all other trucks to. Also,, side note,, Whistlin Diesel still drives his!! It's beat to sh%$ but he still runs it. WOW. Have a good day.

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[MisterTea]

I have the CT, wife has the Hummer EV. I love the Hummer, but wouldn't replace the CT with it. It's Go pedal is slow (unless you have it in WTF mode) which throws me off. Steering is fine. Turning radius is amazing thanks to rear wheel steering. It is very smooth on the highway, but the removable roof makes road noise horrible. Sounds the same as a Jeep Wrangler in my opinion.

 

[mcm4ss]

I have the CT, wife has the Hummer EV. I love the Hummer, but wouldn't replace the CT with it. It's Go pedal is slow (unless you have it in WTF mode) which throws me off. Steering is fine. Turning radius is amazing thanks to rear wheel steering. It is very smooth on the highway, but the removable roof makes road noise horrible. Sounds the same as a Jeep Wrangler in my opinion.

How about height? My wife and parents cannot hardly get into the CT on entry lol. That Entry mode really takes the cake for me. I like the Hummer and thought about driving one but it seems really high. My Jeep I take hunting and whatnot is amazing with tops off and I thought that Hummer would be fun that way.

 

[That Beast Mode]

I have the CT, wife has the Hummer EV. I love the Hummer, but wouldn't replace the CT with it. It's Go pedal is slow (unless you have it in WTF mode) which throws me off. Steering is fine. Turning radius is amazing thanks to rear wheel steering. It is very smooth on the highway, but the removable roof makes road noise horrible. Sounds the same as a Jeep Wrangler in my opinion.

I drove the hummer before buying my CT, they were the two I was deciding between. The Hummer feels like a Hummer that they just shoved EV motors in to call it an EV. The CT was a completely different animal. Don't get me wrong, the hummer is a good tough truck, the interior and trims are way more polished and for the size of the hummer the interior felt tight, but they aren't on the same level in my opinion.

 

[MisterTea]

How about height? My wife and parents cannot hardly get into the CT on entry lol. That Entry mode really takes the cake for me. I like the Hummer and thought about driving one but it seems really high. My Jeep I take hunting and whatnot is amazing with tops off and I thought that Hummer would be fun that way.

Im 6’5” so I don’t know.

 

[VAF84]

I owned a Lightning Lariat ER and currently own a Sierra EV Denali. I test drove the CT a couple of times before deciding on the GM product. I agree the Lightning is basically a super fast ICE truck, but with better tech when compared to ICE. The GMC is a more comfortable ICE truck, with comparable ICE tech but a fast 0-60; albeit squirrely demeanor under WOT.

Thing is, all four of the trucks discussed are very different in solving use cases. I find the Lightning to be an "inexpensive" local truck. Usually has the lowest price, does all the truck stuff you need comfortably as long as it's within a 100 mile radius before the tradeoff's begin. At the time tech was more advanced than GM. The GM product is an ICE truck with an electric powertrain (I have to use a key FOB, wth ). If you have the air suspension it's very comfortable. It's the only one so far that IMO is closest to fully replacing an ICE truck with the fewest trade-offs. I feel the CT is a great truck; in a way sportier, and more suited to urban environments. It just lacks that extended range option of the GM products. I can't talk to the Rivian much, except I feel it's in a different class due to its size and view it more as a lifestyle vehicle. I just don't compare it to the other three.

IMO these trucks don’t overlap much in what they offer. I've mentioned it here before, that if the CT had come with more range, I'd be in it instead of my GMC.

 

[cadamo001]

I owned a Rivian R1T for 2 years and 35k miles before I traded it in for the CT. FSD is what basically separates CT from everything else. Until anyone licenses FSD, I'm just not interested in anything else.
And I loved the Rivian. What they do with storage in such a small package is incredible. And MUCH MUCH MUCH nicer interior.
For me, FSD all day.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Like Vaf84 says each is suited a bit different. We got the Mavrick hybrid in Mar 2024 and we were open to all truck EV's but none fit what we were looking for and just were to big or had features we did not need and want to pay for. We did not care about FSD at all and just wanted a small truck that could still do occasional hauling of mulch bags, hay for the mini horses on occasion.

We found nothing that really fit what we wanted in the truck EV area. So the next step was looking at Hybrids. This is where Ford Mavrick moved to the front. No other small truck under 35-45K out the door could give us what we wanted but the Mavrick.

We ended up getting Ford's 5 years/75K miles total maintenance(oil changes/filters/etc.)package also so our only expense we every have is a set of tires every 2 or 3 years. The ford package includes even new windshield wipers ever 6 months if we want. With the hybrid parts covered for 8 years/100K I just do not see any real expenses for at least the next 3 1/2 years still. Also it comes with a basic full size spare tire which we have already used one time when we got a flat.

We were open to Telsa also but they do not have anything truck wise except the CT which is a very good vehicle and has many very nice features. Sure we could skip doing/buying FSD but the CT is just to big for us now for our needs. If it was say 2 feet shorter and maybe a bit smaller overall it would have been considered by us.

I am very glad everyone here for the most part loves their CT or other Telsa cars. Maybe one day in a few years once the Mavrick is out of warranty Telsa will have something for us to consider. We are truly open to a total EV if it fits what we are looking for without to many extra's.

So enjoy whatever you got be it ICE, Hybrid, or EV.

J

 

[ABILISK]

So enjoy whatever you got be it ICE, Hybrid, or EV.

That’s like saying enjoy whatever you got be it ham, pork, or bacon. Sure, gas and hybrid owners are totally satisfied with their ham and pork because they don’t know any better. EVs are the bacon! You say your only expenses are tires. Can I assume you use gas? One of the biggest expenses there is to car ownership? You don’t even count that because it’s just such a given part of life. Not to EV owners it ain’t. Our electric bills go up a slight bit. Nowhere laughably near what I used to spend on gas. You’ll never make a better financial decision than buying an EV in general. And talking about skipping out on FSD when this miracle tech is a mere $8K? That tells me you haven’t experienced v14. I’d encourage you to gain some experience with this stuff, but you do you.

 

[hemiarch]

That’s like saying enjoy whatever you got be it ham, pork, or bacon. Sure, gas and hybrid owners are totally satisfied with their ham and pork because they don’t know any better. EVs are the bacon! You say your only expenses are tires. Can I assume you use gas? One of the biggest expenses there is to car ownership? You don’t even count that because it’s just such a given part of life. Not to EV owners it ain’t. Our electric bills go up a slight bit. Nowhere laughably near what I used to spend on gas. You’ll never make a better financial decision than buying an EV in general. And talking about skipping out on FSD when this miracle tech is a mere $8K? That tells me you haven’t experienced v14. I’d encourage you to gain some experience with this stuff, but you do you.

So all motoring is unkosher? Or only on Saturday?

 

[ABILISK]

So all motoring is unkosher? Or only on Saturday?

Engining, actually. Motoring is cool Bacon is kosher, isn’t it @That Beast Mode ?

 

[hemiarch]

Engining, actually. Motoring is cool Bacon is kosher, isn’t it @That Beast Mode ?

Maybe he’s still doing an after hours philling.

 

[ABILISK]

Maybe he’s still doing an after hours philling.

That sucks. Mandatory overtime is a real kick in teeth.

Don’t start us on this again

 

[hemiarch]

That sucks. Mandatory overtime is a real kick in teeth.

Don’t start us on this again

I started nothing. You’re willing to sink your teeth into anything I say. Whose fault is that?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Abilisk you are 100% right I forgot to say we do have to buy gas at Quicktrip or the local shell station. That was my mistake and should not have been left out. Thank you for pointing that out.

Since we drive about 10-15 miles a day usually for 5 or 6 days a week, lets say 100 miles a week (remember we are retired couple). Our only long driving trips being to visit the grandkids in Houston (about a 200 mile trip each way) once every 3 months.

The Mavrick does keep track of my usage and MPG averages around 47-51 MPG it says on the dash. So at $2.50 a gallon average (today it is at $2.28 at QT) and let's say 3 gallons a week we are spending $7.50 a week on gas.

52 weeks x $10 (rounded up) = $520 dollars a year on gas


I figure tires every 3 years and

these higher end Perilli Scorpion's all season are $210 each at pepboys. So lets say $1000 for a set of 4 (including mounting/balancing/TX sale tax) every 3 years.

How much are good general use road tires for the CT if you know.

Remember this cost estimate is for our life style and of course many, many more drivers spend 2x, 3x, or even 4x what we do on gas each week depending on their job commute and other lifestyle events.

So for us since there were no EV options really that we could see for what we do with our vehicle, the Hybrid at least gave us some savings over a fully ICE vehicle.

It also had to be at least a small truck as we do get 4 to 5 bales of hay every 2 months for the mini horses and gain and such.

As I have said in all my prior posts the CT has many very good or even great features like steer by wire as an example.

If you or anyone here knows of a EV that can meet our current needs please send me a message and we will look into as a option for our next vehicle.

Lastly I would say we are a baby back rib family, smoked on our smoker grill, not really a general ham slice family. We do like bacon wrapped filled Jalapeno's with our ribs also.

J

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