Got a Silverado EV 3WT as a loaner for my R1T

[camaroz1985]

My R1T is having the tonneau cover replaced with the revised design, and they were out of loaners, so Rivian took me to Enterprise. This was sitting out front, and offered to me.

Of course I jumped at the opportunity to drive this around for a week or two!

Apparently they have loaned it to several R1T owners. All have had the same initial impression as me. "THIS THING IS HUGE!" especially compared to an R1T. Had my kids with me, they are 8, and in the high 90s percentile wise for height (only know because we just went for checkups 2 days ago). They can stretch out their feet and not even touch the front seats.

• Not normally a fan of all backed out, but the Darth Vader spec looks pretty good vs the fake grille/black hood on the white trucks.
• Ride is not as nice as the R1T but that was to be expected.
• Seats are lower tier for sure, and even with the AC set low, made my back sweaty after 2 hours of driving. Also not very comfortable from an angle and height standpoint, and few adjustments, but again this is a WT, so that is slightly to be expected.
• Drove 2 hours, and about 120 miles, and used 22% of the battery. Center display is showing 423 miles at full charge (this is the smaller battery).
• It is nice to have CarPlay mainly because the navigation is completely useless on a rental which doesn't have a data connection. Part of me wonders if that is why they left it on these early trucks.
• The software is not fully baked. It is pretty fast and smooth in transitions, but feels clunky (menu structure needs more touches than it should and not easy to get to the last screen you were on) and unrefined compared to Rivian. The design is also a little busy. The gauge displays are nice to be able to change, but it would be nice to see them customizable instead of 4-5 defaults. Also, the compass and temperature being at the very top of the screen are blocked by the steering wheel for me, and it seems like there is a lot of unused space on some of the layouts (not that more info is needed, but they could have spread it out a little). It is good to see the battery percentage displayed on at least a few of the layouts.
• It's odd to me that the rear climate settings for the vent control are tied to the driver's side and not independent. For instance, kids were cold and wanted to turn upper vents off, but can only do that if you turn off the driver's side upper vents as well.
• Definitely miss the Driver+ Highway Assist on the R1T, but the adaptive cruise on the Silverado is pretty good, just doesn't keep you centered in the lane, ping pongs from side to side if you aren't maintaining the center yourself. Did have one case of phantom braking on the highway, where the truck slammed on the brakes for no apparent reason.
• One pedal driving is implemented well. Maybe it is just the way it is applied, but the high level of regen feels much stronger than on the R1T.

Overall I think anyone waiting on this to replace a work truck will be very happy, and I can see the higher content trucks being all most or all truck owners would need. They could have trimmed about 6 inches out of the cab length and maybe 3-4 inches from the width and made something that would better suit my needs. I am about to go out and try to squeeze it in my garage now, which is never an issue with the R1T, and one of the reasons it is the perfect size for me right now, but maybe as my kids grow I will reconsider.