- Former Tesla Model S owner is mostly happy switching to a brand new Rivian R1S.
- His former yoke-equipped Tesla did semi-autonomous driving, in-car streaming and driver visibility better.
- The Rivian isn’t perfect, but it has plenty of its own cool features that make it feel like a worthwhile upgrade.
Tesla makes excellent electric vehicles that many owners are so enamored with that switching to a different brand seems inconceivable. But this former Model S owner who bought a brand new 2025 Rivian R1S couldn’t be happier with the switch, although there are some Tesla features that he still misses.
Shane Burgman owned his Model S with a yoke for almost four years, and he wanted to replace it with something more practical. The logical step would have been to get a Model X, which is essentially a taller and roomier version of the Model S, but other electric vehicles might fit the bill better.
Readapting to a traditional round steering wheel with physical buttons and stalks behind the wheel shouldn’t be a problem. Still, Shane mentions that he misses the obstruction-free view of the instrument cluster that the yoke provided. However, the tried and true layout will likely grow on him after using it for a while, and it may change how he sees the Tesla yoke with its multitude of touch-sensitive buttons and no indicator or transmission stalks (which are available aftermarket).
Other features he misses from his Tesla include its excellent video streaming capabilities (with in-built YouTube, Netflix and other platforms). This isn’t a feature that is yet available in the Rivian.
Another thing he isn’t happy with is the doors, which feel heavy and solid, but he says are harder than you think to close, and they could have used a soft-close feature given the price point of the R1S. The audio quality is another point of criticism, even though the R1S in the video features the upgraded audio system.
Teslas are known to have pretty good standard sound systems and the one in the Rivian is known to be somewhat mediocre, so the difference in sound quality is likely there. However, the thing Shane says he will miss most is Autopilot, which worked on virtually all roads and took some of the strain out of driving. In the Rivian, he can’t enable adaptive cruise control with lane centering on the same roads where he had it on in the Tesla.
