Rivian R2 Review + Torturing The Chief Designer & Engineer Live — Carmudgeon Ep. 242 w Jason Cammisa
6/30/20261 hr 39 min
On today’s episode, Jason and Derek get some exclusive seat time: both with the new Rivian R2, and with Rivian’s Chief Designer Officer Jeff Hammoud and Chief R2 Engineer Max Koff! === Visit http://JasonSentMe.com to get a Hagerty Guaranteed Value (TM) collector-car insurance quote! === The show hits the road, traveling to Rivian’s beautiful flagship space in San Francisco, where Jeff and Max face their worst nightmare: being peppered with questions and feedback about the new R2 - a make-or-break vehicle for the company. After Jason and Derek’s collective ~200 miles, they cover a host of issues - new design + UX features (halo wheels, rear drop glass, to name a few), acceleration times, uphill burnouts, R1 vs. R2, and most importantly (to Jason only) - the absence of Apple CarPlay. And of course, no episode is complete without a mention of Sacco Mercedes-Benzes and old Volkswagens (Mk1 Scirocco and Mk3 Corrado VR6). Will the R2 allow Rivian to continue its planned trajectory as a manufacture? And what’s going on with R3?? Time will tell, but we have a suspicion the Tesla Model Y better watch its back…
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJason Cammisa· Host0:00
All right, everyone's laughing, so it's perfect time for an intro. Welcome to another episode of The Carmudgeon Show.
Derek Tam-Scott· Host0:04
That is driven by Hagerty.
Jason Cammisa· Host0:06
We're not driving.
Derek Tam-Scott· Host0:08
We're sitting by Hagerty.
Jason Cammisa· Host0:10
W- we're sitting in a Rivian dealership?
Derek Tam-Scott· Host0:12
Space.
Max Koff· Guest0:13
Space.
Jason Cammisa· Host0:14
Space.
Derek Tam-Scott· Host0:14
Space.
Max Koff· Guest0:14
Space.
Jason Cammisa· Host0:15
We're in space. We're in space.
Max Koff· Guest0:16
We're in space.
Jason Cammisa· Host0:16
I am not Derek Tam Scott.
Derek Tam-Scott· Host0:18
I'm not Jason Camisa.
Jeff Hammoud· Guest0:20
Jeff Hamood.
Jason Cammisa· Host0:22
Are you or you're not?
Derek Tam-Scott· Host0:23
You're not.
Jeff Hammoud· Guest0:24
I'm not.
Derek Tam-Scott· Host0:24
You're not Max Koff.
Jeff Hammoud· Guest0:25
No, I'm not.
Jason Cammisa· Host0:26
You're not Max Koff.
Jeff Hammoud· Guest0:27
No.
Jason Cammisa· Host0:27
He's- I'm not Jeff Hamood. And this is [laughs] not gonna be a regularly... Uh, a, a normal podcast at all.
Jeff Hammoud· Guest0:33
I told them you'd get this one.
Jason Cammisa· Host0:34
[laughs] [laughs] No one got the memo because this is all gonna be... What's the technical term?
Derek Tam-Scott· Host0:39
Completely unscripted?
Jason Cammisa· Host0:40
I was gonna say fucked up. Um, uh, anyway, we are here- Those are surnames. S- oh, yes. We are here in a Rivian space in San Francisco. We have just driven Rivian R2. Um, and these two fine gentlemen here are your hosts. These two, uh, guys are idiots, um, but they are... F- for showing up here because they [laughs] [laughs] Are just idiots in general. This is the chief designer- Feeling stupider and stupider as we're going.
Derek Tam-Scott· Host1:03
Right? Right?
Jeff Hammoud· Guest1:03
Professional idiots.
Jason Cammisa· Host1:04
[laughs] Yeah, they are actual professionals, though. Like, they get paid to do things like make cars, um, because you both work for Rivian. You are chief designer. What's your title?
Jeff Hammoud· Guest1:16
Chief Design Officer.
Jason Cammisa· Host1:17
Oh, an officer.
Jeff Hammoud· Guest1:18
[laughs] Yeah.
Jason Cammisa· Host1:18
Officer, I'm so sorry. Um, and you are pornstache chief- Yeah ... right?
Max Koff· Guest1:23
Chief Engineer.
Jeff Hammoud· Guest1:24
Chief Engineer.
Jason Cammisa· Host1:24
Chief Pornstache Engineer. Chief Eng- Pornstache Engineer ... and Pornstache Engineer of the R2.
Max Koff· Guest1:28
Yep.
Jason Cammisa· Host1:29
Okay. Uh,