MotorTrend has named the Rivian R2 its 2027 SUV of the Year. That makes Rivian the first startup to win the Golden Calipers with two products in a row, after the R1T took Truck of the Year for 2022.
The judges explained their pick in a long writeup, and most of it comes down to how much ground the R2 covers. They found it handles like a sport sedan on pavement and still gets down an off-road trail on street tires, even without the dual-motor setup. Technical director Frank Markus called it an “operational design domain masterpiece,” which is a nerdy way of saying it does more things well than anything else they tested this year.
Value came up a lot too. MotorTrend says a loaded R2 Performance under $65,000 gives you more than anything else at that price, and the R2 Standard will start at $44,990 when it arrives next year. They also gave Rivian credit for keeping lane centering on cars without Autonomy+, which Tesla doesn’t do for cars without FSD.
It wasn’t all praise. The judges still don’t like the screen-controlled air vents, think the halo steering wheel controls need more work, and noted that real-world efficiency lands closer to average than class-leading. CarPlay came up as well, though MotorTrend says Rivian’s own streaming and messaging have gotten good enough that they almost don’t miss it.
This comes just days after TopGear.com named R2 its SUV of the Year, so the awards are piling up fast. With R2 Standard and the LiDAR builds still to come, I expect the lineup to keep getting stronger from here.
I like the halo wheels AND the on-screen vent control, so those dings are certainly subjective.