The Most Loved Car Brand In 2024 Is Not What You’d Expect

When you think of what America’s most loved car brand is, you’d probably think of brands like Tesla, which, despite having a reputation for not having the best build quality (huge panel gaps and all). Its owners still love their cars much more than any other brand–reliable and durable ones like Toyota and Lexus, included.

For the past couple of years, Tesla and its electric vehicles (EVs) have indeed dominated the owner satisfaction ratings of Consumer Reports, but in 2024, another brand has dethroned Tesla’s dominance when it comes to how happy its owners are. So, which brand managed to dethrone Tesla in terms of customer satisfaction? It’s probably a brand you least expected.

In order to give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from various manufacturer websites and other authoritative sources, including Rivian, Consumer Reports, and CarBuzz.

Rivian Has The Highest Customer Satisfaction

Despite being a smaller company in terms of scale at the moment, Rivian has managed to make its owners extremely satisfied–even beyond how Tesla owners feel about their cars. Now, in order to understand how Rivian managed to be the most loved brand by Consumer Reports, we have to take a look at what makes its cars exceedingly good that they wouldn’t otherwise feel if they bought a vehicle from another brand.

Where The Rivian Excels Based On Consumer Reports

To understand how Rivian has managed to be on top of Consumer Reports’ customer satisfaction ratings, we have to first see in which areas Rivian excels.

Comfort

1. Porsche
2. Genesis
3. Audi
4. BMW
5. Lexus
6. Rivian

Driving

1. Tesla
2. Rivian
3. Porsche
4. BMW
5. Genesis
6. Lincoln

Cabin Storage

1. Ram
2. Lincoln
3. Tesla
4. Chrysler
5. Rivian
6. Ford

Usability

1. Genesis
2. Lincoln
3. Jeep
4. Cadillac
5. BMW
6. Buick

Ownership Cost

1. Tesla
2. Hyundai
3. Rivian
4. Toyota
5. Mazda
6. Kia

As you’ll see here, Rivian is the brand that appears most frequently and in high positions versus the other brands. Most of the areas where the Rivian stood out are the exact areas where the brand is indeed known for, especially the versatility of its cars. With Rivian being a new brand, this gives them an advantage that other legacy brands aren’t able to do or at least are having difficulty achieving in the EV age.

Free To Innovate And Carve Its Niche

We’ve mentioned this before, and we’ll continue to mention it time and time again as we head to the EV age. Cars that were developed from the ground up to be EVs will always be superior compared to building an EV that uses a platform that was designed around the internal combustion engine (ICE) and its bulky components. If you simply electrify the latter platform, you have to work around the wasted chassis cutouts and provisions for components of an ICE as opposed to using a platform that already took into account a slab of batteries and electric motors.

On the other hand, you’ve got Rivian, a brand that started out as an EV brand already, as opposed to balancing its heritage and reputation around the ICE and electric motors. As a result, the brand is free to innovate and build its identity and thus, develop a range of SUVs and trucks centered around batteries and electric motors. Just look at the R1T and R1S, and you’ll understand the advantages they have over other electric SUVs and trucks that are based on a platform around the ICE model.

The Traits That Make A Rivian Satisfying To Own

Thanks to the brand being new and yet to carve its own identity, Rivian is free to experiment and isn’t held back by what the brand has always been known for. Being unbounded by legacy meant that its engineers and designers are able to go all-out in reinventing what a vehicle should be like in the EV age.

SUVs and Trucks That Harnesses The EV Drivetrain

This begins with how the two vehicles take advantage of the electric drivetrain to rethink the vehicle ownership and utilization experience. No mechanical driveshaft to deal with means excellent interior packaging and cargo flexibility, and this is present in the R1T’s Gear Tunnel. Gear what now? So, that Gear Tunnel is basically a large space situated in between the bed and the cab–a space that would’ve been wasted if it was an ICE platform that was converted for EV use.

Creativity and modularity is what drove the folks at Rivian to create the R1T in particular, and that’s cleverly highlighted with a $5,000 package that you can add to the Gear Tunnel.

In its pursuit to become the ultimate camping vehicle, that $5,000 option adds a factory-installed camp kitchen, which includes a two-burner electric stove, a four-gallon water tank for the sink, a dishwasher set (which, of course, already comes with utensils), and topping it all off is a nice countertop where you could do all of your cutting and dishwashing. And just in case you’re wondering, these appliances are all powered by the R1T’s battery pack when you go camping, so there’s going to be no direct tailpipe emissions at the campsite whenever you do your cooking duties.

Interior Versatility Unlike Anything Else

The R1T and R1S also come with a couple of ingenious features that once again take advantage of these cars’ batteries, electric motors, and the packaging advantages that a dedicated EV platform provides. Storage options are everywhere, from the center tunnel between the two front seats, and yes, even those front seats have a small storage nook.

The center console storage is also massive, and so is the under-seat storage in the second row. Oh, and as you’d expect from a pickup developed to be an EV in the first place, the R1T and R1S come with a massive front trunk with 11.1 cubic feet of space.

Further taking advantage of being free from a driveshaft tunnel, the R1T and R1S can be optioned with a portable Bluetooth speaker that perfectly fits under the center console storage area. Standard on the Launch Edition R1T or as part of the Adventure Package for the R1T and R1S, the Bluetooth speaker is charged by the vehicle when it’s docked in place or via USB-C. In addition, the Bluetooth speaker has the ability to emit a warm, orange light that mimics the glow of a campfire–a feature that’s perfect in campsites where bonfires are prohibited.

The Rivian Twins Are Mechanical Wonders, Too

Lastly, the Rivian R1T and R1S are well-engineered for both on- and off-road driving. It’s almost a no-compromise vehicle–managing to feel surprisingly agile in the handling aspect whilst being able to conquer various trails, especially when fitted with the proper optional extras and packages.

They Love The Beaten Paths

The Rivian R1T and R1S were conceived to be adventure vehicles from the get-go, which is why it is no surprise to find out that these vehicles offer excellent off-roading capability. There’s the usual height-adjustable air suspension and a body that’s been shaped to prevent itself from scraping its chin or belly–as you’ll see in the figures below.

Rivian R1T and R1S Off-Road Specs

(Data sourced from Rivian)

Where the R1T and R1S impress is with their quad-motor layouts. Though a more affordable dual-motor (DM) is now available, the quad-motor (QM) variants have the capability to offer true torque vectoring and even simulate a locking differential. Combined with the other electronic systems acting upon the vehicle, the Rivian R1T and R1S are both exceedingly capable of handling the rough stuff whilst still being able to drive like a sports sedan, as our friends from CarBuzz were able to find out.

It’s not all perfect, though. The heavy weight of the two vehicles means that, in terms of suspension tuning, it’s a bit on the firm side. The two vehicles come with large and heavy batteries, and Rivian’s engineers have to work around these weight constraints whilst making their cars feel like sports cars to drive. On the upside, whatever model you choose, all are blisteringly quick in terms of their 0-60 mph times.

Rivian R1T and R1S Outputs And Acceleration Times

(Data sourced from Rivian)

Yet It Charges Fast Enough Whilst Offering Excellent Range

Speaking of those batteries, the R1T and R1S come with either a Standard 105 kWh battery, a Large 135 kWh battery, or a Max 149 kWh battery. It also comes with various wheel sizes, which will also affect range. What’s good to note here is that the R1T has an EPA-estimated range of 270 to 410 miles while the R1S has an EPA-estimated range of 260 to 400 miles.

This puts both models at the higher echelon of their respective segments when it comes to range. Charging speeds are also pretty good, with up to 200 kW of DC fast charging and, in the future, up to 300 kW–especially since Rivian is also going to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) port.