The New Rivian R3X Off-Road Hatchback Is America’s Electric Lada Niva (Except It Isn’t)

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Rivian, maker of the giant R1T pickup and also-giant R1S SUV, just showed off two cars today built on a fresh mid-size platform — the R2 and R3. Both are SUVs, with the latter coming in an off-road-oriented “R3X” guise; it looks absolutely fantastic. In fact, to me, it looks somewhat similar to the legendary Russian off-road hatchback, the Lada Niva.

Looking at the new R3X had me wondering: Why doesn’t America get the off-road hatchbacks that the rest of the world gets?

The Fiat Panda, for example, is a tiny hatchback that just so happens to be a beast off-road; why don’t we get that here? I mean, just look at the little thing go!:

Then there was the VW Golf Country that we never got. It’s literally just a VW Golf hatchback on stilts:

But the off-road hatch I’ve always wanted more than any other — a vehicle I consider the Jeep Cherokee XJ of Europe, as it’s small, cheap, and capable — has been the Lada Niva. The Russian 4×4 is so beautifully squared-off, so simple, so charming — I just cannot not give in to its lure.

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Luckily, now America is getting a Lada Niva of its own, and in electric form: It’s the Rivian R3X:

05 Rivian R3x Cc

 

It’s a badass-looking little machine. It’s high off the ground, has short overhangs, and will feature three motors — one up front, and two out back.

I plugged the photos into a handy-dandy online angle finder, and it looks like the R3X’s approach angle is over 30 degrees, and the departure angle looks closer to 40. Those are impressive!

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The breakover angle, though, doesn’t look great. I’m not sure exactly what it is, as there are a few ways to measure it, but you can see that the wheelbase-to-ground clearance ratio is a bit large.

The Lada Niva’s approach and departure angles are about the same, though it’s definitely got the R3X beat in breakover angle.

03 Rivian R3x Cc

02 Rivian R3x Cc

 

The truth is: The Lada Niva may look somewhat like the R3X in concept, but the two are nothing alike. The Rivian has fully independent suspension, a bunch of aluminum parts, a fully electric powertrain using advanced batteries, and a fancy cabin with all sorts of screens and other electronic fun. The all-steel Niva has a basic radio, a solid axle in the back, is powered by a small gas motor hooked to a five-speed manual transmission, and is generally built for folks who live on the land. It’s agricultural, you can fix it with a flathead, and it’s unbelievably slow.

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This Rivian R3X is expected to do zero to 60 mph in under 3 seconds. I’m fairly sure the modern Lada Niva would take over 15 seconds.

So really, the R3X is nothing like like the Niva, except is just feels like it. And even though all that complaining I did in the beginning of this article about how America doesn’t get 4×4 hatchbacks is a load of crap (we have the Crosstrek Wilderness, we used to get the Suzuki SX4, and really, the small 4×4 crossovers aren’t that different than hatchbacks, are they?), it’s nice to add another one, because I’m growing a bit tired of everything being so damn big.

Small is good for off-roading, it’s good for efficiency, and it’s good for the soul.

 

106 thoughts on “The New Rivian R3X Off-Road Hatchback Is America’s Electric Lada Niva (Except It Isn’t)

  1. Small, not crazy bucks (hopefully) and kinda a Subaru ish feel, I dig. Nice to see Rivian doing the thing. Let’s hope that they get funding or keep going to see this launch in Q4/2025 or early 2026…

  2. Watching the reveal at work today, a coworker — who dailies a Bronco Sport — looked over as the R3 rolled out and said “wow, now that is nice!”

    It can’t get here fast enough.

  3. This thing is super rad!

    Not exactly sure what to make of the R2…it’s fine. It’s just a long ways off, and I’m not really sure how this will differentiate from what’s going to be a fairly competitive segment. Lots of time to figure it out!

  4. I love this article. My buddy has an R1 and is a total snob. He dubbed this a miscue on our group chat. My other friend said it looks like his vintage rabbit, but given an off road stance – exactly like your picture. I said it looks like a Lada Niva.

    He snobbed about and said beauty is in the eye… I think this thing looks awesome and a great car for a young adventurer. Sort of a more hip Subaru. Just keep the price manageable.

  5. This thing looks great, could totally see myself owning one in a few years. A nice departure from the starkness that is the Tesla, and all the baggage that comes along with it.

    1. Different size vehicles for different audiences. The R2 is bigger, like Model Y or RAV4. This is more the size of a Trax. Rivian had a shot of a person putting something into the frunk. The person made this look fairly small.

      1. Playing around with Paint as well, knowing it has a 2.8m WB, seems to suggest it’s about 4.2m long, really overall close in size to a Crosstrek.

  6. Pretty sweet-though the wheels seem not only too large but just out of proportion. Needs less sidewall-and slightly less overall diameter too. The wheels are pushed slightly too far out of the wheel wells too imo-almost looks like someone put aftermarket wheels with the wrong offset on it. Otherwise looks great-I also like that Rivian’s vertical lights are more ‘filled” in here instead of the empty ovoid holes that are on the R1…curious to see what these look like in actual production.

    1. Less sidewall? On a supposed offroad vehicle? Go ahead and shatter your vertebrae from large drops and get stuck in sand because you can’t air down a rubber band.

      1. Yeah I think I said that wrong re-reading what I wrote lol. I have an older Porsche Cayenne with 255/55/18 and I would not want any bigger wheels and I wouldn’t even mind if it had 17″ wheels for more sidewall. I am not a fan of ever smaller sidewalls being pushed on consumers-especially ironically on ostensibly soft-road capable crossovers and whatnot. IMO anything beyond 18″ is superflous-even on hard core performance cars in the real world it’s faster and more pleasant to not have to fret over every road ripple or small pothole.

        On offroad vehicles this trend is utterly terrible-saw an offroad youtube review of the new Defender that came with 20″ rims and the reviewers brought an extra spare and still got 3 flats and had to abandon the truck for the night to get another set of 18″ wheels and actual off road tires and so they could get the truck off the mountain.

  7. Replace the silly giant wheels, lower it to a normal ride height, and make those headlights round, and you’ve got an electric Lancia Delta Integrale.

  8. This is the size vehicle the new “Scout” should be.

    It was charming back in the day because it wasn’t so huge. I remember riding around in our early ’60s model back in the day. It was fun.

    1. Rivians are built in Normal, Illinois in a factory they bought from Mitsubishi. The next factory will built in Georgia. Whatever you might think of the labor laws in Illinois or Georgia, I don’t think that forced labor is an accurate description
      Steel quality? I’ll have to see some reference on the quality of steel Rivian uses and where it is sourced.
      Since, like most EVs, it is basically a computer and battery on wheels, I think it is a bit small to house a Lovelace/Babbage difference engine and as far as I know (please correct me if I’m wrong) high tech batteries then were lead acid, so no 19th century technology there.

  9. I saw a Lady Niva tested on Top Gear UK. Frankly it was a Piece of Shit. It was great compared to 3rd world slave built cars on the eastern side of the wall but it was crap.

      1. Maybe i never watched Game of Thrones after I HEARD it had nudity and when watching no nudity. Isit true that Natalie’s daughter from Monk dud many nude scenes in GOT?

  10. I think it’s a bit more rally car than off-roader, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s probably better suited for going fast on dirt anyway.

    Can’t be as reliable as a Niva though since it doesn’t have a timing chain 😉

  11. The new Rivian is a very intriguing package. I will have to find out what exactly how small “small” is (I am in the most everything for sale today is way too super sized camp). But if it is indeed smaller footprint vehicle I might be interested in getting one (used, because I am a cheap ass).

    1. From what I’ve seen, R3 is supposed to have a 110″ wheelbase. Considering the small overhangs, this thing will be noticeably smaller than most midsize sedans and just a bit bigger than a Mk8 Golf.

      1. Have an EX30 reservation so would be a similar size; plus it’d be American made instead of Chinese. Another reason to keep driving my perfectly reliable Fiesta ST.

        1. Please keep the FiST, and wait for the R3. The EX30 is neat, and I am a Volvo fan, but the R3 is such a better presentation, and has better power train options. I miss my FiST, and my V-50, but the R3 gives me hope for the future. I also assume cupholders come standard.

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