Citroen Grand C4 Picasso vs Rivian R1S

What's the difference?

The lack of third-row airbags and AEB could be enough for you to rule this version of the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso out of contention as a family vehicle. We’d understand that.

But there are plenty of other reasons that it could be a contender on your people-mover shopping list. It’s a largely thoughtful car in a small and beautiful package… no matter what badge is stuck on the back of it.

While there are some obvious signs that the R1S is Rivian’s first mass-market vehicle, the good news for the company is that its problems are not impossible to overcome. The suspension needs retuning to improve the ride quality and the multimedia system’s software needs upgrading. But even with those issues the R1S left a positive impression.

This is a very stylish SUV with great space and excellent performance, that also happens to be electric, rather than relying on being electric as its primary selling point.

Rivian has put more effort into the design and finishes than many of its EV rivals and the result is a vehicle that can genuinely compete with the established premium players with more credibility.

The only catch is there’s no clear timeframe for when, or even if, this generation of R1S will make it to Australia. The brand has repeatedly spoken of its hopes of entering the market here without locking anything in, but given the current state of the EV sales it may pay off to wait until the conditions are right for a new, premium player to try its luck here.

If you were to suggest there isn’t anything interesting about the design of the Citroen Grand C4 Picasso, it would pretty much intone that you’re vision impaired. This is - without question - one of the most intriguing and interesting looking vehicles on the market today.

With its front-end design mirroring the other models in the French maker’s range - sleek LED daytime running lights sitting either side of a chrome grille with central chevron, the main headlights below and some chrome trimming on the lower bumper - this is easily distinguishable as a Citroen. There’s no confusing it with a Kia, Honda, or anything else, in fact.

The large windscreen and panoramic sunroof help give it that two-tone look, and the beautiful silver C-shaped rim that surrounds the glasshouse is one of the best styling touches in the automotive business.

Our car rides on the standard 17-inch wheels wrapped in grippy Michelin tyres, but there are optional 18s if you want something that fills the wheelarches a little more. 

At the rear there are some nicely styled tail-lights, and its hips are broad, giving it a nice amount of presence on the road when you’re sitting behind it in traffic. 

I think Spacetourer works better as a name: Picasso was known for artworks that were challenging to make sense of. This vehicle presents no such conundrum.

The interior is also one of the most stunning in the business: I love the two-tone dashboard, the stacked twin screen layout, the minimalism of the controls and the massive windscreen with innovative adjustable headlining - yes, you can move the front part of the headlining back and forth, and the sun-visors move with it.

Our car had the optional 'Leather Lounge' pack, which adds dual-tone hide trim, seat massage functions for both front seats, plus heating for both front seats, and the front passenger seat has an electrically operated leg/footrest. This interior trim is nice, but it comes at a price… ahem, a big price: $5000. 

As you might expect, that’s hard to justify if you’re trying to save money on your seven-seat people-mover. But ignore that: let’s take a deeper dive into the cabin.

Design is another area where Rivian has carved out a unique position for itself. Whereas other brands, including Tesla, have focused on simplicity and aerodynamic efficiency, Rivian has given the R1T a unique style that looks interesting, different and most definitely not plain.

The oval daytime running lights make every R1S and R1T stand out from a mile away, even on LA’s busy freeways. The overall design is high quality and manages to strike a good balance between aesthetics, aerodynamics and practicality - even if it doesn’t suit everyone’s personal taste.

The cabin is worth highlighting in particular, because rather than go for the ‘minimalist’ look that so many brands are going for these days, with as little switchgear and different trims as possible to keep costs down, Rivian has opted for something more complex and, frankly, more impressive.

There’s a level of craftsmanship, a great mixture of premium materials (including some striking light wood options) that make the R1S feel like a stylish and relaxed environment inside the cabin. Our particular example had a great mixture of colours, textures and patterns that really elevated the cabin experience.

The technology is also nicely integrated into the design, rather than being the focal point, like so many other modern electric vehicles. It still offers the same level of technology - a pair of screens - but doesn’t rely on them to carry the design of the interior.

It’s kind of amazing just how much Citroen has managed to fit into the Grand C4 Picasso. It measures 4602mm long - which is just 22mm (an inch) longer than a Mazda3 sedan! As for the other dimensions, the width is 1826mm, and the height is 1644mm.

How many seats does the Citroen Picasso have? The answer is seven, whether you choose the petrol or the diesel - but notably, the petrol model has a space-saver spare wheel under its boot, where the diesel misses out because it has an AdBlue system. 

Yep, by some marvel of packaging magic, the brand’s engineers managed to pack seven seats, a reasonable boot (165 litres with all seats up, 693L with the back row folded, 2181 with the five rear seats folded), plus a spare tyre and a lot of style into a very compact package.

That’s not to say this is a seven-seater to suit all the needs of buyers who want seven seats. The back row is tight for anyone nearing 183cm (six-feet) tall, and there is no third-row airbag coverage. According to the French brand, the occupants of those rearmost seats are inwards enough of the sides of the car that they theoretically shouldn’t need airbag cover. Depending on your safety stance, that may rule it out for you - or perhaps make you change your mind as to whether you use the back row regularly or not. 

Even so, there’s a huge amount of practicality to the cabin. You can fold the third-row seats and stow them away under the boot floor, or if you need to use them there are vents as well as a fan speed controller and a set of rear reading lights. The boot also has a light that doubles as a flashlight, and there’s a 12-volt outlet. There is one shallow cupholder and two small storage boxes on top of the wheel-arches.

In the second row the seats are also individually operable, with all three sliding and/or folding as required. The outboard seats also have a clever seat base flip-up function, allowing them to move all the way forward for easier third-row access. 

The space in the second row is easily good enough for three adults to slot across, though the roof-mounted middle seatbelt is a bit annoying. There are air-vents with fan controls mounted in the B-pillars, and the front seat-backs have clever flip-down tables with lighting, and there are mesh map pockets below. There is another 12-volt outlet, a pair of slim door pockets (not big enough for bottles), but no cupholders.

The front cabin is better sorted for storage of odds and ends - there is a pair of (small, shallow) cupholders between the seats, an enormous central console box that’s easily copious enough for phones, wallets, keys and the like, plus another storage area near where you plug in your USB/auxiliary device. The way the owners manual/logbook slots under the steering wheel is neat, and the glove box is fine, too, plus there are reasonably good sized door pockets, but again they lack sculpted bottle holsters.

One little issue I had was with the steering adjustment toggle - it’s quite springy… so much so that it sprung back and hurt my finger every time I adjusted it. That mightn’t be an issue if you’re the sole driver, but it’s worth noting.

As striking as the lovely leather trim is, the dashboard design is what I love most about this car. There’s a huge 12.0-inch high-definition top screen that shows you an enormous digital speed readout, plus you can have it show you the mapping and sat nav, or the car’s vital measures, or see where your car is positioned by way of the standard-fit 360-degree camera.

The lower 7.0-inch touchscreen is where the action happens: it’s your point of control for the media system, including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring, the dual-zone climate controls, car settings, and phone. There are supplementary volume and track controls, plus the steering wheel has things sorted pretty well in terms of ergonomics, too.

Okay, to clarify: I love this set up to a degree. I don’t like that the air conditioning controls (apart from de-mist for front and rear windscreens) are all within the lower screen, which means - on a really hot day, for instance - you have to fumble through menus and tap the screen repeatedly, rather than just turn a dial or two. Every sweaty second counts when it’s 40-degrees-plus outside.

The R1S comes standard as a seven-seat SUV, split across three rows (two in the first row, three in the second row and two in the third row). Space across the three rows is fairly typical for an SUV of this size, which is to say generous up front, good in the second row and a little bit tight in the back.

What is good though, is the length of the cabin allows for quite a spacious boot even with the third row in use, which is definitely not something all seven-seat SUVs can claim. Using a direct conversion from Rivian’s specifications that list cargo capacity in cubic feet, the R1S has a claimed 498 litres with the third row in use and up to 1331L with the third row folded down. There’s also 314L under the bonnet and another 144L underneath the boot floor (although that comes at the expense of a spare tyre).

As mentioned in design, Rivian has nicely integrated the technology into the cabin, with the 12.3-inch digital driver display and 15.6-inch central multimedia touchscreen feeling like a natural part of the car rather than a centrepiece. Rivian has also managed to incorporate eight USB-C charging ports spread around the cabin to keep everyone’s devices charged up.

However, while the technology is nice from an aesthetic design perspective, the same cannot be said about its useability. Like Tesla, Rivian has opted to go it alone with its multimedia system and has developed its own Google-based software that is not compatible with either Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. That would be acceptable, although still disappointing, if the system worked as well as Tesla’s, however the Rivian system is very slow. It repeatedly took several seconds to load between the various functions, which may not sound like long, but when you’re trying to get back to the navigation so you don’t miss your freeway exit a few seconds can make a big difference.

But, honestly, in this day-and-age, systems like this should work quickly and seamlessly, so it’s an area Rivian needs to improve.

On a positive note, Rivian does have some cool accessories for the R1S including what it calls a ‘Camp Speaker’ which is a US$400 option that it integrates into the sound system but is also removable, so you can pull it out of the centre console and listen to your music if you’re around the campfire or having a picnic.

When we drove the R1T in 2023 Rivian was still in the ramp up stage of production and was limited with what it could offer customers. Fast forward to 2025 and the brand now has both the R1T and R1S available with dual or tri motor powertrains, with a quad-motor powertrain expected by the end of the year.

The R1S Dual Standard begins the range at US$75,900 (approx. A$118,000), the R1S Dual steps it up to US$83,900 (A$130k) and the R1S Tri-motor completes the current line-up at US$105,900 (A$165k). While those prices are definitely in the premium end of the market the R1S is actually cheaper than the Tesla Model X, which is still on sale in the US market, and starts at US$86,630 (A$135k) and stretches to US$101,630 (A$158k).

For more context, the Audi Q8 e-tron starts at US$74,800, the BMW iX from US$87,250 and the Mercedes-Benz EQE from US$77,900.

Standard equipment across the range includes the 12.3-inch digital instrument display, 15.6-inch multimedia touchscreen, dual-zone climate control, heated and ventilated front seats, heated steering wheel, eight-way power adjustable driver and passenger seat and panoramic glass roof, so it certainly has premium levels of equipment.

We drove the range-topping RS1 Tri-motor which, aside from an extra motor, gets standard 22-inch alloy wheels, a dynamic glass roof, a soft-touch suede textile headliner as well as unique colour and trim options.

Under the bonnet is a 1.6-litre petrol four-cylinder turbo unit producing 121kW of power (at 6000rpm) and 240Nm of torque (at a low 1400rpm). If you think about what other seven-seat people-movers have, that’s only okay - for instance, the cheaper LDV G10 people mover has 165kW/330Nm.

The Citroen may have a smaller engine capacity and outputs, but it’s also quite light - it weighs 1505kg (kerb weight) because it’s so small. The LDV, by contrast, weighs 2057kg. In short, it punches at, but not really beyond, its weight.

The Grand C4 Picasso is front-wheel drive, and uses a six-speed automatic transmission with a manual mode and paddle-shifters… yes, that seems unnecessary. The shifter is up on the steering column, which is an ingenious use of space, but the fact it has a dedicated manual mode means you may often choose M rather than D, particularly if you’re in a hurry.

If you plan to do a lot of towing, this isn’t the car for you. The claimed towing capacity is 600 kilograms for a trailer without brakes, or just 800kg for a braked trailer. The diesel is a better bet if that matters to you, with a 750kg un-braked/1300kg braked rating… though that’s still below average compared to some similarly priced petrol seven-seat SUVs like the Mitsubishi Outlander (750kg/1600kg), LDV D90 (750kg/2000kg) or Nissan X-Trail (750kg/1500kg).

As mentioned earlier, there are currently three versions of the R1S available, each with a different powertrain. 

The Dual Standard AWD has, unsurprisingly, dual motors (one at the front and one at the rear) which make a combined 397kW/827Nm. That’s enough for it to launch 0-60mph (0-96km/h) in just 4.5 seconds. The R1S Dual AWD has the same power, torque and acceleration figures, however it gets Rivian’s Large battery, which we’ll detail below.

The Tri-Motor AWD obviously has three motors, one on the front axle and two on the rear, which naturally provide more power, 633kW/1495Nm. With so much power and torque the Tri-motor is wickedly fast, taking just 2.9 seconds to launch 0-60mph.

If, for some reason, the Tri-Motor isn’t fast enough for you, Rivian has released the details on the Quad-Motor. It will have two motors on each axle providing a staggering 764kW (that’s 1025-horsepower!) and 1624Nm, enough to rocket it from 0-60mph in just 2.6 seconds and across the quarter mile in 10.5 seconds.

The claimed fuel use for the Grand C4 Picasso petrol model is just 6.4 litres per 100 kilometres, which is rather impressive. It requires 95RON premium unleaded, meaning the cost at the pump can be markedly higher than regular 91RON. 

In the real world, a lot of turbocharged cars tend to be thirstier than the claim suggests, but we saw a relatively decent 8.6L/100km during our time in the Grand C4 Picasso. 

By comparison, the diesel is said to use a miserly 4.5L (17-inch wheels) or 4.6L (18s). 

Let’s do some maths: the average cost per 1000km, based on claimed fuel usage, works out to $65 for the diesel and $102 for the petrol, and you’ll get about 40 per cent more distance per tank out of the diesel, and typically diesel is cheaper. But even so, the extra $6000 outlay on the initial purchase of the diesel will still take plenty of mileage before you break even.

Rivian offers three different battery types across the three variants, each with a different driving range. The R1S with the Standard battery (92.5kWh) has a claimed 434km driving range, the R1S Dual with Large battery (109.4kWh) extends that to 530km, while the Tri-Motor comes standard with the Max battery (141.5kWh) that has an impressive 597km of range.

It is worth noting, though, that those range claims are based on US EPA estimates, rather than either the WLTP or NEDC methods usually used.

Charging times vary depending on the type of charger used, in the US Tesla has given access to its network to other EV brands and the Rivian is available with a plug adaptor to use a Tesla charger. The R1S is capable of charging up to 220kW, which means it takes approximately 40 minutes to take the battery from 10 to 80 per cent. 

I’ve mentioned the word ‘charm’ already in this review, and the adjective to describe what I think about the drive experience is ‘charming’.

I love it.

It has that French suspension set-up that just doesn’t get bothered by sharp bumps because it has been tuned to deal with cobblestone alleyways. It rides beautifully at high and low speeds, loping over speed humps with ease, cosseting those in the cabin from the surface below.

It’s also tremendously quiet, with hardly any road noise intrusion in the cabin compared to the vast majority of cars out there. The coarse-chip surfaces of the M4 in Western Sydney usually offer up an ear-bashing, but not here.

The 1.6-litre engine is perky enough.

The steering is like that of a hatchback, with a tight (10.8m) turning circle enabling you to pivot on yourself more readily than you might think. The steering is also quite enjoyable if you like to drive, but don’t push too hard - understeer is an imminent threat, though the grip on offer is quite good.

The 1.6-litre engine is perky enough, and responds well both in stop-start traffic and on the highway - but there is no doubt about it, the 2.0-litre turbo diesel model’s 370Nm of torque makes for motoring with a lot less effort and strain. Not that the engine in the petrol model feels like it can’t get the job done - it just feels like it could do with a little more pulling power… Again, not enough to rule it out of contention, because it’s nicely refined. 

The six-speed automatic is geared towards efficiency, which means that you might find it in third gear before a hill and somewhat hesitant to drop back a gear to gather more pace. I didn’t find this too annoying, but it did help me finally understand why the manual shift and paddles are fitted.  

On the whole, there is a lot to like about this: it’s a family-focused car with family-focused dynamics on all fronts. 

The R1S and R1T are Rivian’s first mass-produced cars, and it shows. It’s not all bad news by any stretch, but there are some major issues the brand will need to address in the future if it wants to succeed globally (or even just in the US). 

The biggest issue is the ride, which just doesn’t feel as well resolved as the more established brands that have been designing, developing and building cars for decades. The R1S isn’t bad to drive by any stretch, but the ride is too firm at times and it also lacks control and feels too soft at others. 

All R1S grades come standard with Air Suspension that has multiple levels of firmness and can adjust the ride height. However, in the ‘normal’ setting the ride feels too busy, with the heavy (3096kg) SUV skittering over the imperfections in the road rather than absorbing them. The problem is, if you adjust the suspension to the softer setting it lacks control and has a tendency to bounce over bigger bumps and take a few seconds to settle. This was particularly noticeable on LA’s concrete freeways, but it would be an issue on any road with undulations or joints.

But while the ride needs improvement, the R1S has strengths in other areas - namely performance. The Tri-motor AWD we sampled had immense punch from its three motors and it certainly felt like 633kW and 1495Nm was on tap. We didn’t test its acceleration claim officially, but any take-off could be made into a rapid one with just a squeeze of the accelerator pedal. 

The R1S is also capable of towing up to 3500kg, so it’s a strong and capable SUV too, rather than just a speedy EV.

Another strength is the regenerative braking system. There are multiple settings but we found the lowest regen was the best option, as it still provides powerful regen but is more progressive than the more powerful modes.

The R1S comes loaded with safety equipment across the range, including eight airbags, adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, blind spot monitoring, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keeping assist and rear cross-traffic alert.

It also comes with what’s called the ‘Rivian Autonomy Platform’ that includes 11 cameras and 12 ultrasonic sensors for mild-autonomous functionality in specific circumstances, such as freeway driving or on well-marked roads. 

Citroen has just updated its ownership promise to consumers, with passenger vehicles attracting a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty plan, which is backed by a five-year/unlimited kilometre roadside assist package. 

Previously, the plan was three years/100,000km - and that’s even what some of the paperwork on the company’s site still suggests. We assure you, though, the five-year deal is legit.

Servicing is due every 12 months or 20,000km, whichever occurs first, under the Citroen Confidence Service Price Promise plan. The costs for the first three services are $414 (first service), $775 (second service) and $414 (third). That cost cover spans nine years/180,000km.

Rivian offers a four-year/80,000km warranty for the R1S vehicle as a whole, as well as a separate battery pack and drivetrain specifically. The Standard battery is covered for eight years/190,000km while the Large and Max batteries are covered for eight years/240,000km.

As for servicing, Rivian uses an app-based system, which allows owners to schedule a service at any time via the app and then either have a Rivian technician come to your home for a small service or drop it off at a service centre if it’s a bigger job. The app is also connected to the car, so if the car’s own diagnostic system recognises a problem, it can prompt you to book a service proactively.