A Reddit post on r/Rivian from a Performance-trim R2 deposit holder lists what the buyer wants before the configurator opens: the Performance trim, a willingness to wait for the upgraded Rivian Autonomy Platform and a LIDAR option, the Catalina Cove paint color, and full-body paint protection film. The post is one customer's wish list. It is worth reading next to what Rivian has put in writing.

What Rivian has put in writing

Rivian's R2 announcement post priced the midsize SUV from $45,000 and set first deliveries for the first half of 2026, built at the company's Normal, Illinois plant. The R2 product page is where the current configuration details live, including the live list of available colors and trims. Anyone trying to confirm whether Catalina Cove is on the launch color list, and what any upcharge looks like, should read the product page on the day they order, because Rivian updates that page over time.

The poster's comparison of Catalina Cove to BMW's Laguna Seca Blue is a personal one. AutonomyEV has not located a Rivian-published statement comparing the two colors, and the only fair way to judge a paint match is in daylight, in person.

What we could not find a Rivian source for

The deposit holder plans to wait for "RAP1" and a LIDAR option on R2. Rivian executives have discussed future autonomy hardware in interviews and earnings calls, but we did not find a Rivian-published document that ties a specific sensor count, a hands-off highway feature, or a retrofit path to a dated R2 build slot. If Rivian publishes that document, this article will be updated. Until then, anything written about R2 LIDAR timing or retrofit pricing is speculation.

AutonomyEV's opinion

The section below is opinion. It is not reporting.

A deposit is refundable. Assumptions about a future sensor upgrade are harder to undo, because they shape which trim and option boxes a buyer checks at order time. Before locking a configuration, a Performance-trim buyer should ask their Rivian guide, in email, three things. One, the delivery window for the Performance trim. Two, whether any future LIDAR option will ship as factory hardware, as a service-center retrofit, or as hardware already installed and unlocked by software later. Three, the expected price of the upgraded autonomy package for a 2026 delivery.

If the answers come back vague, that itself is useful. It means the trim choice and the autonomy choice can be made independently, and an earlier base-configuration delivery may make as much sense as waiting for a Performance build that ships with the same software a base car ships with.

The poster is doing the homework most deposit holders skip. The next step is getting answers from Rivian in writing, not from a forum.