2026 Rivian R1T and R1S Quad-Motor First Drive: Quicker Than Ever, With an Extra Kick

• The quad-motor model rejoins the Rivian R1 lineup for 2026 with even greater output than before.
• Rivian's most powerful models can accelerate to 60 mph in as little as 2.5 seconds.
• The Quad gets two exclusive features: Kick Turn and RAD Tuner.

Rivian isn't big on visual differentiation. It's easy enough to tell an R1S SUV from an R1T pickup, but discerning which generation or powertrain you're looking at requires a sharp eye and some prior knowledge. Line them up for a drag race, however, and the differences become more apparent: The dual-motor is quick, the tri-motor is quicker still, and the quad-motor setup is the quickest of the bunch.

The vehicles you see here are of the quad-motor variety, denoted by the Laguna Beach Blue paint around their badges and on their brake calipers, as well as the windswept Gear Guard mascot on the tailgate. The designers also squeezed the word "QUAD" in small type below the R1 badge and above the letter for the body style. You really have to know to look for it. These second-generation cars have slightly different lighting elements front and rear, with the most noticeable yet still subtle change being a small scoop taken out of the lower portion of the headlights.

Making quick even quicker

Edmunds has already driven the other second-gen R1 models, so I won't rehash all of the newness here — the addition of a tri-motor powertrain, revised batteries, updated infotainment and driver assist tech, etc. — and will instead focus on what's different about the quad-motor version.

First off, there's a lot more output. We spent almost 30,000 miles in a first-gen R1T quad-motor and found it to be sufficiently quick, accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in an impressive 3.5 seconds. For the new R1 models, the Quad goes from 835 horsepower to 1,025 hp and torque rises from 908 lb-ft to 1,198 lb-ft and switches from outsourced to in-house-designed and -built motors at all four corners. Rivian claims the Quad T will now hit 60 mph in 2.5 seconds, while the S needs 2.6 seconds. Rivian's media introduction for the quad-motor vehicles didn't afford any launch-mode opportunities, but vehicle test editor Reese Counts and I both experienced the Quad unleashed on a drag strip during the earlier R1 launch, and, yeah, it was plenty quick yet easy to control up to its 130-mph top speed.

Rivian's largest battery pack, dubbed Max, now comes standard on the Quad and has a usable capacity of 140 kWh. EPA-estimated range is as high as 374 miles but drops off depending on which wheel-and-tire combo you select. The road-oriented option, which is required to hit those silly 0-60 times, is a very grippy, Rivian-spec 22-inch Michelin Pilot Sport S5 tire, while 20-inch all-terrain Pirelli Scorpion rubber measures 34 inches high. I got to try both in their preferred settings.

Four for fighting

Slapping four high-power electric motors into a vehicle is expensive but not particularly challenging. The hard part is getting them to cooperate as one cohesive powertrain. Rivian nails this, and now that the motors are all in-house designs, the engineers have even finer control over everything.

This is most evident during some rock crawling. Because the motors are fully independent of one another, traveling up uneven terrain requires each one to put out feelers for traction, resulting in at least some wheelspin. This can be counterintuitive or at least unfamiliar to folks used to wheeling internal-combustion-engine vehicles with locking differentials or even dual-motor EVs. But once you get past the sound and smell of a little bit of left-behind rubber and trust the vehicle to do what it needs to, you'll make it over obstacles without issue.

Rivian also has a new feature called Kick Turn. This is an evolution of Tank Turn, which was announced for the original quad-motor but never came to fruition. Similar to the electric G-Class' G-Turn, it spins the wheels on opposite sides in opposite directions to re-vector the vehicle. Unlike G-Turn, however, Kick Turn also works while moving at low speeds, up to about 15 mph. Rivian feels this feature is more useful and less of a party trick (it's still a party trick!) while also more in line with the "tread lightly" ethos.

A set of conditions has to be met before you can engage the mode with a tap and a swipe — you have to be on a low-traction surface without too much pitch or roll. Then, you make spins happen by pressing the steering-wheel directional arrows one way or the other with both thumbs and modulating rotational speed with the accelerator pedal. A pie-chart graphic pops up on the gauge display, filling in as you twirl, and there's even a digital angle readout that you definitely shouldn't be looking at while using this feature.

This new control method was a little counterintuitive for me, but once I got the hang of steering with buttons and not adding lock, I was able to crack off well-timed spins, both stationary and while rolling. Because Kick Turn makes use of the one-to-one motor-to-wheel ratio, this feature is only possible on the Quad.

On the road, the Quad is as tractable as any other Rivian. If things were to get out of sync, you'd feel it through the seat and the steering wheel, with the vehicle being tugged one way or the other by an imbalanced torque application. There's none of that here. That Rivian can put down all of that torque without calling attention to it is a real win.

RAD Tuner lives up to its name

The R1T still rides better than the R1S on account of its longer wheelbase, and you can mess with all sorts of powertrain and suspension settings through the drive modes on either model. The Quad lets you go further with customization through the new, exclusive RAD Tuner.

RAD is short for Rivian Adventure Department, and this tuner was originally an engineering tool used to create and refine the various drive settings. Starting with the mode of your choice, you can then make more granular adjustments to things like accelerator response and regen while unlocking the ability to mess around with front/rear torque split, allowable wheelslip, damping force and roll stiffness. You could spend hours dialing this stuff in, and I suspect owners will enjoy that. Though it's not that useful, I found being able to turn the vehicle into a full front- or rear-wheel-drive machine was instructive on the vehicle's dynamics and could be lots of fun and even educational on a closed, low-traction course.

A new Launch Mode with Launch Cam feature will be available on all second-gen Rivians and automatically records video footage of any launch control run. The same camera system also recorded two trips up a steep rock-crawling section, labeling them as "events," presumably because they began with us driving toward a rock face. I'd call that eventful.

The Quad launches as a 2026 model, and for the new year, it and all other R1s get a Tesla-style NACS charging port in place of the CCS port on previous models. A fully loaded Launch Edition is available in two hues, including the resurrected Launch Green; the maxed-out spec puts an R1T at $121,885 (including $1,895 for destination), while the R1S version asks $127,885. The standard Quad comes in at $117,885 for an R1T, or $123,885 for the R1S.

You may be asking: Why did Rivian take its second-gen models to such an extreme? Because it could. This is the halo vehicle in the R1 lineup and will continue as the most expensive and most tech-forward offering once the R2 launches in a year or so. To be clear, no one needs a quad-motor electric truck or SUV that hits 60 mph in under 3 seconds. The fact that it's nearly indistinguishable from lesser Rivians is just part of the charm.