HOLLY, Michigan — When I was a kid, I’d spin toy tanks in my sandbox, slinging sand while mimicking real tank turns. WHEEE! As I’ve grown older, my sandboxes have gotten bigger.

At Holly Oaks ORV Park, I stopped my 2026 Rivian R1T Quad pickup in the dirt and selected ALL-TERRAIN mode in the 15.6-inch console screen. I selected the KICK TURN icon and swiped PREPARE TO TURN. A Sasquatch-like cartoon character named Gear Guard Gary popped up and performed a break dance. Tank-turn time.

Holding the steering wheel straight, I pushed the RIGHT buttons on each steering spoke simultaneously, engaged the throttle and spun the pickup clockwise — slinging sand like a tank. WHEEE! Stop. Engage the LEFT buttons and spin counterclockwise. WHEEE!

Rivian Quad is a toy for big kids with big piggy banks.

The top-trim model is the Silicon Valley brand’s latest addition to a supertruck segment that now parallels the hallowed supercar market that made Lamborghini, Ferrari and Porsche household names. Beginning with the Ford F-150 Raptor in 2010, hellions like Ranger Raptor, Ram 1500 RHO and Ram TRX have topped gas-powered truck lineups. They bring voracious, dirt-chewing appetites to off-road parks — not to mention Michigan stoplights.

The $117,790 R1T Quad is Rivian’s brand halo. It joins the $117K Cyberbeast and $125K GMC Hummer with unique style, electrification and tech for the Supertruck Wars.

Like Hummer, the Rivian is a midsized truck. But in weight, tech and attitude, R1T is more kin to the full-size Cybertruck.

Both weigh about 3½ tons (7,000 pounds) compared to the five-ton Hummer (9,600 pounds). Both are halos to lineups beginning at $70K. Both feature polarizing styling (though the Rivian won’t get you firebombed) and unique operating systems. Indeed, R1T (and sister R1S SUV) is the most Tesla-like OS in market.

Be prepared to spend time with the dealer learning Rivian’s bottomless, screen-centric digital controls.

Approach R1T Quad with key (or phone app) in pocket and it unlocks. Slip into its tasteful interior, toe the brake pedal, and it’s on. With a loooong press of the left steering wheel scroll button (Tesla uses the right scroll button), I activated VOICE CONTROL:

Navigate to Holly Oaks ORV Park, Holly, Michigan

We were off. But first, some 0-60 mph launches.

Stoplight. SPORT mode. Nail it. SCREEEEEE! Who said EVs were silent?

The wail of four electric motors telegraphs a breathtaking 1,025 horsepower and 1,198 pound-feet of torque (you read that right, the same as a $5 million Bugatti Mistral Hypercar). R1T exploded out of the light and past 60 mph in less than three seconds. That’s on par with the Cybertruck Beast and quicker than Hummer’s 3.3. Hold on while I circle back and pick up my stomach.

Settling into my trip, I turned over driving duties to Rivian.

Tesla (and its Magnificent Seven, trillion-dollar market cap) has its eyes set on a robot future and has leapt ahead of other manufacturers in its ability to self-drive you door-to-door.

Rivian’s ambitions remain as a carmaker. It can’t navigate to my destination like Cybertruck. But R1T’s autonomous system proved competent on both highways and secondary roads as long as there were clear lines present.

Rivian has its own navigation system to complement its growing proprietary network of fast chargers. Recognizing Tesla’s dominance (in Michigan alone, Tesla boasts five times the number of chargers as Rivian, including three in the remote Upper Peninsula), Rivian has smartly outfitted 2026 models with so-called NACS connectors to better access Tesla chargers. Unfortunately, Rivian can only access the newest models, so I found most Tesla Michigan chargers inaccessible.

Trip charging is the Achilles' heel of EVs with longer refueling times and fast-charging costs about the same as, say, filling up a Toyota Tacoma TRD Hybrid at $4-a-gallon. Trips are more problematic with EV pickups. The Rivian Quad’s 338 miles of range will, according to test reports, be cut by 50-60% (139-174 miles) when towing. Ouch.

Home-charging is cheaper, once, ahem, you spend $1,000-$2,000 for home-charger installation. The R1T was the first EV I’ve tested that could charge on both my Level 2 Tesla charger and universal J1772 charger (the latter with an adapter provided by Rivian).

Had I kept going to, say, Charlevoix from Holly Oaks, I would have had to charge for an hour to make the trip.

Playing in the sandbox, you see, guzzles electrons.

Rivian accomplished its KICK TURN party trick not unlike a tank — by using two left-side motors to spin left-side wheels in one direction while right-side motors do the opposite. After making yourself dizzy with tank turns, let Quad loose across Holly’s acres of hills and sand on capable, all-terrain Scorpion tires.

The bigger Cybertruck is remarkably agile thanks to its rear-wheel steer and pioneering steer-by-wire systems. With its shorter (by eight inches) wheelbase, R1T eschews rear-wheel steer confident in its inherently nimbler footprint. Equipped with air suspension, it can also pull up its skirts to 14 inches of ground clearance (or hunker down to eight inches for those SPORT sprints).

Thanks to Rivian’s electric architecture (and creativity), R1T’s secret sauce for trips and off-road adventures is storage.

Frunk? Check. Rear bed tonneau cover to protect my luggage from the elements on the way home from Detroit Metro Airport? Check. Sub-bed ice ‘n’ drink storage for a tailgate party? Check. Gear tunnel behind the rear seats? Check.

I’m a particular fan of the latter because it swallows long objects like tennis bags and snow sleds so they don’t rattle ‘round in the bed.

Inevitably, industry newbies like Rivian and Tesla have had reliability and service teething issues (Rivian has two service centers in Michigan). Both brands make up for it with loads of personality. Tesla is awash in goodies like Summon, fart seats, Boombox and so on. So too is Rivian.

In addition to the aforementioned Gear Patrol character, Rivian is imbued with plenty of beauty to complement its beastly power.

Walk away from the R1T and it’ll lock automatically with an owl-like WHO-WHO tone. Onboard video provides security. Rivian even options how aggressively you want the pickup to drive in autonomous mode. I like it SPICY — as indicated by a bright red chili pepper icon in the dash.

It’s a suitable icon for the entire R1T Quad experience.

2026 Rivian R1T Quad

Vehicle type: All-wheel-drive, five-passenger pickup

Price: Base $74,885 for standard dual-motor, including $1,895 destination charge; $117,790 for quad-motor ($123,885 as tested)

Powerplant: 140 kWh lithium-ion battery pack mated to four electric motors

Power: 1,025 horsepower, 1,198 pound-feet torque

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 2.6 seconds (Car and Driver); towing, 11,000 pounds

Weight: 6,987 pounds

Range: 338 miles on full charge

Report card

Highs: Tank turnin’, wicked acceleratin’ fun; storage options

Lows: Sporadic service network; gets pricey for a midsize pickup

Overall: 4 stars

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