TRENDING

THESE SIX-FIGURE ELECTRIC SUVS ARE THE LATEST IN MEGA-POWERFUL PEACOCKING.

- Dave VanderWerp

IF you want to broadcast your forward-thinking ways with a luxuriously aspirational electric vehicle in today's preferred SUV body style, the options are scarce. Neither Rolls-Royce nor Bentley makes one, and the Mercedes EQS SUV isn't on sale just yet. Everything else, including the Genesis GV60, the Cadillac Lyriq, and the Audi e-tron, falls well short of the pricing and performance bar set by the BMW iX and Rivian R1S, the two vehicles we've gathered here. Our requirement for conventionally hinged doors meant the aging Tesla Model X got left out. Shucks.

At $109,895, the top M60 version of BMW's futuristic iX features an upgraded rear motor with a 0.8-inch-longer rotor and a stator stuffed with more copper windings. A second inverter feeds sufficient current to increase peak output from 335 to 483 horsepower. Total max power from both motors is 610 horses and 811 pound-feet of torque. That's a lot, except in comparison with Rivian's quadmotor powertrain (still the sole offering, although a less expensive, two-motor setup is in the works). It makes 835 horsepower and 908 pound-feet. From the B-pillar forward, the $91,500 R1S is all but identical to the RIT pickup, but the S packages three rows of seats in its upright-SUV body and rides on a 14.7-inchshorter wheelbase than the truck.

Let's see which is the more enlightened choice.

2nd Place: Rivian R1S

"My 30-year-old ski boat gets on plane faster," quips executive editor K.C. Colwell about the length and severity with which the RIS sends its snout skyward after you stand on its accelerator.