Rimac Nevera R 2025 review – flat-out in the world's fastest accelerating car

The car won’t move. Rimac vehicle development engineer Daniel Ríos Hidalgo troubleshoots from the passenger seat with a tremor in his voice and sweat forming on his brow, but nothing is working. He unbuckles, jumps out and darts into the crowd of spectators, leaving me in the stricken Nevera R in a queue of supercars, boxed in by a Lamborghini Revuelto, Lotus Evija and Bugatti Bolide. The Goodwood marshals usher the last few stragglers to the side and clear a path to the hillclimb. Cameras snap away, and I wait. 

It’s a tense few moments before Daniel rushes back with a laptop under his arm. I don’t ask what’s going on, staying out of the way as he fishes around for a port to plug into the Nevera’s brain. He taps away at the keyboard. ‘That’s it, try moving.’ I tickle the throttle and to our relief, the car inches forwards. ‘The parking brake was stuck on,’ says Daniel, still catching his breath and tucking the laptop next to his seat. ‘We’ve had this issue before, because this is our development prototype. The wiring isn’t the same as production cars and it sometimes stops the brake from releasing. But we’re okay.’ Phew. But now there’s something else to worry about: driving up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed for the very first time, in a 2078bhp hypercar…

The Nevera R is the fastest accelerating production car on the planet, and here at Goodwood – now that the handbrake works properly – we'll be among the first to drive it. The R is more focused than the original Nevera and showcases the pinnacle of Rimac’s EV powertrain and battery technology, which funnily enough is used in some supercars from other brands lining up for the hillclimb. It has a motor at each wheel, a 108kWh battery pack and some of the most sophisticated torque vectoring and traction management systems fitted to a road car. Before arriving at Goodwood, this very example broke 24 production car records on a test track in Germany, including fastest 0-62mph time (1.72sec), fastest 0-186mph time (7.89sec) and the highest top speed for an EV (268mph). Numbers like that are impossible to comprehend, but to help, a base Porsche 911 Carrera hasn’t reached 62mph by the time the Nevera R is doing 124mph.

Everything is wrapped in a new carbonfibre body that’s been tweaked and contorted to generate 15 per cent more downforce, working with Michelin Cup 2 rubber, updated carbon ceramic brakes and revised chassis tuning to make a Nevera that can turn its hand to track work as well as the drag strip. Before strapping in, Rimac’s chief test and development driver Miroslav Zrnčević briefed me on what to expect, telling me to enjoy myself, and not fight the car if it starts moving around. If he thinks I’m going to slide this £2million, two-ton-plus hypercar in front of thousands of people on the Duke of Richmond's driveway, he has another thing coming. 

Deep breath, pull up to the start line. Ignore the cameras, just get off the line cleanly without ‘doing an Evija’. I twist the drive mode dial to Track, giving the full 2078bhp, a more aggressive throttle map, firmer damping, weightier steering and loosened stability control. Hold both pedals to engage launch control and there's so much tension in the car it feels like the motors are twisting the driveshafts. Release the brake and bam. A quivering whine from the motors as all four wheels hunt for traction and you're kicked up the road with surreal force. Initially it’s similar to a conventionally rapid EV like a Taycan Turbo GT, but as the speed climbs the Nevera starts accelerating at an impossible rate, in a truly breathtaking frenzy. All you can focus on is the looming braking point ahead and keeping the wheel straight as the tyres scrabble beneath you. 

I leave plenty of margin on the brakes into the first corner. The pedal is firm and progressive but turn one is my first time applying them in anger, and slowing this much mass from this much speed takes a huge amount of energy. The apex of the right hander is blind, and it takes two bites at the wheel to find the right line. The steering is wonderful. Firmly weighted, measured in response and relaying fine detail through the Alcantara rim (a bit grimy from tens of thousands of testing kilometres). There's so much power available that I barely reach full throttle before the second right hander. With more commitment this time, the car responds with stunning accuracy and dips half a wheel onto the grass at the apex. Then it's the not-so-straight run down to Molecomb corner, a chance to fully unleash the Rimac’s speed. 

I get to half throttle and the Nevera already feels silly fast. It's being dragged around slightly by bumps and cambers but I trust the torque vectoring and gradually push to the stop. Now it's a total sensory overload, the grandstands are a blur in the side windows and it feels even more violent than it did launching from the start line. As 150kph flashes by the wheel is wriggling away and there's a subtle kick from the rear, probably imperceptible from the outside, but a reminder that you need to be absolutely on the ball to deploy everything at once. Despite the sophisticated electronics there's a sense of trepidation, and my word is it intense.  

It’s fantastic through the subtly off-camber Molecomb, cutting a precise line and feeling so poised and communicative as you lean on the Cup 2s. It was always going to be fast, but this aspect of the Nevera is a delightful surprise, and gives you so much more to enjoy beyond the straights. There's another subtle squirm powering towards the Flint Wall, the motor whine changing in pitch momentarily as the ‘revs’ flare up. The wall is shaded by trees and hurtling in from the sunlight, it almost looks like you're driving towards a dead end. Flicking from right to left through the chicane you can sense the inertia of all that mass, but the Nevera is easy to place and again, completely alive in your hands. 

It flows beautifully through the final two corners, gradually building speed from the penultimate right and through the long left towards the finish. Aim it between the hay stacks and it's one last chance to gun it. Even at the end of the run the power is still a total shock to the system, and then there’s an odd sense of calm as I cross the line, back off and cruise to the car park, having just driven what is probably the most intense minute of my life. And there was no engine noise to accompany it, something that strangely hadn't registered until now. 

There's always the question of whether EV hypercars make any sense on the road, where their abilities can never be fully explored and other sensations (like noise) matter far more. But I wasn't just amazed by the Rimac's speed on the hillclimb – it also delivered on the subjective elements of how it drives. With so much power to manage yet so much nuance and communication, driving the Nevera R quickly is a huge test of skill, with equally high rewards. Getting the best from it would take time and serious commitment; learning to use the powerful torque vectoring, to trust the electronics, to manage over 2000bhp and hold it on the edge of slip. It's the ultimate numbers car, but so much more at the same time. Getting a glimpse of what it can do, even just for a minute, was a privilege. 

Price and rivals

Just 40 Nevera Rs will be built, each with a starting price of €2.3million (c£2million). Even in today’s booming hypercar sphere the Nevera R is one of a kind – there’s no other way to experience the kind of surreal accelerative force it delivers, harnessed with so much control and precision. But there are other flavours of hypercar that tickle different senses, such as the analogue GMA T.50 and extraordinary, uncompromising Aston Martin Valkyrie. Ferrari has joined the party with the F80, McLaren too with the W1, and there’s also the F1-engined Mercedes-AMG One. Choosing between them is an unenviable task, but at this level you can bet on some customers owning most or all of them at once. 

Rimac Nevera R specs