When I drove a Tesla Cybertruck recently, the owner told me he bought it because his kids thought it was cool. The kids knew their friends would like it, too. But when they showed up to school in the triangular Tesla, every student had their phone out.
The Cybertruck really is too cool for school. The kids told their father if he took them to school in the Cybertruck again, they would be dropped off at the end of the road. That's the perfect metaphor for the Cybertruck.
2024 Tesla Cybertruck Dual Motor AWD
Battery 123.0-Kilowatt-Hours
Output 600 Horsepower
EV Range 340 Miles
Speed 0-60 MPH 4.1 seconds
Basic price $80,000
Price According to Test $100,000
The Cybertruck has been a long time coming. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in 2013 that he wanted to build a full-size pickup truck to compete with the Ford F-150, and he estimated the truck would be coming in about five years.
Six years later, in 2019, the Cybertruck debuted. People were not only wowed by its appearance—it was basically a big, sharp stainless steel box—but also by its presentation. Musk led a demo of the truck’s armored glass windows, which were not yet available on the production model, in which Tesla designer Franz von Holzhausen threw a metal ball at the truck. The window shattered, so von Holzhausen threw the ball at the other window. That window shattered, too.
Deliveries of the production Cybertruck will begin in late 2023, four years after the truck’s debut. The early models are part of the truck’s “Foundation Series,” a $20,000 package that gives buyers early delivery and a few extra features. The truck I drove was one of the Foundation Series models.
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The Cybertruck currently has three model options. The base model is a rear-wheel-drive, single-motor truck that starts at $61,000 but is slated for 2025. Tesla estimates the truck will have a range of 250 miles and a 0-60 time of 6.5 seconds.
Then there’s the all-wheel-drive, twin-engine truck—the one I drove. It starts at $80,000. Tesla estimates a range of 340 miles, with 600 horsepower, a 0-60 time of 4.1 seconds, and a towing capacity of 11,000 pounds.
Then there’s the Cyberbeast. It starts at $100,000 and Tesla estimates it has a range of 320 miles, 845 horsepower, a payload of 2,500 pounds, a towing capacity of 11,000 pounds, and a 0-to-60 time of 2.6 seconds. That’s right: a 7,000-pound truck that can go from 0 to 60 mph in under 3 seconds. That’s either impressive or terrifying, depending on who you ask.
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Pros: Minimalist & Peaceful Interior, Good Maneuverability for its Size
The Cybertruck is extreme, and so are people’s feelings about it. They either love it or hate it. It’s the future or a sign of societal decline. It looks like a spaceship or a poorly built refrigerator.
The truck’s looks are its most controversial feature. Seeing it in person, I was taken aback. It looks different, and I can appreciate that—especially in an age when every American drives the same crossover or SUV. But I also can’t shake concerns about safety or the feeling that, to buy the Cybertruck, you have to be very observant. And being seen comes at a price.
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Everyone is staring at the Cybertruck, and so is the driver. You can’t tell if they’re staring with approval, disgust, or pity. You know that if you make one mistake—a late signal, a last-minute lane change, a wrong size estimate, or, God forbid, something worse—you’re the Cybertruck driver. You know everyone is rolling their eyes, thinking about how you should have just bought a Toyota Corolla, but your ego won’t let you.
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The exterior of the truck is also a grease magnet with its bare stainless steel. If you touch it, you will leave a mark. To get inside, you have to press a button on the door to open it, then hold it from the inside so your fingerprints don't show on the outside. To clean the grease off, you have to use stainless steel refrigerator cleaner. That's ridiculous.
The good news is that the Cybertruck drives better than it looks. While everyone is wowed by the steel panels sharp enough to cut through brisket, the inside feels like you’re sitting in a home theater. It’s remarkably quiet.
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Cons: Very Hard to Clean, Everyone Stares
The windshield is large, the dashboard is minimalist, and the seats are plush. There’s an interior dome light that matches the light bar on the front of the truck, and there’s a little party trick on the infotainment screen that plays audio of the windows that shattered during the Cybertruck’s debut. There are moments while driving the Cybertruck that I forget that I’m in the most eye-catching car on the road. Those moments are fun.
In “Chill” mode, the acceleration is controlled and the Cybertruck cruises at high speeds. There is a “Standard” mode that provides a thrilling full acceleration (0-60 mph in 4.1 seconds). There is a little wind noise on the highway when you go at high speeds, but road noise is very minimal.
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The Cybertruck’s ride is bouncy but not rough, and its shape initially threw off my spatial awareness. Its dimensions were hard to grasp while driving—I had to turn my head a few times when changing lanes, or slow down for parking maneuvers to make sure I was in the right spot.
The mechanics of driving the truck were tiring due to the size and feel of the pedals. The accelerator felt heavy under my foot, which didn’t match the truck’s regenerative braking.
Regen automatically slows the truck when you lift your foot off the accelerator, transferring kinetic energy back to the battery to charge it, and I usually like it. It makes stopping at traffic lights feel productive, and once you’re stopped, you can put both feet on the floor instead of slamming on the brake. But the pedal weight and regen’s slowdown make the Cybertruck feel sluggish, like it’s hard to get moving and keep moving.
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The best part about the Cybertruck is how agile it is for its size. It has two features that make it much more agile: four-wheel steering and steer-by-wire. Four-wheel steering means that all four wheels can be steered, and I liken it to the swivel wheels on a suitcase. When your wheels are swiveling, you can move better.
Steer-by-wire is the Cybertruck’s best feature, to the point where every time I’m in another truck, I miss it. In most vehicles, the steering wheel input is mechanically connected to the actual wheels via an axle. Sometimes, especially when parking or turning in tight spaces, you have to turn the wheel a few times to get where you want to go.
When the driver applies input to the steering wheel in a steer-by-wire setup, there is no mechanical connection to the road. Instead, the truck’s computer relies on sensors to measure the steering wheel’s position, wheel speed and a number of other factors, then tells the motors to steer the wheels. That allows the steering ratio to change constantly, eliminating the need to turn the wheels to control the truck at low speeds.
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Switching from manual steering to normal steering on a large vehicle feels like a chore. The Cybertruck doesn’t make it as easy to maneuver as a large vehicle, but it is easier than most. That’s a big plus.
The Cybertruck isn’t all good or all bad, as people on both sides of the debate have said. If you ignore the looks, the context, and a few problematic features, it’s actually a decent vehicle. But like the kids who own it, the attention I get while driving feels a bit too much. There’s a constant pressure not to be a jerk. Even when I drive it well, I still wonder what the people around me are thinking.
If you can tolerate—or even want—the spotlight, maybe the Cybertruck is for you.
