Tesla Cybertruck review

The Cybertruck looks like it's come from outer space. Does it drive like an alien craft?

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Try drawing a pick-up truck with your non-writing hand and I’d bet you’d come up with something closely resembling the Tesla Cybertruck, a true automotive alien in just how different it is to every single vehicle on the road.

Maybe Elon Musk did such a thing himself and nobody dared challenge him, and it just ended up in showrooms in raw form, so absolute is his power. Maybe he is simply goading legislators and legislation in the US that somehow allow a sharp-edged, flat-fronted vehicle you would not want to crash into you, however or whatever you’re travelling in, to be legally sold, to check their small print. Maybe he’s an alien, and this is just a Ford Mondeo where he comes from? The blurb says it can travel on any planet, after all; how could they know how it’d handle the Saturn ring road?

Not normally one to entertain conspiracy theories, I had my doubts about whether the Cybertruck really did exist, and whether you could actually drive such a thing on public roads. In America at least, for crash legislation in the UK and EU rightly and thankfully prevents the Cybertruck’s sale here. Trust me, you’d agree if you ran your finger over one of its sharp edges. 

Yet it is real: when you do see your first one on the road, your jaw drops and your eyes track it for as long as possible. 

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DESIGN & STYLING

Tesla Cybertruck review 2024 02 rear tracking

The Cybertruck is totally shocking to look at. You can never get comfortable with the way it looks on the outside. It’s all abstract angles and sharp edges, and you have no point of reference or basis for comparison. It’s got four wheels, lights and a windscreen, and that’s about it for things you can point out that are familiar.

The words for the cliche you’ll either love it or hate it could be replaced by an image of a Cybertruck. Anecdotely, more sit in the latter camp, and for disclosure it’s where I’ve found myself residing since I first saw it. Still, it’s easy to hate on things that are new, that are so different, and we must give it a chance. 

There are no logos or branding, yet this isn’t a Toyota Camry; you’re not going to confuse it for anything else
Mark Tisshaw
Editor

When you do get up close to one, you start to appreciate it’s anything but a cut and shut job and your admiration does grow for the Cybertruck and its individuality. I’d read a few horror stories about fit and finish, but the example we’ve got looks pretty well executed to me. It’s an owner’s car, too, rather than a Tesla example built for journalists, so it’s representative of what’s out there.

The unpainted stainless steel panels don’t join up with one another but quite deliberately so, as this is part of its look. Still wouldn’t want to be hit by one, mind, but this is one to blame those who write the rules rather than those who merely comply.

Some notable features on the outside include glass that can withstand the impact of a baseball travelling at 70mph, although not Musk whacking it with a hammer at the Cybertruck’s reveal event. I didn’t have a baseball or bat on hand to test this. There’s a windscreen that’s the largest ever seen on a car or truck. It also has a single wiper that looks like it could double as a fishing rod such is its size, at over five feet in length. 

There are no door handles either, so you get in the car using either the Tesla app or a slim credit card key, which you hold against the bottom of the B-pillar and the door releases, powered in its operation. The metalwork shows up all sticky fingers, and just how it will age remains to be seen. No idea how you’d wash it, either, yet Tesla claims the body is actually more durable and resistant to corrosion, chips or dents than normal painted panels, and the exoskeleton design and materials were derived from those used in sibling company SpaceX’s rocket and spacecraft operations. 

INTERIOR

Tesla Cybertruck review 2024 05 driving

Inside, it’s far more conventional. It’s minimalist in design and execution, with five seats and dark trim. As with all other Teslas like the Tesla Model Y, a large central touchscreen of 18.5in in diameter does all the heavy lifting, backed up by some steering wheel (or rather shrunken rectangle, for this is steer by wire, more of which to come) controls where even the indicators are housed next to your thumbs.

There are no stalks or other controls, and even selecting drive or reverse is done by sliding a control on the screen. Hit the wheel in the middle and there is a horn, which makes a noise akin to that of a Donald Trump sentence that tails off into nothingness. 

The interior design is an opportunity missed in being so plain, and even with the screen it doesn’t actually feel that hi-tech
Mark Tisshaw
Editor

Rear passengers get their own 9.4in screen between the seats (where thankfully they can’t do things like stick the car in reverse…), attached to the base of a chunky centre console, which not only has the likes of climate controls but also access to entertainment like Netflix or YouTube.

There’s lots of storage, with deep bins in the doors and a good sense of airiness thanks to the huge panoramic roof of our test car. The windows are all funny angles but it doesn’t feel dark or cramped in there, and the absence of a centre tunnel does wonders for the sense of space front and back.

Fit and finish is pretty good for the most part, save for the far end of the dashboard which even from a long way back (it is a long way forward, such is the depth of the dash) you can see that it’s trimmed with what looks like an old carpet sample. In broader terms, it’s a shame that Tesla has made such an unremarkable interior when the exterior is so remarkable. 

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

Tesla Cybertruck review 2024 24 rear pan

Underneath, that more conventional approach continues. It is not a car but a pick-up truck, yet one of a unibody design with a whopping great 122.4kWh structural battery in the floor. This can be boosted by a ‘range extender’, which is an additional 50kWh battery. 

There are two versions currently on sale: a dual-motor all-wheel drive model with 592bhp and 525 lb ft of torque that’s good for a 0-60mph time of 4.1sec and a top speed of 112mph. The range topper is the Cyberbeast, which adds an additional motor at the rear for a combined 833bhp and 864lb ft. The top speed is 130mph of this model, while the 0-60mph is a barely believable 2.6sec considering the 3113kg kerb weight. 

A smaller battery, single motor rear-wheel drive model is expected in 2025
Mark Tisshaw
Editor

As for its credentials as a truck, it has a payload of 1134kg and can tow just shy of five tonnes. The bed itself is 1852mm in length (or 6’x4’ in more relatable terms) and has a rolling lockable cover that is automatically powered. With this closed, there is 1591 litres of storage, plus another 200 litres in a frunk. 

To drive, then. Intimidating. That’s the immediate impression. That in part is down to the sheer size of the thing, and probably an added burden of responsibility to other road users, but this is all heightened by the steering, which is steer-by-wire. 

It’s all so intimidating not just trying to manoeuvre something so vast but doing so with a steering system that still feels so alien. For the first few minutes you’ll overdo lock, yet in no time at all it becomes intuitive and in the end becomes a real boon for helping place such a large vehicle on the road and manoeuvring without sawing on and off loads of lock. The weirdness wins you over, and the Cybertruck is a better vehicle for having such a steering system.

We’re in the tri-motor Beast, but sadly the selectable Beast driving mode itself, offered on top of the usual likes of Comfort and Sport, has been disabled by the owner we borrowed the car from. Even so, it has more than enough straight-line performance. It’s one dimensional, point and shoot stuff, and as quick as you’d ever need. I’d suspect the twin-motor version would be, too, as would likely the single motor. For so long as you have the instant torque to help exploit gaps in the traffic, any amount of power or torque would be enough as this is a pick-up truck, not a BMW M3 Competition.

RIDE & HANDLING

Tesla Cybertruck review 2024 26 front tracking

The ultimate limiting factor to how the Cybertruck then handles corners is its weight, and the ability of the braking system to slow the car down. You don’t want to carry too much speed into a corner, or you might be crushing the hedge on the outside of it and perhaps cutting it on the way in, given those sharp edges.

But it’s a pick-up truck after all, and deft handling is never going to be high on the list of requirements. More agile and intuitive than it has any right to be if you keep the speeds to a normal level, is probably how best to describe it, and the weight and brakes above all over things are what you must be respectful of. 

The lack of colour choice has led many owners to vinyl-wrap their Cybertrucks – some with very outlandish designs. Google ‘Cybertrump’ if you dare…
Mark Tisshaw
Editor

Suspension is air springs all round with ample travel of more than 30cm, lowering the car when you want to get in and out, too. Raised to its maximum level, a wading depth of just over 80cm is quoted while Musk has previously claimed the Cybertruck to be “waterproof enough” to “briefly” serve as a boat. Guess the Titanic briefly served as one, too. 

On dry land, the Cybertruck rides well, really well in fact, on its huge all-season tyres with a chunky 65 profile. They’re shod on relatively small 20in alloys though the wheel design is proud of the body and they may as well be called Kerb Me for how likely they are to touch concrete. 

All things combined, this is in no way a crude vehicle to drive, quite the opposite in fact. For the most part, it’s comfortable and refined and only low-speed urban bumps disrupt the ride, that weight in play again. 

From the driver’s seat, visibility is better than expected but could be significantly better again with some larger wing mirrors. With the bed cover down, you have no rear visibility so there is a camera image of a rearward view that gets permanent residency on the centre screen, right next to the speedo. The combination of these two things means you take your eyes off the road and refocus on far more than is ever safe to do so.

Tesla Cybertruck news

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MPG & RUNNING COSTS

Tesla Cybertruck review 2024 01 front tracking

Tesla is many things and means many things to different people, yet in pure electric car terms it is often a byword for good range and good charging speeds. You’d hope so in the case of the Cybertruck with such a massive battery, but the range is 340 miles in the all-wheel drive and 320 miles in the tri-motor Cyberbeast, the range-extender option adding 130 miles range to the former and 120 miles to the latter. Charging speeds are impressive, at up to 250kW.

Prices start from $79,990 (£64,000) for the all-wheel drive the Cyberbeat is an extra $20,000 (£16,000). An extra $8000 (£6400) gets you the ‘Full Self-Driving Capability’ autonomous software, which you turn on or off with a button on the steering wheel and let the car change lanes, and stop and go at traffic lights itself.

While there’s no Tesla badges, there is a Cybertruck logo on the door sills and a simplified outline (ie a scalene triangle) on the steering ‘wheel’ centre
Mark Tisshaw
Editor

This is as weird as the steering to get used to, and while it worked well on the highway it had a tendency to try to cut corners on twistier roads, even if that meant going to the other lane… No ta.

VERDICT

Tesla Cybertruck review 2024 27 front static

It has its faults, but at the end of the drive, I still found myself having rather warmed up to the Cybertruck. Still not sure I get it, or even who it’s for. The world is not a better place for it, but it is a more interesting one.

Perhaps a slightly more dangerous one, for the good people of America and Canada who might find themselves exchanging details with the owners of a Cybertruck should anything happen.

Then, on the way back to dropping it off on a highway near LAX airport, a Toyota SUV pulled alongside me, wound down his window, held the horn down and delivered a stoutly upright middle finger straight at me, all without taking his eyes off the road. Yeah, maybe he’s right.

Mark Tisshaw

mark-tisshaw-autocar
Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?, Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.