The Tesla Cybertruck is in a category of its own for better or worse

DETROIT – Spaceship. Dream car. UFOs. Dumpster. Disappearance. Stupid. Phenomenal. beneath.

That’s all the words used to describe it Tesla Cybertruck during 24 hour vehicle rental in metropolitan Detroit. They are written by strangers, friends, family, and auto industry experts and employees.

A word you don’t use much? “Truck.”

That’s because the Tesla Cybertruck is more “cyber” than “truck.” It does have some truck capabilities, such as a pickup bed and other utilitarian features, but it is not a truck in any traditional sense of the word.

This is a unique product that only comes around every once in a while. As with the first SUVs, minivans or “roadster pickups” such as the Ford Ranchero and the Chevrolet El Camino, have created a new segment in the automotive industry that has only just been captured.

That’s good and bad for Tesla and its competitors, especially the truck-dependent automaker from Detroit that has spent decades refining its trucks to meet customers’ needs. That includes things like bed access and door handle size to seat height and interior components.

The Cybertruck is not a direct competitor to electric trucks from traditional automakers. The Cybertruck is a “truck” for Tesla enthusiasts/owners and an experiment for the company in many ways in terms of technology, including its new electric architecture and steering system.

The top-selling Cybertruck vehicles are four other Tesla models, followed by the Ford F-150 Lightning in fifth place with 7.4% of potential buyers, according to Edmunds.com.

I drove the approximately $100,000 all-wheel-drive version of the Cybertruck in normal driving conditions and traffic in Detroit and the surrounding suburbs, including a brief downpour in which the vehicle’s comically large windshield wipers did fine.

I did not test the vehicle’s towing or hauling capabilities, which have been in question recently following reports of problems related to the durability of the vehicle’s aluminum frame. Especially, in an over-the-top viral video from WhistlinDiesel’s YouTube channel.

I’d like to have some first-hand knowledge of the vehicle and compare it to electric trucks from other automakers, but it’s more difficult than expected. I also deliberately don’t watch or read previous reviews of the vehicle before driving it.

The Cybertruck is unlike any other vehicle I’ve driven. That includes every all-electric truck on sale today from General Motors, Ford Motor District and Rivian Automotive.

The only vehicle that comes close to a similar driving experience is GM’s Hummer EV. Both are large, gaudy and strange vehicles that are more famous than practical. But the Hummer EV still feels like a truck in driving dynamics, seating and overall functionality. Cybertruck is not.

Cybertruck features tight steering, including yoke and “steer-by-wire” system; rigid chassis similar to a sports car; and, when agreed, the design is far more form than function, which is historically one of the top reasons to buy a pickup truck.

The seating also feels more like a car than a truck. Even when the vehicle is in the “high” setting, which only works at 25 mph, it’s still a few inches lower than most electric trucks.

That’s not to say it’s not “difficult.” As seen on YouTube, the company and its owners have fired bullets, thrown steel balls through windows and conducted other tests that fell short of industry standards. Having said that, my vehicle has just over 2,000 miles on it and I found two pieces of trim peeling along the sealant rail/bed cover guide rail.

Potential problems with the durability of the frame. It is the basis of the vehicle that everything is built on. For the vehicle frame to break, even under severe testing conditions, is a serious problem.

Regarding the polarizing design, it is on another level by itself. It makes GMC’s Hummer seem normal. Heads were turned, jaws dropped and there was a few people yelling or screaming, including one driver who aggressively gave me a thumbs up as I passed (some Cybertruck drivers have reported more pronounced movements). The reactions ranged from toddlers and school children to construction workers and police.

Inside the doorstop-shaped stainless steel alloy exoskeleton of the Cybertruck gets even more interesting.

The interior of the vehicle, like other Tesla siblings, is described by many as “minimalist.” I would call it rare and, in some material choices, cheap for a $100,000 vehicle. Due to its size, the interior of the vehicle is also more like a car than a “truck”.

There’s about 3½ feet of unusable space from the driver to the bottom of the vehicle’s windshield, while the back seat is good for a car but a little less roomy compared to today’s full-size pickup trucks.

In the middle of the interior of the vehicle is a large 18.5-inch, centrally-mounted touch screen and minimal control on the steering wheel, or yoke.

What Tesla Cybertruck lacks in “truck-ness” and interior qualities, it is arguably in technology, as well as the human-machine interface, or HMI, of the vehicle with the driver.

That includes the gear shifter as a long rectangle at the top left of the screen for drive, park and reverse. It functions well and I don’t miss using the traditional shifter, even though there is a button hidden on the roof of the vehicle, above the screen.

The processing speed of the infotainment system is impressive, especially when compared to other non-Tesla EVs from traditional automakers. It is also very manageable, despite the amount of information displayed on the screen.

I still prefer a screen in front of the driver or a head-up display for speed and other basic information projected on the vehicle’s windshield but it doesn’t bother or bother me as much as I thought it would.

Vehicle mirrors are also generally nonfunctional, and are only there to meet the requirements of federal safety standards. The Cybertruck’s camera system, which functions as a useful mirror replacement, is a bit mundane but works well (some automakers have mirrors that work in conjunction with a camera system that shows the rear and sides of the vehicle).

I can use the vehicle’s adaptive cruise control system, which Tesla infamously calls Autopilot, but not more advanced systems such as “FSD,” which Cybertruck customers can order but are not yet available.

the system’s ability to point and display other vehicles, streetlights, people and even traffic cones, stop signs and trash cans on the screen is impressive, but no more than the standard adaptive cruise control while driving. Also stop at every traffic light whether it is green, yellow or red.

Another impressive feature is the yoke that replaces the traditional steering wheel. Again, this is a feature more popular with race cars than pickup trucks, but it works well. It doesn’t rotate completely, instead it goes about 180 degrees or so for a full turn. Input required is minimal when changing lanes. Ease also comes from the four-wheel steering and the vehicle’s steer-by-wire system.

Both steering features are new technologies used or reviewed by other automakers.

Four-wheel steering allows large vehicles such as the Cybertruck or GMC Hummer, which are also on the rear wheels, to turn more tightly than traditional trucks. It is more similar to the turning radius of a car, which helps to maneuver the vehicle into tighter places and parking spaces.

Steer-by-wire is harder to describe. This system uses electronics and software to control the vehicle’s steering wheel without a mechanical connection between the wheel and the steering wheel. It feels almost like racing for a video game or an airplane instead of a traditional vehicle.

“You can do it in different ways. … It gives you more performance bandwidth,” said Terry Woychowski, president of automotive at engineering consulting firm Caresoft Global.

Woychowski, a former GM executive whose company has tested and benchmarked the Cybertruck, said the steer-by-wire feature is “discretionary.” But he describes the change in the vehicle’s electrical architecture that powers all of these systems as “bare bones, engineering efficiency” that has been a much-needed change for years.

The Cybertruck has a 48 volt architecture to power the vehicle’s components. Doing so allows additional electrical bandwidth for vehicles and eliminates the need for traditional 12-volt batteries to power things like windows, seats and lights.

Tesla is the first to offer such a 48-volt system in a pure EV. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, sent competitors such as Ford and GM essentially a “how-to” guide to developing the system.

The benefit of using a higher voltage for auxiliary devices is that the same power can be supplied at a lower current. It can save weight and cost because the cable is about half the size.

However, these systems require a complete rethinking of the vehicle’s electrical architecture which can be costly. Whether other automakers will follow Tesla remains to be seen.

“The bill to make the change is huge,” Woychowski said. “It’s really, really good technology to bring it. It’s long overdue. There are immediate savings from a cost and mass perspective, and for EVs that’s gold.”

It appears that the Cybertruck is appealing to the American sector that has the means to pay for it – perhaps some other vehicles. Motor Intelligence reports that the Cybertruck was the best-selling electric “truck” during the second quarter of this year, surpassing the Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T and GM’s Hummer EV and Chevy Silverado EV.

But how much traction these polarizing vehicles will have in the long run will be determined in the quarters and years ahead. The Chevy El Camino and Ford Ranchero can last for decades.