Imagine this: you’ve eagerly awaited a groundbreaking new vehicle, poured your own money into securing one of the first units, and finally, it arrives. Your team is buzzing with excitement, ready to put it through its paces at the test track. But then, midway through filming, alarms start blaring. The vehicle grinds to a halt, flashing critical error messages, and refuses to move. This isn’t a hypothetical nightmare; it’s precisely what transpired during our rigorous testing of the new Tesla Cybertruck, as you just witnessed in the video above. Our experience with this futuristic truck has been nothing short of a rollercoaster, revealing both impressive performance and unexpected, recurring reliability challenges.
Here at Edmunds, we invest in the vehicles we test, allowing us to provide an unfiltered, long-term ownership perspective. For roughly a month, we’ve lived with our own Cybertruck, a dual-motor Foundation Series model. While its initial test numbers hint at significant potential, its propensity for sudden, critical failures has overshadowed much of the excitement. We’re here to delve deeper into these findings, offering a comprehensive look at the Cybertruck’s capabilities and its perplexing issues.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Unpacking Cybertruck’s Raw Performance
Before the alarms silenced our test day, we did manage to capture some impressive performance metrics for the Cybertruck. These figures paint a picture of a truck that defies traditional expectations, at least in a straight line. It’s a testament to the power of electric powertrains, even if that power sometimes comes with caveats.
Speed and Acceleration: A Truck That Flies
One cannot deny the raw acceleration capabilities of the Cybertruck. In our tests, the dual-motor Foundation Series model rocketed from 0 to 60 miles per hour in a mere 4 seconds flat. This is blistering performance for any vehicle, let alone a large electric pickup truck. It continued its surge, completing the quarter-mile in just 12.3 seconds, crossing the line at 110.2 miles per hour.
To put this in perspective, these numbers position the Cybertruck as faster than our long-term F-150 Lightning but slightly slower than the quad-motor Rivian R1T. For a utility vehicle designed to haul and tow, such acceleration is extraordinary. It offers a thrilling driving experience, easily merging onto highways and overtaking slower traffic with confidence. This kind of power often redefines what drivers expect from their trucks, blending practicality with supercar-like bursts of speed.
Braking and Handling: Where the Rubber Meets the Road
Beyond straight-line speed, a vehicle’s ability to stop and corner effectively is crucial for safety and driver confidence. The Cybertruck demonstrated slightly better braking performance than its competitors, coming to a complete stop from 60 miles per hour in 126 feet. This is a respectable figure for a vehicle of its size and weight, indicating robust braking systems at work.
However, when it came to lateral grip, the Cybertruck posted a figure of 0.76 lateral G on the skidpad. This result was slightly worse than what we observed from the F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T. While still competent for most real-world driving scenarios, it suggests that the Cybertruck’s unique design and weight distribution might not lend themselves to the most agile cornering, especially when pushed to its limits on a track. This highlights a potential trade-off between its distinctive aesthetic and ultimate handling prowess.
Range Anxiety or Range Reliability? Cybertruck’s EV Test
Electric vehicle range remains a critical concern for many potential buyers. Our extensive Edmunds EV Range Test is designed to provide real-world, comparable figures. We previously tested a borrowed Cybertruck and recorded a solid range, and we were eager to verify those results with our own vehicle.
1. **Consistent Performance:** Our Foundation Series dual-motor Cybertruck delivered an identical 334 miles on a full charge, precisely matching the results from our previous test. This consistency is reassuring, suggesting that the vehicle’s battery management and efficiency are predictable under our standardized testing conditions. It indicates that drivers can likely expect reliable range performance, which is a significant factor in EV ownership.
2. **The Aero Cover Factor:** Both tests were conducted without the wheel aero covers installed. While Tesla has recently begun installing updated versions of these covers designed to prevent tire damage, our unit had not yet received them. These covers are typically designed to improve aerodynamic efficiency and, consequently, extend range. Once we receive and install our updated aero covers, we anticipate running the range test again. It will be interesting to see if these seemingly minor additions translate into a noticeable improvement in overall range, further enhancing the Cybertruck’s practicality for long-distance travel.
Living with the Tesla Cybertruck: Initial Driving Impressions
Beyond the raw numbers, how a vehicle feels to drive day-to-day is paramount. Our editors have spent a month navigating streets and highways in the Cybertruck, gathering impressions that reveal both its quirks and comforts. It’s a vehicle that certainly leaves a lasting impression, for better or worse, depending on the specific driving characteristic.
Steering: A Unique Digital Experience
Driving the Cybertruck is an experience unlike most traditional trucks, largely due to its unique steer-by-wire system. The steering is perhaps the element that demands the most adaptation for new drivers. It closely resembles the setup in a Model S Plaid with its yoke steering wheel, featuring a remarkably short lock-to-lock range. This means you need very little input to turn the wheels significantly.
Moreover, the system actively changes the steering ratio, meaning the amount you turn the wheel might not always correspond linearly to the wheels’ angle. While this initially feels strange, our experience shows that drivers acclimate to it relatively quickly, often within a week of regular driving. There are moments, particularly during slow-speed maneuvers like turning right from a stoplight, where you might momentarily overshoot the intended angle and need to make a small correction. However, these instances are rarely jarring and become less frequent as familiarity grows, showcasing Tesla’s commitment to pushing boundaries in vehicle interface design.
Ride Comfort and Visibility: Urban vs. Off-road Dynamics
Despite its angular, truck-like appearance and substantial all-terrain tires, the Cybertruck offers a surprisingly comfortable ride quality. It absorbs bumps and road imperfections effectively, making it a viable option for longer journeys without excessive fatigue. While there is a decent amount of tire noise, especially from the all-terrain rubber, the overall cabin remains impressively quiet, contributing to a relaxed driving environment.
1. **Comfort for the Long Haul:** The combination of a comfortable ride and a quiet cabin makes the Cybertruck a pleasant companion for extended drives. It feels sturdy and composed on the highway, a quality that many truck owners prioritize. This comfort level suggests it can serve as a capable daily driver or a long-distance cruiser, depending on an owner’s needs.
2. **Visibility Challenges:** The most significant challenge during street driving stems from the Cybertruck’s limited visibility and considerable blind spots. Its unique design, particularly the thick C-pillars and high bed rails, restricts rearward and diagonal views. Drivers must rely heavily on the vehicle’s cameras and large side mirrors to navigate traffic and parking situations safely. This aspect requires constant vigilance and careful maneuvering, adding a layer of complexity to everyday driving that other vehicles might not present.
The Unforeseen Challenges: Cybertruck’s Recurring Critical Errors
While the performance numbers and initial driving impressions hold promise, our experience at the test track took an abrupt and concerning turn. For a vehicle billed as robust and futuristic, its susceptibility to critical, recurring failures raises significant questions about its reliability, especially under demanding conditions that other vehicles handle routinely.
“It Broke Again”: Documenting Powertrain and Steering Failures
During our track testing, after just a lap or two, the Cybertruck’s systems went into disarray. The dashboard illuminated with a cascade of error messages, signalling severe issues. Specifically, we encountered:
- **Powertrain Limitations:** The vehicle’s power output was significantly reduced, hindering its ability to accelerate or maintain speed.
- **Rear-Wheel Steering Disabled:** A critical component for the Cybertruck’s maneuverability and handling was rendered inoperable.
- **Adaptive Cruise Control Failure:** A key driver-assistance feature was deactivated, impacting convenience and safety.
- **Low Voltage Battery Warning:** An alert indicating an issue with the vehicle’s 12-volt battery system, which can have cascading effects on other electrical components.
- **AC Failure:** On a hot test day, the air conditioning began blowing hot air, making the cabin uncomfortable.
These errors culminated in the vehicle refusing to shift out of park, despite attempts to reset the system by powering the vehicle off and on again. This wasn’t an isolated incident; it was the second time in a single week that our Cybertruck succumbed to such catastrophic failures during track testing. Our director of testing had encountered similar critical steering issues and limp mode activations on a previous occasion after barely a lap and a half. This pattern of repeated, severe malfunctions under light performance use suggests a deeper underlying issue that needs addressing.
Limp Mode: A Journey at 4 MPH
When faced with these critical errors, the Cybertruck entered “limp mode,” a safety feature designed to protect the vehicle from further damage. In this state, the vehicle’s speed was severely restricted, crawling along at a mere 3 to 4 miles per hour. This is an incredibly slow pace, making it impractical and potentially hazardous to drive on any public road, let alone try to complete a test session.
The experience of driving a brand-new, high-performance electric truck at walking speed is surreal and profoundly frustrating. Our team had to manually override the system just to coax the vehicle to move off the track. This dramatically highlights the contrast between the Cybertruck’s advertised capabilities and its real-world reliability under even moderate stress. We’ve put hundreds of vehicles through similar track tests over the years, pushing them harder than most owners ever would, without encountering such widespread, system-disabling issues. The Cybertruck’s repeated failures in this environment are a significant anomaly.
Long-Term Ownership: What Edmunds’ Experience Means for Buyers
Our philosophy at Edmunds is simple: buy the cars, live with them, and truly understand what ownership entails. This approach is precisely why we invested in our own Tesla Cybertruck. It allows us to uncover the nuances, the delights, and crucially, the potential headaches that come with owning a cutting-edge vehicle like this. Our recent experiences offer a stark reminder of the importance of this long-term testing, especially for vehicles pushing technological boundaries.
The recurring critical failures experienced with our Cybertruck, despite what we consider to be non-irresponsible driving on a controlled track, are not merely minor glitches. They represent significant reliability concerns that could profoundly impact an owner’s experience. Imagine being stranded with a vehicle that won’t move, even at a crawl, or having essential systems like rear-wheel steering and air conditioning fail. These are not minor inconveniences; they are scenarios that necessitate immediate service and potentially a tow truck, as we almost needed for our own Cybertruck.
For early adopters considering the Tesla Cybertruck, our findings underscore the potential growing pains associated with being at the forefront of automotive innovation. While its performance capabilities are undeniably impressive, the vehicle’s current reliability in demanding scenarios presents a compelling argument for caution. It suggests that while the future might look like the Cybertruck, that future could still come with unforeseen challenges for owners. We will continue to document our journey with the Tesla Cybertruck, providing updates on its recovery and any resolutions to these critical issues, so stay tuned for more insights into living with this truly unique vehicle.
Beyond the Breaks: Your Cybertruck Questions Answered
What were the main findings from testing the Tesla Cybertruck?
The Tesla Cybertruck displayed impressive performance, but it also encountered unexpected and recurring critical reliability issues during the tests.
How fast can the Tesla Cybertruck accelerate?
The dual-motor Cybertruck accelerated from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just 4 seconds, which is very quick for a pickup truck.
What is the real-world electric range of the Cybertruck?
In real-world tests conducted by Edmunds, the Tesla Cybertruck achieved a consistent range of 334 miles on a full charge.
Did the Cybertruck experience any major problems during testing?
Yes, the Cybertruck suffered multiple critical failures, including powertrain limitations and rear-wheel steering being disabled, leading it to enter a slow ‘limp mode’ at 3-4 mph.
What is unique about the Cybertruck’s steering system?
The Cybertruck uses a ‘steer-by-wire’ system with a very short lock-to-lock range, meaning you turn the wheel very little to make significant turns.