Top Gear Cybertruck review shoot! + Frunk size and opening action! 🎬

[CyberSleuth]

I'd love to see them bring back Clarkson for this.

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[egandalf]

I think it's a good thing the Rivian R1T wins some of the checkboxes, otherwise it would be so lop-sided in favor of Cybertruck that I don't think Rivian could ever recover.

The gear tunnel is a good feature, at least in isolation. I say that because I wonder how it impacted the weight and strength of the chassis, and perhaps even the design of the motorized tonneau cover (and thus, ultimately, it's reliability). Every design decision is a trade-off.

The gear tunnel has FAR exceeded my expectations for utility. Given that most of the structural rigidity of the whole platform comes from the battery+frame, I don't have too many concerns there either.

We go camping and I have an 8-person tent that slides into that tunnel, leaving room for two camp chairs and a camp table. I've honestly been amazed at how much I've used it.

It's funny how something I wasn't even sure I'd manage to find a use for is now something I'd feel I was missing if I took a different vehicle. At first glance it seems like a gimmick.

AFAIK, the issues with the cover were due to Rivian trying to reduce costs and using a single motor on one side to run the whole mechanism - it would over-torque one side while under-torquing the other, causing it to jam up pretty bad. Any abnormalities like dust or debris would just make it worse. I think the new system uses motors on both sides and hopefully more sensors.

But for me the tonneau situation is a win for the CT - really the whole bed in general is better. But I ended up in the "in-between" group for whom the powered cover was removed as an option. So I have the manual cover. While it's good and high-quality, I really wanted the powered version.

 

[HaulingAss]

I'd love to see them bring back Clarkson for this.

I'm not going to miss that narrow-minded, pompous dinosaur one bit!

 

[greggertruck]

That was a tri-motor truck as well aka performance aka another name that hasn’t been stated yet anywhere

You should open your DMs

 

[cvalue13]

That 100 feet of lockable external storage included the wing storage areas that no longer exist, and there has been no calculation of how much volume the bed storage will provide. It would be nice to know what the usable dimensions of the bed storage are.

if you're asking about volume, I've done these calcs on another thread and roughly speaking the answer is this: the CT's so-called 6' bed and an F150's 5.5' bed have virtually identical volume and utility.

That the CT can have "a 6' bed" but the end result is ~equal volume to a 5.5' bed may sound odd at first, but once one double-clicked on the exact features and dimensions of the two beds, the comparisons become pretty plain and clear.

Now, the above point is *absent* the "volume" that would be created by closing the vault. Personally, I don't find that comparison exactly meaningful or useful - but if someone else wants to argue that the vault in closed position should be the relevant measure, I wouldn't fuss to much except to point out that - unlike a CT - the F150 could put a rectangular-shaped topper on the bed and then have far more "enclosed" volume than a CT's wedge-shaped topper.

Regardless of the fact that the (open) CT bed and Lightning bed have ~same volume, the relative utility of those two beds will also be about the same in generally, and specific utility be different to different people.

Take for example @greggertruck. In an F150 Screw he could fit in its 5'5" bed a large-screen TV box standing on its end (tailgate closed), that will *not* also fit in the CT's "6'" bed - because the shape of the CT's rearward sloping bulkyead means there's only about 5' of "open air" space in the CT bed - a full 6" shorter than the F150.

Conversely, someone with a 6'x4 foot sheet of plywood could fit it in the CT with the tailgate up, where the F150 couldnt. (Though, this is sort of a silly compare because there isn't really 6' stock, and in either truck a piece of 8' stock would need to be hauled with tailgate down, to ~identical utility.)

Be it volume, or usable space, the all-in result is the CT "6'" bed and the F150 "5.5" bed have essentially equal utility in generally, where a specific use-case may make one *shape* of either bed more or less usefull.

not that Tesla will market their "6 foot bed" this way, of course...

 

[greggertruck]

Take for example @greggertruck. In an F150 Screw he could fit in its 5'5" bed a large-screen TV box standing on its end (tailgate closed)

4 years later and y'all are getting to the important stuff: how big of a TV can Greg throw in this thing?????

 

[Coolbreeze704]

I'm not going to miss that narrow-minded, pompous dinosaur one bit!

He cracks me up, although for sometime he was not a fan of EV's, but lately I think he turned that corner. Was it the S Plaid he drove and loved so much?

 

[ED_SFO]

Not sure why people are so worried about the frunk and lack of nets/cubbies....the aftermarket will have tons of options from nets to coolers to hard cover cases and cubbies.

 

[SlegMD]

Where do you store a large pizza box in the Cybertruck? Not a weird Little Caesars box

That would be on the dash!

 

[MaximGlory]

Also posted this to Twitter, but I'm guessing a 15" max depth and 60" wide frunk based on the following:

My post:

This is nice, but how many chickens?

 

[egandalf]

This is nice, but how many chickens?

About 6 without stacking.

 

[Trbizwiz]

That would be on the dash!

Aka the Cyber solar oven

 

[wanders]

About 6 without stacking.

Arise Chikun

 

[ColdRolledSS]

Not sure why people are so worried about the frunk and lack of nets/cubbies....the aftermarket will have tons of options from nets to coolers to hard cover cases and cubbies.

Aftermarket FTW! Hopefully they provide some attachment points for accessories.

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