CYBERBEAST review from longtime Tesla owner

[CyberTW]

Took delivery on Tuesday this week of a Cyberbeast at the Miramar service center in San Diego. Ordered roughly 30 seconds after Elon said "and you can order it now" while I was at the reveal event Nov. 21, 2019 (see attached photo). Finalized order on 12/9/23.

I have owned teslas since early 2013, one of the first model S delivered in San Diego. Nowadays there are more Teslas around here than Toyota corollas. Delivery was great, the folks were super nice and the usual red bow on the window and red carpet. Fit and finish are nearly perfect with the exception of the front right and left not being perfectly aligned leading to a big difference in the gap of right and left front sides (see photos). I have filed a service request for that.

My daily driver is a MS plaid and I own or have owned Model X (2), Model Y (2), and original MS (P85+). I'm used to the early adopter issues and am bracing for the many issues that one encounters with driving a prototype. So far, last few hundred miles my impressions are as follows:

• Drives more like a car than a truck, as I also own an F-150 I am qualified to say that. The steer by wire takes a few minutes to get used to but once you re-wire your brain it's very intuitive and awesome. No doubt this will be standard for all Teslas in a few years.

• Love the plaid/beast drivetrain. Is it worth the extra for the difference in 4.2 to 2.6 acceleration? Probably is because if you wanted to take a stock car that ran 4.2 and make it 2.6 it would cost a lot more than that. Also, the Alcantara trim that comes with the beast is nice.

• Handling is really awesome and the customizability of the ride/handling is superbly executed

• if you are shy and dont like attention wait a couple of years before you get it. I predict that they will not be demand-constrained on these things for a decade and will sell as many as they can possibly make.

• Visibility. I have not had the A-pillar issues that some of the YouTube videos claim. Visibility is great and I am used to the rear-view mirror view on the screen. I agree with others that it is stupid that they didn't put the rear view in the actual rear view mirror, even much cheaper cars have that. I do find myself being content driving slower than with the MS plaid.

• Something I haven't heard people mention is peace of mind when you park somewhere. With all my other Teslas I have been obsessive about parking away from others to avoid being hit by doors and shopping carts. Now I park wherever I want and feel sorry for anyone that hits the car with their door- only they will have damage. The kids love kicking the truck as hard as they can. There is no other vehicle currently for sale that you can do this unless you drive an M1 Abrahms tank. Also love not worrying about curb rash anymore. I dont plan on wrapping because I like the stainless steel look .

• Charging: Expect roughly double the time for charging everywhere. Because the battery is essentially twice the size of a MY/M3, 110 outlet is 2 mi/hr, J1772 chargepoint is about 13 mi/hr, and supercharging is roughly double the time you will experience with any other Tesla. Not a complaint, just be aware.

• The audio system as others mentioned is sublime. The sounds of the motors are super cool and space age.

• This could easily be someone's daily driver, just like an F150 is for many folks.

If you all have any questions fire away.

Thanks for the review!

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[Rob4Aub]

I agree with everything you said. I have also driven all models of Tesla and had many trucks and 4x4s (Jeeps, Range Rover, Land Rover LR4, etc). Steer by wire is a game changer. Backing up boats and trailers is cake.
One more negative is the phone charger. Phone gets super hot. Not sure why this issue hasn’t been fixed (had similar issue in Model 3 but not to this degree).
Another positive (since no FSD yet) is the pedal on the floor. More relaxing foot position when taking road trips.
Btw, this will be my daily driver.

 

[CyberJet]

Tesla could have done about 20 things to make the truck better and or safer. Rear view mirror camera, camera washer, headlight snow placement, frunk crush sensors, the list goes on. They did not include those things to reduce cost and increase production speed. The frunk thing is just a bad optic so it will get resolved where the dangerous rear visibility does not make a good tiktok and will not get changed for a while.

Exactly! Spot on comment! maybe some softer edges would have been nice too. And finally demo drives for anyone who wants to drive one so instead of people getting distracted and taking pictures of them they can drive them instead. Would help both the drivers and the distracted people.

 

[KOL2000]

I agree with everything you said. I have also driven all models of Tesla and had many trucks and 4x4s (Jeeps, Range Rover, Land Rover LR4, etc). Steer by wire is a game changer. Backing up boats and trailers is cake.
One more negative is the phone charger. Phone gets super hot. Not sure why this issue hasn’t been fixed (had similar issue in Model 3 but not to this degree).
Another positive (since no FSD yet) is the pedal on the floor. More relaxing foot position when taking road trips.
Btw, this will be my daily driver.

agree about the phone. Also because of the way it sits you cant see the bottom third of your phone screen so when notifications come in you need to pick up the phone! I guess I need to change setting on the phone to make notifications come on top?

 

[FutureTruck]

Exactly! Spot on comment! maybe some softer edges would have been nice too. And finally demo drives for anyone who wants to drive one so instead of people getting distracted and taking pictures of them they can drive them instead. Would help both the drivers and the distracted people.

Demo drives would help not only brand awareness but save owners not get swarmed so much, had not thought of it from that angle.

 

[thedownwardmachine]

• if you are shy and dont like attention wait a couple of years before you get it. I predict that they will not be demand-constrained on these things for a decade and will sell as many as they can possibly make.

I think you meant to write "they will be demand-constrained"?

 

[HaulingAss]

their door would receive more damage for sure, but it's still painted steel (usually). steel can still scratch stainless and cause dents if there's enough force behind it. The material of the cybertruck is very good, but it's not magic. rubber covered deadblow sledge is not the same kind of thing as a painted steel car door.

Cold working stainless to a higher hardness doesn't need to be magic to make it harder and more scratch and dent resistant. It's not magic, it's state-of-the-art metallurgy. I'm not sure what kind of "negligence" you are talking about when you speak of someone negligently causing damage by parking next to you. Contrary to Tesla haters claims, this thing is nothing like the metal a refrigerator is made of. That is a 100% false narrative.

Maybe a drunk TSLAQ looser in a '64 Buick Wildcat? That's not negligence, that's vandalism. A negligent person parked next to you is not going to leave any permanent damage to your Cybertruck. Period.

 

[HaulingAss]

Ive only had a few days but will get it tinted. When the sun is shining I found the Model X-esque visors work awesome unlike some folks complaining that they were useless. Perhaps it's just how you adjust the seat?

No, it's people looking for something bad to say, especially things that can't be disproven, since it's subjective.

 

[HaulingAss]

Exactly. But Tesla really could have just put multiple sensors in the frunk so it senses it and doesn't close like Rivian does. Everyone's safety is very important and serious. DBLCAPCRIMPIN did a video closing the frunk on his fingers and they were unscathed I believe. Why do people miss that video but they use every video that uses something instead of fingers to make their point about it cutting fingers. Shows that its an unrealistic test to use that.

Yep, there is a lot of fake rage to create anti-Cybertruck narratives and fear-mongering. I'm surprised how easily some people are taken by it. A regular car door is more dangerous. Here's the link to a rational person demonstrating the hood closing on a hand:

Will the Tesla Cybertruck cut your arm or fingers off? (youtube.com)

 

[LinkWar88]

Any adjacent car door will not scratch the truck

 

[chinokie]

:
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I dont plan on wrapping because I like the stainless steel look .
:
:

What is your strategy for caring for the exterior? Are you going to occasionally buff it or let it patina?

 

[DumpsterFire]

Any adjacent car door will not scratch the truck

Yup. I opened my door hard into the brick stand this morning while vacuuming my CT

a little piece of the brick broke off. The door date was fine. Not even a scratch on the door edge.

Door 1
Brick 0

 

[agordon117]

Cold working stainless to a higher hardness doesn't need to be magic to make it harder and more scratch and dent resistant. It's not magic, it's state-of-the-art metallurgy. I'm not sure what kind of "negligence" you are talking about when you speak of someone negligently causing damage by parking next to you. Contrary to Tesla haters claims, this thing is nothing like the metal a refrigerator is made of. That is a 100% false narrative.

Maybe a drunk TSLAQ looser in a '64 Buick Wildcat? That's not negligence, that's vandalism. A negligent person parked next to you is not going to leave any permanent damage to your Cybertruck. Period.

believe me, you aren't explaining anything about metallurgy to me that I don't already know. I'm not saying the truck isn't stronger than normal cars. But I can 100% ding hardened stainless with regular steel or aluminum. there will be significantly more damage to the other car, but if the wind catches someone's door, I'm telling you that you won't get off without a scratch in every situation. So don't treat this as though a shopping cart, car door, hammer, car key, etc cannot scratch it.

This is literally my job, working with metals of all types. You would be shocked at what can damage what under the right conditions. it doesn't take a crazy amount of effort either. This is why I'm in business at all, because normal manufacturers absolutely will not keep parts separated from each other during the manufacturing process. They just let everything rattle around together in bins between operations, and assert that it's impossible to keep parts from touching after they come out of the machine.

I promise I'm not sitting here trying to fear monger, I'm just saying don't act like the truck is invulnerable. Just treat it like a normal car, and you'll have less problems than a normal car. Treat it like it can't be damaged by anything, and you'll be disappointed.

 

[KOL2000]

What is your strategy for caring for the exterior? Are you going to occasionally buff it or let it patina?

My "strategy" is to let it age haha

 

[KOL2000]

believe me, you aren't explaining anything about metallurgy to me that I don't already know. I'm not saying the truck isn't stronger than normal cars. But I can 100% ding hardened stainless with regular steel or aluminum. there will be significantly more damage to the other car, but if the wind catches someone's door, I'm telling you that you won't get off without a scratch in every situation. So don't treat this as though a shopping cart, car door, hammer, car key, etc cannot scratch it.

This is literally my job, working with metals of all types. You would be shocked at what can damage what under the right conditions. it doesn't take a crazy amount of effort either. This is why I'm in business at all, because normal manufacturers absolutely will not keep parts separated from each other during the manufacturing process. They just let everything rattle around together in bins between operations, and assert that it's impossible to keep parts from touching after they come out of the machine.

I promise I'm not sitting here trying to fear monger, I'm just saying don't act like the truck is invulnerable. Just treat it like a normal car, and you'll have less problems than a normal car. Treat it like it can't be damaged by anything, and you'll be disappointed.

This morning I rammed through a Wells Fargo ATM and collected all the $ but unfortunately the plastic on the bumper has a scratch. Metal is fine though!

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