My Cybertruck test drive review vs. F150 Lightning Pro

[Pyork]

I had the opportunity to test drive the AWD foundation series Cybertruck today. I currently have a ‘23 lightning PRO SR that I bought for $40,000 after incentives as original msrp was honored for me. I had high hopes for the Cybertruck and was considering switching given the fact that I like the design. After my test drive of the 100k Cybertruck I can say without a doubt that the F150 Lightning PRO is head and shoulders above the Cybertruck.

Cybertruck wins on:

Styling (if that’s your thing)
Turn radius (it turns on a dime)
Range compared to SR
Heated and cooled front seats and heated rear seats
Rear screen
Air suspension
Tonneau cover and bed trunk

F150 Lightning PRO wins on:

Everything else
Acceleration (Lightning seems significantly faster to my surprise)
Frunk space (Cybertruck drink is ting)
Interior comforts (vinyl seats in the PRO are actually more comfortable)
Rear seat space (no comparison)
Steering (the steering wheel is very small and odd to use)
Bed (lightning bed seems larger width wise)
Read visibility (numerous blind spots in cybertruck)
Drive modes (cybertruck only has one pedal drive)
Interior quality (cybertruck is minimalist and seems cheap with too much plastic)
Overall driving experience

I really wanted to like the Cybertruck but the Lightning is a better vehicle and truck. Maybe Tesla will make some improvements in the next gen model. Certainly not worth the price it is currently offered at or even 80k. Maybe at $65k it would sell but I think the Flash trim would be a better option for most.

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[Pops]

Like you I started with the F-150 lightning. For the most part I agree with everything you said, the F-150 is far more practical and a much better value.

The items that convinced me to make the switch were:

• Better off-road capability
• Sentry mode
• The styling / badassery
• FSD
• A heavy dose of "fear of missing out" if I didn't act on the FS invite after 4 years of waiting.

That that said I love my Cyberbeast and I hope I have it long enough to get buried in it.

 

[Pyork]

Congrats on the beast. The truck is definitely badass, I just think they should have made them all beasts (for acceleration), knocked down the price a little and went with a more rugged interior. If they did that all for 70-80 they would crush the competition.

 

[SentinelOne]

vs. $40k, cant disagree with you as my CB was 3x the price...granted would do it again for my needs.

+stereo
+Acceleration (beast)
+Range? Think they're close but ford has a bigger battery
+Tesla Tech OTA Updates
+ Hail Proof / Not painted exterior
- Have to answer everyone's questions
- Fingerprints

 

[Speedr]

Congrats on the beast. The truck is definitely badass, I just think they should have made them all beasts (for acceleration), knocked down the price a little and went with a more rugged interior. If they did that all for 70-80 they would crush the competition.

Congrats on your unicorn. A $40,000 Lightning is rare indeed! I know 2 people that were on the waiting list for a Lightning that couldn't get one for less than $65k. One gave up and kept his gas F150, and the other bought a Model Y.

I just had my really good friend, who has owned many pickup trucks over the years and currently has a F-150 Tremor, drive my AWD Cybertruck. He did some off-roading at a national park that's really close to his house. He couldn't get over the ride and handling, especially off-road.

Glad you're happy with your truck! The more EVs, the better. I really think if Ford had kept the pricing the same as when they started delivering them, and made their dealers honor MSRP, they would have sold every single one they could have made. Sadly, both parties got greedy...

 

[wh1t3rbb1t]

I had a F150 Lightning Lariat. Here's my quick breakdown on both if anyone is curious. Hands down I'd take the cybertruck but if a traditional truck is more your thing, the Lightning will still be a great choice once NACS charging becomes the standard for Ford.

Cybertruck
Steering is incredible
Squirkle is better once you get used to it coupled with the steering
Ride is better
Infotainment 10x better
Sound system much better
Tonneau is pretty awesome too
Styling is awesome if you like it
Hard to get into the tailgate at times
Charging network is incredible
TBD on how AutoPilot is
I dislike the lack of bed access via the rear window

Lightning Pros
Frunk is bigger
Interior space did seem bigger
More "traditional truck" if that's your thing
Infotainment system was slow and infuriating but there was wireless Apple Play at least
Charging out in the wild is also infuriating
Interior space is better used due to a more traditional design
Tailgate steps are really nice
BlueCruise wasn't bad. Not as good as my M3 was but still overall pretty decent
Rear window opening was nice

 

[Known-Background]

Are you sure they didn’t have your demo drive speed limited? I don’t think they let you drive it in full speed capacity might be in comfort mode . But maybe I’m wrong AWD CT has been clocked at 0-60 in 3.8 multiple times faster than advertised.

also I’m confused in you saying cyber truck only has one driving mode. Did you load off road mode and start the off road app? There are tons of modes in there.

but I do get that it is not a conventional truck. And for your money’s worth you win. If both were the same price high or low, to me CT wins. Also once the 80k version plus incentives it is closer to 70k and F150 lighting with similar range is the same or more.

 

[Bjhracer]

I don’t understand the blind spot argument. My model Y has just as much of a blind spot as cybertruck. All vehicles have A pillars, but the cybertrucks is so much farther away from your eyes it blocks less in your field of view. Couple this with the huge windshield and I think one of Cubertrucks strengths is visibility.

 

[Pyork]

The drive modes I’m referring to are one pedal vs traditional (driving with braking and regen). Both trucks have multiple drive modes , sport, off road etc. but Cybertruck just has one type of driving, one pedal.
For me backing up in the Cybertruck is awkward, I still turn around and look out of the back window when I back up to parallel park even with a rear view camera. The exception is whenever I’m really close to a vehicle behind me, then I rely on the camera.
I mentioned the speed and acceleration to the Tesla rep with me and he didn’t say anything about it being limited. Stomping on the accelerator in the cybertruck was underwhelming compared to the lightning.
All that said, because of how much I like the design/aesthetics of the Cybertruck I was really hoping it blew me away but it just didn’t.

 

[CyberTW]

The drive modes I’m referring to are one pedal vs traditional (driving with braking and regen). Both trucks have multiple drive modes , sport, off road etc. but Cybertruck just has one type of driving, one pedal.
For me backing up in the Cybertruck is awkward, I still turn around and look out of the back window when I back up to parallel park even with a rear view camera. The exception is whenever I’m really close to a vehicle behind me, then I rely on the camera.
I mentioned the speed and acceleration to the Tesla rep with me and he didn’t say anything about it being limited. Stomping on the accelerator in the cybertruck was underwhelming compared to the lightning.
All that said, because of how much I like the design/aesthetics of the Cybertruck I was really hoping it blew me away but it just didn’t.

Just goes to show how everyone has opinions and can see the same things completely different. I like the look of the F150L. Roomy inside, ride is good and frunk is great. Other than that, there is nothing else it offers that is better than my Cybertruck which is probably the best vehicle I have ever owned. Software alone is like apple vs Motorola. But again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I do think the Lightning has actually become slightly underrated.. but it imho it pales in comparison to my AWD. But ??. Your wallet is a lot more full than mine haha (in that you are saving more money for a vehicle you see as better)

 

[JPfromTCE]

To each their own. I had a lariat lightning. Both trucks are filled with and rely on tech. The main computer is very important to me. The processing power of the tech in the cyber truck is on a different planet than my old lightning. The big frunk on the lightning was nice but I never came close to needing all that space up front. Lightning also did feel a smidge quicker but again, they are both fast enough and speed is not a priority to me in a pickup. If it was theres a beast for that. The interior is where you have me confused, Idk how you found more cheap plastic in the cybertruck. Its literally everywhere in the lightning. Also confused with the drive modes, my cybetruck has more and they are much more specific where the lightning drive modes make a very slight difference.

A lot of the other positives you came up with for the lightning I agree with. At the end of the day we’re comparing an EV version of a truck that a legacy automaker has been refining for almost 50 years to a wild, radical, first shot at a pickup in its first year of production. Makes total sense to not want to drop 80k on the later.

 

[Known-Background]

The drive modes I’m referring to are one pedal vs traditional (driving with braking and regen). Both trucks have multiple drive modes , sport, off road etc. but Cybertruck just has one type of driving, one pedal.
For me backing up in the Cybertruck is awkward, I still turn around and look out of the back window when I back up to parallel park even with a rear view camera. The exception is whenever I’m really close to a vehicle behind me, then I rely on the camera.
I mentioned the speed and acceleration to the Tesla rep with me and he didn’t say anything about it being limited. Stomping on the accelerator in the cybertruck was underwhelming compared to the lightning.
All that said, because of how much I like the design/aesthetics of the Cybertruck I was really hoping it blew me away but it just didn’t.

You can reduce regen braking and drive with two pedals if you want but why if you get thousands of more miles on your brakes? In this way CT technically has more options cause FL doesn’t do single pedal right?

 

[Pyork]

Lightning has single pedal or traditional with regen. The brake pedal only applies the actual pads if you are stopping short, otherwise it uses the motors for regen. It’s similar to 1 pedal but you are controlling it.
It may just be a preference thing with the interior in regards to the plastic comment I made. The sparse dashboard seemed very plain to me. It may be that the demo truck I drove had the tactical grey interior.

 

[Crissa]

The Lightning Pro standard is lighter than the Cybertruck AWD, but they say they post the same 0-60 numbers, that may be what you felt.

I definitely dislike Tesla's one-pedal and not having more blended braking; I use that mode on my Zero very infrequently. I prefer my coast to be as close to coast as possible before adding regen. But one-pedal is standard on more and more vehicles now, such as the Energica. It's just simpler to program and teach people to use, alas.

The blind spots is... Well, I think you're missing some severe spots in the Lightning that you're just used to that you don't have in the Cybertruck. But that may be due to taste.

-Crissa

 

[JPfromTCE]

Lightning has single pedal or traditional with regen. The brake pedal only applies the actual pads if you are stopping short, otherwise it uses the motors for regen. It’s similar to 1 pedal but you are controlling it.
It may just be a preference thing with the interior in regards to the plastic comment I made. The sparse dashboard seemed very plain to me. It may be that the demo truck I drove had the tactical grey interior.

Gotcha, I thought you said too much plastic. In reality, you prefer a lot of plastic buttons over minimalism.

In terms of driving modes, understood as well. I can see wanting to use traditional style for maybe a little to adjust from an ICE vehicle, however, there are way too many advantages of regen in EVs to list that as a con.

In reality, I think your big argument for favoring a lightning is the price tag. Props to you for test driving both and weighing your options. However, it seems a lot of your dislikes of the cybertruck are non issues after owning it for a week…there is no doubt a learning curve and a test drive ain’t gonna do it. As someone who has owned both and has a fleet of fords in their business, I wouldn’t trade my cybertruck for two lightnings but if i had to, I’d trade them both for a regular f150.

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