My Cybertruck test drive experience: magnificent machine!

[Cyber Man]

thank you for offering this detailed explanation of your experience... indeed, sounds like CT is knocking it out of the park when in comes to road noise it can control/adjust.... if the road is bad, then inevitably there is more noise, but CT still does a great job of dampening/managing it. thank you a million @Cyberman

You’re most welcome, my friend. Please definitely test this for yourself as people experience these things differently. Hope your experience will be similar to mine! ?

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[Cyber Man]

“After the test drive, when I jumped back into my Porsche, I felt like I was riding an old horse! lol ?. “ I had the similar feeling. Only two days after I had my CT, I felt my 2024 Nissan Frontier Pickup so difficult to drive.

lol, I know right! The funny thing about this experience is you don’t even consciously get into your other vehicle thinking it’ll be sloppy. You just get in, put it to drive, press the pedal and turn the steering, and then WTF - it hits you out of nowhere. I only spent a few mins in CT and could instantly see the difference. It’s so noticeable. I can’t imagine how it’ll be for someone who drives CT everyday. You guys are so spoilt now! ?

 

[rrizzi7210]

You won't need the test drive if it just to familiarize the operation. I had not even seen a CT in person until I picked mine up in May. The drive by wire and handling took all of 2 minutes to get used to and I still love how it drives.

Absolutely true, but it does build quite a bit of confidence about the decision to purchase. It's either a $100K or $123K purchase for all of us now, and test-driving at least once is a good idea.

It's such a unique vehicle that you have to allow yourself to go through a few phases to validate the purchase.

 

[Macgreiner]

A few observations from my test drive:
1. Although the screen is mongo sized compared to model 3 screen - it seems absolutely dimensioned appropriately for the CT and not at all oversized.
2. The feature I liked the most (4WS) was not even a twinkle in Elon's eye at the reveal and nor mentioned as a feature when I put in my reservation all those years past.
3. Although the motor whine is much higher than my model 3, it seems appropriate and the wind noise/NVH is almost impercievable than my '18 model 3.

 

[Woodrick]

I'm a total noob with all things Tesla. I have a CB ordered with an estimated delivery date of Oct-Dec. I am wondering if I should go on a test drive in one of the cars to familiarize myself with the general theory of operation. It is about 220 miles to the nearest test drive location so it would take a whole day to go there and back. They have Models S, 3, X and Y but no CTs available for test drive. Do the tesla employees go on the test drive with you? Are they helpful in answering questions and training on the system? Is that even necessary? If not I guess I'll test drive mine out of the delivery center.

Once you get a VIN assigned, your app will have some links to various videos that will take you through the process of operating the vehicle.

 

[kingq]

I'm a total noob with all things Tesla. I have a CB ordered with an estimated delivery date of Oct-Dec. I am wondering if I should go on a test drive in one of the cars to familiarize myself with the general theory of operation. It is about 220 miles to the nearest test drive location so it would take a whole day to go there and back. They have Models S, 3, X and Y but no CTs available for test drive. Do the tesla employees go on the test drive with you? Are they helpful in answering questions and training on the system? Is that even necessary? If not I guess I'll test drive mine out of the delivery center.

Got my CT 5 months ago. Like you, CT is my first Tesla, so 2 days before I picked up CT, I scheduled a test drive of the latest Model X, was told it's the closest to CT. Tesla was extremely generous for test drives... just briefly showed me how to adjust the mirrors, then I was all by myself. I could've driven to any where I wanted, though I knew there might be speed and distance limits for demo cars. At the end, I just returned the car to the parking lot and walked away, no one bothered, a hack of experience for a test drive!

 

[TWRAPS]

There you go! The science definitely checks out. If you watch Sandy Munro’s video of tearing down Cybertruck, he shows how Tesla added a system to actually give force feedback to make you feel like a real steering wheel. Otherwise, it would feel like a toy wheel. The steering wheel is not mechanically connected to the wheel axles at all. So, there is no vibration to feel. In regular drivetrain system, these micro vibrations could amplify the wrist pain in the long drives. That might explain why it feels more comfortable for you compared to regular steering wheels.

I’m simply in love with steer by wire. Not many talk about these side benefits of this new drive system. Imagine how many people suffer from chronic health issues. We spend so much time commuting. If a vehicle is built to minimize the health issues while driving, it’s money worth spent IMO.

Steer by wire is the best thing ever! I wish all cars were made like that now. Oh and no stalks too.

 

[D101010]

I was a noob to all things Tesla too prior to taking delivery of a Beast on 8/3.

Just my 0.02 here, I highly recommend not test driving it. The Test drive will only make every day without one in the garage absolutely miserable. You’ll quickly find that driving anything else is unbearable. I recommend enjoying ignorance in this case.

Yes that is my plan. VIN soon I hope.

 

[electric-mike]

...man once you drive this thing, all those negative feelings will go into an oblivion. It’s a blissful state. Hard to explain without experiencing it. If you are someone who really enjoys driving experience, Cybertruck will absolutely not let you down!

My feelings exactly.

I rented a CT FS for a weekend, and I was blown away by how smooth it was. It was like driving a 1970's V8 Cadillac on a Tempurpedic highway with earplugs in. I don't think any of the influencer hype on YouTube has really explained just how smooth and quiet the ride is under 70mph. Once I started doing 70mph uphill, only then could I hear the motor/gear whine a bit, but I'm not complaining.

Also, I think the 4-wheel-steering and small turning radius is something that needs to be experienced first-hand. Demos online and writeups on it just don't do it justice in the real world.

 

[Hunky Dory]

Once you get a VIN assigned, your app will have some links to various videos that will take you through the process of operating the vehicle.

Thanks for the reply. Even though I have not received a VIN yet, I do have five instructional videos available in the app: Access, Driver Controls, Driver Profiles, Cargo Bed and Regenerative Braking.
I have watched all of the videos and also read the online manual pretty much beginning to end.

 

[Cyber Man]

My feelings exactly.

I rented a CT FS for a weekend, and I was blown away by how smooth it was. It was like driving a 1970's V8 Cadillac on a Tempurpedic highway with earplugs in. I don't think any of the influencer hype on YouTube has really explained just how smooth and quiet the ride is under 70mph. Once I started doing 70mph uphill, only then could I hear the motor/gear whine a bit, but I'm not complaining.

Also, I think the 4-wheel-steering and small turning radius is something that needs to be experienced first-hand. Demos online and writeups on it just don't do it justice in the real world.

You are so right. The interesting thing about ride quality is whenever I see smooth ride quality, the vehicle compromises on cornering. It’s like driving a boat. If you go in a straight line, it’s all nice and comfy, but when you make turns at high speed or break suddenly, everything inside rolls from corner to corner. Very few vehicles have figured out how to hit the sweet spot of both ride quality and cornering. CT has nailed this down so well. Superb comfort, amazing cornering, and solid breaking/deceleration. It’s reasonably easy to hit the sweet spot in a sports car as physics is in favor - vehicle’s ground clearance, center of gravity, weight, etc, but getting this right on a 6000 lbs truck is very hard. I’m sure Tesla has put tons of secret sauce, especially on the software side, to optimize the experience. As you said, one has to experience this to really understand. Words or videos won’t do justice!

 

[HaulingAss]

Compare to every other car I have ever driven in my life, when you hit a speed bump at very low speed, the vehicle will roll up a tiny bit, stall or roll backwards until to depress the accelerator to get over it. NOT WITH THE CT. It just rolls right over whatever that speed bump is trying to do to slow you down. It's almost as if Tesla designed the CT to sense the stall current or demand, and says, do whatever we have to do to hold the vehicle speed constant as long as the angle of attack has not changed.

That effect in legacy autos is the torque converter that plays by its rules, not yours.

Yesterday morning I had to drive our F-150 from the street into our carport (about 30 seconds). It drove just like it did when new, which I now know is awful, frantic busy work that is overly demanding relative to the Cybertruck.

The V8 was at high idle because the engine was cold. So when I put it into gear with a huge clunky movement of an awkward lever on the steering column, it wanted to take off. I had to ride the brake to control my speed. I was trying to turn the wheel for a three-point turn but I had to keep turning it, it felt so nerfed, so ineffective. Finally I hit the steering stop and felt the steering pump stall out against the stops, so I had to back off a little bit. No big deal, I know how to drive legacy vehicles, it just surprised me. There was a quite a contrast between having to spin the wheel around real fast to get to the steering stop, which seemed to be in a nebulous location since I had spun the steering wheel around an indeterminate number of turns, and then suddenly having to be gentle with it against the steering stop. Then I had to move the big awkward shift lever again, it wasn't a small movement, and when I took my foot off the brake it accelerated in reverse requiring me to immediately put my foot back on the brake to slow it down as I spun the wheel back the other way as fast as I could. It felt like the truck was possessed because all my actions were in response to its actions, rather than what I wanted the truck to actually do. It felt like the truck was controlling me instead of the other way around. Then more of the same as I spun the wheel fast to the left and then spun it all the way back to the right into the carport and brought it to a stop. I actually breathed a sigh of relief as I put it into park and extract the key.

To think I used to think this kind of frantic spinning of the wheel was normal! The Cybertruck is so serene the way it does exactly what you tell it to without having spin the wheel like crazy or modify your actions to accommodate a machine that behaves as if it's possessed. A vehicle that is only responsive to the operators simple and direct commands frees the spirit.

 

[HaulingAss]

It's such a unique vehicle that you have to allow yourself to go through a few phases to validate the purchase.

True, especially with the number of hate-filled people and AI bots out there constantly telling you what a crappy truck it is. Pure ignorance.

 

[Coagulation]

It's such a unique vehicle that you have to allow yourself to go through a few phases to validate the purchase.

CT buyer: “ok, so I’ve test driven this truck against a bunch of options in my budget. I like the CT way more. It’s perfect for my use cases. My family loves it. I’ve owned trucks and sports cars before and i like this better. It’s expensive for many but affordable to me. If things go wrong I’m comfortable with its 8 year warranty which is way higher than another manufacturers”

also CT buyer: “a misinformation bot online said the warranty gets voided if it gets rained on. This must be a terrible vehicle! I’ve driven thousands of miles and love it but the bots said otherwise”

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