Cybertruck Withdrawals – comparing the CT to a Plaid S loaner

[sys700]

So I had a day off last Monday, and had scheduled a service appointment in advance to take my CT to the Tesla Service Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan to have them address a few minor issues:

• I didn't receive a center console tray with my CT, which was supposed to come with the FS Cyberbeast.
• When driving straight, the steering wheel was tilted about 1 degree to the right. This would require a simple service adjustment.
• The right side front door, although aligned vertically, was overflush with the front quarterpanel by a couple mm. Not a big deal, but I could see it affecting windflow somewhat .... so if they could adjust it...???
• There was a very small (1.5mm) bubble in the front windshield between the panes of glass near the top of the windshield. It was so miniscule as to not be a major issue and it didn't block my view but I was concerned as the weather changed and got colder it could spread and enlarge. It was definitely a windshield defect from the factory so I asked if they could fix or replace it - they chose to replace the entire windshield, which they had never done before on a CT, so I was extremely anxious they'd muck it up.
• The rear view mirror panel moved up and down a bit when I pressed in on it.

I realize most of these are minor issues, but I'm particular and wanted it as perfect as it could be. I brought the CT to the service center on Monday, and it was scheduled for a Tuesday pickup. in the meantime, they loaned me a Plaid S in midnight blue. They ended up needing to keep it until Thursday, much longer than expected, but in the end it was worth it.

What I noticed about my loaner vehicle, a Model S Plaid:

• My immediate feeling inside the Plaid S was that there were too many distracting screens with redundant information. It made me realize how awesome the Cybertruck is with its large single screen. You are always looking in one place, and never have to look to another screen for information.
• The second thing I noticed was the ride handling. The Cybertruck feels like you are driving a luxury vehicle compared with the S. My wife remarked that the S felt like she was driving in a Ford Taurus, and I agreed!
• Speed? It was pretty fast - but not noticeably faster than the Cybertruck. What I did notice is it didn't feel as safe getting up to speed, and would sometimes chirp on one tire which caused it to swerve a bit.
• Steering was crazy! I couldn't believe how large the steering wheel was in the Model S and how much you had to turn it to make a simple turn. The Cybertruck is a noticeable improvement in this regard with the steer-by-wire and 4-wheel steering. It's much more comfortable in the hands than the weird shape of the Plaid S Yoke. I also missed the camera button that is found on the squirkle of the Cybertruck.
• Visibility. I found it difficult to see out the back window of the Plaid S. I also found it difficult to judge the width of the vehicle. I was using my mirrors quite a bit to enter my garage, since I couldn't find a view of the screens where it used a front camera along with the side cameras.
• Poor software layout. Everything takes up too much space when you don't want it to, and you can't move it out of the way with a swipe. Music, for example, took up way too much space. The maps are too small.
• On this particular vehicle, the mapping software and GPS were messed up. I tried to recalibrate it several times, but it continued to display that i was off the map. So at times it thought I was off the highway, and kept trying to navigate me back onto the freeway. This caused my range estimates to be way off. I had to turn off the self-driving feature because it was dangerous.
• Not fun to drive. I know it sounds strange, but I dreaded going out in the S, even though they provided unlimited Supercharging. It just felt too low to the ground, not safe, not as smooth, not as luxurious, not as fun to drive. It was boring feeling, and boring looking. I started to have withdrawals and really missed my Cybertruck! Based on my experience with the Plaid S, Tesla really hit it out of the park with this vehicle.

So I picked my Cybertruck last night. Pickup was simple...just dropped off the loaner at the service center after hours, clicked a button on my phone, and drove off in my Cybertruck. The drive home (1 hour) was incredible. I got thumbs up from several people on the way. This vehicle is simply one of (if not the) best driving vehicles on the road today, bar none, and is so groundbreaking yet polarizing. People just don't realize how great it actually is.

So how did the Service Center do? Amazing work! They fixed everything, replaced the front windshield, added my missing center console tray, adjusted the door, adjusted the mirror holder, and didn't scratch up my vehicle in the process. I was initially very nervous, but was very impressed with the level of service I received. I'll not hesitate to bring my Cybertruck to Grand Rapids Tesla for service the next time it needs something done.

Sponsored

 

[Art138]

So I had a day off last Monday, and had scheduled a service appointment in advance to take my CT to the Tesla Service Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan to have them address a few minor issues:

• I didn't receive a center console tray with my CT, which was supposed to come with the FS Cyberbeast.
• When driving straight, the steering wheel was tilted about 1 degree to the right. This would require a simple service adjustment.
• The right side front door, although aligned vertically, was overflush with the front quarterpanel by a couple mm. Not a big deal, but I could see it affecting windflow somewhat .... so if they could adjust it...???
• There was a very small (1.5mm) bubble in the front windshield between the panes of glass near the top of the windshield. It was so miniscule as to not be a major issue and it didn't block my view but I was concerned as the weather changed and got colder it could spread and enlarge. It was definitely a windshield defect from the factory so I asked if they could fix or replace it - they chose to replace the entire windshield, which they had never done before on a CT, so I was extremely anxious they'd muck it up.
• The rear view mirror panel moved up and down a bit when I pressed in on it.

I realize most of these are minor issues, but I'm particular and wanted it as perfect as it could be. I brought the CT to the service center on Monday, and it was scheduled for a Tuesday pickup. in the meantime, they loaned me a Plaid S in midnight blue. They ended up needing to keep it until Thursday, much longer than expected, but in the end it was worth it.

What I noticed about my loaner vehicle, a Model S Plaid:

• My immediate feeling inside the Plaid S was that there were too many distracting screens with redundant information. It made me realize how awesome the Cybertruck is with its large single screen. You are always looking in one place, and never have to look to another screen for information.
• The second thing I noticed was the ride handling. The Cybertruck feels like you are driving a luxury vehicle compared with the S. My wife remarked that the S felt like she was driving in a Ford Taurus, and I agreed!
• Speed? It was pretty fast - but not noticeably faster than the Cybertruck. What I did notice is it didn't feel as safe getting up to speed, and would sometimes chirp on one tire which caused it to swerve a bit.
• Steering was crazy! I couldn't believe how large the steering wheel was in the Model S and how much you had to turn it to make a simple turn. The Cybertruck is a noticeable improvement in this regard with the steer-by-wire and 4-wheel steering. It's much more comfortable in the hands than the weird shape of the Plaid S Yoke. I also missed the camera button that is found on the squirkle of the Cybertruck.
• Visibility. I found it difficult to see out the back window of the Plaid S. I also found it difficult to judge the width of the vehicle. I was using my mirrors quite a bit to enter my garage, since I couldn't find a view of the screens where it used a front camera along with the side cameras.
• Poor software layout. Everything takes up too much space when you don't want it to, and you can't move it out of the way with a swipe. Music, for example, took up way too much space. The maps are too small.
• On this particular vehicle, the mapping software and GPS were messed up. I tried to recalibrate it several times, but it continued to display that i was off the map. So at times it thought I was off the highway, and kept trying to navigate me back onto the freeway. This caused my range estimates to be way off. I had to turn off the self-driving feature because it was dangerous.
• Not fun to drive. I know it sounds strange, but I dreaded going out in the S, even though they provided unlimited Supercharging. It just felt too low to the ground, not safe, not as smooth, not as luxurious, not as fun to drive. It was boring feeling, and boring looking. I started to have withdrawals and really missed my Cybertruck! Based on my experience with the Plaid S, Tesla really hit it out of the park with this vehicle.

So I picked my Cybertruck last night. Pickup was simple...just dropped off the loaner at the service center after hours, clicked a button on my phone, and drove off in my Cybertruck. The drive home (1 hour) was incredible. I got thumbs up from several people on the way. This vehicle is simply one of (if not the) best driving vehicles on the road today, bar none, and is so groundbreaking yet polarizing. People just don't realize how great it actually is.

So how did the Service Center do? Amazing work! They fixed everything, replaced the front windshield, added my missing center console tray, adjusted the door, adjusted the mirror holder, and didn't scratch up my vehicle in the process. I was initially very nervous, but was very impressed with the level of service I received. I'll not hesitate to bring my Cybertruck to Grand Rapids Tesla for service the next time it needs something done.

I am curious if they left small debri from the windshield replacement. They probably used a vacuum to clean any residue ect left from the replacement. Some areas around the dash bends are hard to get to.

 

[sys700]

No residue left at all. In fact, the windshield is cleaner than the original because the original had a bit of off-gassing streaks on the inside.

 

[SCTesla]

Your Plaid must have been locked in Chill. The MSLR is noticeably faster than the CT, the MS Plaid blows it away. The speed is almost painful.

I get the Beast feels fast because it's large, but the Plaid hits as hard from 70-130 (or harder) as it does 0-60. The Plaid is a ridiculous machine.

 

[sys700]

Your Plaid must have been locked in Chill. The MSLR is noticeably faster than the CT, the MS Plaid blows it away. The speed is almost painful.

I get the Beast feels fast because it's large, but the Plaid hits as hard from 70-130 (or harder) as it does 0-60. The Plaid is a ridiculous machine.

No, it wasn't locked in chill mode. But it was maxed out at 85MPH top speed, which it got up to very quickly, so it had the illusion of being slower.

 

[SCTesla]

No, it wasn't locked in chill mode. But it was maxed out at 85MPH top speed, which it got up to very quickly, so it had the illusion of being slower.

I get that...It gets to 85 quickly, but it's wild (if unlocked) that it will hit at 85 what it does at 40.

 

[cybertruckwaldo]

I have these same sentiments. Just had a Plaid S earlier in the week. First time I have ever driven one. Was not impressed. It was incredibly fast but that was about it.

I thought I would want the instrument cluster behind the steering wheel but it made me realize how much I like the one screen setup the Cybertuck has. The yoke steering wheel is unbearable for city driving. Missing the top half of the steering wheel is pretty rough when turning without steer by wire. The Cybertruck steering wheel + steer by wire is best I have ever used.

There was so much road noise. I am over sitting that low to the ground. Also, there was an issue with the driver side pillar window where at highway speed wind noise was coming through a broken seal.

It made me realize I am now a "truck" guy lol.

 

[dalton108]

Yeah, I own a late model (‘23) plaid and a cyberbeast. I love them both and they are different vehicles with different character.

No one can decide for you how you feel about subjective things like whether being low to the ground feels safe or the joy that you get from the driving experience but some of the things that you’ve stated are simply objectively false.

As you note, when you get a loaner from Tesla even if it happens to be a plaid or performance it is going to be hobbled and, in a car like the model S plaid, this is going to affect your perception.

My Cyberbeast is not in the the same plane of existence as my model S plaid when it comes to speed or quickness. The tire chirping that you mentioned the demonstrates at least one and probably two things:

1. Your loaner probably has the tires that aren’t in racing shape. Either because they were cold or less than Stellar condition because of the car being a loaner.

2. And more importantly, irrespective of the condition of the tires you were losing traction so your perception of an actual speed are going to be less.

My S Plaiid as configured upon delivery has never lost traction, I always drive it in plaid mode and when you launch from cheetah mode the thing is enough to make you pass out. The cybertruck just doesn’t come close. My Corvette feels faster than the cybertruck even though it objectively is not. 2.9 vs. 2.6 seconds 0-60.

The model S has adjustable suspension just like the cyber truck but obviously it sits lower it’s a sedan. And it’s the lowest setting the S is considerably higher than my C8. They are supposed to be low to the ground and that’s what those of us who like fast cars expect. SUVs and trucks are supposed to give you a different experience and lots and lots of people equate that with being safer. I don’t but again that subjective I’m not going to try to convince you that you don’t feel how you feel.

I will note that as far as you’re feeling of safety, the model S is one of the safest cars ever made and still is. And while Corvettes have historically been one of the “most dangerous cars” on the road, as measured by occupant fatalities that has a lot to do with the capabilities of the car in terms of acceleration exceeding the driving skill of a whole bunch of low skill drivers who think that they’re Mario Andretti and learn that they’re not the hard way. Put differently a lot of stupid young boys end up wrecking these cars because they can’t handle them mentally or physically.

IMO:

- Having a binical is great.
- Faster is better. You can’t go faster than plaid (in a Tesla).
- the S plaid is far more luxurious in the cabin and still looks like a high-end saloon on the outside.
- your comment about the UI is again to some extent a matter of taste, but where I will agree is that Tesla needs to revisit providing a consistent UI experience across the vehicles. Every single Tesla we have has a slightly different UI. The model Y and the model three are virtually identical, but the X is different from the S and the Cybertruck is different from all the rest.

As someone who regularly drives three different Teslas throughout the course of a week it’s very hard to develop muscle memory when each car functions slightly differently.

I love my Cyberbeast, but it’s a truck. I don’t think there’s any reasonable comparison between it and what has now fallen into the second fastest sedan that you can buy on the planet for under $1 million. And you couldn’t pay me to spend $250,000 on the fastest, the lucid sapphire.

The big one that I will agree with you on is I think the cyber truck has by far the best suspension of any car I’ve ever driven and it blows all other Teslas away including the model S which up until I got the Cybertruck was my favorite suspension in a car (non-sports car), hands-down!

 

[sys700]

So the entire vehicle is going to be hobbled from the service center? From the look, to the driving, from the visibility, to the redundant screens, to the feel, to the rough ride, to the issues with the mapping software? How about the tray that closes when you pull your drink out of the cupholder? How about the horribly large steering wheel that forces your arms wide apart? I mean, literally everything on the loaner was a poor experience. If anyone is considering a Model S, you need to drive one and make sure, but drive a Cybertruck and you won't think twice about a Model S.

 

[SCTesla]

How about the tray that closes when you pull your drink out of the cupholder?

That's just broken. It's a loaner, but that's not the design.

Edit: All Teslas share mapping software. The MS is no different than my CT.

 

[dalton108]

So the entire vehicle is going to be hobbled from the service center? From the look, to the driving, from the visibility, to the redundant screens, to the feel, to the rough ride, to the issues with the mapping software? How about the tray that closes when you pull your drink out of the cupholder? How about the horribly large steering wheel that forces your arms wide apart? I mean, literally everything on the loaner was a poor experience.

Speed is hobbled. Your subjective feelings will be your subjective feelings.

Steering wheel size? Many people really hate the small steering wheel in the cybertruck. Many people are confused by the fact that it’s a squircle. Well, GM coined the phrase squircle with the steering wheel in the C8 Corvette released in 2020. AND, no one said a mumbling word about it in that car! It’s a great shape and it does what it’s supposed to do, IMO.

As someone just above you noted, they got a model S plaid with a yoke, not the steering wheel. So people‘s experiences are going to vary. That person did not like the yoke, some people absolutely love iit. I didn’t want the yoke, so I optioned for the steering wheel (it’s now standard) which I love.

The steering wheel on the model S plaid is smaller than the squircle on the C8 Corvette and larger than the steering wheel on the cybertruck. Beyond that, it’s all user preference.

I’m not sure what settings you had on your plaid as you were driving around, but if your car was functioning properly there would be no way for you to fairly describe the ride as “rough.”

You can do that hyperbolically, but that would be objectively false (if the car was properly set up, and you can configure it in many different ways). The cybertruck currently has no adjustments for suspension other than height.

Is the ride in the Cybertruck smoother, yes it is. But a buttery smooth ride is not necessarily what you’re looking for when you’re going very fast in a sports sedan. In fact my plaid never comes out of sports suspension and if you’d ever bothered to put it in “comfort” the ride quality is not materially different than the cybertruck. If you put it in comfort and that wasn’t your experience then you probably experienced the realities of driving around in an abused loaner car. But I guess you’ve got a few minutes in it so you’re an expert right? Of course you are! That’s America everybody knows everything these days.

The rest of it and your weird intense reaction to being confronted with the idea that people are gonna have different opinions about things that are subjective? …

<Shrug.>

QUOTE="sys700, post: 508908, member: 6630"] If anyone is considering a Model S, you need to drive one and make sure, but drive a Cybertruck and you won't think twice about a Model S.
[/QUOTE]

Unless, of course, you’re looking for a sports sedan instead of a truck. Or if greater range is important to you, in which case, it would be WEIRD for you not to “think twice about the model S.”

 

[sys700]

I was very familiar with all of the settings in the Model S. I spent quite some time adjusting it. Nothing helped improve my impressions overall. Obviously this is my personal opinion, but I'd never buy a Model S. If I owned one, I'd sell it in a heartbeat. Not my type of vehicle. Some of the controls reminded me of the Cybertruck, but even the blinkers with their non-clicky haptic feel were horrible - so many times I wasn't sure I had actually turned on the blinker, and the blinker indicator was too small on the screen. I could go on and on, but it's subjective. The Cybertruck is a much better car than the Model S.

 

[sys700]

"The rest of it and your weird intense reaction..."

Nothing intense about it. Just being honest about my experience. It's just not for me. The Cybertruck has spoiled me.

 

[dalton108]

"The rest of it and your weird intense reaction..."

Nothing intense about it. Just being honest about my experience. It's just not for me. The Cybertruck has spoiled me.

?????

Sure pal. I’m deeply saddened about your dislike for a car that you borrowed as a loaner and this makes me feel … what was the phrase you used … “butt hurt.” Sure!

????

Anyhow, let me just clean up a little bit more of your ignorance, Mr. Expert. The loaner car that you had (given that it only had a haptic touch interface on the steering wheel) is an older model S design. The new one is also clicky button like on the Cybertruck. Source: walked out to my garage. ?

The cybertruck’s turn signal interphase is based on this revised model S design.

I’m sorry though, I don’t want to further interrupt your dissertation based on your vast experience with these cars.

I’d say the cybertruck has more than “spoiled you,” it’s made you weird unless, of course, that was a pre-existing condition.

 

[paynemic]

Ive owned both. And my model S was just a p100d (then the fastest model available). It was WAY faster than my dual motor ct (I don’t have a beast). I miss the S a lot and may go back. I like the ct a lot though.
So probably just a matter of being biased toward what you first experienced. It’s a pretty common phenomenon. They’re both incredible machines. Among the best vehicles ever built in their respective classes. To compare them is kind of unproductive. Apples and oranges.

Sponsored