General vehicle thread

[Irving]

It's all in here buddy. (Points to head)

[Gman]

MotorTrend: The Tesla Cybertruck Has Functionality Problems
Subhead: Take the polarizing design at face value, and it has trouble doing basic truck things

Everyone has thoughts on the way Tesla's radical Cybertruck looks, but design is purely subjective (and everyone's already dunked on the Cybertruck anyway), so I'm going to focus instead on functionality, where I have real concerns.

First, outward visibility. The rear window is tiny and most of the time it'll be completely covered by a roll-up door that apparently makes a huge aerodynamic (read: range) difference. Tesla's solution is a rear camera. I've tried those on many vehicles, and most are awful. Rarely are the resolution, the angle, or the field of vision anything like a normal mirror, and there's usually little to no way to adjust them. What's more, they play a trick on your eye, forcing you to reorient your point of view from inside the vehicle to a camera mounted on the back of it, then back again. Beyond that, the big sail panels on the bed and pinched rear door windows will create massive over-the-shoulder blind spots, full stop.

Those sail panels are my real gripe. This thing has Gen-I Ridgeline syndrome. The sail panels are impossible to reach over, so getting anything in or out of the bed means climbing in the back and walking up to the front?and forget about stepping on the tire and climbing over. Whether tools or toys, that's a massive pain in the ass. Tesla says the sail panels are a key part of the truck's strength, but other unibody trucks both past and present have gotten along fine without them, casting doubt on that rationale.

Those panels also means there will be far fewer accessories for work or play because you can't mount them to the bed rails. Outfitters are no doubt thinking about accessories for the Cybertruck, but a lot of them are low-volume companies that aren't going to spend big on prototyping and developing parts until there are enough Cybertrucks sold to make a solid business case.

You can pretty much forget about the commercial market, though, and that's a bad idea. A huge portion of truck sales are to fleets and working professionals like contractors, plumbers, welders, and more. Not being able to mount lumber racks to the bed rails is bad enough, but making the bed an integral part of the body means it can't be removed and replaced with boxes, a flatbed, or other equipment. Strict emissions regulations and high fuel costs in Tesla's home market of California could make the Cybertruck attractive to a lot of people who use their trucks for work, but not in its present configuration.

On the plus side, the bed does create a nice, rectangular box with no intrusive wheelwell humps. The bed floor, though, will need reworking before it goes into production. Look at the bed of any pickup truck made in the last half century, and you'll see the floor is wavy, not smooth like the Cybertruck's. It's great that you can lay a sheet of plywood or sheetrock flat in the bed of a Cybertruck, but have you ever tried to pick one up when it's lying flat on a smooth concrete floor? Those little grooves milled into the Cybertruck's bed floor won't offer any help getting your fingers under anything heavy, and between the sail panels and the lack of wheelwell humps, there's no way to go at it except from the tailgate.

All of this doesn't even address the fact the truck, as currently designed, runs afoul of many federal vehicle regulations. Even if it's heavy enough to get Class 3 certification (10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, not great for EV range) and dodge some crash test rules, it'll still need door mirrors and a complete rework of the taillights. Notice how every other pickup truck (and even work vans) mounts its tail lights to the bed, not the tailgate? That's not a trend, that's a law. Tesla's solution in adding a second set of lights that's visible when the tailgate is open is clever, but it's still illegal (this is why the barn doors on the back of a Mini Clubman have cutouts for the fixed taillights).

On all accounts, this fails Truck 101. It matters because the vast majority of truck buyers in the F-150 segment almost never tow and rarely do any serious off-roading. Hauling is the one thing they actually use their trucks for semi-regularly (besides commuting), and the Cybertruck fails that basic need.

In short, you can tell this truck was designed by people who've never made one before and only worried about the towing and performance numbers and not the actual use cases. Yes, the Cybertruck is quicker and can tow and haul more than an F-150 on paper, but when it comes time to do truck stuff, you're still better off with the Ford.

[O2HeN2]

>> This thing has Gen-I Ridgeline syndrome.

Disn'n my Ridgeline. The best "Trar" I've ever owned!

O2

[Gman]

<Crocodile Dundee Voice>
That's not a truck.
</Crocodile Dundee Voice>

[ray1970]

Disn'n my Ridgeline. The best "Trar" I've ever owned!

Come on. Everyone knows the El Camino rules in the world of trucks that aren?t trucks.

[Jer]

Come on. Everyone knows the El Camino rules in the world of trucks that aren?t trucks.

The Subaru Brat would like to have a chat with you.

[ray1970]

The Subaru Brat would like to have a chat with you.

Ha. Forgot about that one. Can we call it a tie?

Although the Brat didn?t come with a V-8.

[Jer]

Ha. Forgot about that one. Can we call it a tie?

Although the Brat didn?t come with a V-8.

The El Camino didn't come with standard AWD or rear facing seats with jet-fighter handles for "da chirrens" to have super fun imagination time while being recklessly endangered by their adult supervisors of driving age.

Check mate.

[ray1970]

Ugh. You win.

[TFOGGER]

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