Tesla Cybertruck 2024 Review

After long delays, Elon Musk started delivering the first examples of the 2024 Tesla Cybertruck to US customers late last year, starting from $US60,990 ($A92,200) for the entry-level Rear-Wheel Drive model.

That’s more than $33,000 higher than the entry price set when the prototype was unveiled, ahem, four years earlier, but few are complaining.

From there, the Cybertruck All-Wheel Drive model starts at $US79,990 ($A120,915), while the range tops out at $US99,990 ($A151,170) for the tri-motor version known as Cyberbeast.

The single-motor RWD Cybertruck has a claimed driving range of 402km, while the dual-motor AWD driven here manages up to 547km. The triple-motor Cyberbeast claims 515km.

Australians who placed an order for the Cybertruck (Tesla stopped taking deposits nearly two years ago), or would do so again given the chance, can only sit back and wait, hoping the American brand will in fact build the EV pick-up in right-hand drive and make it available here.

So now that we have even more time on our hands, let’s head to Texas to find out whether the Cybertruck is still worth waiting for…

Whether out there on the ranches in the direction of Fredericksburg, or in New Braunfels with the early German settlers, in downtown Austin or in front of Terry Black’s trendy BBQ joint, Texas is truck country. At least every third car on the road is a Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado or RAM 1500 – but every now and then the 2024 Tesla Cybertruck turns up.

After all, Elon Musk’s latest model is rolling off the production line just outside the Texas capital, and a handful of customers have been coming to the plant every day since last November to take delivery.

One of them was Shaheen Badiyan, who ordered the Cybertruck on the very first day the US order books were opened five long years ago. And while Tesla itself is opposed to all test drives, the software specialist was persuaded to let us have his car for a few hours.

So we approach the dazzling eccentric dual-cab with the same curiosity that everyone here has for it. While nobody really turns around to look at a normal pick-up in Texas, the Cybertruck attracts everyone’s attention.

Passers-by stop and knock on the supposedly bulletproof glass window at traffic lights, other drivers on the highway race each other for the best camera position with their cell phones out, and wherever you get out of the truck, you get involved in a conversation.

You have to understand that at 5.70 metres long, the Cybertruck is rather modest compared to its competitors, closer to the Ford Ranger than to the F-150, but with a front-end as high and flat as a bulldozer, it commands everyone’s respect on the road.

Among all the classic pick-ups with their mighty grilles and muscular flanks, the stainless-steel tank with its flat panels and almost sharp edges really does look like a space cowboy has taken the wrong exit on the Milky Way. Rarely has a name been as appropriate as Cybertruck.

Okay, so it’s not the plushest or the most practical pick-up in the marketplace. It doesn’t matter. At least, not for Badiyan. After all, he is not a farmer or a cowboy, but makes his money in cybersecurity and only bought the Cybertruck because it is so different.

And because he is one of the first e-drivers.

The entry-level single-motor 235kW Cybertruck Rear-Wheel Drive is not expected to be available until next year at the earliest, and the 845hp (621kW) Cyberbeast – with its insane 0-100km/h sprint time of 2.7sec – is only being delivered in very small numbers thus far. It’s $150K-plus asking price is hefty, to say the least, so Badiyan is driving the Cybertruck All-Wheel Drive.

The vehicle’s registration certificate shows 607hp (453kW) and the claimed WLTP range is 547km. Tesla has not told him how big the battery is, but Badiyan estimates it at a good 100kWh. (US EPA documents suggest 122.4kWh.)

In any case, he has not yet depleted the battery in his first two weeks, and he has also not tested the 250kW fast-charge rate – and whether a Supercharger can really handle it. Tesla claims 235km can be added in 15min at this top DC rate. “The charging box on the wall at home is enough for me, I don’t drive that far,” he says.

And that’s why he decided against the Cybertruck’s range-extender option, which is an additional battery pack mounted on the flatbed that gives his truck a good 200km more range (Tesla claims 755km-plus total).

Then Badiyan tells me his PIN, which I dutifully enter on the screen as I would on a cell phone, and then embarrass myself by looking around the steering wheel or anywhere else for a gearshift. The direction of travel in the Cybertruck is determined on the screen, just as it has been for two years in the Model S and Model X, my laughing passenger instructs me with a shake of his head.

So I swipe the car forward in the top left corner, and from one moment to the next the Cybertruck beams me from what Elon Musk calls the automotive Stone Age into the future, and Ben Cartwright from Ponderosa Ranch becomes Captain Kirk on his way through the galaxy.

Instead of the babble of an eight-cylinder engine, all you hear is a whirring sound, and I’ve reached the Texan speed limit in no time at all.

Even with this beast of sheetmetal, 4.3 seconds is enough for 0-100km/h – and the fascination increases with the three-tonne mass that is moved so effortlessly here.

The fact that the Cybertruck can reach speeds of up to 180km/h, while the F-150 and the like are usually limited to around 160km/h, is of course not bad either.

Sure, the 2024 Tesla Cybertruck attracts everyone’s attention, but you can’t look that closely if you don’t want to spoil the fascination.

After just a week in his possession, Badiyan’s truck is still free of the rust stains that are currently causing a furore in the Tesla forums. But even though the proud owner is constantly polishing it, the steel shimmers in all sorts of different shades and always has spots everywhere.

And, yes, precision in sheetmetal work is different.

The differences between the new and old pick-up worlds are particularly striking in the interior. Like every Tesla, the Cybertruck is as simply furnished as a monastery cell, whereas Ford, Chevy and the like, with their plush armchairs and sofas, thick leather and all the chrome trimmings, are more like living rooms on wheels.

And while the number of screens – one large one in the Tesla, soon half a dozen in the new RAM 1500 REV (which is confirmed for Australia) – may still be debatable, the Cybertruck lacks all the practical virtues that have matured in the others over half a century: a large flatbed and a small frunk alone do not make a pick-up a practical commercial vehicle.

Our initial enthusiasm brought on by the Cybertruck’s strong acceleration soon ends.

As practical as the air suspension may be for reducing the entry height or increasing the ground clearance to more than 40cm off-road, the five-seater dual-cab struggles to cope with bumps in the road in everyday driving.

As if the moderate suspension comfort wasn’t enough, the steering also takes some getting used to – and that’s putting it mildly.

The combination of drive-by-wire technology with variable gear ratios and moderate feedback, a very pronounced rear-axle steering, chunky Goodyears on 20-inch rims and the almost right-angled steering wheel make for some unpleasantly angular driving manoeuvres, especially when in city traffic and tighter spots.

After half a day in Austin, it’s hard to imagine the silver oddball as a ubiquitous Texan car and as a replacement – or at least a serious addition – to the F-150, Silverado and Ram 1500.

Perhaps Austin is just the wrong place, despite the factory on the outskirts of the city. Next time, it’d be better to drive to Houston, where NASA has its headquarters and the view extends into space.

Perhaps the Cybertruck is in better hands in the astronaut capital than with all the cowboys.

Of course, the 2024 Tesla Cybertruck is a fascinating vehicle and, above all, a spectacular statement.

And with its radical design, it steals the show from any Lamborghini Urus.

But, let’s face it, the Cybertruck is more of an accessory for show-offs and avant-gardists than a car for everyday use in the US – and Australia, should it ever turn up here.

2024 Tesla Cybertruck All-Wheel Drive at a glance:
Price: From $US79,990 ($A120,915)
Available: Now in the US, RHD not confirmed
Powertrain: Induction motor front, permanent magnet synchronous motor rear
Output: 453kW (torque TBC)
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 122.4kWh lithium-ion
Range: 547km (WLTP)
Energy consumption: 42.9kWh/100 miles (161km)
Safety rating: Not tested