Home » A Tesla Cybertruck Towing A Porsche 911 Is Not Faster Than A 911 Alone And Motor Trend Just Proved It

A Tesla Cybertruck Towing A Porsche 911 Is Not Faster Than A 911 Alone And Motor Trend Just Proved It

Cybetruck V Porsche 911 Ts
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When something seems too good to be true, that’s because it likely is. Case in point? Some of Tesla’s claims about the Cybertruck being quicker than a Porsche 911 while towing a Porsche 911. Flashback to the Cybertruck delivery event last year, and you might recall Elon Musk claiming “It [the Cybertruck] can tow a Porsche 911 across the quarter mile faster than a Porsche 911 can go by itself.” Even with the Cybertruck matched against the manual Carrera T, which is the slowest new 911, Musk was making a bold claim – one that started to unravel as soon as the words left Musk’s mouth.

See, Tesla’s claim was so wild that Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained fame did some research and found a few potential issues. First of all, Google Maps satellite imagery shows that the filmed race between the 911-towing Cybertruck and the 911 didn’t occur over a quarter-mile, but instead an eighth mile.

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

Also, existing numbers suggested that the 911 would beat the 911-towing Cybertruck through the quarter-mile. Suddenly, Tesla had some explaining to do, so lead Cybertruck engineer Wes Morrill responded on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

So “why didn’t we do a full 1/4mi?” The fastest 1/8mi CT hit while towing on the day was 7.808s at 88mph and the trailer tires were only rated to 80mph so we opted to call it a day before someone got hurt. Our simulations showed the full 1/4 mi race would be close but with the same net result, so no need to risk it. We also had some room to further lightweight the trailer but didn’t need to.

I’m glad this is so unbelievable that people care to do this analysis.

Theory versus theory, huh? That’s all well and good for barside arguments, but in the real world, theory can only take you so far. That’s why Motor Trend decided to settle this claim for good by taking everything into the real world.

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The magazine borrowed Out of Spec’s tri-motor Cyberbeast, two Porsche 911 Carrera Ts (the slowest new 911 on the market), and the exact model of trailer that Tesla used, and got to work. While the privately-owned Cybertruck was even stronger than expected, beating its official zero-to-60 mph time by one-tenth of a second, it turns out that Tesla’s number-fudging started before either the 911-toting Cybertruck or the 911 itself got to the line. That’s because the trailer Tesla used isn’t exactly rated for the curb weight of a new Porsche 911 Carrera T. Per Motor Trend:

Just like Tesla did, we hitched the Cybertruck to an ultralightweight Futura Club Sport aluminum trailer. Futura claims the Club Sport is the lightest car hauler on the market, and after weighing our trailer at 971 pounds, we believe it. That said, the single-axle Club Sport is designed to haul stripped-down race cars, not modern luxury sports cars. The trailer is only rated for a payload of 2,600 pounds, but the lightest Porsche 911 weighs around 3,200 pounds.

Futura representatives didn’t blink when we told them what we wanted to do. The company had full confidence in its product, as well as the Longway ZT501 light-truck tires (rated for 112 mph) installed on every Club Sport. We had Futura’s blessing to run the quarter mile to triple-digit speeds at 700 pounds over capacity.

Hey, props to Futura for playing ball. Not only was this a huge vote of confidence in quality control, it also gets eyes on its products. Great PR move, no notes. Anyway, Motor Trend charged the Cybertruck up to 94 percent, lined both the manual 911 Carrera T and the 911-hauling Cybertruck up on the starting line of Famoso Dragstrip, and dropped the hammers. The results weren’t even that close, and they didn’t end up in the Cybertruck’s favor, either.

In the first heat, the Porsche ran 12.5 seconds at 115.6 mph, while the Tesla followed in 12.7 seconds at 105.2 mph. Over the next few runs, as the Porsche driver honed his launch, the 911 trimmed 0.3 second off the time. The Cybertruck only posted one quicker run, which amounted to a trivial 0.02-second improvement. If we cherry-pick the quickest Cybertruck run and the slowest 911 run—the best possible scenario for Tesla—the Beast still crosses the finish line 0.229 second behind the Porsche. (All results from our drag race have 1-foot rollout removed per drag-racing convention, but in the spirit of running an honest head-to-head race, we have not applied any weather correction.)

Needless to say, that’s a little bit more than winning by a whisker. We’re talking about a huge come-up on the back-end of the track, with the 911 absolutely walking away from the 911-toting Cybertruck as seen by the differences in trap speed and elapsed time. It turns out that Musk may have lied. Who’d have thought?

Cybertruck vs 911

Oh, but it gets better. In this Motor Trend rematch, the 911-towing Cybertruck didn’t even win against the 911 in the eighth-mile. Comparing fastest single-runs, the little fuchsia rocket from Stuttgart won by a hair on time and nearly 3.7 mph through the eighth mile. Comparing head-to-head races, the 911-toting Cybertruck won just one of them, with the 911 repeatedly handing out Gapplebee’s gift cards to the stainless steel towing machine.

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Screenshot 2024 05 17 At 10.38.10 am

 

Cybertruck vs 911

So no, a Tesla Cybertruck towing a new Porsche 911 isn’t as quick down the quarter-mile, or even the eighth-mile, as the slowest new Porsche 911. Stating otherwise is a puzzlingly bold maneuver, especially considering that the Cybertruck already has some immense figures going for it. A pickup truck that runs from zero-to-60 mph in 2.6 seconds ought to be impressive enough, but for whatever reason, Tesla may have juiced things.

Photo credits: Youtube/Motor Trend

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Kurt Schladetzky
Kurt Schladetzky
6 months ago

I have no problem with people calling out other people when they lie or even stretch the truth, but why not hold all auto execs to the same standards? It’s not difficult to find examples of other prominent auto executives telling porkies. Toyota execs, for example, have promised (on multiple occasions) EVs powered by solid state batteries. Remember when Akio Toyoda stood on stage with a whole bunch of cool new EV models that were “coming soon”? All we’ve seen so far is the bZ4X and its Lexus and Subaru twins. Mary Barra also promised a bunch of new EVs that were supposed to launch years ago, but have only recently started to trickle out.

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
6 months ago

Toyota gets plenty of grief here for hydrogen.

Defenestrator
Defenestrator
6 months ago

There’s a difference between overly-hopeful estimations or vague promises of future product lines (which do get some doubt or even mockery, but aren’t really disprovable at the time) and specific but false claims of current performance.

Kurt Schladetzky
Kurt Schladetzky
6 months ago
Reply to  Defenestrator

I would find this argument more persuasive if I truly believed that Akio Toyoda and Mary Barra were not fully aware that what they were saying was complete baloney. Elon Musk just gets a lot more scrutiny.

J G
J G
5 months ago

talking about future tech and lying about something currently on the market are wholly different things.

Kurt Schladetzky
Kurt Schladetzky
5 months ago
Reply to  J G

My point here is that they all publicly said things they knew were untrue at the time, but only one of the three got called out. I purposely avoided judging the merits of the specific lies that were told, because I was hoping to keep the discussion limited to facts rather opinions.

Alan Christensen
Alan Christensen
6 months ago

I saw my first Cybertruck in the wild yesterday. It’s larger than I had imagined. This one had a matte black wrap which, with the low-poly design, made the truck look like it was made of spray painted plywood. And for all its power it was still creeping along in rush hour traffic like the rest of us.

Lizardman in a human suit
Lizardman in a human suit
6 months ago

It’s funny, but I feel they look smaller than they actually are. I think the low polygon computer imagery style messes with the brain

Jb996
Jb996
6 months ago

Here’s a really Hot Take:
The 911 is not a drag car. The 911 has never been a drag car. The 911 will never be a drag car. Of all 911 models, the 911T is even LESS a drag car.

Why did Elon compare against a 911? Because it’s known as a “fast” car, and to American consumers, “fast” only means a 0-60 time or a 1/4 mile drag race, so it was easiest way to beat a “fast” car.
It was clear to anyone who knew cars that Tesla was gaming the matchup as soon as they said it.
… although they still didn’t win, and so just lied about it instead.

Who wants to see a 911 and Cyber truck race on something with corners? When do we get the Cybertruck’s Nürburgring time? (And in stock configuration. I know Tesla likes to add unavailable or after-market mods when setting their advertised times.)

/I acknowledge that the Cybertruck is still ridiculously quick, and dangerous, for what it is.

Last edited 6 months ago by Jb996
05LGT
05LGT
6 months ago

I told my cat that Tesla made a vehicle with amazing acceleration and then Elon LIED about it and he fainted in my lap. Now I’m stuck.

10001010
10001010
6 months ago
Reply to  05LGT

I told mine the same thing and he bit me, twice.

Mechjaz
Mechjaz
6 months ago

While it’s a healthy exercise that’ll keep you active for lifetimes, debunking Musk lies doesn’t even feel like win anymore. We all knew he was lying; we’re not surprised. I get that it was done largely in the spirit of fun, I’m not down on that. Just that it’s feeling kind of circular, self-fulfilling.

And as much as it pains me to say it, I still feel that, stripped off he context of “Elon lied,” the CT put up a decent fight.

Roofless
Roofless
6 months ago
Reply to  Mechjaz

Yeah, honestly, I’m pretty anti-Elon, anti-Tesla, and anti-CT, but “actually the Porsche was 0.3s Faster than the Cybertruck towing a porsche” is some pretty weak Cybertruck-dunking tea. There’s plenty of stuff to clown the poorly built badly-rendered child’s sketch of a safety hazard on, but it does sound like it’s genuinely fast as balls.

Ben
Ben
6 months ago

Our simulations showed the full 1/4 mi race would be close but with the same net result

I’ve won plenty of simulated races on my computer too, but I don’t advertise myself as an expert race car driver.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
6 months ago

Yes, it is true that a Cybertruck cannot tow a 911 1/4 mile faster than the 911 can propel itself. However, i feel that Motortrend is exaggerating a bit in their reporting.

The facts that Motortrend found in their testing:
To 1/4 mile, the Cybertruck with 911 is about 0.2 seconds slower than the 911.
To 1/8 mile, the Cybertruck with 911 is slower on average, but in their best race, it was really close.
The Porsche is much more difficult to launch effectively than the Cybertruck.
Tesla never actually ran 1/4 mile racing.

It seems to me that, with subpar drivers, the easier-to-drive Cybertruck would barely suffer, while the manual transmission and difficult-to-launch 911 could very possibly lose its 0.2-second lead. It also seems feasible that, in poor traction conditions, the AWD Cybertruck might not suffer as much as the RWD 911.

So it seems feasible to me that under poor conditions, the Cybertruck really might tow a 911 1/4 mile, or especially 1/8 mile, faster than the 911 can drive itself. It’s within a possible margin of error. Yeah, Tesla stretched the truth, but it seems like their claim might actually be possible in the real world, perhaps likely in actual street conditions. And this doesnt seem to line up with Motortrend’s conclusion(emphasis mine):

“Here’s the truth: A Tesla Cybertruck cannot tow a Porsche 911 Carrera T over a quarter mile quicker than the 911 Carrera T alone can run the race. Add it to the long list of broken Tesla promises.”

The bigger news is that Tesla never ran a 1/4 mile race and then advertised 1/4 competitiveness, and made a video strongly implying that they did in fact run a 1/4 race. Unlike the race results, that was certainly misleading.

Joke #119!
Joke #119!
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

The Porsche is much more difficult to launch effectively than the Cybertruck.

Counterpoint: The Porsche is more fun to launch effectively and takes learned skills that not everyone in the world can do, as they can in the Cybertruck.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
6 months ago
Reply to  Joke #119!

well yeah obviously a manual Porsche is more fun than an electric fullsize pickup

Jmfecon
Jmfecon
6 months ago

A professor of mine once told me that you always can torture numbers to make them say what you want. Maybe they were really able to get a decent pass, an called it a day.

Still, impressive that difference was that small. I mean, half second of difference for something that heavy.

It is unecessarilly powerful. To the point that is a bit dangerous. Never, in my entire life, I would think that one day I would say that cars have too much power.

Church
Church
6 months ago
Reply to  Jmfecon

Agreed. Anytime I hear someone say “I don’t even feel like I’m towing anything” I get really nervous. You should feel the weight. It helps remind you that what you are doing is flipping dangerous.

Space
Space
6 months ago
Reply to  Jmfecon

It’s amazing and scary that even average commuter vehicle can effortlessly accelerate quickly and easily get to 90mph.
My first car would violently shake above 75 and it felt like it took an hour to get there. That was probably good for a 16 year old driver.

Mark Tucker
Mark Tucker
6 months ago

The fact that it even comes close is disgusting. It’s completely irresponsible to sell something that powerful to any idiot with a big enough bank account. No one needs it, and virtually no one can properly control it – least of all the ones who will attempt a similar stunt. Yet another reason to give every single one of these things the widest berth in traffic possible.

Yes, I’m grouchy this morning. Doesn’t make it any less stupid.

Aaron
Aaron
6 months ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

The Cybertruck takes the Hummer EV’s irresponsibility and doubles down by practically adding RAZOR BLADES to the front of the damn thing.

Defenestrator
Defenestrator
6 months ago
Reply to  Aaron

I’m not sure which is worse. The Cybertruck’s more of a threat to pedestrians (and drivers and passengers with the unfinished panel edges.. how the fuck did that make it out the door on a production vehicle?), but at least it’s a relatively normal weight for what’s basically a 3/4-ton truck. The Hummer EV will obliterate your average crossover in a wreck, much less a person.

Aaron
Aaron
6 months ago
Reply to  Defenestrator

(and drivers and passengers with the unfinished panel edges.. how the fuck did that make it out the door on a production vehicle?)

Honestly, I think that’s a feature and not a bug. There’s a certain cohort that’s really into the idea of running down protestors. That cohort is also one that Musk really seems to be cozying up to.

TDI_FTW
TDI_FTW
6 months ago
Reply to  Defenestrator

I just looked it up and was severely surprised to see the Hummer EV was a full 1.1 tons heavier than the heaviest Cybertruck. I knew the Hummer was heavy, but it legitimately might not be allowed to go over some bridges in my hometown.

J G
J G
5 months ago
Reply to  TDI_FTW

that 220kw battery is a monster.

Last edited 5 months ago by J G
Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
6 months ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

It’s interesting that people have only been saying this about electric cars. Nobody ever said it was irresponsible to sell Vipers or Lamborghinis or Corvette ZO6s or TRXs or Helcats or whatever.

Jmfecon
Jmfecon
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

It was ok when there were really few of that around. I mean, you don’t see Vipers or Lamborghinis that frequently.

But Hellcat, well, that is feasible, it was not that expensive and was mass produced (compared to something exotic).

There should be a special license to drive anything beyond 300 HP. It is just a matter of two buttons pressed wrong to a disaster happen.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
6 months ago
Reply to  Jmfecon

lol 300hp is a very low bar. A 350hp Porsche is much less dangerous in the hands of an idiot than a Uhaul truck, which consistently carries several times more kinetic energy.

The real solution is to keep driver’s licenses away from idiots.

Attila the Hatchback
Attila the Hatchback
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

Yeah I realized the same thing about Uhauls when I was driving a 18′ Uhaul (with a Ford V10), while towing my car through the mountains of West Virginia. I hadn’t seen my car in more than an hour because it was hidden behind the Uhaul’s box. I said to myself, “Damn, anyone could be driving one of these things — I better stay way the hell away from Uhauls in the future.”

*everyone survived the trip, and AFAIK no one was run off the road while I was (very) rarely passing.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
6 months ago

IMO anybody skilled and responsible enough to drive a minivan down a busy freeway shouldn’t have any issues piloting a Uhaul truck, they’re not that hard. Which is why your Class D license is good for up to 26k lbs GVWR in most states.

Attila the Hatchback
Attila the Hatchback
5 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

The problem is that it’s too easy to drive. I’m always worried about the people driving big Uhauls who aren’t *aware* they are driving a huge vehicle, especially when it has a trailer.

Drew
Drew
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

I sort of agree with you on that, since we do seem to hold things to different standards, but I also agree with the folks saying it’s irresponsible. With current EVs, we’re selling heavy and large appliance vehicles with more power than people know how to handle. The Cybertruck fall outside of that, since it is clearly a vehicle for Tesla enthusiasts, but plenty of others are simultaneously marketed as basic appliance vehicles and quick straight line performers.

But I’d also love to see a system of licensing that requires special endorsements for larger, heavier, and higher-performance vehicles, so I’m also already against any idiot with money being able to buy something they can’t handle.

Last edited 6 months ago by Drew
Mark Tucker
Mark Tucker
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

Oh, I feel the same way about them too. It’s long past time we had graduated licensing based on vehicle capabilities.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
6 months ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

Yeah, but you only made the comment about electric cars until prompted otherwise. It’s interesting that most people are more vocal about scary fast electric cars than scary fast gas cars. I’m not sure why this is the case, or if it matters at all, but it’s kind of interesting.

Donald Petersen
Donald Petersen
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

It might be a confluence of several factors: the immense torque available off the line, the massive weight adding so much inertia, the relative silence… plus the fact that we’re still pretty early in development of EVs (on a large scale at any rate) and have rapidly reached and then exceeded a level of performance that those noisy ICE cars took nearly a century to achieve.

Lizardman in a human suit
Lizardman in a human suit
6 months ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

If I have to go to a special school and get medical certifications to drive a big rig, I don’t see why not. Most people can barely handle a subcompact, and get to drive up to 26000 lb vehicles.

F.Y. Jones
F.Y. Jones
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

Maybe not Lamborghinis, because those are basically unobtainium for the average person…. But I’ve heard similar arguments made for all of those other cars. Particularly, chargers, challengers, and mustangs because the dollar to horsepower ratio is so insane.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
6 months ago
Reply to  F.Y. Jones

A used Lamborghini is cheaper than a Cybertruck Beast.

OFFLINE
OFFLINE
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

*until you have to perform maintenance.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
6 months ago
Reply to  OFFLINE

I was strongly agreeing, until i remembered that this is the Cybertruck, and maintenance might be horrendous. Probably still nowhere near Lamborghini territory, and probably needs a lot less of it.

OFFLINE
OFFLINE
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

Eh, mine seems fine.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
6 months ago
Reply to  OFFLINE

You have a Cybertruck?

OFFLINE
OFFLINE
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

I picked it up last week. I’m selling my ’21 F-150 to a cousin this weekend. I’m pretty happy with the CT, but the constant attention takes some getting used to.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
6 months ago
Reply to  OFFLINE

Yeah I bet. Must be interesting in a lot of ways. Sounds like Tesla really is stealing sales from the Big Three, at least to some extent, despite what a lot of people expected.

OFFLINE
OFFLINE
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

The turning radius is insanely tight for a full size truck. The thing I didn’t expect was how amazing the suspension is; put it in “relaxed” and it’s Mom and MIL approved plush, put it in “sport” and tackling fun roads is actually fun.

Rust Buckets
Rust Buckets
6 months ago
Reply to  OFFLINE

Computer controllable air springs and dampers will do that.

Acid Tonic
Acid Tonic
6 months ago
Reply to  OFFLINE

PT Cruisers used to get lots of attention…

Space
Space
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

Australia did.

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
6 months ago
Reply to  Rust Buckets

Yes we have.

EmotionalSupportBMW
EmotionalSupportBMW
6 months ago

But can a 911 outrun a Cybertruck pulling a 911 on a cold rainy night at Stoke?

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
6 months ago

Has anyone checked to see if a Cybertruck can actually carry another pickup truck in its bed? Because I seem to remember being promised it could do that at one point

Arch Duke Maxyenko
Arch Duke Maxyenko
6 months ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

Also it functioning as a boat for a brief period of time, I need to see this.

Totally not a robot
Totally not a robot
6 months ago

Technically, any car can function as a boat for a brief period of time.

Aaron
Aaron
6 months ago

But only if you select the “functions as a boat for a brief period of time” mode. Otherwise you’ll void the warranty and likely die when the electric release on the door shorts out and the emergency manual release is too hard to use. On an unrelated note, the “Brief Boat Mode” option is a $15,000 pre-orderable add-on with no delivery date.

Jonathan Hendry
Jonathan Hendry
6 months ago

The Titanic is a boat.

My Goat Ate My Homework
My Goat Ate My Homework
6 months ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

Meh, ford already did that. Then Chevy did it with 2 other trucks.

https://youtu.be/SLysG4r6ZB8?si=tWUkYHdY7g24NEMq

Defenestrator
Defenestrator
6 months ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

A kei truck is about 1500lbs and the payload’s ~2500lbs, so sort of technically? The bed’s kind of narrow though, and definitely too short

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
6 months ago

From what I can tell anyway, I’m enjoying Porsche’s complete lack of attention to any of this.

At least for me, there’s a lot to be said for being able to spend your resources manufacturing cars, rather than cars and hype.

MATTinMKE
MATTinMKE
6 months ago
Reply to  Jack Trade

100% this. Porsche doesn’t care, I don’t care, no one should care.

Got a text from Tesla today about a Model Y being $299 a month (after the expected monthly gas savings). This is complete bullshit. How much is the payment, without the fuzzy math slight of hand?

Again, I don’t care. I’m over the whole steaming pile.

Lizardman in a human suit
Lizardman in a human suit
6 months ago
Reply to  MATTinMKE

Porshe: “drag racing iz for the Americans who can’t make cars that can corner.”

My Goat Ate My Homework
My Goat Ate My Homework
6 months ago

I’m mean I’m all about facts and numbers… But, at this point we know pretty much everything Musk says is less then 100% true.

Also, what simulations were they running that get this so wrong? Same simulations running their FSD?

VanGuy
VanGuy
6 months ago

Preaching to the choir to say “Its speed is impressive to begin with; why did they overstate it in the first place?”

Side note:

the social media platform formerly known as Twitter

Thank you for continuing to do it like this, even as now apparently they’re actually switching the URLs to X.com. I hope you continue to present it similarly, indefinitely.

(…”I can’t wait to watch some videos on X”….”sure, let’s go to xvideos.com” “nononoWAIT–“)

Last edited 6 months ago by VanGuy
Jonathan Hendry
Jonathan Hendry
6 months ago
Reply to  VanGuy

It’s my understanding that the “N U D E S I N BIO” bots are now just posting HD anal sex porn in replies to tweets, so it’s already xvideos.

VanGuy
VanGuy
6 months ago

I wouldn’t know. Without an account I haven’t been able to view tweet replies for a long time now.

Jonathan Hendry
Jonathan Hendry
6 months ago
Reply to  VanGuy

Same. I saw a post on Mastodon, possibly one mirrored from Twitter. Guy said he was on his phone in public and *bam* 1080p graphic porn in his feed. Probably from a blue check bot account, but I’m just guessing.

Nsane In The MembraNe
Nsane In The MembraNe
6 months ago

You really think Elon Musk and his company would do something like that? Just outright lie in an advertisement?

Mechjaz
Mechjaz
6 months ago

Quick! Fetch up the fainting couch!

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
6 months ago

Gonna have change that old saying:

If looks too good to be true, it’s a Tesla.

Last edited 6 months ago by Canopysaurus
Rad Barchetta
Rad Barchetta
6 months ago

Well, I just looked up that Futura trailer and now I think I need one.

Gubbin
Gubbin
6 months ago
Reply to  Rad Barchetta

Probably less money than getting a dedicated tow vehicle.

Fasterlivingmagazine
Fasterlivingmagazine
6 months ago

Got to be pretty dumb to lie about something that is so easily verifiable.

V10omous
V10omous
6 months ago

I feel like nitpicking tenths of seconds is kind of ridiculous in the context of this achievement.

No one (here at least) would have given any credit to Tesla or Musk if he had said something a touch more conservative and accurate like towing a Mustang or a Cayman anyways.

Mercedes Streeter
Mercedes Streeter
6 months ago
Reply to  V10omous

The sad thing is that Elon didn’t need to lie. It’s still pretty darned amazing that a truck towing a car is right on the heels of a Porsche 911. If he said “about as fast as a Porsche 911” he still would have gotten showered with praise and the claim would have been totally accurate. But Elon has to Elon, so we have the lie that didn’t need to be a lie…

V10omous
V10omous
6 months ago

he still would have gotten showered with praise 

I agree with most of what you said, but not this part.

I think it should be pretty obvious to all around here by now that I’m not a Cybertruck, Tesla, or EV fan. So I’m really trying to share this opinion in as much of a non-fanboy way as I can.

But I do think a poll of the staff and commenters here would give Musk and Tesla a single-digit approval rating. And maybe he and they deserve it. My opinion on the matter is that the actions and statements of Elon Musk the CEO are not directly applicable to the on-road performance of Tesla vehicles. I’m positive that most others disagree.

The whole thing does make me think that an article like this, and the test from Motor Trend, which show Tesla living up to 98% of its claim but “proving the lie” are just kind of red meat to the multitudes of anti-Elon people who want to see him and Tesla taken down as much as possible. And I just think that’s a bit silly.

Put another way, if the CEO of Rivian had said the same thing and in testing the vehicle fell two tenths short in the 1/4 mile, I’m highly confident the reaction would not be the same.

Last edited 6 months ago by V10omous
Username Loading...
Username Loading...
6 months ago
Reply to  V10omous

I don’t think Motortrend is really buying or selling anything with this, it was a piece they knew they could make that would get tons of clicks and it has clearly accomplished that. I don’t think anybody would make the argument that the Cyberbeast isn’t fast. This test if it actually shows anything just means the whole faster than a 911 while towing a 911 is a weird hill to die on. Mostly because I don’t think the outcome actually matters.

notoriousDUG
notoriousDUG
6 months ago
Reply to  V10omous

How did they live up to 98% of the claim?

It’s not a percentage game, it is a binary.
Either you are quicker or you are not.

He claimed quicker and it could not achieve that.

That is 0% of what was claimed.

V10omous
V10omous
6 months ago
Reply to  notoriousDUG

Quicker in one test, performed by one magazine, at one location, with two particular drivers.

If based on that result, you’re ready to say the 911 will win in every conceivable circumstance, then I submit it’s you who hasn’t done much drag racing.

PresterJohn
PresterJohn
6 months ago
Reply to  V10omous

*3 tests, replicating in gory detail the exact conditions to which Elon was referring, which of course are the only conditions that matter in this discussion.

I appreciate you’re trying to steelman Elon’s claim here, but when you make a highly public, outrageous claim that can also be verified relatively easily, you should expect to be checked on it. If you think there was a flaw in MotorTrend’s recreation that would lead to a different result if run again, state it. Otherwise, I think it’s comfortably generalizable to 1/4 miles on standard drag strips. I mean, sure, you could design scenarios in non-drag strip locations where it would be different but that’s not what anyone means when they say “the 1/4 mile”. You could put a 16 year old new driver behind the wheel of the Porsche, but, again, that’s not what anyone means when they say “faster in the 1/4 mile”.

V10omous
V10omous
6 months ago
Reply to  PresterJohn

I am stating my belief that the test was close enough to be within the margin of error in the wide variety of drivers, weather, altitude, and drag strip conditions that are contained within the statement “the 1/4 mile”.

The variations in the Porsche’s times just in this test were greater than the delta between the two vehicles.

The fact that we are even arguing about this should be a major point in the favor of Tesla!

But somehow, the vagaries of a couple tenths of a second are enough for everyone to confidently say “Haha, gotcha, you’re wrong!”

My contention throughout this is that people/publications are only doing this because they hate Musk and Tesla.

Last edited 6 months ago by V10omous
Drew
Drew
6 months ago
Reply to  V10omous

The variations in the Porsche’s times just in this test were greater than the delta between the two vehicles.

But the worst Porsche time was better than the best Cybertruck time. And the fact that the Porsche driver got better over the course of those runs would suggest that a more familiar driver could potentially do even better. With EVs not requiring shifts, it’s not surprising to see the CT performing more consistently.

PresterJohn
PresterJohn
6 months ago
Reply to  V10omous

I guess we just disagree on what counts as “close” in a quarter mile. By every definition I’ve seen before in these kinds of tests, it wasn’t close. But maybe I’m just misunderstanding what you’re saying.

Also, you seem to be implying that Musk deserves some kind of “benefit of the doubt”. To be as charitable as possible, when you earn a rep as (at best) a fabulist, that’s not something you receive from people. I agree it’s good in discussions to assume good faith “maybe he meant…etc”, but I don’t think it’s deserved here and I don’t think hating Elon is a prerequisite for holding him to his exact word given his history.

Drew
Drew
6 months ago
Reply to  V10omous

I’ll agree with you that using Tesla to get clicks is silly. But I think it’s important to consider the public statements of companies/leadership and whether they are true. And the fact that an engineer admitted they only ever ran the 1/8 mile drives home the desire to test it.

The straight line performance of the Cybertruck is impressive, but these runs had it anywhere from 2 to 7 tenths behind the 911. That’s not a lot, sure, but it’s enough to feel pretty clear. They did 5 runs of the 1/4 and 5 runs of the 1/8, and the Cybertruck won none of the former and some of the latter. They also point out that the Cybertruck would absolutely smoke the 911 without towing, so it hardly feels like a hit piece.

What I think is interesting is that this sort of false claim might work better for building hype, since people are going to set out to prove/disprove it, extending the claim far beyond the life it would have if it were clearly true. By testing it, they’ve actually given Tesla some extra advertising.

Drew
Drew
6 months ago
Reply to  Drew

Side note: I wholeheartedly think ANY claim by ANY manufacturer should be subject to outside testing. EV ranges are a big one for me. I definitely pay a lot of attention to the independent testing there because the EPA test cycle clearly gives companies a little too much leeway and also doesn’t account for the reality: you won’t care about the range across a mix of city and highway driving. When it’s really going to matter is a long highway drive. When a company comes up with really optimistic numbers, I’m glad to see someone find real-world numbers instead.

I hope they verify the claims of every manufacturer.

Last edited 6 months ago by Drew
Drew
Drew
6 months ago
Reply to  Drew

*6 runs of each…dunno why I wrote 5.

Jonathan Hendry
Jonathan Hendry
6 months ago
Reply to  V10omous

The guy also has a company putting implants in people, I’d think holding him to account is pretty important in general, even if in this case it isn’t as critical an issue as causing brain damage.

He lies a lot. People die when they believe him. Journalists should check his claims.

Mercedes Streeter
Mercedes Streeter
6 months ago
Reply to  V10omous

I agree with most of what you said, but not this part.

That’s fair! I suppose I really meant “showered with praise from his fans,” which seems to be something Elon really cares about. He’s already had some choice words for his haters. 🙂

I also agree that this whole thing is silly. But I suppose this is what happens when you have a terminally online CEO who constantly makes bombastic claims to droves of people, including journalists, who are willing to test them out.

I mean, sometimes it’s not just Elon, either. Ford CEO Jim Farley just did an interview where he said there would never be an SUV Mustang, never an off-road Mustang, and never an electric Mustang. I guess he forgot about the Mach E and the rally version of it?

notoriousDUG
notoriousDUG
6 months ago
Reply to  V10omous

If you think a tenth is nitpicking in drag racing you haven’t done much drag racing…

V10omous
V10omous
6 months ago
Reply to  notoriousDUG

Yeah, this isn’t bracket racing; in real life with non-prepped surfaces, non professional drivers, and no launch control, this race will be close enough to go either way.

notoriousDUG
notoriousDUG
6 months ago
Reply to  V10omous

2 tenths is not close enough to go either way.

If I had a 10.20 car I would not run a consistent 10.40 car heads up because there is almost zero chance of that ending up a win.

At the level both of those cars perform at track prep is not a huge issue.

LTDScott
LTDScott
6 months ago

Wait, something Tesla said is demonstrably false?

*clutches pearls* I don’t know how we’ll get past this.

Mike Harrell
Mike Harrell
6 months ago
Reply to  LTDScott

In a 911 Carrera T.

LTDScott
LTDScott
6 months ago
Reply to  Mike Harrell

Well played, sir.

Tim R
Tim R
6 months ago

More stupidity from Musk. The CT’s performance here is really impressive but he makes it controversial with his stupid lie

Musicman27
Musicman27
6 months ago
Reply to  Tim R

Yeah, saying it outran the 911 on the 1/8th mile, would have been impressive enough.

GokieKS
GokieKS
6 months ago
Reply to  Tim R

Honestly the justification from the Cybertruck lead engineer is worse. “Our simulation showed it actually could do it in the 1/4 mile so we didn’t actually do it (but oh by the way we’ll still just state it it as fact)” is complete and utter BS, and I would absolutely expect better from somebody who claims to be an engineer rather than someone like Musk (who I already know has zero credibility when it comes to the claims he makes).

OFFLINE
OFFLINE
6 months ago
Reply to  Tim R

Dunno on that — here we are talking about it. Can Porsche field a car that can get close on a 1/4 mile against a Cybertruck while towing a Cybertruck?

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