The Tesla Cybertruck was controversial long before it ever hit the streets. Some of that was down to the long delays ahead of production beginning, some of it was down to design, and many lay blame at the feet of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Indeed, we’ve discussed previously that it’s virtually pointless to review the Cybertruck since so much public opinion is based on the wacky antics and politics of the company’s enigmatic founder. In any case, now the vehicle is out in the real world, Cybertruck owners have been discovering their trucks are drawing a certain level of attention. Would you believe it’s not all friendly?
If you bought a new Corolla, or even a new Mustang, you might expect a raised eyebrow or a knowing nod from a few of your colleagues. The rest of the world would not blink as you passed by. That doesn’t appear to be the case with the Cybertruck, though. No surprise, given it looks like nothing else on the road, but still—some of the stories from the community are surprising to say the least.
Drive one of these polarizing trucks, and you can apparently expect harsh words and middle fingers just about wherever you go. It might be made out of stainless steel, but the Cybertruck is a magnet for the haters — whether haters of EVs or haters of Elon Musk.
Big Metal Thing
You might cast your mind back to David Tracy’s Cybertruck review from June this year. Most notably, he received a charming unsolicited comment from the sidewalk. “Your truck is ugly!” went the cry.
So when David saw Cybertruck owner Don Turner post on an owner’s page how tough it’s been for him to deal with insults, we figured we’d look into it a bit. It turns out, it’s not just David Tracy getting harsh word on the streets of LA. Many Cybertruck owners deal with it regularly.
David found that at least one person in LA really didn’t like the design. Credit: David TracyI chatted to members of the Tesla Cybertruck Owners group on Facebook, and heard from Floridian owner Marcus Story. “I’m a day-one reservation holder for the Cybertruck with a low VIN,” he says. “As an early adopter of Tesla vehicles, I’ve experienced firsthand what it’s like to own an EV in a southern car-loving town, and it has certainly been interesting!”
“Politics and election seasons play a significant role in people’s perceptions—many instantly assume you vote a certain way just because you drive a Tesla,” Marcus explains. “I’ve encountered plenty of false information, blatant lies, and fear-driven propaganda, like claims that the truck will catch fire in a car wash, that the battery will die after two years, or that it’s worse for the environment.”
He’s had some darker experiences, too. “I’ve received late-night hate messages and threats, been flipped off, ‘coal-rolled,’ and had people deliberately slow down in front of me,” he says. “But I’m not a pushover, and I confront this behavior directly.” Ultimately, he usually knows where it’s coming from. “I know a lot of people in my town, and it’s easy to trace their comments back to some of the points I mentioned earlier,” he explains. “I’m vocal and quick to counter with facts and logic, which helps shut down any nonsense.”
Others tell similar stories. Gary Lopez of California told me that while kids are usually very into the spaceship-looking vehicle, adults have been profoundly negative. “Kids that see the truck absolutely lose it with excitement… then there are grown adults who throw tantrums at you for whatever reason,” he says. “Although negative reactions are ten percent of reactions, I had a range of thumbs down all the way to ‘go k** yourself.'” One suspects Gary missed an asterisk there, but I’ll present the quote as he wrote it. He notes that this is all happens out on the road while driving. “No one says anything to my face,” says Gary.
Say what you will about the quality of the truck, the company, or the people who made it. It’s hard to think of too many other cars that get such vile attention. One is perhaps reminded of the way Prius owners were once treated by die-hard pollution fans, or the kind of gendered insults so often levelled at the Miata community.
Meanwhile, over in Ohio, Ryan Fry says he’s seen a bit of both. “I would say it’s eighty percent positive and twenty percent negative…but the negative is really negative,” he told me. Tina Cyr agreed. “The haters are with a capital H,” she says. “Someone yelled out on a crowded street, ‘That is so ugly!'” Much the same as happened to our own David Tracy. “I wanted to shout back ‘LIKE YOUR MAMA!’ but I didn’t,” she laughs.
The Bird is usually reserved for people that can’t merge or jerks that steal your parking space. Now, though, it seems to be intimately associated with the Cybertruck based on the endless posts from owners on Facebook. “Got my first middle finger today,” said Josh Olberding on a Cybertruck owners page. “The driver that flipped me off had a Kia Soul with its bumper missing… I smiled and waved, maybe they just need some love?” Others find the attention is particularly upsetting for their family. “It’s really annoying when people give us the middle finger and our kids are in the car, or they keep pointing at our Cybertruck and then keep giving us a thumbs down,” says Sadaf Saleh. For some, these instances of negative are remarkably frequent, too. “We’ve gotten like six flip-offs and some people yelling at us,” said Ashley Sarpolis. “We’ve only had it four days, lol.”
Others have seen hate escalate to violence. Washington D.C. owner Rico Clark noted he’d had a glass bottle thrown at his vehicle. Perhaps one of the uglier responses seems to come from the diesel set, too. Numerous members of the Tesla Cybertruck Owners group reported people “rolling coal” on them, wherein a diesel truck dumps a large plume of black exhaust smoke on other cars. It’s not just offensive, it’s also illegal as per the EPA, and pretty terrible for your lungs.
As for why it happens? You could surmise that it’s people attacking something that’s different, or tearing down what some see as an ostentatious display of wealth. However, for owner Hollie Holcombe, the cause is largely down to one big personality. “Living in a place with so many progressive people around, I get a lot of hate,” she says. “I am also progressive, but some of my friends in this area don’t agree that Tesla is a good company.” A lot of it comes down to the Tesla CEO in her eyes. “They see Elon as evil,” she says. “They’re upset about the cobalt issue, which they either don’t understand or don’t believe it when Elon says they’re reducing it… I’m not sure what else they’re upset about.”
Negative perceptions around the truck’s design have come up, too. “My child’s best friend is not allowed to ride in the Cybertruck because they think it doesn’t have crumple zones,” she explains. The one benefit? She’s noticed that she’s getting less hassle from diesel drivers now than before. “Coal rollers were only an issue for me when I was driving the Model S,” she says. “They now somehow think I’m on their side because I drive a truck.”
Don Turner
Hi, it’s David Tracy. I had a chance to talk with Don Turner — the LA-based Tesla owner who works in the senior care industry and whose Facebook post inspired this article — after Lewin finished writing this piece, and I figured I’d add some notes about our chat. Turner’s post was about the mistreatment he’s received as a Tesla Cybertruck owner (that’s his truck below; he’s very proud of it).
He says there are a number of factors that make the Cybertruck a target for hate: It’s the truck’s value, it’s the fact that it’s electric, it’s the fact that it looks the way it does, and it’s Elon.
“No matter what area [I’m driving in] — it can be a very affluent area — they throw their thumbs down,” he told me over the phone while doing his daily morning walk. “Very few people say they like the truck because of Elon Musk; nobody really claims to like the guy,” Turner told me before making his thoughts on Musk clear.
“Elon Musk… that jackass — I like his technology, I like his truck — ….he doesn’t shut his freakin’ mouth. He’s a bigmouth turkey. He’s probably going to do something stupid before the election. I just don’t like Elon Musk. If he sticks to the technology and building companies, there’s no one smarter.”
“Once he gets into the political stuff, it really ruins his brand, it ruins the Tesla brand,” he told me, saying loads of folks dislike his truck specifically because of the controversial CEO.
“Thumbs up, thumbs down, middle finger — that’s normal,” he says of his experience driving his stainless steel pickup.
He says there’s definitely a class element to the hate. “I’ve had people pull up to me in beaters and they’re thumbs down,” he says. “One guy came up to me and said ‘That truck is ugly!'”
Not All Bad
As was the case with Don Turner, the owners that are getting hate out on the road are getting some nicer reactions, too. Just as the truck pulls in the haters, it catches plenty of interest thanks to its unique design. Marcus told me he’s seen a lot of positive reactions to the vehicle since he’s owned it. “The reality is that there are so many positives,” says Marcus. “I get a lot of thumbs up, and even after months of daily driving, people still comment on how cool it looks.” He says a lot of people ask questions about the truck, and that many people come around to liking it after having seen one up close in person. It’s perhaps the case that familiarity helps to temper that weird human impulse to hate on the different and unique.
Down in Texas, owner Steven Walker told me he had a lovely experience with his example. “We had someone post in our neighborhood page… she had asked if she could pay us to bring it to her son’s 10th birthday party because he loved the Cybertruck,” he says. “We absolutely did and refused money for it, lol.” It’s a charming example of spreading the car culture to the kids. At the same time, though, he admits there are some that don’t like it, and feel the need to make that known. “We definitely get more thumbs up than middle fingers,” he says. “But it is quite disappointing that people feel the need to act negatively towards a vehicle owner because of the vehicle they own.”
I dropped into the Cybertruck Owners Club forums to get their perspective, too. Ultimately, the mood was that while there are some haters, more people like the truck than despise it. “I get about one negative for every hundred or so positives,” said sgmorton. “Half the time even the negatives are curious to take a look inside or are just ignorant of the vehicle.” Similarly, Tecyber1 reports lots of thumbs up and friendly signals from other Tesla owners, and people asking lots of questions and one family asking if their son could sit in the vehicle—”Of course I let him!” Meanwhile, some stories are just funny. “I have had one negative reaction… a passenger in a Dodge Charger signaled me to roll down my window on the highway, [and] he asked ‘How much did you pay for that refrigerator?!'” said Pops. “I laughed, answered him honestly and then drove away.” Outside of that, he says the truck gets a lot of love. “Endless thumbs ups,” he muses.
As you might expect, though, it appears the public is beginning to grow familiar with the sight of the big metal triangle on the roads. Many in the Tesla Cybertruck Owners group report that while they faced a flurry of interest in the early phase of ownership, the hype has started to die down. By and large, given Tesla are making these in significant quantities, it makes sense. As more of these trucks are getting around, they’re increasingly less novel for a broader share of the public.
Here’s the thing, though. While it’s nice that Cybertruck owners are getting some thumbs up and nice comments, that doesn’t excuse the hate. Nobody should be getting middle fingers, coal rolled, or bottles thrown at them because they drive a weird truck. That’s just totally unacceptable.
In any case, there’s hope for the future. Marcus reckons it won’t always be this way. “For sure my guess is it will slow down after the election,” he says, laying the problem at the feet of political division in America. “But mechanic shops, parts stores, and die hard engine people will forever hate on the EV.” Ultimately, though, he puts it down to ingrained adult biases. Given what he’s seen from the younger generation , he reckons this attitude won’t carry forward much longer. “It is a learned behavior for sure, as I have yet to meet a kid that doesn’t like them,” he says. If Marcus is right, we’ll see the middle fingers subside in due time.
Image credits: Tesla, David Tracy, Facebook via screenshot, Wham Baam Teslacam via YouTube screenshot
Oh to be young and not remember when Hummers first hit the roads.
The CyberTruck like the Hummer sits at an intersection (and even an inflection point), of politics, opinions and personalities. I’d argue it’s the AR15 of vehicles. The Hummer H2 arrived in the heat of Bush’s first term, post 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan. People were against the war for war reasons and against the perceived (real I guess) of it being blood for oil. So what car tp perfectly capture the signs of the times but a giant, gas guzzling “SUV” that was patterned after a military vehicle.
The CT is also enormous, and while it doesn’t use gas, it clearly uses a lot of other resources. Its size isn’t the only issue, it’s the volume it takes up. Next add the politics of it’s patron saint, the people he supports, and the vile comments he makes on general society. Finally there are the influencers and tic tockers who are adamant that there is a level of superiority in ownership. and that’s a lot of baggage.
You can adopt shelter animals, give blood and donate to Habitat For Humanity, but you cannot purchase a CT in a vacuum, unaware of all the baggage attached to it. You can rationalize your purchase, or try, but you cannot separate the thing from the jamesmaypointsateverything.gif it represents. No more than getting a giant swastika tattooed on your chest and arguing it’s really “an ancient symbol of prosperity and luck”.
Yes, this. I was around during the H2/H3 revival and yeah it was basically telegraphing where you stood on certain issues.
And like Hummers, the CT has likewise gone from being a curiosity to an object of derision, just now at the speed of social media.
When the only Hummer that anyone knew was the H1 owned by Schwarzenegger, it seemed cool and totally appropriate that a faded-but-still-cool action hero would own such an outlandish, uncommon thing.
But as soon as the H2 appeared and could be snapped up en mass, that’s when popular opinion shifted hard.
Also people started hearing about the tax incentives to buy the things.
They were interesting times for sure. I always remember the bit that “Cars” did at the end, with Sarge’s offroad school for modern SUVs and how there’s a very clear H2 in the group.
To add insult to injury, when these Hummers first came out, *modern* EVs and hybrids were still pretty nascent with rebates being offered up to either 3500 dollars or 7500 dollars while the Bush/Cheney administration pushed through tax codes that allowed people to write off their trucks for business up to 100,000 dollars. At the time Hummers were around 90,000 dollars; since the Hummer was classified as a truck people were able to get their Hummers for *free* by claiming them for business. There weren’t any EV trucks or even hybrid trucks in mass production back then. So emblematic of the Bush/Cheney era that you could get a complete tax write-off for a Hummer but you could only get a piddling few thousand, if that, for EVs or hybrids (plus, not all states offered such rebates whereas the free Hummer tax code was at federal level.)
I don’t remember the tax dodge but that totally tracks…
Yeah, while there’d always been some form of tax write-off for vehicles, especially heavy-duty ones, for business use it was ostensibly intended for people, ranging from blue-collar workers to engineers working on construction sites or in shipyards, who actually used their vehicles in the field the Bush/Cheney administration made it easier for people to declare their Hummers, Ford Excursions, and other luxobarge trucks/SUVs weighing over a certain weight (6k pounds, I think) as a business expense and consequently a tax write-off even if they were white-collar executives who only ever drove their vehicles in commuter traffic and parked in their own assigned spaces in the parking garages of the office buildings where they ostensibly worked. The timing of such ease of declaring tax write-offs was right around the time the Hummer came out. What a coinky-dink.
All I’m really taking from this article is Don Turner’s red wrapped CT looks pretty sweet! Color does these things a lot of good!
“People are just jealous of my cool car” says owner who is in denial about having a terrible car. “They wish they could afford such a cool car, too, and be as great as I am. Surely there is no other explanation why people would be annoyed at me or people like me, since clearly our opinions are the best.”
Lol
Also love the “kids like the car” argument… go watch advertisements aimed at kids for an hour, see how many great products you can identify and how much of it is ridiculous, useless, overhyped plastic trash.
It’s pretty obvious that most of the people against the Cybertruck are just losers who could never afford to eat at a Terrazano’s, so they’ve made it their pathetic little life’s mission to destroy the people who can
awww baby’s been reduced to trite classism
This comment led me to @terrazanos twitter page full of quality shitposts.
I’m not an Elon fan, but I think at this point the hate is an internet dogpile, and unbecoming of the haters. Even if you buy into the claims that it’s a shoddy vehicle which can’t do truck things and falls apart in normal use (true to some degree), it does have some positives (even if they’re only vibes), and joining unironic hate forums just indicates those users have vastly misdirected their enthusiasm and emotional energy.
Well the fact that the internet is full of Cybertruck apologists who act like their silly car is the greatest invention ever has contributed significantly to me assuming anybody who bought a Cybertruck isn’t quite normal in the head.
Maniacally-smiling people pretending to be (or, worse, actually being) genuinely happy that their Cybertruck has doors that open and wheels that turn and you can put a moderate amount of things in the trunk… no wonder people feel like that group of people isn’t quite kosher.
Is it a reason to key their car and throw a brick at them? No. Should they be surprised that people make fun of them? Also no.
I don’t think much of Elon, or his transportation pods, but when people talk about cost I wonder when the last time they priced out any equipped truck…60 80 k? WTF. This is all posing and if you all want to pose in Elon’s Robocop car go for it. But flipping off someone because they have one is fucked up. And the coal rollers, well some people out there are still about 11 years old mentally. Finally, I will admit that they are striking and there is nothing else out there like it. (Well maybe DT’s Aztec)
“I’m not an Elon fan, but I think at this point the hate is an internet dogpile, and unbecoming of the haters.”
Are you talking about hate for the truck or hate for Elon.
Hate for the truck. Elon has a greater impact in our daily life than a dude in a low-poly EV
“the company’s enigmatic founder”
Enigmatic?!? Ooooooff, my eyes, they hurt from rolling so hard at that statement. Such a characterization might uncharitably be viewed as being at least slightly boot-licking. He’s less enigmatic than a box of generic saltine crackers containing bioengineered food ingredients. He literally owns a social platform on which he constantly talks about his views. He’s just a spoiled petulant Nazi sympathizer (in other words, simply Nazi) whose wealth got its start by benefiting from an apartheid system. Plus, he didn’t even found Tesla, for crying out loud. He just bought his way into the company.
To be sure, some people are being jerks with their behavior being based on reacting to what they see as a ugly design, no excuse for that. For some other people, though, the CT is just so intrinsically entangled with the manufacturer’s CEO that as much as CT owners rationalize their ownership of such vehicles with “facts and logic” the fact remains that the CT is simply inescapably associated with someone whose views are repugnant and is outspoken about them. This isn’t about liberal vs conservative, this is about someone who’s full-on Nazi, good grief.
Sheesh, I missed enigmatic. Let’s see m-w.com defines it as
Musk isn’t a mystery. He’s about as unmysterious as an exploded diagram of an engine. Everything is laid out right there for you to see.
Please stop sanewashing Musk.
Enigma was also a literal tool to help Nazis do shitty Nazi stuff, which seems more apt.
Elon Musk, Literal Nazi Tool
Yeah that would work on a business card
The Cybertruck hate bugs me. People whine and complain all trucks and SUVs look the same. Tesla makes something that looks like it’s from outer space, and suddenly people whine it doesn’t look like every other truck out there. Make up your minds!
I totally understand not liking Musk for very valid reasons. I don’t like him either and I personally wouldn’t buy a Tesla with his descent into insanity being one of the major reasons, but I see no point in taking that out on Tesla owners.
I also happen to know quite a few people who work at Tesla that don’t care for Musk at all, but very much care about the company and the projects they work on. They can’t control what Musk is doing, and simply quitting isn’t easy or even going to change anything.
People are totally entitled to their opinions, but don’t express them on the road where you have no clue why someone may be driving a particular vehicle and there are innocent people all around just trying to travel in peace. Coal rolling, flipping people off, throwing things at other cars, etc aren’t valid actions in any context. Knock it off.
I don’t think anyone is simply complaining that it doesn’t look like every other truck out there. I think the complaints are more about it looking goofy without having the utilitarian qualities that usually accompany such stark design decisions, and having poor quality control that’s visible from a mile off. I’ve seen plenty of praise for Rivian breaking away from average truck design, or for the Ioniq 5’s boxy retrofuturism. But those are designs that got a second and third draft after the back-of-the-napkin sketch.
Yeah, that’s fair. I didn’t say the Cybertruck was a good vehicle, but there are a lot of bad vehicles out there, and I don’t get why people feel the need to express their displeasure with the Cybertruck so publicly, like throwing stuff at them on the road. People can spend their money on whatever stupid stuff they like.
Throwing stuff is indefensible, but the CT is tied to the CEO’s nonsense. It’s not just a car, it’s Elon Musk in car form, by design, literally. So that’s how people react to it.
Good Lord some of those folks quoted sound insufferable
Would you expect anything else from a Cybercuck?
“grown adults who throw tantrums at you for whatever reason”- this can be applied to so many things, and sums up a lot of what is wrong with society
I guess the wife and I are a bit on the oddball side with our reaction to seeing this thing, where we just start cracking up at how ridiculous it is, but have only seen a couple so far.
Do you think any of these people will reflect on why the vehicle has the perception it does? I cant imagine.
I’ve never seen actual facts get in the way of haters expressing their emotions and whatever conspiracy of the day they happen to be sucked into.
Hard to feel bad for people who bought a vehicle for it’s attention getting capabilities, when they don’t like the attention.
Also, the only person who has ever brake-checked me, was a Tesla driver. I guess moving over immediately after completing my pass of the 18-wheeler wasn’t good enough for them.
This is a key point right here. I can’t imagine anyone picking this truck for any reason other than it’s ability to grab attention. Congratulations, you are now getting attention. 🙂
I’m not saying you weren’t brake checked, but I thought I was getting brake-checked a few times by Teslas (made more puzzling as I was plenty of lengths back) and then they got recalled for phantom-braking. I think it might still be an issue from another idiot I ran into recently. Tesla: is it an idiot driver or bad “self driving”?
This one was pretty clear. He flew up my ass while I was passing the truck. I pulled right out of his way when I completed my pass. I’m always happy to have people moving faster than me on the interstate in front of me anyways. Let them be the rabbit for the po-po. Anyways, he then pulled right in front of me, jammed on the brakes HARD (it was almost a high speed crash between myself and him, and that 18 wheeler), and then floored at and took off.
Yeah, no doubt there. Teslas have seemed to have attracted the extremes of the bad driver spectrum.
I love the runners! That’s how I blasted across a lot of the country so fast, letting some other clown run about 1/4 mile ahead of me while I keep known safeties in my rearview.
The early adopters were certainly on extreme ends of that spectrum. There’s a ton of them around my area now, and that seems to have normalized now that they’re just viewed as normal cars by normal people.
My only question is: “Did they not know that this car was controversial before they bought it?” No one forced them to buy a divisive car made by a divisive company headed by a N@z! apologist and racist. These eye sores have instead been inflicted on us by people who apparently have 100k+ to just to spend on something deliberately meant to garner attention. They could have spent that money on a GLS, or a Ram Tungsten if they needed a truck, or a GM/Chevy EV truck or Ford Lightning. There are options for these poor, beset upon rich people that aren’t gross or controversial, they just made their choice and are angry some people aren’t following in line.
Right, it’s not like an early Model S with a “I bought this before I knew he was an ass” bumper sticker, you knew the cult you would be associated with before you sat behind the wheel.
Those are still wild to me. If you paid attention to the guy himself it’s been pretty obvious he’s a PoS for a long time.
Just because a vehicle is controversial doesn’t justify the levels of hate I’ve seen, and we shouldn’t be telling people not buy things just because they’ll get hate from a crowd.
Garnering attention is fine, and I see a Cybertruck as similar to a lowrider, too-clean SEMA build or lifted Super duty with anodized suspension. These things are less practical now than they were stock, and will get hate for being impractical, but if the owner wants to pay a lot extra and limit their use case in return for the feeling they get riding around, let them. They’re not hurting anyone.
I tend to have the same stance as most here that I’m not going to draw any attention to someone being a CT owner, but it’s going to sit in the back of my mind as a factor in determining what kind of response to give them should I have any direct interaction.
That being said, I would stay well and far clear of them in traffic, as they are a giant safety hazard for anyone near them. Thankfully the few I’ve seen so far were going the opposite direction or parked.
This article has inspired me to thumbs down Cybertrucks.
If your thumbs are down, how are you going to use the turn signal buttons on the steering wheel?
Hey team, I remember your article explaining about why you will not write an article about the CT fire that burned a man alive, but yet today you decide to write a piece about rich crybabies.
Anyway, if you’re back on writing about anything CT related, I suggest you put the same energy and use the same quantity of words, to talk about the hundreds of issues that plague this car.
Check r/cyberstuck for inputs.
Stuff like cracking windshield, cracking screens, glued parts falling appart inside and out, mirrors and hubcaps (v2) falling appart, tonneau failing, motors issues or wiring issues bricking it, wipers not working or going 90° outer body, or the biggest issues like the drive by wire system recurrence to fail while driving.
I think it would be a better informative piece to your readers than this..
Or the tongue weight scandal… Strange not to read about that on a car site with so many writers caring about trucks and pulling stuff.
Until those complaints become recalls or lawsuits there’s really no story. It would just be coverage of people whining in a subreddit.
It’s obvious how to avoid suffering CT quality issues – don’t buy one.
I mean, isn’t that article just the coverage of people whining on Facebook/twitter ?
I mean yeah I think it’s ugly and I’m no Musk fan, but that’s not an excuse for treating someone poorly.
I stopped flipping off anybody for any reason because there are way, way, way too many guns floating around out there. So now I just use the PIT maneuver on ‘em. Not easy to effect on a CyberTruck, though.
PS. That picture in the article of the maroon CT just proves this truck should always have been offered in colors. Changes the whole way I perceive it as compared with its normal world-stomping mien.
Eh, maybe they fixed the bulletproof issues?
It’s an ugly doorstop, but not in a middle finger kind of way. As for the coal rollers, I had to put up with a lot of that as a bicycle rider living in truck country. It seems the coal rollers hate everything that isn’t a coal roller. But I digress. Outside of the ugly shape, the thing just doesn’t live up to all the hype the stans keep mouthing. That should just result in derision, but not middle finger or vandalism-style hate.
I think you hit on the real reason for the hate. Of course Elon is a POS, but so was Ford and the GT40 is my all-time most lusted after car. Go figure. But I think the real animosity is towards the BFing Teslas Stans and fanboys who think Elon walks on water. Maybe if they got off their keypads and left the basement occasionally they Gould leave that cult. I’m not going to hold my breath. Finally I saw an update S recently and it looks quite nice in an Aston Martin sort of way.
Same designer
I generally laugh when I see one in the wild
My wife apologizes for her middle fingers. It’s not you, its Elon and the style. I, personally, don’t like either so much myself. But, everyone has their own schtick.
With that said, here we are again…
If you are going to advertise your opinions on stuff (Elon), people have the right to react to that advertisement (the rest of the world).
Funny thing is, he isn’t “advertising” to help save bunny’s, or to spay or neuter your pets. He is doing and saying what he is doing and saying. We all know what that is. And, unfortunately, the average person is suffering as a result.
I don’t see this happening with Mary Barra or Jim Farley.
like buying a German car in 1939
First – don’t get angry about someone driving a particular car. With that out of the way, I don’t buy that the hate is because it is an electric truck. I bet Rivian or Ford doesn’t get the same hate. Elon is definitely part of it, but Tesla cars don’t get the same level hate. Hmmm, maybe because it is an ugly vehicle with a small bed and really not that great at what trucks are used for? I think that is getting closer. Now, there are a lot of bad cars out there, but the hype combined with the design and Elon….well, that seems to be a problem.
The world needs less hate.
Ignore the Muskrat and what you have is an automobile with a “polarizing” design. It’s not my preference, but a lot of people like things I don’t like, and that’s absolutely fine. I find Musk and his ilk troubling, to say the least, but buying a Tesla helps employ thousands of decent people, just like buying a Ford or a Toyota.
I haven’t seen a CT in the wild, but I have heard all the anecdotes about poor driving behavior. I sometimes wonder if it seems more common than it is because the vehicle sticks in your mind. I have noticed plenty of aggressive and idiotic driving from all kinds of vehicles, so it’s certainly not limited to CT drivers.
Next time you see an object you don’t appreciate, try to remember that you own things others don’t necessarily appreciate and cut people some slack. The world is better with diversity, including diversity of opinion.
Thanks for listening to my TED Talk.
Counterpoint: Naw dawg, fuck ’em.
Y’know when people say that the world needs less hate, they’re usually talking about serious issues like bigotry, not people who bought an ugly truck that profits the wealthiest and most annoying man on the planet getting the finger a little more frequently than usual.
Well this is an auto enthusiast website, I try to stay somewhat on topic.
Fair enough, but I don’t really think that hating a bad car that profits a bad person is the kind of hate that makes the world worse.
The Muskrat is part of the context of the cybertruck, and the world won’t get less hate by ignoring context.
One could suggest that the hate starts via Elon (X/Twitter) and continues on from there. I am old enough to remember boycotting grapes due to shit working conditions and pay for the workers in the field. Some of us may choose to treat Tesla in the same manner. That it looks weird is personal taste, but I get the idea I could fit more in a Hyundai Ionic 5 with the seats down than in the back of the Cyberhting
“ but buying a Tesla helps employ thousands of decent people, just like buying a Ford or a Toyota.”
So buy a Ford, a Toyota, or a Rivian, etc.
The only hand gesture I commonly make to other drivers is a thumbs up if I see something interesting.
Needless to say, I have not strained my thumb at a CT.
Are they polarizing to look at? Yup.
Is the founder polarizing? Depends which side of the political fence you’re on.
Do the drivers deserve the bird/vandalism/hate? Nope.
You know who does? Straight Piped VQ owners.
Reminds me of the time I explained to my R&D director about VQs at a lunch event as, you guessed it, a straight piped VQ was trumpeting down the road.
Does it have to be political if you don’t like the guy who bought a company and immediately fired half the staff? He was an a-hole long before he was political.
Union buster too – and don’t get me started on his cloth-walled factories.
Kinda the definition of polarizing dontcha think?