The Tesla Cybertruck has lots of haters, with plenty saying the origami truck is just a fashion statement and not a real truck with a real, useful bed. Noticing that many of these folks then turn around and extoll the virtues of 4.5-foot-bed-having Ford Mavericks and Rivian R1Ts, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were looking for things to dislike about the Cybertruck or if indeed, the vehicle’s bed was totally useless. So I gave the Cybertruck a try; I loaded up an Ikea dresser, a bunch of plants, a ladder, groceries, and more; here’s what I learned.
Let’s all just be honest here: Modern trucks aren’t what they used to be in terms of bed capacity. I don’t mean weight, of course, because we’ve got some beefy machines out there that can really haul. I’m talking about volume. Everyone’s buying crew cabs these days; in fact, many truck-makers don’t even offer long-beds anymore. The eight-foot bed has long since been replaced by the five and a half-footer, and more and more trucks are coming into the fray with even shorter boxes; the Hyundai Santa Cruz has a four-foot bed, the Rivian R1T and Maverick have 4.5-foot beds, the Jeep Gladiator has a five-foot bed, and there are a bunch of trucks with beds that stretch only five-feet and some change.
My point is that Americans have shown that they’re willing to give up bed utility to just be able to comfortably drive a spacious truck everyday. A truck’s main purpose is no longer to carry a bunch of stuff, it’s to be a reliable daily driver that has the capability to — every now and then — tow and haul things. Yes, America’s pickup truck market has definitely had a glow-up. In that context, the Cybertruck is surprisingly useful.
My first test of the Cybertruck’s bed was a trip to Costco, where I parked in the very back, since the vehicle is still rare and tends to cause quite a stir when folks see it. I just wanted to buy my groceries and go home, so I parked at the back and watched as only a couple of folks pulled out their phones and snapped pictures. I showed a few the interior; it was fun:
I tried convincing my girlfriend to buy delicious foods like Totino’s Pizza Rolls, only to be reminded that I’m in my 30s and need to eat food that won’t put me into an early grave. As a result, we loaded our cart with oatmeal, bland non-Honey-Nut Cheerios, seaweed (which I do love), spinach, sardines, wheat bread, sparkling water, organic tortilla chips, and some paper towels.
Things fit just fine, and though the tailgate’s considerable height meant we had to lean in quite far to get the groceries onto the bed floor, this was not an issue, and closing up the tonneau cover protected everything from flying away or getting jacked. I just hit the button on the left rear bedside, and down rolled that cover, making a bit of noise as it raced down the truck’s spine:
Upon returning to my girlfriend’s house, I was surprised to see that the truck fit in the garage reasonably well. It’s big, but I think it looks bigger than it actually is:
Unloading my healthy, tasteless food required once again reaching over the tall, now-horizontal tailgate. It wasn’t a huge deal. What was more challenging was grabbing the short items over the tall, sloping bedsides:
But are the bedsides really that bad? No, actually. They’re not. The Tesla Cybertruck’s air suspension allows the vehicle to lower its ride height when parked; most other trucks (sans the Ram 1500 and Rivian R1T and maybe one or two others) don’t offer that. This drops the Cybertruck down to where the bedsides are at a more reasonable height.
It’s worth noting that many other off-road trucks have tall bedsides. I tried reaching into the back of a Ford F-150 Raptor R the other day, and it wasn’t easy; the top of the bedside was way up at my shoulder. Sure, it had 37s instead of the Cybertruck’s 35-inch tires, but even with a ride height an inch or so lower, reaching something low in the bed wouldn’t exactly have been easy:
The next job for the Cybertruck’s bed involved moving an Ikea dresser that I had just sold. At over 4.5-feet long and over two feet tall, this could be challenging to fit into, say, a small SUV. This was a great application for a pickup truck:
Keen to avoid scratching the bed floor since this is a vehicle The Autopian’s sister-company Galpin is selling, I asked my girlfriend to lay down a blanket. At 5’7″ and standing on a curb, she had a little trouble reaching over those bedsides to get the blankets into the corners, as you can see here:
Autopian reader Jack helped with the lifting, placing the dresser onto the tailgate:
From there, he pushed the dresser from the back as I lifted it from the front over the bedside. As you can see, it’s a little tricky given how tall the bedsides are, but since the dresser was also tall, it was doable. If we’d set the dresser on its back, it’d have been harder for me to reach down, but it’s worth mentioning that there’s an advantage to having a shorter load even if it comes at a cost to reachability: It can be longer. As you can see, the Cybertruck’s cab “leans” backwards into the bed, limiting the length of taller objects. Luckily, our dresser was only 4.5 feet long, and the Cybertruck’s bed is six-feet in length (and just over four-feet in width, if you were curious), so there was enough margin.
In the end, the dresser and its drawers fit just fine, even if there wasn’t a ton of extra room length-wise.
It is worth mentioning that, as I was lifting the front of the dresser over the bedside, I somehow accidentally opened the charging door. This is a silly design, of course:
Anyway, the third and final task I asked of the Cybertruck’s bed involved moving some plants that my girlfriend had bought from Home Depot, along with a ladder that we’re using to clean her upstairs windows:
The ladder, which stands at about seven feet, fit just barely when placed diagonally across the bed. The big Fig leafs stood above where the tonneau cover would sit, so we kept that open on the drive home. Loading and unloading the plants was mostly fine except, when I reached over the bedside to move one of the plants, I cut myself:
This, as you can see, is a very light scratch, but it wasn’t painless, and more than that, it just wasn’t necessary. I give Tesla a pass on a lot of this truck’s silliness because that’s what makes this truck compelling to so many people, but to make a sharp edge on a bedside that people will regularly reach over? Come on.
I Tweeted about this and, well, the replies from the Tesla-lovers were predictable:
Cut myself on the Tesla Cybertruck loading a fig tree. This edge on the bedside, which you reach over to grab things, is really suboptimal. pic.twitter.com/SqDUpo18EE
— David Tracy (@davidntracy) May 11, 2024
This one’s seems like the norm on modern-day Twitter:
Your wife’s boyfriend must love it when you’re out running errands in your Cybercuck
— Joe Dirt.doom (@joe_dirts) May 11, 2024
Here’s some more of that macho BS:
Have you tried being a man and not cry about it on the internet?
— Hugh_Mungus (@HughMungusPepe) May 12, 2024
Another:
Such a pussy.
— NG (@JBeasymoney) May 12, 2024
And here’s one I should have just left alone:
Cute comment. I drive a four-on-the-floor, 4×4, regular cab, long bed 1985 Jeep J10 with a stamped tailgate, bench seat, and a straight six whose carb I tuned myself. Here’s me towing a WW2 Jeep, and here’s me rebuilding its transmission with hand tools. In my kitchen. pic.twitter.com/izdRdZqzTM
— David Tracy (@davidntracy) May 12, 2024
Anyway, what’s the takeaway here?
Well, the Cybertruck’s bed is definitely useful. The bedsides are sharp and tall, yes, but the air suspension helps them not feel that much taller than those of other full-size trucks on 35-inch tires.
Tall objects are reasonably easy to reach even over those tall bedsides, though the downside is that tall objects are limited in length due to the sloping rear of the cab. The tailgate, too, is a bit long, requiring one to really lean over to grab things in the bed. I think it’d be nice to have some kinds of indents in the bedsides to create dividers so things don’t slide around, but the under-bed storage is useful for this, as is the frunk. Here, allow me to show those:
Obviously, the truck’s bed is compromised, but so is the Rivian R1T’s, which is only 4.5-feet long. The R1T’s bed is likely significantly easier to reach from the sides, and really, that’s the biggest downside of the Cybertruck’s bed, as reaching over from the sides is one of the main advantages of loading up a pickup bed over, say, the cargo area of a Tahoe or Suburban SUV. Still, there are other advantages like clean-ability and lack of a roof to constrain how tall your load can be. So, in the end, the Cybertruck has a legitimately usable bed that might cut you every now and then and require you to stand on your tiptoes as you accidentally bump open the charge door reaching over the bedside.
So take that for what it’s worth.
What a stupid vehicle
Aside from the spinach, David’s grown-up diet is exactly the same as my four-year-old’s… he would undoubtedly find the Cyberturck’s appeareance pleasing, too.
Do you think a vinyl wrap would prevent that?
I just realized that my minivan has a bigger cargo area than most US trucks (discounting vertical clearance, of course).
Feels like trucks in general are the QWERTY of the car world – not exactly terrible, but not the most rational choice either, but since everyone has one, manufacturers won’t build anything else.
I’ll mourn the demise of the DVORAK car body styles, and hold onto them while I can.
P.S: I didn’t like seeing those trolls harassing my man David Tracy, it felt like someone was throwing eggs at Mister Rogers. I wish the Rust God claim their silly cars from bottoms up.
I didn’t like seeing those trolls harassing my man David Tracy, it felt like someone was throwing eggs at Mister Rogers. I wish the Rust God claim their silly cars from bottoms up.
Or this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBWbpTJRqk
I have a full size van and two minivans in my fleet!
My only pickup is a K-truck and its all the pickup I need.
Full size van is the bee knees, had a VW T2 years ago and it made me question every super ar poster I ever had. Now no dream car of mine sits less than 7 people…
Lordy lordy. TIL that the cab leans back into the bed. At least part of the bed is 6′ which is 8″ longer than my Ridgeline. As for the high tailgate height and long reach in, more manufacturers ought to copy the Ridgeline’s two-way tailgate.
I think all of the big 3 trucks offer some form of elaborate transformer tail gate, but i think the ridgelines is the one that makes the most sense.
Yup, while it’s good that the cybertruck includes the in-bed trunk, it’s hilarious that it’s essentially copying the ridgeline’s bed from 2006 (that’s 16 years ago!!!) and doing it poorly since it doesn’t include the side opening tailgate feature. The ridgeline really is a masterpiece of packaging inside and out.
I’ll give tesla credit for the slick built-in tonneau cover. I have my doubts on reliability/longevity, but it’s a feature that should be offered on basically all pickups as a factory option based on how we ‘muricans use our trucks. It just makes sense.
The long tailgate reach was elegantly solved on my 1995 f150. On the rare occasion that i need to reach into the bed easier, i remove the tailgate, which takes about 60 seconds and requires no tools.
On older trucks people would permanently remove the stay cables so they could just fold the tailgate down and then lift it out. With the 1980-1996 F-Series bed it was common to see that, and see the tailgate replaced with a net.
While some no doubt used the nets for utility, I think they were mostly installed because people thought they reduced drag and therefore improved fuel economy.
David, you nailed it. Know what you are buying. The owners who are spending money on Cybertrucks are looking for a statement piece. We recently acquired a 9 year old Silverado which I installed a lowering kit so my dogs could easily jump into the back seat. The 4×4 still works fine, I towed my boat last weekend and the bedsides are 6” lower so are very easy to access and reach into. It’s how it should have come from the factory. Previously I could have stuck my head in the real wheel arch with the giant fender gap. I would not hesitate dumping a yard of loam into the 6ft bed.
You know what is suprisingly useful? A van, like a well-specced VW T6.
Seating for 9? Check.
Huge trunk with seating for 5? Check.
Cavernous trunk with seating for 2-3?
Check. Securely locked cargo? Check.
Sleeping space? Check.
Creature comforts? Check.
Decent road manners? Check.
4WD available? Check.
Small enough to fit in most parking spaces and drive around town? Check.
Decent fuel economy? Check (T7 is even available as a PHEV).
Decent towing capacity? Check
I guess it depends on your local climate, but in the UK a van is more useful than a pickup, because there’s a roof over the load to keep the rain off. And it will be raining.
Australia took passenger cars, and converted them into utes, the UK took the same idea but made vans instead.
100% on the vans, also wagons really wish the could make a comeback.
Dropping the tailgate looks like a great way to cut a big gash through your leg, with that sharp top corner. Is that the case or is it actually safe?
Tesla stans are such pond scum.
You have to keep in mind this Elon worship has replaced the hole in people that religion filled. The in-group shall be saved and the out-group shall be cast down. Accept these absurdities and be one of us.
It’s in a way not their fault for giving into those instincts but you can argue that signing over their agency to such a flagrant carpet nugget like Musk is worthy of condemnation.
One of my spare cars is a 2000 Camry. All of the Costco run stuff would fit in the trunk of the Toyota. It’s amazing how cavernous that trunk is. And it cost $98,000 less than the Cybertruck (used, private party, of course).
Thank you for the article about the CT and how well it does (and doesn’t) do truck stuff.
It can’t help but occur to me, because it effortlessly swallowed about 40 flattened moving boxes plus a box of packing materials last night, that at least 2/3 of everything you loaded into the Cybertruck would have fit in the back of my Saab 900 in one trip, with the hatch closed. And no loading problems with the knee-height cargo floor and nearly four-foot cargo opening.
I really shouldn’t be as surprised as I am at the number of people who are defending this thing for wounding them given the rest of our national moment here.
I’d manage to haul all of this in the back of my Volvo C30 after folding rear seats.
But David, can pizza roll things or whatever be used as a catchers mit to grasp onto the stick while driving? Micky D’s cheeburg all the way.
Please get out of my car
Wow, Xitter really has turned into a giant Dumpster fire. I’m mildly surprised you weren’t swamped by Tesla stans.
And be careful where you plant that fig! I bought one on a whim many years ago not expecting it to do much, and now I can almost pick figs from my second floor bedroom window.
Xitter is a weird mix of MAGA conspiracists who disavow EVs, and Elon-bros.
I wonder how the MAGA Elon Cybertruck stans reconcile their world view and politics with the fact they’re driving an electric truck whose manufacturer was partly created in response to climate change.
It’s called cognitive dissonance which they are SUPER good at.
I can’t say that i think almost any do. Rather few people are political extremists on either side, and even fewer people are Elon stan wackos. You’re describing a demographic that almost doesn’t exist.
Twitter was always a dumpster fire. It’s just that now more people are bringing their own dumpsters to the trash lung party.
As many have mentioned, everything the Cybertruck was used for could have easily (and, arguably, way more effectively) been handled by a wagon, van or mini-van which is exactly the argument against “vanity” trucks. The only advantage (besides towing) I can see from a modern short-bed truck is that you can wash it out if you’re willing to actually get it dirty.
At least the Tesla has a usable-length bed for bulk material (dirt, mulch, sand) as most buckets I’ve seen are 56″ and sometimes up to 72″. That said, lordy – I wouldn’t want to watch a guy dump a half yard of crush and run into a Cybertruck for the first time!
That’s honestly why I kinda have a weird appreciation for the Cybertruck? As David says, it’s pretty much no less practical of a truck than almost any other truck on the market, but it does it without the bullshit pretense that those other trucks have. It’s unintentionally a satire of what other trucks have become.
Also, the rest of the styling aside, at least it doesn’t have a face like a ‘roided-out gymbro who wants to cave in your skull because you asked him to wipe down the weight bench after he was done.
I have never heard somebody describe my thoughts on the Cybertruck so perfectly. I could not have said it better myself(believe me, i’ve tried).
but it does it without the bullshit pretense that those other trucks have.
Except of course the bullshit pretense of its silly post-apocalyptic wasteland movie set styling
The silly post-apocalyptic wasteland movie set styling, which, unlike any styling from Ford, Chevy, or Dodge, has at least a partial basis in practical reasoning.
Like what? mowing down by-standers?
The triangle shape is in part because it is much better for a unibody vehicle, and making the Cybertruck unibody means it is lighter and stiffer. That’s a real practical reason. This also results in a vehicle which is shorter, lower, and likely much stronger in a rollover.
The flat panels and sharp corners are in part to allow the thick stainless body panels, which really are stronger and more durable. That’s a real practical reason.
You can’t say that any styling on Ford, Chevy, or Dodge pickups is even remotely in service of superior durability, lightness, or safety(usually the opposite of safety actually).
I can say that the styling on Ford, Chevy and Dodge pickup trucks are primarily in service to exactly the same thing as the Cybertruck: male egos.
Any service to durability, lightness, or safety is completely secondary to that.
Yes. It’s secondary. Which is why I specifically said that that was only partially why it looks like that.
And my point was that even a secondary service to durability, lightness, and safety is more than what the Big Three are doing.
That’s all I said, and all I wanted to say or imply. I don’t think that this is the best or smartest design, or that it emphasizes durability or lightness or safety or efficiency as much as it should. I do think that it emphasizes those things more than other pickups do. That’s all.
Lightness and corrosion resistance were specified as reasons Ford went with aluminum on their trucks:
“Ford engineers selected these military-grade, aluminum alloys because of the metal’s unique ability to withstand tough conditions. “Our objective was to find materials that allowed us to design the truck to be as tough—or tougher—yet could help it be hundreds of pounds lighter for better capability and fuel economy,” said Pete Friedman, manager, Ford manufacturing research. “Out of all the materials we tested, we carefully selected only certain grades of aluminum that met our high-performance standards in all of our tests, while allowing us to trim hundreds of pounds from the truck.”
Weight savings from aluminum alloys help the F-150 reduce its lifetime emissions compared to the previous steel-body versions. The reduced weight enabled the F-150 to tow and haul more than ever, while also improving acceleration, braking, and handling performance. Adding to these benefits, aluminum alloys will not rust and are resistant to corrosion, helping to extend vehicle life.”
https://www.lightmetalage.com/news/industry-news/automotive/aluminum-still-makes-ford-trucks-tough/
Only time will tell if Cybertrucks will outlast the products from the big three. My guess though is they’re going to be much more expensive to fix.
Materials choice is not styling. The choice to use aluminum in pursuit of lighter weight and improved corrosion resistance has absolutely nothing to do with how a Ford pickup looks.
Repair and service on Cybertrucks will likely be insane, but with how bad Big Three pickups are right now, it’s very possible that it ends up being no worse than the competition. Only time will tell, and it will be very interesting to see.
Materials choice has everything to do with safety, lightness and durability.
The point is you can have those things without looking like a cheezy sci-fi movie set prop.
Well no, my understanding is that you can’t have stainless panels with a whole lot of curvature, and especially not panels this thick. That’s why the one other fully stainless-bodied car ever produced also looks like a sci-fi movie set prop.
Love it or hate it, the Cybertruck’s panels will take a lot harder hit without damage than competition(especially Ford aluminum), even if that’s not true to the extent that Tesla originally advertised. And you can’t deny that durability is a real practical asset.
Can’t have stainless steel panels with a lot of curvature? Don’t tell that to the “Cloud Gate” (aka “The Bean” in Chicago). It’s made up of 168 curved stainless steel panels seamlessly welded together.
And don’t tell it to every spoon and fork in my kitchen. Which are thicker than the body panels on the Cybertruck. The knives are, admittedly, pretty flat.
And… don’t tell it to Elon if he’s wearing his SpaceX cap. Starship is (wait for it) made out of curved stainless steel.
No. The only way the Cybertruck “Form” follows its “Function” is as a styling exercise to appease Musks inner child.
“That’s why the one other fully stainless-bodied car ever produced also looks like a sci-fi movie set prop.”
Not quite. The Delorean looks.like a sci-fi movie prop because it was exactly that in a whole series of sci fi movies. Before 1985 it was just a used car.
The Cybertruck was never designed with any of that in mind. It was designed to look like what a child in 1983 thought a future truck would look like. You take the Gandini wedge, flip it around, and lift it. It being a triangle isn’t because somebody thought that would be stronger, it’s because Elon wouldn’t compromise. It being made out of thick stainless steel isn’t because they thought it was better than bonded aluminum, it’s because Elon wouldn’t compromise. It having sharp corners akin to drawing with a pencil and a straight edge isn’t because they were getting around an engineering constraint, it’s because Elon wouldn’t compromise. The Cybertruck was the first clean sheet thing he had full top level control over in the history of Tesla, and it shows. The Model S was designed by the team of the guy Elon bought the company from. The Model X was designed by that same team by modifying the Model S. The Model 3 was a modification of the Model S designed by their successors, and the Model Y was a modification of the Model 3 also designed by those successors.
lol that’s just not true. Almost all of the Model S was designed under Elon, the Model 3 was totally clean sheet, and the Tesla Semi was designed 100% under Elon long before the Cybertruck. Your factual accuracy is lacking.
Why are you eating all that crap? Are you looking to lie down next to Torch and keep him company?
Those comments are all hilarious!
(After posting pastes of TwiX)
STOP POSTING ON TWITTER!
Van Nuys Costco? Used to like that one. Didn’t like the one in MDR as much. Here is an out of the box idea. When loading large objects, like the IKEA item, I get in the bed to position it. Just an idea.