The bed length with the midgate is its own category or asterisks at the least because you loose 3 passenger seats. Neat, but it comes with a cost. Otherwise he made some valid arguments.
FSD exists in the market today (it's available on the best-selling car in the world, the Tesla Model Y) and it's not a big leap to trust that it will make it to the Cybertruck soon.
You don't want to assume FSD will arrive shortly for buyers of the Cybertruck, but you want to assume that all air filters need service at the same intervals? Cybertruck likely has a considerably higher filter area (since it has HEPA bio-defense mode) and it looks like it has an updraft design which is designed for the filter to last longer before getting plugged. Why should we assume all vehicles are engineered with equal service intervals?
Covering a Silverado with an aftermarket tonneau just raises the already high price of the Silverado and reduces its payload and range. It does nothing to set the Cybertruck back at all. Although it's beginning to sound like you want to try to knock Cybertruck off the pedestal it's engineering teams put it on. Why would you include aftermarket modifications in comparisons of stock vehicles? It's not like an aftermarket company couldn't (and won't) offer a canopy for Cybertruck. Not that I would want one!
This is actually a refreshing comment that recognizes quickness and power DO matter. So many people who try to "whittle Cybertruck down to size" claim quickness and power don't matter in a pickup. Of course they matter!
Let's remain reasonable here, as soon as you open the midgate, it's no longer a truck bed because it's open to the cabin (including rain, snow, wind, dust, theft, smells of whatever you have behind the cab, etc). This is a comparison of truck bed sizes, not whether you can convert it to an open station wagon. Truck beds are not part of the cabin.
I would like to see the Raptor make use of the cooling system for the engine or the Air Conditioning for the cabin, without relying on a battery (as well as gasoline). And it's a lead-acid battery, a technology so out-dated you won't even find one in Cybertruck! Your comments here make no sense, all vehicles rely on their primary power source for all their functions. The Raptor also relies on it's secondary powersource which in turn relies upon it's primary powersource, which in turn relies on gas stations, which rely on refineries and plenty of electricity, which rely on oil wells and pumps. The supply chain to power the Raptor is long, complex and expensive, yet you act like it's a problem to charge the battery in a Cybertruck.
I'm confused why you think Tesla is not telling the truth when they say the glass in the Cybertruck is stronger than normal automotive glass. Sure, we know it's laminated, so what? That doesn't mean it's the same strength. Tesla is the one who specified the glass properties from their supplier, they KNOW how strong it is.
I’m curious the use cases for the mid-gate…I know many really wanted it… the thought of having an open air back of my truck in Oregon doesn’t sound appealing and I just don’t have many use cases at all where that would be worth it.. but I know they are out there so no judgement
Tesla cannot become the sales leader unless they become the production leader. And that's more difficult than it sounds. It takes billions of dollars and years of planning to expand production capacity enough to overtake any of the other large pickup makers. Tesla can do it quicker than any of the rest, but that doesn't mean they just flip a switch and a million trucks per year come rolling out of the factory gates. It will take years, even for Tesla. And we can expect to see total pickup sales of the legacy automakers continue to decline over the next decade. They have already hit their peak pickup sales and production numbers, even if you add ICE and EV together.
The mid-gate is really handy for pole vaulters in mild climates when they don't need to park the truck unsupervised in areas with potential crime.
The funniest part about this… I was a pole vaulter in college with a best of 18’… my poles were 16’5” in length… so even then the use case is moot as I knew how to transport them on 4 door sedans ?
That’s a good pick-up from the video frame, but the Jump section of the chart is based on the actual comments and impressions of the Top Gear hosts from the driver’s seats after the jump tests. That’s the best we can do until we get more rigorous comparison tests.
Thats a good point. I will add the Raptor V6 EPA range to the chart.
True, however, I have also included the pricing details for the Rivian Quad Max which is not shipping to next year either, so I think it’s appropriate to leave the CT RWD details in the chart - though I will add “(due 2015)“ to the chart in addition to the footnote pointing that out.
As another commenter mentioned, there is no way that FSD will not be added soon, so I think the caveat shown against the CT is sufficient to highlight it is not yet available. A Raptor owner informed me that BlueCruise is not available for the Raptor, but If you have any links that say otherwise, I’d be happy to update the chart.
The difference is that factory-mandated service intervals are pretty important for ensuring warranties are honoured. The fact that such servicing is not mandated by Tesla means the lack of a record of regular inspections shouldn’t ever be cause for denial of any warrantee repairs.
The 77.4 cubic feet of storage noted for the Silverado already includes cabin storage and optional tonneau cover volume whether the mid-gate is opened or not.
Excellent, I’ll update that field as well.
That’s a good point. I’ll add a note to that effect.
You‘ve spotted a typo in my chart - there should be a full stop between the words “No” and “separate”. That should be indicating the Raptor has multiple separate heating/cooling systems instead of a single unified system like the CT.
I’ve been meaning to add that optional 2kw system for the Raptor. Note that the CT can power a complete house for 3 days, so I think the fairly minimal requirements of camping power should last a lot longer with significantly less impact on battery range. In fact the travelblog Kara and Nate cooked a meal with an air fryer and boiled water cooking rice simultaneously, watched movies on the big screen etc off onboard 120v while camping a few nights and lost a mere 2% of range.
As I mention in the footnotes, Testa states that "Armor Glass can resist the impact of a baseball at 70 mph or class 4 hail". Are you sure the regular laminated glass in the other trucks could handle that?
No problems, thanks for the useful critique.
The latest videos of FSD in action driving to a point in an open field on a farm or going off-road between cones around a construction site have been quite remarkable, so I think it is probably still useful to keep in the chart.
That was a typo on my part. I actually meant the Raptor had too many separate heating and cooling systems unlike the unified OctoValve system of the CT.
Thanks for the heads-up DistilledBison. That field is poorly worded. I‘ll change it to say something along the lines of ”the steering is only 170 degrees from centred to full left or right lock allowing a driver’s hands to stay in the same spots on the steering wheel full lock-to-lock.“
In that case. Why stop there, Dodge, Toyota, Jeep, have good off-road truck as well. You should be adding all the capable off-road trucks out there to your list. I still think Raptor R should not be compared with EV Truck. Just my thought.
This comparison is of full-size truck EVs. I‘ve included the Raptor R as well as that is pretty much the most well-known and popular example of a full-size off-road Fossil truck and provides a good comparison of ground-clearance, performance, etc.
The main problem here which is glaringly obvious to anyone that understands vehicle geometry such as approach angle, breakover etc, is that you've used the "maximums" for all of these figures and at the "extract" ride height you have absolutely no articulation and very little travel available to you. If you were to drive in extract against a Raptor R over a variety of surfaces the CT would be laughed out of the room. You cannot simply compare the numbers without looking totally clueless about your understanding of how these numbers are measured.
Kelvin, perhaps you are forgetting that 4 out of the 5 EVs in this chart also have adjustable air suspensions with similar constraints as the Cybertruck's suspension meaning that comparing these specs as shown in the chart is absolutely useful and entirely valid.
Choosing such a customised metric would perhaps make it a little easier to compare the 2 Fords against the other trucks in the chart but unless you have a reviewer who has set up such a technical comparison between all 6 of these trucks, it's pretty much beyond the scope of this chart I'm afraid.
Yes, the Cybertruck manual recommends removing some of the plastic fairings around the wheels when off-roading. Considering the vast majority of trucks aren't taken off-road - let alone into serious off-road situations, I think Tesla's choice to increase range by including such plastic fairings to optimise aerodynamic performance is the correct decision.
Actually, one of the most common scenarios I encounter where the highest ground clearance is required (but a lot of articulation is not required) is when driving in deep wheel ruts which bottom out vehicles on the hump and rocks in the middle of the track leaving all wheels spinning. This also often happens in mud and sand.
Serious off-roaders (myself included) at a minimum take off the plastic bumpers front and rear on our 4WDs and put on after-market metal bullbars with winches (called Roobars here in Australia
rocksliders, bash plates and the like so it is to be expected that will happen with the Cybertruck as well.I think the jury is still out on that as the stub-axles of the Cybertruck are attached next to the lower swing-arms which are very beefy. In contrast, the upper swing-arms are not nearly as load bearing.
I think most of the footage of Cybertrucks slipping in comically easy terrain occurred prior to the major Off-road software update which enabled the front and rear diff lockers amongst other features like Trail Mode and/or are down to inexperienced drivers putting the CT in Extract mode when they shouldn't. As I mention in the footnotes of the chart, the manual explicitly says to choose Rock mode for maximum articulation:
It sounds like you didn't call up the Off-Road app and select the appropriate setting like Rock Mode as detailed above? Yes the Cybertruck requires drivers to be more conscious of what mode they are in, but that's what allows it to optimise the performance of the suspension and traction control for on-road as well as all of the different off-road conditions encountered.
Hopefully I've explained the rationale for many of the choices in the chart, but thanks for your helpful perspective that I'll use to modify the next version of this chart.
This is such a great chart, thank you for this. I saw someone posting on X the other day that the Cybertruck isn't as good as the to vehicle in ask these different categories, but that it's a close second. This chart actually shows that it's probably right up there for off roading. It would be interesting to see this with a Jeep comparison as well.