Tesla Cybertruck review

The interior is typical Tesla, simplistic to the point of barren. A large storage bin under the front armrest, two hexagonal cupholders, a suitcase-sized storage space between the driver and passenger’s legs and a glovebox that glides out and back electrically with enough space for a laptop. In the back is a simple three-seater bench, although the seat squabs can fold up and the rear door opens to 90 degrees, meaning you can post six-feet-long things in there quite easily. Including sleepy humans, we’re told.

How useful is the bed?

There are three outlet plugs back there (2x 110V, 1x 220V), which are powerful enough to allow welding (is anyone actually taking their Cybertruck to the building site?) or more likely for plugging in your mini fridge for a spot of tailgating. It also features bi-directional charging so you can use your car to power your house in the event of a blackout. Open the electric frunk, called the ‘Powergate’, and there’s space to tailgate (frailgate?) there too, or cram a few more big bags in, but the star of the show in the load bay cover. That retracts speedily down the back of the bulkhead when you hit a rubber button around the back and turns the bed into an enormous, lockable boot. It also improves aero efficiency by 10 per cent when closed and can support “a 350lb person standing on one leg” says Lars Moravy. This is the type of relevant product information we like.

And the interface?

Everything is controlled through the landscape, 18.5-inch central screen – no stalks or instrument cluster behind the wheel, just all that dash spearing off into the middle distance. The indicators are two arrows stacked on the left, which is endlessly confusing – at the very least have one on each side.

The screen greets you with crisply rendered images of your Cybertruck that you can spin and rotate in three dimensions and poke various areas – frunk, bay cover, tailgate – to open them up electrically. Dive into the menus and the major differences are a Beast mode for maximum throttle sharpness and suspension stiffness, although you can change every parameter individually. If you’re heading off the tarmac, you can choose between Off-road or Baja mode, that lets you play with a front/rear torque slider for maximum hooning potential. In the back, passengers get their own 9.4-inch touchscreen.

Fun fact, you won’t find a single Tesla badge on the outside or inside – clearly Tesla wants Cybertruck to be something all of its own. More fun facts: the single windscreen wiper is enormous, almost 1.2m long and aero optimised to reduce wind rustle, the tyres are specially made for Cybertruck by Goodyear to accommodate the not-round rubber aero caps and the headlights are only 20mm tall; hidden in the slot between the frunk and front bumper.