The Cybertruck is totally shocking to look at. You can never get comfortable with the way it looks on the outside. It’s all abstract angles and sharp edges, and you have no point of reference or basis for comparison. It’s got four wheels, lights and a windscreen, and that’s about it for things you can point out that are familiar.
The words for the cliche you’ll either love it or hate it could be replaced by an image of a Cybertruck. Anecdotely, more sit in the latter camp, and for disclosure it’s where I’ve found myself residing since I first saw it. Still, it’s easy to hate on things that are new, that are so different, and we must give it a chance.
When you do get up close to one, you start to appreciate it’s anything but a cut and shut job and your admiration does grow for the Cybertruck and its individuality. I’d read a few horror stories about fit and finish, but the example we’ve got looks pretty well executed to me. It’s an owner’s car, too, rather than a Tesla example built for journalists, so it’s representative of what’s out there.
The unpainted stainless steel panels don’t join up with one another but quite deliberately so, as this is part of its look. Still wouldn’t want to be hit by one, mind, but this is one to blame those who write the rules rather than those who merely comply.
Some notable features on the outside include glass that can withstand the impact of a baseball travelling at 70mph, although not Musk whacking it with a hammer at the Cybertruck’s reveal event. I didn’t have a baseball or bat on hand to test this. There’s a windscreen that’s the largest ever seen on a car or truck. It also has a single wiper that looks like it could double as a fishing rod such is its size, at over five feet in length.
There are no door handles either, so you get in the car using either the Tesla app or a slim credit card key, which you hold against the bottom of the B-pillar and the door releases, powered in its operation. The metalwork shows up all sticky fingers, and just how it will age remains to be seen. No idea how you’d wash it, either, yet Tesla claims the body is actually more durable and resistant to corrosion, chips or dents than normal painted panels, and the exoskeleton design and materials were derived from those used in sibling company SpaceX’s rocket and spacecraft operations.
