First Drive: Is Tesla's Cybertruck Worth the Hype?

We ordered our Cybertruck in December 2019 and had to wait for it to arrive, because we buy every vehicle we test. But once it arrived, we put the Cybertruck through the same 50-plus tests as every other vehicle we evaluate.

We measured its 0-to-60-mph time and braking distances, checked how easy it is to install car seats, saw how it handles when we put it through a high-speed obstacle avoidance maneuver, and drove it up the rock hill at our track to evaluate its off-road abilities. Plus we’ll tow with it, and we’ll test how many miles it can travel at highway speed before the battery needs to be recharged. (Learn more about how Consumer Reports tests cars.)

Where it does poorly, we’ll say so. Where it outperforms the competition, we give it credit. And, since our tests sometimes uncover problems that automakers fix in production, we might even improve it—like when we measured extremely long braking distances on the original Tesla Model 3, an issue the automaker quickly fixed with a software update. No matter what conclusions we reach, we’ll be better equipped to judge other pickup trucks and EVs based on this experience.