The Rivian R1T and Tesla Cybertruck are generally both viewed as lifestyle trucks that are geared more towards off-road adventuring than typical truck work like a Ford F-150 Lightning or Chevy Silverado EV. We have seen a lot of videos covering these trucks rock crawling in the mountains or cruising the deserts of California.
But a far more frequent use case for trucks like these is how they do on simple jeep trails, rough farmland, and other back roads driving. That’s what the YouTube channel for Mountain Pass Performance wanted to test today in their recent video.
The Cybertruck is set into Baja Mode for this drive. The responsiveness of the steering-by-wire has been criticized by some reviewers for specific use cases like towing. But when whipping around curves at this dirt track, the Cybertruck’s steering really shines. “This one’s cool because a little bit of steering gives you so much input.” Says the host from Mountain Pass Performance. “It’s like being in a really quick ratio rally car.”
In off-road settings, the Cybertruck does a great job managing the wheel spin. For the most part, it handled the rough road surfaces with ease in complete silence. “That was pretty wild. I was not expecting that out of a big truck like that.” Said Scotty, who owns the property they’re testing on today. “As soon as you landed, you could see the truck rotate instantly. It looked like a rally car almost.”
The Tesla did manage to lose a piece of plastic trim during one of the roughest portions of the track. They also reached a point where the motor actually cut power after a particularly rough rut in the road. “It was like nope, we’re digging into the rut or whatever. We don’t like that, we’re shutting the system down. I think if you were going any more hardcore than this, that would be a limiting factor.”
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The Rivian was up next and it was tested in both Drift Mode and Rally Mode. Neither was ideal for this driving scenario when trying to drift around sharp turns with low traction. “The problem with the Rivian is that it just gives me no power once I’m sideways.”
When going full throttle after entering a turn, the truck loses all power output. “I think it just figures you’re fully out of control and it’s trying to protect the driver at that point. Whereas the Cybertruck was just letting you party no matter what.” In order to keep power, he had to begin acceleration before entering the curve. It did perform very well when landing after going airborne, however.
“The Rivian was probably better at jumping. It has more ground clearance. But in terms of the sliding and kind of that rally or baja-type hustling? The Cybertruck was so fun.” To be fair, the Rivian’s performance feels like an intentional decision rather than some inherent limitation of the truck. So it’s possible that Rally settings could be improved in the future. “The Cybertruck was super fun and it felt like a toy. And the Rivian felt like it was just trying to keep you safe.”
Have you taken your EV or PHEV on any fun excursions recently? Let us know about your recent experiences in the comments below.
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