Driving the 2024 Tesla Cybertruck Off-Road at King of the Hammers

• Through transparent happenstance, we got to drive the elusive Tesla Cybertruck out in the desert at King of the Hammers.

• With notable caveats, the truck performed much better than we expected.

• The caveats included shockingly wimpy brakes, aftermarket tires that scraped the wheel arches, and a busted suspension, significant items.

You never know what you’ll find at King of the Hammers. Sure enough, right there in the off-grid charging solutions of the Optima Oasis where they’d set up EV charging for the 70 or so electric trucks and SUVs on the (usually) dry lakebed where Hammers takes place, was a Tesla Cybertruck.

A fleet of EVs was just about to head out on a drive and lo and behold, the Cybertruck, tuned by Unplugged Performance, maker of aftermarket Tesla parts, had an empty seat!

Sliding into the front passenger seat my first thought was, “Damn…this thing is big.”

Unplugged Performance development driver Craig Coker was at the wheel. Thanks to that extremely long, sloped windshield I felt like I was sitting way far back from the dash. I had no idea where the front of the truck was, the proportions were so whack-a-doodle.

We came to a soft sand hill and I asked Coker to take the high line. He eagerly agreed, switching from “Overland” mode to “Baja” mode.

This Cybertruck was wearing Unplugged Performance’s custom bead-lock wheels and 35-inch Yokohama Geolanders with 35 psi inside. Swapping tires is the easiest thing you can do to improve off-road performance in general, and these Geolanders are a bit beefier than the Goodyear Wranglers that come standard on the truck (however, you’ll lose some range with the extra tread).

Coker gunned it and the Cybertruck climbed up the dune, flipped around and threw up rooster tails of desert dirt while spectators hit the “record” button on their phones.

I Got to Drive!

Then, with nothing to lose, I asked Coker if I could drive.

“Oh yeah, sure,” He said. Yeehaw!

We took a steep hill but nothing to challenge the Cybertruck’s geometry. At full height there is 17 inches of ground clearance—although that’s in “Extract” mode so you won’t be able to go too fast at that height—with an approach angle of 35 degrees and a departure angle of 28 degrees.

This test truck also had Unplugged Performance’s manually disconnecting antiroll bar kit but, frankly, the rig didn’t need any more articulation on this quick drive.

Cresting the hill was a bit scary. The dash is so long, it seemed like an eternity until I could see over the hood to the trail below. There are cameras here and they are high-def, but you’ll likely want a spotter if you’re not familiar with the trail.

Then: Terror at 438 mm! As I came down the hill toward a road crossing, I hit the brakes. But the Cybertruck didn’t feel it was slowing down at all. I added more pressure to the brake pedal, but it was still not slowing down proportionally. Coker said the brakes weren’t “warmed up.”