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emtel • today at 3:00 PM • 10 replies • view on HN

I get so much joy from seeing these on the road. They are not to my taste, but it’s so nice to see something new on the road.

I still remember years ago seeing one in a grocery store parking lot, with a banana yellow wrap and the Zelda unlock sound as its lock chime. A brief moment of inconsequential joy.

Lastly, having the cyber truck drag race a Porsche 911, while towing a Porsche 911 (and win) has to be one of the best marketing stunts of all time.


Replies

serioussecurity • today at 3:05 PM

I feel so much anger seeing these on the road.

A bad design that costs too much, the only people who bought these were ideologues committed to the vision of a man responsible for millions of unnecessary deaths, the gutting of the American state, and some of the most destructive politics of hate in living memory.

I celebrate their passing.

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lokar • today at 3:20 PM

As a pedestrian I certainly don’t enjoy being around them, or any of the absurdly oversized American trucks.

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lastofthemojito • today at 3:51 PM

I get that.

I'm not an Elon fan in the least, but it does feel like most cars are designed by committee and converge on a few well-defined shapes and segments. And they sell a ton of them, so sure, of course.

But there's certainly some charm when you see a weirdmobile that doesn't conform and somehow got by the bean counters and into existence. The MINI Clubvan, for people who needed something compact and cargo-focused. The Cadillac CTS-V wagon, for people who wanted to haul ass ... and the family. The Toyota MR2, which felt like Toyota engineers decided "let's take these Corolla parts and build them in the shape of a Ferrari".

With the high costs of certifying a new car for sale it seems like we see fewer and fewer of these oddballs, and that feels like a shame.

So even though I'd never personally consider driving a poorly rendered dumpster from a 1980s video game, perhaps the world is a bit more interesting due to its existence.

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esalman • today at 4:57 PM

I saw someone sleeping on one on a highway. They should be regulated out of existence.

iugtmkbdfil834 • today at 3:22 PM

I agree. I was personally getting really sad on how all design appeared to be converging on one 'allowed' shape without considering any other possible -- ah ha - angles. I posted on this before, but I will repeat it here, because it is relevant.

Those cars did have uses, but those uses revolved around drawing attention ( think advertising ). Whenever I saw one in my neck of the woods, they were selling something.

threetonesun • today at 3:34 PM

> Lastly, having the cyber truck drag race a Porsche 911, while towing a Porsche 911 (and win) has to be one of the best marketing stunts of all time.

I suppose, if you don't really like cars much, this was interesting. No one debates the ability for EVs to have absurd 0-60, 0-100 times, but there's almost no overlap between why you'd buy a Cybertruck versus a 911 besides status symbol, which gets back to... maybe it's neat, if you don't really care about cars much.

fbd_0100 • today at 3:35 PM

Agreed. Even if the design is polarizing, has quality issues, whatever about elon and politics, it is refreshing to see something different and distinctive on the road in a sea of blobby SUVs and extended cab trucks.

archagon • today at 5:15 PM

Joy. Heh. What they remind me of is the atrocities that Musk committed, and also that the driver probably doesn’t give one iota of a fuck about them.

xattt • today at 3:42 PM

Can we just make the world a better place by bringing back dopey, happy cars like the Cube?

squidmaster • today at 5:15 PM

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