The Tesla Cybertruck is in a category of its own, for better or worse.

Detroit – Spaceships. Dream cars. UFOs. Trash. Cool. Ridiculous. Amazing. Disgusting.

All of these are Tesla The Cybertruck is currently operating as a rental vehicle around the clock in the Detroit metropolitan area, with strangers, friends, family, auto industry experts and employees weighing in.

A word not used often? “Truck”

That’s because the Tesla Cybertruck is more “cyber” than “truck.” Sure, it has some truck features, like a pickup truck bed and other practical features, but it’s not a truck in the traditional sense.

It’s a unique product that comes along only every once in a while, and like the first SUVs, minivans or “roadster pickups” like the Ford Ranchero and Chevrolet El Camino, it created its own new segment in the automotive industry.

That’s both good and bad for Tesla and its competitors, especially the truck-dependent Detroit automaker that has spent decades tweaking its trucks to meet customer needs, from cargo access and door-handle size to seat height and interior components.

The Cybertruck isn’t a direct competitor to electric trucks from traditional automakers. It’s a truck for Tesla fans and owners, and in many ways an experiment with the company’s technology, including a new electrical architecture and steering system.

According to Edmunds.com, the top vehicles considered for comparison against the Cybertruck were four other Tesla models, with the Ford F-150 Lightning trailing behind in fifth place with 7.4% of potential buyers.

I drove the nearly $100,000 all-wheel-drive version of the Cybertruck in and around Detroit in normal driving and traffic conditions, and even during a brief, torrential downpour, the car’s comically large wiper blades performed just fine.

I did not test the vehicle’s towing or hauling capabilities, which have been called into question recently following reported issues with the durability of the vehicle’s aluminum frame, most notably in an extreme viral video from YouTube channel WhistlinDiesel.

I was hoping to get more first-hand knowledge about this vehicle and compare it to other automakers’ electric trucks, but that proved more difficult than I initially anticipated. I also purposely did not pre-watch or read any reviews about the vehicle before driving it.

The Cybertruck is unlike any car I’ve ever driven, and that’s true of every electric truck currently on sale. General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Rivian Automotive.

The only car that comes close to a similar driving experience is GM’s Hummer EV. Both are big, flashy, and quirky cars that are notorious for being more practical than they are practical. But the Hummer EV still feels more like a truck in driving dynamics, seating, and overall functionality. The Cybertruck does not.

The Cybertruck features tight steering that includes a yoke and a “steer-by-wire” system, a sturdy chassis similar to that of a sports car, and a design that, while arbitrary, prioritizes form over function, which has historically been one of the top reasons to buy a pickup truck.

The seats also feel more car-like than truck-like, and even when the car is in the “high” setting, which can only be driven at speeds below 25 mph, they’re still a few inches lower than most electric trucks.

That doesn’t mean the car isn’t “tough.” As you can see on YouTube, the company and owner have shot bullets at it, thrown steel balls at the windows, and performed sub-industry standard testing. That being said, the car I drove had just over 2,000 miles and I found two pieces of trim peeling off along the sealant/guide rails on the bed cover.

Potential issues with frame durability are a concern. The frame is the foundation on which everything in the vehicle rests. Even under extreme test conditions, failure of the vehicle’s frame would be a serious problem.

As for the polarizing design, it’s on another level. It makes a GMC Hummer look normal. People turned heads, jaws dropped, some yelled and screamed, including one fellow driver who gave me an exuberant thumbs-down as I drove past (though some Cybertruck drivers have reportedly made more blatant gestures). Reactions ranged from toddlers and grade-school kids to construction workers and police officers.

The inside of the Cybertruck’s doorstop-shaped stainless steel alloy exoskeleton is where things get even more interesting.

The interior of this car, like its Tesla siblings, has been described by many as “minimalist.” In my opinion, it’s a bit plain for a $100,000 car, and some of the material choices seem cheap. Given the size of the car, the interior feels more car than “truck.”

There is about 3.5 feet of unusable space from the driver’s seat to the bottom of the car’s windshield, and the back seat, while fine for a car, is a bit lacking in space compared to today’s full-size pickup trucks.

The focal point of the vehicle’s interior is a large, centrally mounted 18.5-inch touchscreen and minimal controls on the steering wheel or yoke.

What the Tesla Cybertruck lacks in “truckiness” and interior quality, it makes up for in technology and the human-machine interface (HMI) between the driver and the vehicle.

This includes a long rectangular gear shifter (Drive, Park, Reverse) at the top left of the screen, which works well and didn’t make me feel bad having to use a traditional shifter despite there being such buttons hidden on the roof of the vehicle on the screen.

The speed of the infotainment system is impressive, especially when compared to non-Tesla EVs from traditional automakers, and it’s very easy to use despite the amount of information displayed on the screen.

While I still prefer a screen in front of the driver or a head-up display that projects speed and other basic information onto the car’s windshield, I found it neither intrusive nor distracting as I expected.

The vehicle’s mirrors are also largely useless and appear to only be there to meet federal safety requirements. The Cybertruck’s camera system, which acts as a substitute for practical mirrors, took some getting used to but worked well. (Some automakers offer practical mirrors along with camera systems that show the rear and sides of the vehicle.)

Tesla’s infamous adaptive cruise control system, which it calls “Autopilot,” was available, but more advanced systems like “FSD,” which Cybertruck customers can order but aren’t yet available, were not.

The system’s ability to detect other vehicles, street lights, people, and even traffic cones, stop signs, and trash cans and display them on the screen is impressive, but while driving it didn’t do much more than standard adaptive cruise control, and it stopped at every stop light, whether it was green, yellow, or red.

Another surprising feature is the yoke that replaces a traditional steering wheel. Again, this is more commonly seen in race cars than pickup trucks, but it works well. Instead of a full rotation, it rotates around 180 degrees. Changing lanes requires minimal input. This ease of operation also comes from the vehicle’s four-wheel steering and steer-by-wire system.

Both steering features are emerging technologies that other automakers are using or considering.

Four-wheel steering allows larger vehicles like the Cybertruck and GMC Hummer to turn more easily than traditional trucks with four-wheel steering on the rear wheels, closer to the turning radius of a car and making it easier for the vehicle to maneuver into tight spaces and parking spaces.

Steer-by-wire is hard to explain. The system uses electronics and software to control the vehicle’s steering, with no mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the road wheels. It feels more like a racing yoke in a video game or airplane than a traditional vehicle.

“It can really change performance. … It opens up a lot more performance bandwidth,” said Terry Woychowski, president of automotive at engineering consulting firm Caresoft Global.

Wojciowski, a former GM executive who tested and benchmarked the Cybertruck, said the steer-by-wire feature is “optional,” but he described the change to the electrical architecture that powers all of the vehicle’s systems as a “bread and butter, engineering efficiency change” that has been needed for years.

The Cybertruck uses a 48-volt architecture to power the vehicle’s components, which increases the vehicle’s electrical bandwidth and eliminates the need for a traditional 12-volt battery to power windows, seats, headlights, etc.

Tesla is the first company to offer such a 48-volt system for a pure EV, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously sent “how-to” guides on developing such systems to competitors such as Ford and GM.

The advantage of using higher voltage for the auxiliary equipment is that the same power can be delivered at a lower current, and the wiring is roughly half the size, saving weight and cost.

But the system would require a complete rethinking of a vehicle’s electrical architecture, which could be costly, and it remains to be seen whether other automakers will follow Tesla’s lead.

“The costs of the change are enormous,” Wojciowski said. “This is really, really cool technology. It’s something that’s been needed for a long time. There are direct savings in terms of cost and mass. It’s great for EVs.”

It’s clear that this vehicle, along with perhaps a few others, appeals to the demographic of Americans who can afford it: It was the best-selling electric “truck” in the second quarter of this year, beating out the segment-leading Ford F-150 Lightning, the Rivian R1T, GM’s Hummer EV and the Chevrolet Silverado EV.

But the coming quarters and years will determine the long-term appeal of such a polarizing vehicle. The Chevrolet El Camino and Ford Ranchero have managed to hold up for decades.