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Testing 18 trucks to determine the 2025 MotorTrend Truck of The Year (coming soon to this website and the print edition of MT) is a lot of work. Testing trucks requires extra effort that cars and SUVs don’t, like driving with payload, hooking up to trailers, and exploring on- and off-road terrain. We spent a jam-packed week trucking through every trucking thing we could think of for a truck to do. But between the polarizing design of the 2024 Tesla Cybertruck and the sheer amount of granola you can fit in the gear tunnel of the 2025 Rivian R1T Tri Max , our judges remained at least a little conflicted over which one was best.
There was only one logical way to settle it: tug-of-war.
Have Our Judges Lost Their Minds?
We haven’t announced our 2025 Truck of the Year winner yet, but rest assured, we did not determine the overall winner this way. Each truck that came to the party had a fair shot, as intended, being judged against our six official criteria. So, we conceived this Rivian vs. Tesla tug-of-war in the name of a bit of extracurricular fun and a different kind of story angle. Let the spectacle commence.
Yeti vs. Beast: Three Motors Each
In what amounts to arm wrestling for trucks, the assumption is generally that the biggest, heaviest, and strongest truck will win. The Rivian R1T Quad was, without a doubt, the strongest truck of our 2025 TOTY field, with 1,025 hp and 1,198 lb-ft of torque. It’s the guy or girl in the gym who is clearly the strongest, but far too intimidating to approach for advice.
More important, it has four motors, and the Tesla Cybertruck Beast has three. We didn’t need to start this competition with the suggestion the Rivian got an unfair advantage—as it turns out, the R1T Tri ends up being a perfect match for the Beast. Here’s how they stack up:
Our measured braking distances, quarter-mile times, and handling statistics aren’t relevant for this competition, but the two trucks are so closely matched in those metrics that if someone really needed validation that their truck is the best, the tug-of-war might be the only thing left to do. Regardless of the reason, it’s a fair fight.
Surely, an Advantage …
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