When Volkswagen Group announced it was resurrecting the Scout name in 2022, most of us pictured another retro-styled crossover fighting for mall parking spots. Instead, Scout Motors (a standalone company backed by VW money and American engineering leadership) dropped two body-on-frame, off-road-focused machines: the Scout Traveler SUV and the Scout Terra pickup. Both ride on an all-new electric platform, both wear honest steel bumpers, and both look like they actually want to get muddy.
A Name from the Past, a Truck for the Future
I spent a full week with pre-production versions of the Traveler 4-door SUV and the Terra crew-cab pickup in the hills outside Asheville, North Carolina. No press handlers rode shotgun after day one, no range-anxiety babysitters, just me, two 1,000-pound battery packs, and a whole lot of gravel. Here’s the unfiltered take.
Under the Skin: Specs That Actually Matter
Let’s get the numbers out of the way first, because they’re legitimately bonkers for the price point.
Powertrain Options
- Base (rear-wheel drive): Single motor, ~350 hp, ~600 lb-ft
- Dual-motor 4WD: ~450 hp, ~800 lb-ft, 0-60 in ~4.8 seconds
- Top-trim “Harvester” (2026): Front induction motor + rear permanent-magnet motor, 1,000+ lb-ft combined, claimed 0-60 in the low-3s
Battery & Range
- Standard 110 kWh pack: EPA est. 320–350 miles (Traveler), 300–330 miles (Terra)
- Optional 140 kWh “Max” pack: 400+ miles (Traveler), 380+ miles (Terra)
- 800-volt architecture → 10–80% in ~22 minutes on a 350 kW charger
- 11 kW onboard charger, plus bidirectional V2H/V2L up to 11.5 kW (can power your house for days)
Off-Road Hardware
- Ground clearance: 9.5 inches standard, 11.3 inches with air suspension (optional)
- Approach / breakover / departure: 34° / 28° / 37° (air suspension raised)
- 35-inch all-terrain tires standard on most trims (37s available)
- Front and rear lockers (electric, not mechanical, but lightning fast)
- 11,000-pound winch available from the factory (mounted behind the front license plate – slick)
- Water fording: 36 inches
Towing & Payload
- Traveler: 7,000 lbs towing, 1,800 lbs payload
- Terra: 10,000 lbs towing (12,000 lbs with Max pack + tow package), 2,200 lbs payload
Starting price? $58,500 for the Traveler RWD before the $7,500 federal tax credit. A fully loaded Harvester Terra will nudge $95k, but most buyers will land in the low-to-mid 70s. That’s Rivian money, but with a simpler dealer-free direct-sales model and a promised nationwide parts network through existing VW infrastructure.
On-Road: Shockingly Normal (in the Best Way)
Slide into the Traveler and nothing screams “concept car.” The seats are thick, supportive leather with orange contrast stitching. The steering wheel is chunky but not cartoonish. There are exactly four physical knobs (volume, tuning, climate temp up/down) and two big screens – a 12.3-inch gauge cluster and a 14.5-inch center touchscreen running a custom OS that looks like Android Automotive’s more handsome cousin.
The ride is firm but never punishing. Even on 35s, wind and tire noise are impressively low – Scout claims they spent serious money on seals and laminated glass. The dual-motor version pulls like a freight train from a stoplight, yet the single-pedal driving mode is smooth enough that my non-EV friends never complained.
Regen is adjustable in five steps. I left it on medium and rarely touched the brake pedal in town. The Terra pickup feels a touch nose-heavy until you load the bed, then it settles into the best-riding electric truck I’ve driven (yes, including the Cybertruck and Rivian R1T on the same roads).
One nitpick: the turning radius is merely good, not great. Blame the 127-inch wheelbase on the Traveler and 137 inches on the Terra. You’ll still three-point turn on narrow forest roads.
Off-Road: It’s Not Just Marketing
Scout invited us to a private 2,000-acre off-road park with everything from greasy red clay to basketball-sized granite boulders. I drove both vehicles back-to-back with a Rivian R1S and a Ford Bronco Raptor for reference.
The Scout’s party trick is its “Terra Mode” (Traveler gets “Trail Mode”). Flip the dial, the truck drops torque to a crawl-friendly 12:1 ratio, locks both diffs, raises the air suspension, and overlays a crystal-clear 360-degree camera view with tire-track prediction lines. It’s borderline unfair how easy it makes tough trails.
On a 35-degree muddy incline that had the Bronco spinning, the Traveler just… walked up. No drama, no wheelspin, just relentless traction. The electric motors deliver torque so instantly that the traction control barely has to intervene.
The Terra pickup impressed even more. With 2,000 lbs of gravel in the bed, it towed a 26-foot camper up the same hill without breaking a sweat. Later, we unhooked and sent it down a rock-strewn descent in Hill Descent Control – the truck tiptoed down at 2 mph with zero brake fade or smell.
Only complaint? The underbody armor is good but not Rivian-level thick. If you plan to bash rocks daily, budget for aftermarket skid plates.
Final Verdict: The Electric Truck Americans Might Actually Buy
The 2024 Scout Traveler and Terra aren’t perfect. The interior materials don’t quite match a $90k Rivian, the charging network reliance is real (though Scout promises Electrify America access plus future Tesla Supercharger compatibility), and first-year production is already sold out.
But none of that matters when you’re 40 miles from pavement, the sun is dropping behind the Blue Ridge, and your truck still shows 48% battery with heat pumping and a winch ready to yank your buddy’s Jeep out of the creek.
Scout Motors didn’t build a retro novelty. They built body-on-frame electric trucks that feel like the spiritual successors to the old International Harvester Scouts – simple, tough, and proud to be American. If Rivian is the Tesla of adventure trucks, Scout just became the Ford.
