Drive one · The beach
You can’t drive a Scout yet. You can drive what it’s built to beat.
The Terra’s promise is specific: a body-on-frame truck with a solid axle and lockers that goes anywhere, with electric torque and a gas backup. Two thirds of that promise exists today in trucks you can buy, and there is one place on the East Coast built to test it: eleven miles of sand north of Corolla, North Carolina, with no pavement and no charger.
What to drive
The three trucks that answer the Terra’s questions
Jeep Gladiator Rubicon
The nearest thing to a Terra in hardware: body-on-frame, Dana 44 solid axles front and rear, Tru-Lok lockers at both ends, a disconnecting sway bar, 33-inch tires, a five-foot bed, and a gas V6 instead of a generator. $52,000 before destination. It answers: do I want a truck built this way?
Ram 1500 Rebel
A full-size off-road half-ton with coil-spring rear suspension, a locking rear axle and a 5-foot-7 bed. It answers: is a mid-size enough, or do I want the full-size Terra is sized against?
Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss
The all-new 2027 Silverado in its off-road trim: lifted, locked at the rear, with the bed and the towing the Terra is targeting. It answers the same question from the other side.
The program
Five and a half hours, no salesperson, then a price in writing
The Carolina Auto Program is run by Beach 4x4 LLC, which has rented 4x4s on the Outer Banks for six years and publishes this site. For $325 you pick up a new truck at a hotel in Kitty Hawk, drive North Carolina Highway 12, the two-lane road up the Outer Banks, through Duck and Corolla, air down where the pavement ends, and spend the afternoon on the Carova beach with the wild horses, up to the Virginia line. You air back up, drive back, and that evening a program dealer emails a no-haggle out-the-door price in writing, good for 30 days. Nobody rides along.
It runs all year. Drivers must be 25 or older with full-coverage insurance. If the price is beaten in writing within 30 days, the $325 is refunded. The details, the dates and the booking form are at carolinaautoprogram.com.
Questions
Questions people ask
Can I test drive a Scout Terra?
Not yet. There are no production trucks; Scout is building validation vehicles. Scout sells direct, so when drives happen they will come through Scout’s own studios and events, not a dealer.
What is the closest thing to a Scout Terra I can drive today?
A body-on-frame pickup with a solid rear axle and lockers: the Jeep Gladiator Rubicon is the nearest match in size and hardware, and the Ram 1500 Rebel and Silverado Trail Boss are the nearest in full-size capability. The Rivian R1T is the nearest electric truck and Rivian offers demo drives.
Why a beach?
Because soft sand is the hardest mile a truck drives, and the Carova beach on the Outer Banks of North Carolina is eleven miles of it with no pavement and no charger. A drivetrain that handles it aired down to 18–20 psi will handle most things. It is also the one place you find out what sand does to a battery, which is the Harvester’s whole argument.
What is the Carolina Auto Program?
A drive-before-you-buy program run by Beach 4x4 LLC, a six-year-old 4x4 rental company in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. $325 buys five and a half hours in a new Wrangler, Gladiator, Bronco, Ram Rebel or Silverado Trail Boss on the Carova beach, no salesperson aboard, followed by a program dealer’s no-haggle price in writing. It publishes this site.
Will the Carolina Auto Program offer Scout drives?
It would like to and has asked. Nothing is arranged. Email bret@beach4x4.com with Scout Terra in the subject line to get one email the day it becomes possible.
Drive one · Open all year
Want to be first in a Scout on the sand?
Scout sells direct, so a Terra drive here would come through Scout, and nothing is arranged yet. Email bret@beach4x4.com with Scout Terra in the subject line. One email the day it is possible, nothing else.
Book a beach drive at carolinaautoprogram.comHear when a Scout reaches the beach. Scout sells direct, so a Terra drive would come through Scout, and nothing is arranged yet. Email bret@beach4x4.com with Scout Terra in the subject line and you will get one email the day it is possible. No list, no newsletter.