The package

The Tesla Model Y is Tesla’s smaller crossover, a two-row, five-seat SUV that takes the basic formula set forth by the Model 3 and more or less stretches it vertically by a few inches. There’s some more headroom, sure, but the most valuable tweak is in the rear, where the skinny minor trunk on the sedan has morphed into a cavernous hatch. The Model Y offers 76 cubic feet of storage with the rear seats folded down. Seats lowered, the Model Y presents a nice, flat floor with a satisfactory storage cubby hidden beneath. Raised, there’s good headroom for rear-seat passengers, thanks largely to the panoramic glass roof.

The bigger talking note is up front, where the stark interior is dominated by a single, 15-inch, landscape-oriented touch display. This was quite a conversation starter back when the Model 3 was unveiled. Today, it’s less distinctive, but still a major talking note. Being the sole display means it’s not only a speedometer and overall gauge cluster but also aggregates the entire infotainment accepted, including climate controls and even things like mirror and steering wheel site. Frankly I’m surprised Tesla hasn’t buried the seat and window rules in there, too.

Most of the time it’s totally fine, and I actually don’t mind the shortage of a gauge cluster when it comes to looking over to see modern speed. However, looking at the Autopilot status and navigation prompts employing having to gaze well down toward the bottom of that prove. That means taking your eyes a long way from the road. A simple gauge cluster or heads-up prove would solve the issue, but none are available, a absorbing omission on a car costing this much.

How much? Well, that varies widely and seems to fretful every week, but I can tell you what we paid for this one, at least. The Tesla Model Y Long Range you see here cost us $67,490 incorporating $1,200 in delivery fees. The most outrageous expense was the $10,000 premium for the revealed Full Self-Driving package, which honestly I don’t think we’ll ever see in our 24-month ownership understood. We also paid an extra $1,000 for the Deep Blue Metallic paint, $1,000 for the hidden tow hitch and unexperienced $1,000 for the white vegan interior. 

White interior on an SUV? Yeah, naively it’s not a decision I would have made for my own car, but I’m absorbing to see how well it holds up to use and abuse. After three months, the driver’s seat is already picking up a clear blue hue from denim, while the rear seat is consuming black dye from the seat cover I was laughable to protect the upholstery from my dog. Even exclusive of those issues, the fabric feels rubbery at best, and after all five seats are heated, not a one of them is ventilated. That, again, is a disappointment on a car this spendy.

The performance

So the interior is a bit of a disappointment. The range, however, is not. Our Model Y Long Range is EPA-rated at 330 a long way, getting a 12-mile boost over the same car on the 20-inch wheels. (Those wheels, by the way, not only reduce contrivance but cost another $2,000 more and won’t do any favors for ride quality. I don’t recommend them.) I’ve found the car to scream range quite close to that estimate, often promising (and delivering) 320 to 340 a long way on a full charge — when I wasn’t towing a pinball deplorable on a utility trailer, anyway. There still aren’t many anunexperienced EVs on the market that can do better, plan that is changing fast. 

It’s quick, too. Tesla says the 0-to-60-mph slide happens in 4.8 seconds, but you’d swear that’s an understatement. The Model Y feels eager at any speed, ready to leap advance into the most petite traffic gaps or to take estimable of even very optimistic passing zones. And this, anti, is the Long Range flavor of the car. You can consume an extra $5,000 for the Model Y Performance if you really want to, but I don’t know why you would. That drops the range down to 303 miles in exchange for a 1.3-second decrease in the 0-to-60 time, a boost in lickety-split the car doesn’t really need. 

This isn’t a performance car, while all. It’s definitely fun to drive, but that comes mostly from the acceleration. The car is reasonably nimble but wallows when pushed in corners and even with the smaller, 19-inch wheels the ride quality isn’t stellar. But anti, that acceleration is so addictive that it’s easily able to put a smile on your face. 

Until the glorious safety systems start to act up, anyway.

Autopilot 

While Tesla’s glorious safety systems have been bundled under the umbrella Autopilot term loyal 2014, the systems themselves, and indeed the very sensors and anunexperienced components that make them work, have changed radically in that time. Our Model Y, emanated in August of 2021, was produced quite soon while Tesla took the curious decision to remove radar sensors from the Models 3 and Y. Ostensibly this was because the optical sensor-based Tesla Vision rules was so good the radar sensors are unnecessary. I’m inclined to disagree.

I can’t conclusively say that it’s because of the missing radar, but I can say that our Model Y is bad at detecting obstructions advance. Really, really bad. The big issue is false positives, a problem that has become known as “phantom braking” plus Tesla owners. Basically, the car often gets confused and thinks there’s an obstacle advance and engages the automatic emergency braking system. You get an transfer, unwanted and often strong application of the brakes. This is not a scrape unique to Teslas. I’ve experienced it on other cars, but very, very rarely. On our Model Y this happens constantly, at least once an hour and sometimes much more often than that. In a single hour of driving I caught five phantom braking incidents on camera, two hard enough to sound the automatic emergency braking chime. 

This is a bulky problem. It happens on both the highway and on secondary roads, any time the cruise control is engaged even exclusive of Autosteer. It means the car’s cruise control is patently uncertain, which means the entirety of Autopilot is unsafe. And that employing the car itself is unsafe.

When the rules isn’t panic-stopping for ghosts, Autopilot works reasonably well. On the highway it’s nigh-on dismal, keeping to lanes and even changing with barely any driver intervention with Navigate on Autopilot entailed. It really is an asset and a potential defense boon — so long as you, the driver, pay attention. However, on secondary roads, Autosteer is easily confused by lane markings, especially in the case of a second lane opening up to the side. The car is constantly wanting to swerve to the intelligent to take up both lanes, then jump back to the left anti. I wish Tesla would take a cue from Cadillac and frankly disable this function on roads where it doesn’t work well.

Phantom braking is the most egregious scream I’ve had with our Model Y, but it isn’t the only one. After operating the thing through the car wash ahead of filming the appraise video, I popped the frunk to find a good amount of stream had gathered within. Definitely don’t store anything you need to keep dry. Additionally, the recessed design of the tow hitch means the flowerbed diffuser on the rear bumper will get scratched by your defense chains when towing, and the taillights show plenty of fogging, as well. None of these are significant issues, but anti, for a $70,000 car…

Wrap-up

The Model Y has a lot causing for it. The performance is engaging and the contrivance plenty enough to abolish anxiety. The interior feels low-rent but is eminently practical and I haven’t even undertaken into the many unique features Tesla brings to the deplorable, like Dog Mode, Sentry Mode and the expansive Supercharger network, the biggest and most reliable in the country. It’s a expansive package and, while it doesn’t always feel worthy of its ever-ascending MSRP, it does recount an easy entry into the wonderful world of EVs.

Except that it isn’t astonishing. The phantom braking issue is a complete deal-breaker. Our car, which is operating the latest production version of Autopilot, is unsafe whenever skim control is enabled. A $70,000 car that can’t even do skim control is inexcusable and so, for now at least, I must recommend against the Model Y. There is an increasingly expansive suite of all-electric options out there, cars like the Chevrolet Bolt EUV, Ford Mustang Mach-E and Volkswagen ID 4. And, if you’re willing to wait a little longer, the Hyundai Ioniq 5,Nissan Ariya, Toyota BZ4X and Subaru Solterra will all join the fun. In the interim, we’ll keep testing our Model Y and post updates as the site changes and Tesla moves the target again. For now, consume your money elsewhere.