SPEAKER: As for this particular car,
we're probably going to do some more drag races with it
and hold on to it until our Cybertruck is ready,
which might be this year.
Hopefully.
Maybe.
Guys?
BRIAN WONG: It's hard to believe that we
shot our first wrap-up video for our long-term Tesla Model Y
Performance nearly three years ago.
And in that time we may have gotten to test a Cybertruck,
but we're still waiting for our Cybertruck.
So, here she remains.
But even our patience has finally run out,
and it's time for us to say goodbye to our red rocket.
And this gives us an opportunity, shall we say,
a semi intended opportunity to answer what I think
is a very interesting question.
And that is, how has the battery held up after nearly four years
and 40,000 miles of ownership?
And what impact has that had on the Model Y's range
and performance?
To answer that question, I'm going
to take you guys along with me as the Model Y retraces
its steps on the award-winning, world-famous, expert-approved
Edmunds EV range test.
And earlier this week, we also took the Model Y
back to our drag strip to get it 0 to 60 in quarter mile times
to see if, like me, it's lost some speed as it's gotten older.
So the car is charged to full, the V box is set up.
It's time to hit the road.
So this is technically our third wrap-up video
for our long-term Model Y, and if you're
looking for a more comprehensive overview
on what it's been like to live with,
the good, the bad, the ugly, be sure to check out those two
videos and also head over to our long-term blog
where you can see all of our experiences written out.
And I'd also ask you to maybe like and subscribe
to the Edmunds channel to keep up
with all of the exciting things we have going on.
Our Model Y came to us with an EPA estimated range
of 291 miles.
But like many of the Teslas that we test on our Edmunds EV range
test, it fell well short of that figure
and it only covered 263 miles.
Fast forward to today, and if you go to the Tesla website,
you'll see that they've pulled that projection
down a little bit.
But we're not going to base our result today off of that.
We're going to compare it to that 263 mile figure
that we got earlier.
And this is the 2020 Tesla Model Y
Performance with the additional performance upgrade.
And that makes it a Model Y Performance performance.
We also checked the box for this very loud, bright red paint job,
and opted for the full self-driving suite, which,
at the time, cost us another $5,000,
bringing the total cost of this vehicle to $68,700.
Now, as we know, Tesla pricing can be a bit fluid.
So if you were to option up the same vehicle today in the exact
same way, it would cost you about $66,000,
even after Tesla's price cuts on the Model Y.
And that's mostly because that full self-driving suite that we
bought back in the day for about five grand,
the price on that has gone all the way up to $12,000.
And a little bit later in this video,
we're going to talk about whether or not
we think that's worth it.
But that's mostly where the similarities in price come from.
As of now, the Model Y does qualify for that $7,500 federal
tax rebate in most cases, unlike the Model 3 now.
But that is, again, another situation
that can change at any moment, so
head over to edmunds.com for the latest info on which vehicles
are eligible for that rebate.
Now, we are expecting a slightly lower range result
today for a few reasons.
One would be that the trip computer, when we started,
only estimated us to have about 247 miles of range
and because batteries naturally degrade over time.
We're also a little worried that the degradation on our Model Y
could be a little bit worse because we
haven't been the most gentle owners to this vehicle,
let's say.
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
- And boo it.
- Miles an hour.
- Go.
- Huge.
- Riding in on the break.
[END PLAYBACK]
Whew.
That is a lot of races.
By my count, the Model Y has been in 11 different races
here on the Edmunds channel, and it won seven of those matchups,
racking up a pretty impressive kill list.
So, yeah, I would say we were a little bit hard on this thing.
And it's also recommended, of course, that for an EV,
you only charge the thing to about 80% for daily use.
But for us, where we needed to really extract full performance
out of the Model Y on a semi-regular basis,
we were charging up to 100%.
It also got used for road trips a lot,
so we would charge it up full to make full use of that range.
So I would wager that in our hands,
the Model Y has been through more
than it would be in the hands of a normal consumer.
That is, unless you have a secret u-drags racing club
that I don't know about.
But if you do, maybe drop a comment so I can come watch.
SPEAKER: Let's go.
Let's go.
Woo!
BRIAN WONG: Our driving impressions for the Model Y
haven't really changed over the four years that we've had it.
It basically drives the same as it did when
we got it, for better or worse.
The big complaint has always been ride quality.
These 21-inch wheels and the suspension,
you really feel every bump and jitter on the road.
And when you're on the highways and byways
here in Los Angeles, that means that every road seam,
you can kind of feel the cabin just--
[THE MOVEMENT, "JUMP"] Jump!
Jump!
Everybody jump
BRIAN WONG: You know, kind of jump around a little bit.
It's just a very unsettled feeling
at all times when you're driving it.
Now, our vehicle is part of the very early build
run for the Model Y, and as such, the
build quality has not been great.
Basically, ever since we've gotten it,
the back seat has had this kind of creak and rattle
to it, which becomes very annoying over long trips.
We also had some other quality issues as well,
like panel gaps that don't match our visor here.
The holder for this side of it has popped out multiple times.
Can't get that to stay in.
Our rear spoiler also came detached at one point
and we had to bring that in to get it repaired.
Also this winter in Southern California,
we've had an unseasonably large amount of rain.
And one of the reasons that I know that as well
is because our tail light has kept some of that rain for us.
It is worth mentioning, though, that other Model Y's
that we've tested in more recent years,
the quality has seemed to gone up.
They don't creak and rattle as much,
and things seem just much better put together.
So if you do buy a new Model Y, you
can probably escape some of the issues that we've experienced.
One of the things that we've enjoyed about the Model Y
during our ownership of it is that its technology has really
improved over time.
When we first got the vehicle, there
were a lot of problems that we had with the screen sort
of shutting off at random and some software bugs.
But as I looked at our logbook, over time,
those complaints have really lessened,
and now no one really complains about the technology
in this vehicle at all.
The software seems to have reached
this sort of steady state where it's just very reliable.
And I would say that from a technology
and an in-cabin technology perspective,
especially within our EV fleet, the Tesla
might actually be one of the more reliable vehicles
that we have now on that front.
Those software updates have also included big updates
to the safety systems, most notably the inclusion
of the full self-driving beta.
Now, we covered the full self-driving beta more
extensively in our full self-driving test.
The things that you need to basically are, one, it's
not actually self-driving.
You still need to really be present and ready to take
control over the vehicle.
And two, it still doesn't work very well on city streets.
There was an occasion where I was coming up
to a stopped red light trying to make a right turn,
and it felt like the vehicle was going
to make a right turn through that red light with traffic
still crossing me so I took control of the vehicle.
Full self-driving, you know, the biggest problem I think
is still the name.
It's really not self-driving at all.
You really need to be attentive and ready to take over
at all times.
And that brings us sort of full circle to the issue of cost.
Now for us on this Model Y, we were lucky because we paid
$5,000 for the full self-driving suite of technology when we
bought the vehicle, And in the intervening years,
we've gotten all of those safety updates.
But, like I said before, if you're going to buy this vehicle
today, that same suite of safety technologies would cost you
$12,000.
And at that price, it's a much harder trigger
to pull because it's still really not full self-driving.
The only time where I could see someone really wanting
to pay that much for this package
is if you do believe in Tesla's ability
to deliver a full self-driving experience, one that actually is
one and not just called one, within the time
that you own the vehicle.
And in that case, it might be worth it.
But as it sits now, I don't necessarily
think that system is worth the full cost.
And if it were me buying a Tesla,
I would probably leave that box unchecked,
though we here at Edmunds, we're probably
going to buy the suite every single time
so we can keep testing it and letting you
guys know if it's getting any better.
So that's about all the talking that I have, and the only thing
left to do now is to keep driving this thing
until we get down to about 10 miles of range left and land
back at the Edmunds office, where
we're going to charge it up and get those final numbers for you.
All right.
We are back.
The car is all filled up and we've got numbers for you.
So the very first time that we tested the speed
on this vehicle, it ran the 0 to 60 miles an hour in 3.7 seconds,
with a quarter mile time of 11.8 seconds at 115.6 miles an hour.
Four years later, we came back, tested the Model Y
on the exact same track in very similar conditions,
and it got 3.8 seconds to 60 miles an hour,
so very close there.
And in the quarter mile, 12.1 seconds at 113.3 miles per hour.
We lost a little bit more in the quarter mile, which
means that our Model Y's top end speed isn't quite
where it was before.
But the fact remains that for a family SUV,
this thing is almost too fast.
Now it's time to talk about range and battery capacity.
So just like when we tested the acceleration numbers,
we replicate those conditions as close as we can.
This vehicle was run on the exact same route
with the exact same testing parameters,
and we even refilled it on the exact same charger,
so we've kept all of those variables
as constant as we could.
Now in that first test, this vehicle covered 263 miles
on the Edmunds EV range test.
And when we reran it yesterday, it covered 245 miles
on the exact same test.
That's very close to the computer's initial estimate
of 247 miles when we started that drive.
That means that our Model Y has lost about 7% of its range
in our four years.
And now we're going to look at the battery
fill data to see if the battery loss sort of matches that.
So the first time it ran this test,
it took 75 kilowatt hours to charge from near empty to full.
In this test, it took 71.4 kilowatt hours
to do the same charge, which means
that we've lost about 3.6 kilowatt hours of battery
capacity or roughly 5%.
So battery down 5%, range down 7%.
That's a bit more than we expected,
given the age of the vehicle.
But again, as I mentioned earlier,
we haven't treated this thing the gentlest.
It's done a lot of races.
It's been charged to full more than you probably should.
So if you're using this just as a normal daily driver,
your loss will probably be a bit less than that.
Now, I will caveat those results with this.
Even though it's lost some range and battery capacity,
this still might be the member of the Edmunds long-term EV
fleet that I want to take on a road trip.
And that's because Tesla's supercharger network,
it still sets the standard for public charging,
and it isn't even close.
So if I can go far and I can stop at Tesla superchargers
instead of getting stuck at an EA station
where we're not even sure it's going to work,
give me the Tesla for a long trip any day.
So with that final round of testing,
it is time to say goodbye to our Model Y,
even though our Cybertruck isn't here yet.
It just exists as a figment of the imagination
and some money that's currently sitting in Tesla's pocket.
And this is kind of sad because for the first time
we won't have a Tesla in the Edmunds long-term fleet.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Just kidding.
We wouldn't do that to you guys.
And get back to the Edmunds offices
to put it back to charge.
That was weird.
I'm going to do that one more time.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
This is Five David.
Take one.
Five David Lucio.
Take one.