(upbeat music)
- The Tesla Model Y is currently the most popular
EV being sold.
So what's there to get excited about?
Why is it so popular?
There's actually quite a lot,
even against new competition from the Ford Mustang Mach-E
and the Volkswagen ID4.
It's not without its quirks though.
You may be asking, that's an SUV?
Well, it's a high riding hatchback with all wheel drive
and compared with the related Model 3,
it has an open cargo area with rear lift gate
versus a sedan with the trunk.
So yes, by today's standards, this is an SUV.
It actually has a near identical footprint to the BMW X4.
Tesla didn't have any Model Ys for press evaluation.
So this is actually some guys Model Y,
a very nice guy in fact,
who traded us two weeks of time in his Model Y
for a lump of money.
It's actually a great example of what kind of Model Y
you get for $54,000.
It's an all wheel drive, long range
with an EPA rated 326 miles of range.
Does zero to 60 in 4.8 seconds.
And this one has the optional 20 inch wheels
instead of the standard nineteens.
Plus it has optional black paint
because every color other than white, you're paying for it.
And that's it,
it doesn't have the optional $10,000 self-driving package.
It doesn't have the optional third row,
and it doesn't have the optional tow hitch
that lets it tow up to 3,500 pounds.
Let's start off by looking at the Model Y as an SUV.
An SUV's defining characteristic is its cargo room
and the Model Y even for its compact proportions
has a lot of cargo area.
Behind the front seats, there's a sizeable amount
and then it's augmented by two large storage bins,
one an under floor storage in the back.
And then the other is the front trunk, the front.
Now both of these bins in the front and the rear,
they're sizable.
There is room back there and in the front
for things of meaningful size.
We perform our own cargo testing that gives
a level playing field for specification comparison.
OEM specs can vary in methodology and body style,
but we measured 20.9 Cubic feet
behind the Model Y's backseat, including the rear tub.
Now that's more than what we've measured
in the Volkswagen ID4 and the Mustang Mach-E.
It's also just a little bit more than hybrid compact SUV's
like the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and the Honda CR-V Hybrid.
The backseat folds in a 40, 20, 40 split.
And while they do fold, they don't fold quite flat.
When the backseat is folded,
then you add in the cargo space in the front trunk.
What looks like a small car on the outside,
can haul items like a big SUV,
as long as it's not one big item.
There is generous cargo room,
but there's also a good amount of passenger room.
Now in an EV like this,
you don't have floor humps for exhaust or drive shafts.
So the floor is wide open
and they're also these nice little cutouts
for your feet at the bottom of the front seats.
Now in the second row here, very comfortable,
it reclines but it doesn't slide.
And just one click back
is the sweet spot comfort level for me.
Now also helping comfort back here are these rear air vents.
It's not a individual climate control system,
like you see in some luxury SUV's
where the backseat user has control.
But when the front climate control has the rear vents on
very powerful, still very comfortable back here.
Now we're in the two row model.
There is an optional third row,
but good luck with that one.
What's not SUV like is how the Model Y drives.
It's an aggressively tuned suspension setup
for sporty intentions.
It's more like the Model 3,
which has that sports car feel to it.
Now, if you're driving in the Midwest like us,
where potholes are merely
a feature of our road infrastructure
and not necessarily a problem,
then you might find it tuned a little too stiffly,
if you're not looking for that sports car feel.
But if you are looking for that sports car feel,
I actually think the Model Y handling dynamics
are competent enough,
dynamic enough, fun to drive.
That stiff ride, can actually be worth it.
It's nimbler driving than the Mach-E
which has a bit of a bloated feeling
and beat you up without much of that reward
in the fun to drive factor.
Mostly EVs in general, don't ride that well.
The one exception is the ID4.
Now that's the one you want,
if you don't wanna feel the road
as much as the others.
The model Y's acceleration is punchy, rewarding,
and for those who haven't driven an EV before,
you'll be blown away about how quickly
the Model Y accelerates.
To me, the Model Y accelerated harder for longer
than the Mach-E, despite equals zero to 60 mile an hour
claims from each automaker.
Where the Mach-E pulled back around 50 miles an hour,
and you felt acceleration slowing,
the Model Y just seems to be getting started
at 50 miles an hour.
Where there's less confidence
is in the model Y's visibility.
Now upfront, it's pretty good.
The eight pillars are a little thick at their base,
but not too much of an issue with front visibility.
Rear visibility, not great.
There's only a small rear window
and over the shoulder visibility is blocked
by the aggressive rear roof line.
Now that's just purely the physical visibility.
There's more to that in the Model Y
and that's with its camera system.
Now there is a rear view camera,
and it's not a backup camera.
Where normally you'd put it in reverse, it pops up,
and that goes away when you put in drive.
This can be up on the screen while you're driving
to show what's behind you
as well as there are two side view mirrors
to show you what's in your blind spot.
It's a little distracting to look down at this.
There are other ways automakers give you those
rear driving cameras through the rear view mirror,
where it's a rear view camera mirror.
There those aren't without their faults either
'cause it's hard to focus if you wear classes on those.
What the Model Y doesn't have
is a traditional blind spot monitoring system.
Now it does give you some information
of what's in your blind spot, the cameras, for example,
like we talked about,
but also this driving status indicator.
Now what it doesn't have though,
are side view mirrors with little orange indicators,
like your traditional blind spot monitoring system
that you can see out of your periphery
when something is in your blind spot.
Here, the display is gonna show you,
but it has a very high threshold that it will chime
to warn you something is there.
You do have to look down to see,
but when there is something in your blind spot,
you have multiple ways just takes getting used to.
And I prefer the more traditional
blind spot monitoring system.
So this driving status indicator,
it's a preview of the self-driving capability.
Now the car is not able to drive itself right now,
but this is just showing you what the car is seeing.
And you can turn this information off,
but it is really interesting
as far as what the car recognizes.
Now it can show you different body styles of cars.
So you'll see a sedan or an SUV or a pickup truck,
or a box truck, or a city bus, and not just cars, either.
It'll show traffic cones and trash cans
and pedestrians, and motorcycles, bicycles.
So it is that preview of full self-driving,
but there's really nothing actionable
that you can do right now with it.
So the Model Y as an SUV, it checks those boxes.
It's a modern SUV, which is a high riding hatchback
with all wheel drive.
But what about the Model Y as a Tesla?
Like other Teslas I've reviewed
range anxiety just isn't really a thing that comes to mind
while driving these.
And it's more than just purely
because there's a lot of range,
which there is, 326 miles of EPA rated range.
Now it's more about how the Tesla informs you,
how efficiently you're driving.
So there are all sorts of information displays
and efficiency minders that
if you needed to get a little more range out of it,
this empowers you to do that.
For example, this is the trip monitor.
Now it only works
when there's a navigation destination entered,
but the gray line is the predictive energy usage.
It shows you your start percentage
and your end percentage of the battery
and the green line,
which is overlaid is your actual efficiency.
And you can use this to make real time corrections
to your driving style.
You see right away that, oh, you know,
stop driving like an ass, drive normally,
and you'll get to your destination with as much range
as it says it, you should.
Out of all EVs, this is probably one of the most useful
information graphics I've used to help you understand
how driving habits affect efficiency.
One of the ways to improve efficiency
is to alter the regenerative breaking amount
or how much the car feeds surplus energy
back to the battery.
Now I prefer driving in the hold mode,
which is the most aggressive mode,
and that drives like a one pedal driving.
You're just using the accelerator to go
and you let off, and it stops on its own very aggressively.
Now I did that by choice, which unlike the Mustang Mach-E,
where the brake pedal just has a really jerky feeling
that you use one pedal drive mode,
because it's your only option to drive smoothly.
But in the Model Y, I like using it
because it's the most efficient,
even though the Model Y brake pedal
is quite good on its own.
We recommend home charging for EV ownership,
but supercharging is Tesla's fastest way to charge.
And there are plentiful stations,
especially here in the Chicago area.
You might be able to get by charging exclusively
through a supercharger, but that can be expensive.
On the model Ys supercharging is not included
and Tesla also recommends to minimize DC fast charging,
like supercharging to preserve battery health.
On an optimal home setup,
you can charge the model Y up to a maximum 42 miles of range
per hour at 48 amps with the charge rate of 11.5 kilowatts,
which is the measure of how fast you can charge.
At a more average 24 amps, which is what you'd find
on a 240 volt home dryer circuit,
you're still charging at 21 miles of range per hour.
But when you're on a road trip or on the go,
supercharging is the way to go.
Around us there are a number of 250 kilowatt superchargers,
and we're at 150 kilowatt supercharger right now.
Now that's 150 kilowatts versus home charging,
maximum 11 and a half kilowatts, so it really is fast.
You know, right now we're plugged in
and we're charging at about four to 500 miles of range
per hour.
So that means we're gonna go from 25% battery life
to a fully charged in what the car tells us
about 50 minutes.
While you're waiting at a supercharger,
there's some pretty fun games.
My favorite is the Mario kart style Beach Buggy Racing 2,
where you use the steering wheels
and pedals to play the game,
which actually uses a caricature of your car.
They're also funny apps like emissions testing mode,
(buzzing)
Nice karaoke.
And a lot of these features have been added over the air.
And then there is autopilot.
So, what is it?
What isn't it?
Auto pilot is a semi-autonomous driver assist system.
It's an advanced cruise control.
And right now it's a hands-on system
that's not recommended to be used hands free.
It has a current set of abilities,
but those can't expand in the future.
Especially if you opt for the available
$10,000 full self-driving capability package.
Now that's gonna unlock more advanced features,
not on our car,
but if your car is equipped with that package,
it will allow you to do navigation on autopilot,
auto lane change, auto park park summon.
And there's also, auto-steer on city streets
that will come later.
What's nice about autopilot is that it's standard.
You don't have to pay extra for the basic autopilot system
and it works well.
It centers the car in its lane and when engaged,
there's a lot of confidence driving this car
that it's gonna follow the road and keep its distance.
The thing is, that functionality
isn't particularly unique anymore.
There are other systems out there
that functionally on the road do the same thing.
When it comes to what we want,
honestly, the biggest omission I see
is the lack of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto,
which is almost inexcusable at this point.
Since the last Teslas I've reviewed though in 2018,
Spotify integration has been added,
which is nice as a Spotify user.
And the Tesla maps they do work well
and you'd lose a lot of that integration
if you used Google maps, the efficiency scale,
the ability to route superchargers
that just wouldn't carry over.
I wanted CarPlay more for apps I use on my phone
for streaming music and podcasts.
We also want a proper speedometer in front of your face.
Yeah, you get used to using the screen speedometer
in the upper left corner of the 15 inch display,
but I really want a proper instrument panel
like the Mach-E or the ID4.
Years ago, I reviewed an ad on heads up display
called Navdy, that worked pretty well,
which could work here, but they're not around anymore.
Also the wireless charging just doesn't work that well.
I have a case that's designed to work with wireless charging
and work with the phone,
but I have to take my phone out of the case
to work with a Model Y's factory wireless charging.
Those areas of wants are served up in other competing EVs,
but it's easy to see why the Model Y is so popular
size is right, It's got great usability for its size,
it's fun to drive, fun to own.
It's rather affordable
in the context of similar luxury SUV's
and also Tesla's charging infrastructure
is really hard to beat.
The Model Y does do a couple of goofy things,
and I wouldn't really expect to see those addressed
through over their updates or hardware changes
if you buy one right now,
but there are compelling options
if those are deal breakers for you.
You have more options than even a year ago,
but it's really hard to look elsewhere
when the Model Y does so many things, so well.
(upbeat music)