Tesla Model Y
MODEL TESTED: Modle Y Dual Motor Long Range PRICE: £52,990 POWERTRAIN: 2x e-motor, 434bhp
RECENT price adjustments brought discounts across the Tesla range, and the Long Range model tested here had £5,000 knocked off it. This took the price to £52,990, which undercuts the ID. Buzz by a significant margin. With options, our test car comes to a total of £57,490.
Tech highlights
UNDER the skin, the Tesla features a similar arrangement to the VW, with a skateboard platform housing the battery and motors. The key difference here is that the Model Y has a second motor up front for four-wheel drive and a combined output of 434bhp – double that of the ID. Buzz – and an estimated 493Nm of torque.
Tesla has an advantage over most rivals for efficiency. While the Model Y ’s 75kWh battery is similar in size to the VW ’s , it has a WLTP range of 331 miles, beating the ID. Buzz by 76 miles. A sleek body helps; VW ’s drag coefficient of 0. 29Cd is impressive, but the Tesla is even slicker, at 0. 23Cd.
SAFETY: Tesla has always scored strongly for safety, and like the VW, the Model Y earned five stars when it was tested by Euro NCAP in 2022.
But delve into the individual categories, and it’s clear that the Model Y is the safer. Adult occupant protection of 97 per cent was the equal highest score of the year, and a Safety Assist rating of 98 per cent was only matched by the Tesla Model S.
AUTOPILOT: The Model Y is available with two semiautomated driver-assistance systems. Enhanced Autopilot will maintain lane position with steering, acceleration and braking, and it can also change lanes. It includes auto parking tech and a ‘Summon’ feature, which can drive the car out of a tight space. Full Self-Driving builds on this package by recognising and reacting to traffic lights.
On road
TAKE all the plus and minus points of the VW and flip them on their head, and you’ll be very close to getting a handle on how the Model Y behaves.
AROUND TOWN: The ability to choose between an automatic gearbox-style creep mode and no movement at all at a standstill means you’ll be able to tailor the behaviour of the Tesla around town to your own tastes. Brakes that are very easy to modulate precisely are a plus point here, too.
What can’t be tailored is the ride. It’s very brittle – not only next to the VW, but when compared with most cars on the road – and the Model Y crashes clumsily from one bump to the next. Our test car’s 19-inch wheels made for an improvement over the last Model Y we sampled, but it’s still poor.
A & B-ROADS: On twistier sections, it takes a little while to adjust to the sharpness of the Tesla’s steering. It’s very responsive, with a fast rack and barely a millimetre of dead zone around the straight ahead. That feeling of hyperactivity is great in something like a hot hatchback, but it does make this family SUV a little tiring to drive.
The feel is very artificial, which saps your confidence if you want to drive more keenly. At least it feels agile at gentle speeds, but increase your pace and there’s no hiding the fact that this is a neartwo-tonne EV with a chassis set-up that lacks polish.
MOTORWAY: Accelerating up to motorway speeds is easy thanks to the Model Y ’s straight-line performance. Its 0-62mph time of 4.8 seconds is leagues ahead of the VW ’s, while the throttle response is eager and the power delivery smooth.
The relatively slippery body makes it a stable and confident long-distance cruiser. It’s just a shame that the ride comfort is so poor.
TESTERS’ NOTES
For a brand so vocal about tech, we’d expect better door mirror cameras. They activate with the indicators or when reversing, but the low-res, sepia-like images look out of place on the superbly sharp touchscreen.
Alex Ingram Chief reviewer