Tesla New Model Y Review & Prices

The Tesla Model Y is the American brand’s best-selling electric car worldwide, but the previous version had some real shortcomings that meant it was difficult to recommend over fantastic all-round packages - electric SUVs such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 or Audi Q4 e-tron.

Now though, despite Tesla boss Elon Musk being quite busy in the world of American politics, the company has found time to facelift the Model Y - and improve it significantly in many of the areas it fell short in before. It’s like the popular, lazy kid at school who’s had a bit of a wake-up call and finally started trying in their academic pursuits too.

The most obvious change is the exterior styling, though to be honest this is one of the more underwhelming modifications. The new Model Y looks wider than before thanks to narrow, flat headlights - but Tesla’s added full-width lightbars at the front and rear, which combined with the car’s slightly amorphous shape means it looks pretty anonymous. Certainly if you took the Tesla badges off you wouldn’t bat an eyelid at being told it was an electric SUV from a new Chinese brand.

Tesla Model Y: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 311 / 353 / 387 miles
Battery size: 63kWh / 83kWh
Max charge speed: 250kW
Charge time AC: 8hrs 15mins, 0-100%, 11kW
Charge time DC: 27mins, 0-80%, 250kW
Charge port location: Left rear
Power outputs: 275hp / 304hp / 370hp

Inside, the improvements are subtler but much more impactful. There are new, more comfortable seats all round, and improved sound deadening makes it much quieter to drive. It’s still dominated by a huge 15.4-inch touchscreen which controls nearly all the interior functions. Technophobes, look away - but unlike the smaller Tesla Model 3 you do at least get an indicator stalk, rather than having to use buttons on the steering wheel.

Interior quality has also taken an uplift, and is really impressive. Not everything feels totally solid - the lower portion of the centre console sounds quite hollow, for example - but even where there are cheaper plastics they’re all wrapped in artificial leather, meaning you’ll barely find an inch of nasty, scratchy material. You can’t say that about most alternatives.

The Model Y is still superbly practical, too. The boot is huge at 854 litres in capacity (measured up to the roof - but it’s still bigger than most alternatives under the parcel shelf too) and there’s lots of space in the back seats. It helps that the Model Y is physically quite a large car - on some UK roads it can feel very wide, and you’ll want to watch your alloys when you’re parking in tight spaces.

All Model Ys come with loads of tech, some of which is market-leading - while others are just needlessly complicated. The assisted driving features are a bit like this, as they’re very clever but in some situations on UK roads they just don’t work well enough to be worth using.

When it comes to range and charging, the Model Y performs extremely well. Even the basic model gets 311 miles of range according to official tests, while the long-range car has a massive 387 miles. Performance is seriously strong, too, and you’ll leave many EV SUV alternatives in the dust at the traffic lights.

Interested? Check out our best Tesla Model Y deals here, or get a great price when leasing a new Tesla Model Y. You can see used Tesla Model Ys for sale, or browse other used Teslas for sale too. And remember that Carwow can even help you to sell your old car when the time comes.

The new Model Y starts at just under £45,000 for the standard range, rear-wheel drive model. That’s pricier than a basic Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Kia EV6, but with a spec and range comparable to their middle-rung versions, and it’s a physically larger car - so not bad value.

Go up the range to the £49,000 Long Range model or the £52,000 all-wheel drive variant and it becomes less comparable to those alternatives, but with the newly posh interior you no longer feel like you’re paying over the odds for a cheaply built car.

Fast and much more comfortable than before - but in some ways feels more like a computer game than a car

In town

The Model Y feels like a big car to drive around town. It’s significantly longer, and a bit taller and wider than the already-large Hyundai Ioniq 5, and you notice that when trying to squeeze through small gaps or park in tight spaces.

The turning circle is reasonable, but visibility is compromised by thick windscreen pillars and a positively tiny back window - with no option for a digital rear-view mirror like you get on some alternatives. As a result you’ll find yourself relying on the Model Y’s glut of cameras and sensors quite a lot - so it’s good news that they’re excellent, providing a really clear view of what’s going on around you.

The Model Y has quite firm suspension, so you do feel speed bumps and potholes more than you would in an Audi Q4 e-tron. But it’s a huge improvement over the outgoing model - which felt as though it had suspension made of wood - and on a par with sportier alternatives like the Kia EV6, so it’s not really a problem.

One quirk is that the Model Y’s indicators aren’t self-cancelling in the traditional sense - they turn themselves off when the car detects you’ve finished your manoeuvre, based on reading road marks and the environment. This takes some getting used to.

On the motorway

Performance is exceptional, with even the base model capable of going from 0-60mph in just 5.6s - that makes getting up to motorway speeds effortless. The firm suspension feels quite settled on the motorway, too, though you do notice expansion joints or rumble strips more than in a Hyundai Ioniq 5.

When you’re up to speed, wind noise is a bit more noticeable than in alternatives, but it’s not too obtrusive - and obviously there’s no engine noise to worry about. Tesla’s assisted driving features should really come into their own on the motorway, but we found the Autosteer function to be quite twitchy so stuck to traditional cruise control instead. We’ll update this review when we’ve had a chance to test out the latest version of Tesla’s Autopilot software - the closest to a self-driving car you can get on UK roads - however, in the past we’ve found this to be a bit buggy and better-suited to sweeping American highways than it is the UK’s pockmarked and confusing motorway system.

On a twisty road

It’s on a twisting road where you can feel that Tesla is primarily a tech company rather than a car company. The Model Y goes round corners competently, but even if you dial it into its sportiest settings it still feels like you’re driving a computer game rather than a car. It’s totally remote, with almost no feedback through the steering wheel or seat base.

This does mean it’s quite relaxing if you’re going at a more leisurely pace, but if you’re trying to have a bit of fun in the corners you’ll find it hard to judge how much grip you have. The upcoming Model Y Performance might improve on this, but for now the standard model is worth avoiding if you’re a keen driver - go for something like a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N instead.

Very spacious in the back seats and boot, but storage for smaller items could be better organised

The Model Y is a very roomy car, with a minimalist interior free of clutter. The front seats adjust electrically and should suit most sizes of driver, though even at their lowest you feel as if you’re perched very high up.

It’s also frustrating to control the mirrors and the steering wheel adjustment through the touchscreen. If you’re the only person driving the car, this is fine as you’ll only have to set it once, but if you share the car with a partner who’s a different size to you the beginning of every journey will be quite frustrating.

Storage for smaller items is also a bit of a pain. There are a pair of wireless charging pads for phones just under the central touchscreen, which provides a convenient place to keep them - but if you want somewhere to sling the contents of your pockets, you’ll either have to use the cupholders or toss them into one of two very deep, dark storage bins in the centre console. It would be easy to lose things in there.

The glovebox is pretty tiny, and has to be opened through the touchscreen - quite annoyingly, it got stuck multiple times during our spell with the car.

Space in the back seats

The Model Y’s rear doors open wide to reveal plenty of back seat space, with a totally flat floor giving loads of room for people’s feet. The car’s width means three can sit across the back and not struggle with shoulder room as much as some alternatives, but the middle seat is notably higher and firmer than the outer two.

There are ISOFIX points on the outer rear seats and there’s loads of room in which to fit a child seat. Rear-seat passengers also get a 9.0-inch screen of their own in the centre to control their air-con and seat heating, which is a really posh touch.

Boot space

With 854 litres of space, the Tesla Model Y smashes the opposition on paper - even the roomy Skoda Enyaq has just 585 litres of space, while the Audi Q4 e-tron and Hyundai Ioniq 5 have 520 and 527 litres respectively.

The Tesla’s figure does involve loading up to the roof, though, so the space underneath the (slightly fiddly) parcel shelf is more comparable - but it’s still extremely spacious, and deep wells behind the wheel arches provide a good spot to stop smaller items from rolling around. There’s also ample underfloor storage perfect for keeping cables - that is, if you don’t want to keep them in the frunk, which is one of the largest of any electric SUV.

Minimalist design looks a bit bare - and while some functions work great, others are too fiddly

Tesla used to be known for its rubbish build quality - but the latest Model Y can put those complaints to rest. It feels extremely well screwed-together, and just about every surface you touch is either metallic or coated in artificial leather that feels high-quality.

If you go looking around you can find that underneath the leather there are definitely some cheaper plastics - the lower portion of the centre console sounds quite hollow, for example - but this is seriously nit-picking and can be applied to any of the Model Y’s alternatives. There really is very little to moan about in here from a quality standpoint.

Whether you find more to complain about with the interior layout depends on how much of a technophile you are, but there’s no denying that for some functions, the touchscreen system doesn’t work as well as it could. The 15.4-inch display is bright and clear, and responds as quickly as any smartphone, but it can be tricky to figure out which of the many sub-menus has the function you want.

The Model Y’s speed is shown in the corner of the screen - as is the drive selector, bizarrely - which means you need to take your eyes fully off the road to see how fast you’re going.

There’s no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, but Tesla’s built-in apps include most of the functions you’d use on those anyway - and the Google Maps navigation software integrates seamlessly with the car to suggest charging stops when required.

The Model Y is a very efficient electric car, with an electric range to rival the best electric SUVs on sale but with a comparatively modest-sized battery. It gets almost 30 miles extra from a charge than the best Kia EV6, for example, with a slightly smaller battery capacity - and it’s a physically larger car.

Tesla’s excellent mapping software and access to the Supercharger network of public chargers goes a long way to removing range anxiety, too.

Charging speeds of 250kW are up there with the best, too, and Tesla says you should be able to add around 150 miles of range in 15 minutes at a Supercharger.

As an electric car, the Model Y pays the lowest rate of road tax - but all versions are over £40,000, so attract the expensive car supplement in years 2-5 of ownership. It does make an extremely affordable company car, though.

The new Tesla Model Y hasn’t yet been crash tested by Euro NCAP, but the old model scored incredibly highly when it was tested in 2022 - a five-star rating, with 97% and 98% scores for adult occupant protection and safety assist equipment respectively.

The new Model Y promises to carry on this enviable legacy with just as much safety equipment as before. We’ll update this once Euro NCAP has given its verdict.

Early Teslas had their faults, particularly with build quality, but it seems the brand has turned things around. In the 2024 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, Tesla came second only to Subaru in the manufacturer rankings, and its Model 3 saloon was rated the second-best car to own overall.

Tesla offers a four-year warranty with four years of breakdown cover included. That’s more than some premium brands, but Kia and Hyundai both offer longer cover.