2022 Model Y Initial Impressions

[Rocket Scienti]

Just got delivery of my 2022 Model Y - all of 100 miles of some freeway but largely city street driving in SF Bay Area. Some initial impressions of the car and the purchase experience.

1. Ordered in 9/2021. Over subsequent months got delivery estimates ranging from 12/2021 to 5/2022. Ultimately delivered mid 1/2022 with 3 days notice two weeks after 5/2022 estimate. As an exec with high volume Mfg experience, I regard this as incompetent for a quality manufacturer.
2. Delivery was simple ... Tesla folks nice ...no education on car. I can figure out vehicle as a computer scientist, might not for other folks. Discovering I had to pay $50k+ cash in a couple of days was ... annoying.
3. Love the driving experience. Fast. The acceleration!!! Crisp handling. Comfy seats. Great forward visibility. Horrible rear visibility. The UI largely good IMO. The basic car feels more than good.
4. Build quality seems very good. No defects found so far.
5. Sound system a delight.
6. Basic navigation experience pretty good ... though it could not find the exact directions to my nearest SuperCharger. Had to spend a few blocks driving around to find it - off by ~ .5km.
7. Charging experience with garage charger quite good.
8. Did not buy FSD but did get a subscription to see what it can do.
9. The FSD preview experience on city streets is scary. Does pretty well on recognizing cars/trucks in my lane and adjacent lanes in same direction (though far from perfect on exact position more than a few 10s of feet away). Pretty good (90%+) on recognizing lane boundaries (except in intersections) and adjacent bike lanes. Not so good on oncoming vehicles (0%). Horrible on recognizing pedestrians (5%), bicyclist in adjacent bike lanes (DOES recognize bike lanes) (5%), poor at recognizing cross walks (50%), poor at recognizing pedestrians that might enter traffic (0%), totally ignores open doors on parked cars (0%), totally ignores small objects like dogs (0%), REALLY good at recognizing garage container and orange traffic cones (100%?), and traffic lights (100%). No way this is safe to drive in anything close to "autonomous" mode IMO on city streets. Good news is that there is massive opportunity for improvement. At this point I will NOT enable steering control. Braking control not good enough to trust all by itself IMO.
10. Still evaluating Summon and Self-Parking. First test in my condo garage failed.

“Tesla Model Y grey (2)” by Damian B Oh is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0.

 

[ddhir]

Thanks for your candid impressions.
I’m awaiting delivery of my MY-LR (Tesla showing ETA is now in April) so this was very helpful.
I’m assuming you had no issues with the vehicle having incorrect door-panel gaps, which have been a regular issue with MY.

 

[PatentNRG]

Great summary - thank you! I ordered a MY-LR and the EDD window is May - June 2022, so this is definitely helpful. I’m hoping for pretty decent build quality - fingers crossed.

 

[Rocket Scienti]

Thanks for your candid impressions.
I’m awaiting delivery of my MY-LR (Tesla showing ETA is now in April) so this was very helpful.
I’m assuming you had no issues with the vehicle having incorrect door-panel gaps, which have been a regular issue with MY.

I do not see these build quality issues in my car. I would just be cautious about their delivery timing. And the high level of hype about FSD.

 

[lagjazz]

Just got delivery of my 2022 Model Y - all of 100 miles of some freeway but largely city street driving in SF Bay Area. Some initial impressions of the car and the purchase experience.

1. Ordered in 9/2021. Over subsequent months got delivery estimates ranging from 12/2021 to 5/2022. Ultimately delivered mid 1/2022 with 3 days notice two weeks after 5/2022 estimate. As an exec with high volume Mfg experience, I regard this as incompetent for a quality manufacturer.
2. Delivery was simple ... Tesla folks nice ...no education on car. I can figure out vehicle as a computer scientist, might not for other folks. Discovering I had to pay $50k+ cash in a couple of days was ... annoying.
3. Love the driving experience. Fast. The acceleration!!! Crisp handling. Comfy seats. Great forward visibility. Horrible rear visibility. The UI largely good IMO. The basic car feels more than good.
4. Build quality seems very good. No defects found so far.
5. Sound system a delight.
6. Basic navigation experience pretty good ... though it could not find the exact directions to my nearest SuperCharger. Had to spend a few blocks driving around to find it - off by ~ .5km.
7. Charging experience with garage charger quite good.
8. Did not buy FSD but did get a subscription to see what it can do.
9. The FSD preview experience on city streets is scary. Does pretty well on recognizing cars/trucks in my lane and adjacent lanes in same direction (though far from perfect on exact position more than a few 10s of feet away). Pretty good (90%+) on recognizing lane boundaries (except in intersections) and adjacent bike lanes. Not so good on oncoming vehicles (0%). Horrible on recognizing pedestrians (5%), bicyclist in adjacent bike lanes (DOES recognize bike lanes) (5%), poor at recognizing cross walks (50%), poor at recognizing pedestrians that might enter traffic (0%), totally ignores open doors on parked cars (0%), totally ignores small objects like dogs (0%), REALLY good at recognizing garage container and orange traffic cones (100%?), and traffic lights (100%). No way this is safe to drive in anything close to "autonomous" mode IMO on city streets. Good news is that there is massive opportunity for improvement. At this point I will NOT enable steering control. Braking control not good enough to trust all by itself IMO.
10. Still evaluating Summon and Self-Parking. First test in my condo garage failed.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, and I agree with all your findings, I picked my MYLR back in Dec and had it for just over a month, on top of your experiences, I also have some likes and dislikes, I was driving a BMW 5 series and a Mercedes GL SUV before my MY:

1. Build quality? very good, no service appointments yet, panel gaps? maybe a little, but why would I care a few mm's difference?
2. Driving? Likes: I love the energy regen one-pedal driving, Tesla has done a great job to make the regen stop a very smooth experience. I love the smooth acceleration compared to the ICE cars. The suspension is acceptable to me, similar to my BMW 5 but not as comfortable as my GL which has air suspension. Dislikes: I hate the steering ratio when driving on highways, Tesla model Y does not have steer-by-wire hence it does not have features like DSC (Driving Stability Control) in BMWs or ESC (Electronic Stability Control) in Mercedes', so when driving in high speed on highways, the steering is too sensitive with the MY, any tiny steering wheel movements will translate to big direction changes, which is dangerous, it is hard to control the drive very precisely in high speed.
3. No blind-spot warning? mostly it does not bother me too much, only when driving on a rainy night it is indeed a problem, so I changed the side mirrors to wide-angle view mirrors and solved the problem
4. No instrument cluster display? I found it distracts me quite a lot moving my sight off the front to look at the screen, checking speed is fine since it's in big font on the most left side, but checking battery or time is harder because they are in very tiny font size, and also the navigation panel is on the right side of the big screen which will make you remove your sight off the front even longer to check. So I installed a third-party dashboard screen which I liked a lot.
5. FSD? I never trusted it, even basic autopilot would only work on easy highways, tried it a few times on local the experiences were very scary, plus in the past month, the blinded side pillar cameras events happened over 10 times due to strong sunshine or moistures, how would FSD work with blinded cameras?
6. Seats? Front seats are very comfortable but back seats are too short, not comfortable for tall people on long trips.
7. Charging at home? Loved it
8. OTA updates? Loved it

 

[Y_tho]

Just got delivery of my 2022 Model Y - all of 100 miles of some freeway but largely city street driving in SF Bay Area. Some initial impressions of the car and the purchase experience.


The FSD preview experience on city streets is scary. Does pretty well on recognizing cars/trucks in my lane and adjacent lanes in same direction (though far from perfect on exact position more than a few 10s of feet away). Pretty good (90%+) on recognizing lane boundaries (except in intersections) and adjacent bike lanes. Not so good on oncoming vehicles (0%). Horrible on recognizing pedestrians (5%), bicyclist in adjacent bike lanes (DOES recognize bike lanes) (5%), poor at recognizing cross walks (50%), poor at recognizing pedestrians that might enter traffic (0%), totally ignores open doors on parked cars (0%), totally ignores small objects like dogs (0%), REALLY good at recognizing garage container and orange traffic cones (100%?), and traffic lights (100%). No way this is safe to drive in anything close to "autonomous" mode IMO on city streets. Good news is that there is massive opportunity for improvement. At this point I will NOT enable steering control. Braking control not good enough to trust all by itself IMO.

Congrats on the new car! Just curious regarding "FSD preview experience" impressions - which version are you referring to? Are you in one of the beta versions, or one that came with the software version your car shipped with? If the latter, the experience will be quite different than the current FSD beta.

 

[Rocket Scienti]

Congrats on the new car! Just curious regarding "FSD preview experience" impressions - which version are you referring to? Are you in one of the beta versions, or one that came with the software version your car shipped with? If the latter, the experience will be quite different than the current FSD beta.

I have the latest "beta" that my subscription pays for ... not the latest "beta beta". My FSD is designed for limited access roads, with no assertion about driving on city streets.

That being said, algorithms can only work on what they "see" and I am learning the MY driver assist to get an idea of what the system "sees".

And I look forward to new releases since current release is completely unsafe on city streets and marginal on limited access highways IMO. Mostly on the basis of what it reports that it "sees". I am comparing my limited anecdotal first person sample with what the car is reporting it sees. My entire personal experience is 20% limited access freeways and 80% city streets in clear skies, 60F great weather. Perfect camera weather.

It DOES not see - or at least not at all well. These are HARD and required for anything beyond minimal assisted driving.

• Pedestrians. It is unusual that it sees people. And often when it does see them it is behind me - reported late. People (rarely) crossing a limited access highway?
• Opened doors on parallel parked cars. Invisible
• Animals. Dogs are invisible. Deer or dogs on limited access highways?
• Range of vision ... seems to be ~ 100'. Seems small for high speed IMO.
• Cars in intersections (and these do happen even on limited access highways). Invisible.
• Any multiple lanes in intersections without clearly marked lanes.
• It seems to detect color REALLY. well. RED stop signs. ORANGE cones (though it labels anything ORANGE as a cone it appears). Garbage containers (which seem to work for a variety of different objects, not all of which are garbage containers).
• It seems to use vision to decode lane markings (direction, bike lane). When those are missing, or degraded. ... confusion.

This system has a long way to go to be a people rated system IMO. You MUST recognize objects before you can decide what actions to take. I look forward to MASSIVE improvements. I would STRONGLY suggest that no one pay the up front FSD fee ... since unclear how quickly these very hard recognition problems will be solved.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the driving experience - with me in charge - debugging the limits of imaging based neural networks.

FWIW - my son is neuroscientist ... and we clearly do not understand how our own brains do image/object recognition. So analogies to using neural networks to emulate the brain to enable driving ... are ... optimistic.

I am thinking about limited personal testing of auto steering and navigation on freeways. A simpler environment. Not convinced at the moment.

 

[Rocket Scienti]

Thanks for sharing your experiences, and I agree with all your findings, I picked my MYLR back in Dec and had it for just over a month, on top of your experiences, I also have some likes and dislikes, I was driving a BMW 5 series and a Mercedes GL SUV before my MY:

1. Build quality? very good, no service appointments yet, panel gaps? maybe a little, but why would I care a few mm's difference?
2. Driving? Likes: I love the energy regen one-pedal driving, Tesla has done a great job to make the regen stop a very smooth experience. I love the smooth acceleration compared to the ICE cars. The suspension is acceptable to me, similar to my BMW 5 but not as comfortable as my GL which has air suspension. Dislikes: I hate the steering ratio when driving on highways, Tesla model Y does not have steer-by-wire hence it does not have features like DSC (Driving Stability Control) in BMWs or ESC (Electronic Stability Control) in Mercedes', so when driving in high speed on highways, the steering is too sensitive with the MY, any tiny steering wheel movements will translate to big direction changes, which is dangerous, it is hard to control the drive very precisely in high speed.
3. No blind-spot warning? mostly it does not bother me too much, only when driving on a rainy night it is indeed a problem, so I changed the side mirrors to wide-angle view mirrors and solved the problem
4. No instrument cluster display? I found it distracts me quite a lot moving my sight off the front to look at the screen, checking speed is fine since it's in big font on the most left side, but checking battery or time is harder because they are in very tiny font size, and also the navigation panel is on the right side of the big screen which will make you remove your sight off the front even longer to check. So I installed a third-party dashboard screen which I liked a lot.
5. FSD? I never trusted it, even basic autopilot would only work on easy highways, tried it a few times on local the experiences were very scary, plus in the past month, the blinded side pillar cameras events happened over 10 times due to strong sunshine or moistures, how would FSD work with blinded cameras?
6. Seats? Front seats are very comfortable but back seats are too short, not comfortable for tall people on long trips.
7. Charging at home? Loved it
8. OTA updates? Loved it

I am largely in alignment with your thoughts. The lack of a blind spot warning is a big deal. With rear facing cameras and reasonable car recognition this should be a no brainer. But I am not impressed with the lack of rear object recognition in adjacent lanes.

 

[gx9901]

I have the latest "beta" that my subscription pays for ... not the latest "beta beta". My FSD is designed for limited access roads, with no assertion about driving on city streets.

That being said, algorithms can only work on what they "see" and I am learning the MY driver assist to get an idea of what the system "sees".

And I look forward to new releases since current release is completely unsafe on city streets and marginal on limited access highways IMO. Mostly on the basis of what it reports that it "sees". I am comparing my limited anecdotal first person sample with what the car is reporting it sees. My entire personal experience is 20% limited access freeways and 80% city streets in clear skies, 60F great weather. Perfect camera weather.

It DOES not see - or at least not at all well. These are HARD and required for anything beyond minimal assisted driving.

• Pedestrians. It is unusual that it sees people. And often when it does see them it is behind me - reported late. People (rarely) crossing a limited access highway?
• Opened doors on parallel parked cars. Invisible
• Animals. Dogs are invisible. Deer or dogs on limited access highways?
• Range of vision ... seems to be ~ 100'. Seems small for high speed IMO.
• Cars in intersections (and these do happen even on limited access highways). Invisible.
• Any multiple lanes in intersections without clearly marked lanes.
• It seems to detect color REALLY. well. RED stop signs. ORANGE cones (though it labels anything ORANGE as a cone it appears). Garbage containers (which seem to work for a variety of different objects, not all of which are garbage containers).
• It seems to use vision to decode lane markings (direction, bike lane). When those are missing, or degraded. ... confusion.

This system has a long way to go to be a people rated system IMO. You MUST recognize objects before you can decide what actions to take. I look forward to MASSIVE improvements. I would STRONGLY suggest that no one pay the up front FSD fee ... since unclear how quickly these very hard recognition problems will be solved.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the driving experience - with me in charge - debugging the limits of imaging based neural networks.

FWIW - my son is neuroscientist ... and we clearly do not understand how our own brains do image/object recognition. So analogies to using neural networks to emulate the brain to enable driving ... are ... optimistic.

I am thinking about limited personal testing of auto steering and navigation on freeways. A simpler environment. Not convinced at the moment.

Yeah, I seriously doubt our cars have enough hardware power to ever be able to do true autonomous driving. But that's OK, since I have no interest in that while I am still able to drive a car myself.

By the way, does your car have the V11 UI? I'm curious what new owners think of it.

 

[Rocket Scienti]

No idea if it has V11. It reports a software version of 2021.39.104 with no updates available.

 

[Bet TSLA]

No idea if it has V11. It reports a software version of 2021.39.104 with no updates available.

That's a "new car" version. You'll get a real widely released version of the firmware when the latest has whatever special sauce was necessary for your new car. My guess is that you won't see it for a couple of weeks, as you didn't hit the release cycle optimally.

The new radically changed V11 user interface appears with 2021.44.xxx. You'll see it with your first update, so don't get too used to what you have now.

As a "computer scientist" I'm sure you know that giving a detailed description of software operation (FSD) without providing a specific version number is fairly useless, so you might want to lead with that information next time. The version you are using is far, far from the latest when it comes to driving on local streets. That's all in the FSD Beta, which you can't get without asking and then achieving a good safety score. However, what you experience on the highways is pretty similar to what's in the latest and bestest.

Take a look at teslafi.com if you want to see where your version of the firmware sits in the pantheon of releases. My guess is that you'll have to wait for a version that hasn't yet been seen before you can update.

Edit: Summon and self park are also much improved in the FSD Beta. Actually, a subscription to FSD is probably pretty worthless until you get your first update to the firmware, at least for anything beyond a vague general impression.

 

[Bet TSLA]

Just got delivery of my 2022 Model Y - all of 100 miles of some freeway but largely city street driving in SF Bay Area. Some initial impressions of the car and the purchase experience.

1. Ordered in 9/2021. Over subsequent months got delivery estimates ranging from 12/2021 to 5/2022. Ultimately delivered mid 1/2022 with 3 days notice two weeks after 5/2022 estimate. As an exec with high volume Mfg experience, I regard this as incompetent for a quality manufacturer.
2. Delivery was simple ... Tesla folks nice ...no education on car. I can figure out vehicle as a computer scientist, might not for other folks. Discovering I had to pay $50k+ cash in a couple of days was ... annoying.
3. Love the driving experience. Fast. The acceleration!!! Crisp handling. Comfy seats. Great forward visibility. Horrible rear visibility. The UI largely good IMO. The basic car feels more than good.
4. Build quality seems very good. No defects found so far.
5. Sound system a delight.
6. Basic navigation experience pretty good ... though it could not find the exact directions to my nearest SuperCharger. Had to spend a few blocks driving around to find it - off by ~ .5km.
7. Charging experience with garage charger quite good.
8. Did not buy FSD but did get a subscription to see what it can do.
9. The FSD preview experience on city streets is scary. Does pretty well on recognizing cars/trucks in my lane and adjacent lanes in same direction (though far from perfect on exact position more than a few 10s of feet away). Pretty good (90%+) on recognizing lane boundaries (except in intersections) and adjacent bike lanes. Not so good on oncoming vehicles (0%). Horrible on recognizing pedestrians (5%), bicyclist in adjacent bike lanes (DOES recognize bike lanes) (5%), poor at recognizing cross walks (50%), poor at recognizing pedestrians that might enter traffic (0%), totally ignores open doors on parked cars (0%), totally ignores small objects like dogs (0%), REALLY good at recognizing garage container and orange traffic cones (100%?), and traffic lights (100%). No way this is safe to drive in anything close to "autonomous" mode IMO on city streets. Good news is that there is massive opportunity for improvement. At this point I will NOT enable steering control. Braking control not good enough to trust all by itself IMO.
10. Still evaluating Summon and Self-Parking. First test in my condo garage failed.

Thanks for the first impressions. I just got a new Model Y as well on 12/27. It was my fourth Tesla, so not the same wow factor. Also perfect build quality. Likewise unimpressed with the "give us cash tomorrow" attitude. My first three I paid with a personal check after examining the car closely, but this time they wouldn't even let me inside the car until they had cash in hand.

 

[Corefile]

No blind-spot warning? mostly it does not bother me too much, only when driving on a rainy night it is indeed a problem, so I changed the side mirrors to wide-angle view mirrors and solved the problem

I don’t understand that statement - there is a big giant blind spot warning on the big screen in the middle of you dash…

 

[JNM67]

I don’t understand that statement - there is a big giant blind spot warning on the big screen in the middle of you dash…

I think it is because they are on old software...the car has not updated to new since delivery

 

[Rocket Scienti]

That's a "new car" version. You'll get a real widely released version of the firmware when the latest has whatever special sauce was necessary for your new car. My guess is that you won't see it for a couple of weeks, as you didn't hit the release cycle optimally.

The new radically changed V11 user interface appears with 2021.44.xxx. You'll see it with your first update, so don't get too used to what you have now.

As a "computer scientist" I'm sure you know that giving a detailed description of software operation (FSD) without providing a specific version number is fairly useless, so you might want to lead with that information next time. The version you are using is far, far from the latest when it comes to driving on local streets. That's all in the FSD Beta, which you can't get without asking and then achieving a good safety score. However, what you experience on the highways is pretty similar to what's in the latest and bestest.

Take a look at teslafi.com if you want to see where your version of the firmware sits in the pantheon of releases. My guess is that you'll have to wait for a version that hasn't yet been seen before you can update.

Edit: Summon and self park are also much improved in the FSD Beta. Actually, a subscription to FSD is probably pretty worthless until you get your first update to the firmware, at least for anything beyond a vague general impression.

I am reporting on my initial impressions of what my new user experience was/is. Not fantasy software that is not available to me.

FWIW ... ALL "FSD" sofware is "Beta" .. including my no doubt elderly, obsolete software.

Unavailable software in a new car is totally worthless.

Just sayin.

I will be interested to see the new ratings from IIHS and CR ... there is a desperate need for independent assessment of such systems - rather than fanboy assessments.

As a "computer scientist" ... I am also intimately aware of the bullshit that optimistic developers convince themselves of ... whatever the version number.

 

[lagjazz]

I don’t understand that statement - there is a big giant blind spot warning on the big screen in the middle of you dash…

Well, firstly when you are trying to change lanes, your want to turn your head to where you are going to, checking the mirrors and physical blind spots naturally, not turning your head to the opposite way trying to find if there is a small red vehicle turning red on the big screen, secondly, after you giving your turning signal, if you don't start making the move, the car will not give you the chime, vs the easily visible warning light on the side mirrors which let you know if it is safe before making the move.

 

[pbcsd]

My delivery dates have alps been all over this place. March to July to June to March and now to April.

The only way I find out is by opening the app every once in a while. No notification or email.

I too am concerned I will open it at some point to find out its not April, it's Friday sort of thing and then scramble.

Ridiculous.

 

[Y_tho]

FWIW ... ALL "FSD" sofware is "Beta" .. including my no doubt elderly, obsolete software.

The problem is, you decided to share your experience without mentioning what software version you were basing your observations on, and then making things even more confusing when referring to a non-beta release as "Beta." when it comes to FSD, "Beta" has a specific meaning. In your case, you're not actually testing FSD Beta. You're using what ships with all new vehicles.

 

[Bet TSLA]

I am reporting on my initial impressions of what my new user experience was/is. Not fantasy software that is not available to me.

FWIW ... ALL "FSD" sofware is "Beta" .. including my no doubt elderly, obsolete software.

Unavailable software in a new car is totally worthless.

Just sayin.

I will be interested to see the new ratings from IIHS and CR ... there is a desperate need for independent assessment of such systems - rather than fanboy assessments.

As a "computer scientist" ... I am also intimately aware of the bullshit that optimistic developers convince themselves of ... whatever the version number.

Oh, sorry, I was under the impression you might actually have some interest in understanding what you were using. I see from your response that all you actually want to do is air your grievances about the software. Have at it then. That's best done while not having a clue, so you should have no trouble.

 

[WADan]

Thanks for sharing your experiences, and I agree with all your findings, I picked my MYLR back in Dec and had it for just over a month, on top of your experiences, I also have some likes and dislikes, I was driving a BMW 5 series and a Mercedes GL SUV before my MY:

1. Build quality? very good, no service appointments yet, panel gaps? maybe a little, but why would I care a few mm's difference?
2. Driving? Likes: I love the energy regen one-pedal driving, Tesla has done a great job to make the regen stop a very smooth experience. I love the smooth acceleration compared to the ICE cars. The suspension is acceptable to me, similar to my BMW 5 but not as comfortable as my GL which has air suspension. Dislikes: I hate the steering ratio when driving on highways, Tesla model Y does not have steer-by-wire hence it does not have features like DSC (Driving Stability Control) in BMWs or ESC (Electronic Stability Control) in Mercedes', so when driving in high speed on highways, the steering is too sensitive with the MY, any tiny steering wheel movements will translate to big direction changes, which is dangerous, it is hard to control the drive very precisely in high speed.
3. No blind-spot warning? mostly it does not bother me too much, only when driving on a rainy night it is indeed a problem, so I changed the side mirrors to wide-angle view mirrors and solved the problem
4. No instrument cluster display? I found it distracts me quite a lot moving my sight off the front to look at the screen, checking speed is fine since it's in big font on the most left side, but checking battery or time is harder because they are in very tiny font size, and also the navigation panel is on the right side of the big screen which will make you remove your sight off the front even longer to check. So I installed a third-party dashboard screen which I liked a lot.
5. FSD? I never trusted it, even basic autopilot would only work on easy highways, tried it a few times on local the experiences were very scary, plus in the past month, the blinded side pillar cameras events happened over 10 times due to strong sunshine or moistures, how would FSD work with blinded cameras?
6. Seats? Front seats are very comfortable but back seats are too short, not comfortable for tall people on long trips.
7. Charging at home? Loved it
8. OTA updates? Loved it

You said the steering is too sensitive. Have you tried changing the steering mode? There are three to choose from.