Model Y - Initial Impressions - Delights, surprises, disappointments and concerns

Bought a 23 Model Y without a test drive (no test drive available, but have test driven an older MY 3 some time back). Some initial perspectives after a week.

Delights:
1. Very spacious- doesn’t look like it from outside. Leg room and head room are pretty good.
2. Smooth app experience in-car and on phone
3. Plenty of storage

Surprises:
1. Ride quality is not bad at all. Much better than the Model 3. Comparable to other EVs. Not as soft as Hyundai Sonata Hybrid that we have but does soak up bumps reasonably well
2. Good turning radius for a car of its size

Disappointments/Annoyance
1. Regen levels are not adjustable
2. No 360 view for a 65K+ car in 2023
3. Not the best implementation of blind spot safety. No visual or audible alerts with turn signals on for the left side. Audible when there is a car in blind spot is the safest implementation despite minor annoyance. Now I have to get used to looking right and then looking left to turn.

Concerns:
1. Heavy low frequency resonance- just figuring out this is a problem that many are facing - just hoping it’s fixable and not really a torsional rigidity design flaw - Set up service appointment in 2 weeks
2. No rear safety- no cross traffic alerts, no auto brake for objects or pedestrians- almost ran into another reversing BMW but fortunately that car had better tech to stop
3. . Lane departure warning / assistance doesn’t work reliably. Low end cars give warning when straddling or drifting lanes.

Overall well built car and drives well. But certainly some concerns and disappointments.

"Tesla Model Y Dual Motor Solid Black (4)" by Damian B Oh is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog feed thumbnail

 

[Smeghead]

How are you opening your door handle? It's supposed to be left thumb on left side of car and then the rest of your hand comfortably grabs the handle. Vice versa for the right side of the car.

I operate as you describe because I haven't figured out how to do it (easily) another way. On most modern cars it is possible to operate the handles without using a thumb and with some fingers or a thumb while holding something in that (no matter right or left on either side) hand. M3/Yers are pretty much forced to use the method you describe rather than having the option to use various other methods.
It is a minor annoyance and I'm learning to live with it. The point I'm trying to make is that the annoyance has been removed from most other cars many years ago and is now reintroduced on a new design.

 

[Smeghead]

I got aftermarket door handles to solve these problems. I love them! They look great, they make my life easier, and other people are able to open the doors (from the outside) without instruction.

https://www.amazon.com/Tesla-Model-Exterior-Handles-Accessories/dp/B09M85WXYC/

Be careful with the alignment when you put them on. You need to give them 24 hours for the adhesive to really set. I ended up using 3M Adhesion Promoter.

Likewise, as I said in a post above, I use aftermarket wide angle side mirrors. They eliminate the blind spots. Yes, it sucks that we have to fix things like this with aftermarket products. Oh well.

I had not run across those yet, thanks for the tip. Forgot about the part about explaining to others how to open the doors, I often get puzzled or "are you kidding me" looks.
Even though we shouldn't have to add aftermarket parts to improve vehicles in this price range, it's great there are very good parts available. Procurement of most of these parts has me learning a second language too.

 

[flgatorfan]

Heartily agree. I would actually downgrade lane departure and blind spot warnings as "not present." The reason is that LKA barely ever nudges my car back in the lane. And blind spot lacks sufficient natural situational awareness alerts to provide any value.

I have been trying to test most of the features and warnings of my MY so I am familiar when I need them. I accidentally "tested" blind spot warnings last night when I accidentally started a lane change into a lane with a car present. The car said nothing and I saw the car before leaving my lane. Our Palisade would have gone ballistic in this case, if I would even have made the mistake. The Palisade, with warnings in both the mirror and HUD would probably have prevented me from even thinking about the change at that point. Then, when the blinker went on, the Palisade would have sounded loud alerts and pushed back hard. I noticed nothing on the Tesla until after the fact when I looked over at my screen to see the red highlights.

Maybe I haven't driven enough new cars but the way you guys describe them make them sound like an annoying beepfest. My six year old VW has no such features and I manage to change lanes without issue though I do think having the little light in the mirror would be nice.

 

[exxxviii]

First make sure your mirrors are set up correctly.

The point is not about adjusting mirrors. Mine are great. The thing that blind spot does is cover you when you make a mistake - when there is a lot going on in traffic and you simply miss the car that is next to you. That is when blind spot prevents you from an accident. Not in normal times. Tesla really does not do this. At all. (Same with rear cross traffic in another thread. You don't need it... until you make a mistake.)

Maybe I haven't driven enough new cars but the way you guys describe them make them sound like an annoying beepfest.

Only when you screw up. Otherwise, it is silent.

 

[SalisburySam]

I got aftermarket door handles to solve these problems. I love them! They look great, they make my life easier, and other people are able to open the doors (from the outside) without instruction.

https://www.amazon.com/Tesla-Model-Exterior-Handles-Accessories/dp/B09M85WXYC/

Be careful with the alignment when you put them on. You need to give them 24 hours for the adhesive to really set. I ended up using 3M Adhesion Promoter.

Likewise, as I said in a post above, I use aftermarket wide angle side mirrors. They eliminate the blind spots. Yes, it sucks that we have to fix things like this with aftermarket products. Oh well.

These are brilliant, and thanks for sharing. In its desire to be different, Tesla has introduced things that are just annoyances, the Model 3 door handles being one of them. To have to explain to riders how to get into a car is to me odd the first few times, then just becomes irksome.

 

[CharlieMY]

Bought a 23 Model Y without a test drive (no test drive available, but have test driven an older MY 3 some time back). Some initial perspectives after a week.

Delights:
1. Very spacious- doesn’t look like it from outside. Leg room and head room are pretty good.
2. Smooth app experience in-car and on phone
3. Plenty of storage

Surprises:
1. Ride quality is not bad at all. Much better than the Model 3. Comparable to other EVs. Not as soft as Hyundai Sonata Hybrid that we have but does soak up bumps reasonably well
2. Good turning radius for a car of its size

Disappointments/Annoyance
1. Regen levels are not adjustable
2. No 360 view for a 65K+ car in 2023
3. Not the best implementation of blind spot safety. No visual or audible alerts with turn signals on for the left side. Audible when there is a car in blind spot is the safest implementation despite minor annoyance. Now I have to get used to looking right and then looking left to turn.

Concerns:
1. Heavy low frequency resonance- just figuring out this is a problem that many are facing - just hoping it’s fixable and not really a torsional rigidity design flaw - Set up service appointment in 2 weeks
2. No rear safety- no cross traffic alerts, no auto brake for objects or pedestrians- almost ran into another reversing BMW but fortunately that car had better tech to stop
3. . Lane departure warning / assistance doesn’t work reliably. Low end cars give warning when straddling or drifting lanes.

Overall well built car and drives well. But certainly some concerns and disappointments.


View attachment 896494
"Tesla Model Y Dual Motor Solid Black (4)" by Damian B Oh is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog feed thumbnail

One GIANT DISAPPOINTMENT for me was Elon deprecating the value of my car by 20% after owning it a month. Anyone else feel violated

 

[Yelobird]

One GIANT DISAPPOINTMENT for me was Elon deprecating the value of my car by 20% after owning it a month. Anyone else feel violated

Nope.

 

[TesslaBull]

I think when we come to absolutely rely on electronics to be a good driver, we are going in the wrong direction. In other words, good situational awareness, proper mirror adjustment so that there is no blind spot, and just being a good, attentive driver, imo, makes all the artificial driver aids redundant and not *mandatory*. I think we tend to become less attentive, lower quality drivers when we heavily depend on technology to do everything for us.

 

[ZekeTheDutch]

Totally agree with you, safety features are great but you still should look over your shoulders the way we were all taught.

 

[exxxviii]

We should all be perfect drivers and eschew safety features, lest we fall from perfection.

 

[nate704]

Model Y is now $45-$50k car now

 

[mjwojtukiewicz]

Bought a 23 Model Y without a test drive (no test drive available, but have test driven an older MY 3 some time back). Some initial perspectives after a week.

Delights:
1. Very spacious- doesn’t look like it from outside. Leg room and head room are pretty good.
2. Smooth app experience in-car and on phone
3. Plenty of storage

Surprises:
1. Ride quality is not bad at all. Much better than the Model 3. Comparable to other EVs. Not as soft as Hyundai Sonata Hybrid that we have but does soak up bumps reasonably well
2. Good turning radius for a car of its size

Disappointments/Annoyance
1. Regen levels are not adjustable
2. No 360 view for a 65K+ car in 2023
3. Not the best implementation of blind spot safety. No visual or audible alerts with turn signals on for the left side. Audible when there is a car in blind spot is the safest implementation despite minor annoyance. Now I have to get used to looking right and then looking left to turn.

Concerns:
1. Heavy low frequency resonance- just figuring out this is a problem that many are facing - just hoping it’s fixable and not really a torsional rigidity design flaw - Set up service appointment in 2 weeks
2. No rear safety- no cross traffic alerts, no auto brake for objects or pedestrians- almost ran into another reversing BMW but fortunately that car had better tech to stop
3. . Lane departure warning / assistance doesn’t work reliably. Low end cars give warning when straddling or drifting lanes.

Overall well built car and drives well. But certainly some concerns and disappointments.


View attachment 896494
"Tesla Model Y Dual Motor Solid Black (4)" by Damian B Oh is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog feed thumbnail

EXACTLY my complaint


2. No rear safety- no cross traffic alerts, no auto brake for objects or pedestrians- almost ran into another reversing BMW but fortunately that car had better tech to stop
3. . Lane departure warning / assistance doesn’t work reliably. Low end cars give warning when straddling or drifting lanes.

 

[mjwojtukiewicz]

We should all be perfect drivers and eschew safety features, lest we fall from perfection.

You're kidding right?

 

[CharlieMY]

Nope.

Nope.

I assume you must be well off…good for you

 

[Yelobird]

I assume you must be well off…good for you

You Asked if I felt violated. Was I supposed to wait for your answer or did I miss whatever your point was.

 

[exxxviii]

You're kidding right?

Yes, of course. It is a comedic response to a few posts advocating that safety features make us poorer drivers.

 

[gx9901]

I operate as you describe because I haven't figured out how to do it (easily) another way. On most modern cars it is possible to operate the handles without using a thumb and with some fingers or a thumb while holding something in that (no matter right or left on either side) hand. M3/Yers are pretty much forced to use the method you describe rather than having the option to use various other methods.
It is a minor annoyance and I'm learning to live with it. The point I'm trying to make is that the annoyance has been removed from most other cars many years ago and is now reintroduced on a new design.

I didn’t even realize this until I paid some attention recently when I’m opening my doors. For any of the 4 doors and with either hand, I found that I automatically use my index finger to push the wider part of the handle in and grab the other end with my thumb and/or other fingers. Sometimes I would use my other hand to grab the other end but I always start with a push with my index finger.

 

[mjwojtukiewicz]

Yes, of course. It is a comedic response to a few posts advocating that safety features make us poorer drivers.

Ok, shoulda put a wink eye on the end.

 

[mjwojtukiewicz]

I don't want to be labelled a Hyundai troll but here's is what is included in Ionoiq6. I checked to see what AP actually does. My previous Prius did more than that
Here's Ioniq 6 specs 2023 IONIQ 6 Trim Details - USA

 

[TesslaBull]

I love Tesla's door handles.