Hi folks,
First post here on this forum.
Never owned a Tesla before but owned 2 Toyota hybrids at the same time (Prius and Camry) then 2 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEVs at the same time (2014 and then later a 2019 model) which are EV around town, petrol parallel mode on highway. Sold the oldest PHEV and bought a model Y RWD here on the Mid North coast of NSW (first one I have seen around here in the area although see Model 3s ). I didn't want to go back to a low ground clearance car, been there done that in the Prius, so hence I waited for the Y to be released here down under. Could not justify the money on buying a Model X for my first pure EV and just love that SUV style in my life these days. Now in my previous experiences of being lucky enough own or drive some cars that are I think considered premium like BMW or Mercedes as well as owning Holden, Ford, Honda, Subaru etc in my business or personally.
So Tesla Model Y review. IMHO a reasonably good car but defiantly not perfect but I have never driven what I consider a "perfect" car. All cars I think have there nuances that take time to get used to. Things I am still trying to get used on the Model Y after 2 weeks of ownership :
Turn signal stalk back on the left hand side like some other European cars I have owned or driven. A pet hate of mine that cars coming into Australia aren't standardised. I regularly drive different cars and having that turn signal stalk going from right to left depending on brands is really distracting and could even be considered a safety issue IMO. Tesla using the right hand side stalk to engage Reverse at slow speed make it worse than just accidently hitting your wiper stalk on other brand cars.
Occasional unnecessary braking on adaptive cruise control. Owned or driven plenty of other cars that don't do this that used radar based solutions. Hope to see this improved soon.
I consider as a engineer the steering rack ratio is too small or "direct" for a taller SUV type of car. It makes the car IMO too "sensitive" to steering inputs. I have even stipulated to my family (wife and 2 young adult sons) to only drive it in sports mode steering for the moment to firm up the steering sensitivity. It defiantly improves the steering somewhat IMO. The steering rack ratio reminds me of when I raced go-carts LOL. Heaven forbid trying to avoid a Roo here at night on a country road with a inexperienced driver with the Model Y in comfort mode. Could easily see them losing control. A friend lost his city friend to crashing a Subaru into a tree trying to avoid a Roo at night.
Even in chill mode I think the accelerator is too sensitive for my liking. Trying too keep at the speed limit takes too much concentration IMO. Plenty of other cars do it better I think even when I wear my heavy work boots while driving.
Heard plenty in previous reviews about how the suspension on the Model Y is too firm or harsh. Our roads here are showing plenty of damage in parts after all the rain we have had lately and IMO the Model Y is comparable to lot of other cars I have driven with lower profile tyres including our later model PHEV. Still don't understand the need for cars that we are just cruising around in and not racing to be reducing the amount of rubber in our sidewalls for protection of our rims and tyres and giving us a better level of comfort in the ride quality of the car itself. Sure to some eyes lower profile tyres look better and help cornering at extreme speeds but in a practical sense I think it has gone beyond a joke these days. My youngest son destroyed a rim and tyre just hitting a pothole on a tar road in a Mazda 3. We regularly drove our older cars on gravel roads with bad potholes with very few problems. Only difference higher profile tyres. A lot good capable 4x4 cars come standard now with highway style tread patterns and lower profile rims. Damaging rims on curbs is a real hazard now with low profile tyres. Seems so unnecessary to me.
Not having no physical buttons for certain functions and just using the large display is certainly different IMO. If the road is a bit rough hitting those smaller icons or sub menu shortcuts can be tricky LOL. Learning to use more voice commands will probably help here I hope.
Auto dimming headlights I think are unusable for me. I manually control them instead. Dazzling other drivers with our high beam happens too much. Hope it improves.
Still learning too try to trust "Autopilot". As someone that has piloted planes from going solo in them before I could legally drive cars on the road (solo on my 16th birthday) and using aeroplane autopilots don't agree with Tesla using that name LOL. Anyway Tesla's "autopilot" still needs refinement IMO. Has trouble with lane merges and exits especially from what I have seen. I can "pilot" the car better manually.
Now it may seem I have been too hard on my Model Y to some but I am just trying to be honest with my opinion. Again I do consider it to be reasonable good car. But I think it could be better as I stated before. Tesla's easy over the air updates is a great idea I think so looking forward to seeing somethings improved. I do not regret my purchase of the
Model Y and as a matter of fact my wife and son's regularly argue over driving it.
Anyway hope this can help others.
Regards Trex.
Ps Plug and charge on the Supercharger network is great compared to other networks I have used.
First post here on this forum.
Never owned a Tesla before but owned 2 Toyota hybrids at the same time (Prius and Camry) then 2 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEVs at the same time (2014 and then later a 2019 model) which are EV around town, petrol parallel mode on highway. Sold the oldest PHEV and bought a model Y RWD here on the Mid North coast of NSW (first one I have seen around here in the area although see Model 3s ). I didn't want to go back to a low ground clearance car, been there done that in the Prius, so hence I waited for the Y to be released here down under. Could not justify the money on buying a Model X for my first pure EV and just love that SUV style in my life these days. Now in my previous experiences of being lucky enough own or drive some cars that are I think considered premium like BMW or Mercedes as well as owning Holden, Ford, Honda, Subaru etc in my business or personally.
So Tesla Model Y review. IMHO a reasonably good car but defiantly not perfect but I have never driven what I consider a "perfect" car. All cars I think have there nuances that take time to get used to. Things I am still trying to get used on the Model Y after 2 weeks of ownership :
Turn signal stalk back on the left hand side like some other European cars I have owned or driven. A pet hate of mine that cars coming into Australia aren't standardised. I regularly drive different cars and having that turn signal stalk going from right to left depending on brands is really distracting and could even be considered a safety issue IMO. Tesla using the right hand side stalk to engage Reverse at slow speed make it worse than just accidently hitting your wiper stalk on other brand cars.
Occasional unnecessary braking on adaptive cruise control. Owned or driven plenty of other cars that don't do this that used radar based solutions. Hope to see this improved soon.
I consider as a engineer the steering rack ratio is too small or "direct" for a taller SUV type of car. It makes the car IMO too "sensitive" to steering inputs. I have even stipulated to my family (wife and 2 young adult sons) to only drive it in sports mode steering for the moment to firm up the steering sensitivity. It defiantly improves the steering somewhat IMO. The steering rack ratio reminds me of when I raced go-carts LOL. Heaven forbid trying to avoid a Roo here at night on a country road with a inexperienced driver with the Model Y in comfort mode. Could easily see them losing control. A friend lost his city friend to crashing a Subaru into a tree trying to avoid a Roo at night.
Even in chill mode I think the accelerator is too sensitive for my liking. Trying too keep at the speed limit takes too much concentration IMO. Plenty of other cars do it better I think even when I wear my heavy work boots while driving.
Heard plenty in previous reviews about how the suspension on the Model Y is too firm or harsh. Our roads here are showing plenty of damage in parts after all the rain we have had lately and IMO the Model Y is comparable to lot of other cars I have driven with lower profile tyres including our later model PHEV. Still don't understand the need for cars that we are just cruising around in and not racing to be reducing the amount of rubber in our sidewalls for protection of our rims and tyres and giving us a better level of comfort in the ride quality of the car itself. Sure to some eyes lower profile tyres look better and help cornering at extreme speeds but in a practical sense I think it has gone beyond a joke these days. My youngest son destroyed a rim and tyre just hitting a pothole on a tar road in a Mazda 3. We regularly drove our older cars on gravel roads with bad potholes with very few problems. Only difference higher profile tyres. A lot good capable 4x4 cars come standard now with highway style tread patterns and lower profile rims. Damaging rims on curbs is a real hazard now with low profile tyres. Seems so unnecessary to me.
Not having no physical buttons for certain functions and just using the large display is certainly different IMO. If the road is a bit rough hitting those smaller icons or sub menu shortcuts can be tricky LOL. Learning to use more voice commands will probably help here I hope.
Auto dimming headlights I think are unusable for me. I manually control them instead. Dazzling other drivers with our high beam happens too much. Hope it improves.
Still learning too try to trust "Autopilot". As someone that has piloted planes from going solo in them before I could legally drive cars on the road (solo on my 16th birthday) and using aeroplane autopilots don't agree with Tesla using that name LOL. Anyway Tesla's "autopilot" still needs refinement IMO. Has trouble with lane merges and exits especially from what I have seen. I can "pilot" the car better manually.
Now it may seem I have been too hard on my Model Y to some but I am just trying to be honest with my opinion. Again I do consider it to be reasonable good car. But I think it could be better as I stated before. Tesla's easy over the air updates is a great idea I think so looking forward to seeing somethings improved. I do not regret my purchase of the
Model Y and as a matter of fact my wife and son's regularly argue over driving it.
Anyway hope this can help others.
Regards Trex.
Ps Plug and charge on the Supercharger network is great compared to other networks I have used.