Overview

THIS is the car that should well and truly secure Tesla’s place in the automotive landscape – or at least, that’s what logic dictates.

As a mid-to-large SUV it’s got the form factor that the bulk of family buyers want, and, coupled with an EV powertrain that boasts a highly usable 455km single-charge range, its appeal should be obvious in an era where the cost of fuel is proving less stable than a vial of nitro-glycerine in a tumble-dryer.

But the Model Y is a latecomer to our market. It’s been more than two years between it going on sale in the US and its arrival on Australian roads, and in that time two Korean intruders have muscled in on the Model Y’s turf: Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 and Kia’s EV6.

Both are excellent – award-winning even – which puts the two-year-old Tesla on the back foot from the get-go. Recent price increases also mean it has null price advantage despite Tesla’s direct-sales model, with the Model Y currently selling for $72,300 before on-road costs, or circa-$84K drive-away in NSW, VIC and SA.

For context the Ioniq 5 Dynamiq RWD retails for $69,900 and Kia’s EV6 Air RWD is $72,590 pre-on-road costs.

So the price battleground is a level one – if not slightly tilted against the Tesla – so the Model Y needs to offer something the Ioniq 5 and EV6 can’t. Where’s the X-factor at? We borrowed the base Model Y rear-drive for a few days to find out.

Walking up to the Model Y, the initial impression is that it’s bigger than photos would have you believe. Its 2890mm wheelbase may be significantly shorter than the Ioniq 5’s three-metre stance, but an overall length of 4750mm means it puts the Koreans in the shade by more than a few centimetres.

If the three-row Model X is a large SUV then by rights the Model Y is a mid-sizer, but dimensions like that push it to the upper edge of that definition. It hides its bulk well though, visually speaking, thanks to Tesla’s amorphous-blob design language that, I’ll be honest, doesn’t really engage me as much as the spaceship styling of Hyundai’s pure EV SUV.

Inside, this is one of Tesla’s more convincing cabins – at least insofar as its utility. A conventional centre console sits at hip-height and contains deep storage bins, an armrest, two wireless charge pads (with a nice microsuede anti-slip backpanel) and a pair of cupholders.

The door pockets are generously sized, the boot is wide and deep with massive under-floor storage, and the rear seatbacks fold down at the press of a button.

The design is as sober and streamlined as the exterior, but it’s trimmed nicely with microsuede panels on the door cards and supple vegan leather on the seats – bright white in the case of this tester, but an all-black configuration is also available that’ll save you $1500 versus the white option.

Quality qualms? Tesla has attracted them in the past, but the fit and finish of this Chinese-built Model Y (all Aus-bound Model Ys are built in Tesla’s Chinese plant) was tight and issue-free.

There are still some Tesla-isms that make it harder to love this cabin, however. The company’s insistence that a single centre-mounted screen is sufficient for both infotainment and critical driver information like the speedometer is, to put it plainly, just wrong, especially in the absence of a head-up display.

There’s a good amount of screen real estate at least, and Tesla’s latest in-car software is one of the slickest in the business with near-instant response to finger prods and swipes, and almost no lag when swapping between different menu pages. If you can get your head around an iPhone, you’ll have an easy time getting to grips with this 15.0-inch touchscreen.

Another annoyance is the almost total absence of any control labelling. Did you know the transmission selector stalk is also the thing that activates cruise control? You’d never figure it out by simply looking at it. Same too with using the steering wheel scroll wheels to adjust the mirrors or having to adjust the direction of the air vents via the screen.

Simple features become needlessly complex when Tesla’s user interface engineers get involved.

But when it comes to comfort and space, the Model Y has both in abundance. The front seats offer enough adjustability and support to remain comfortable after hours behind the wheel, and the back seat is equally as roomy.

Rear seat legroom is generous, there’s enough headroom even for top hat enthusiasts to keep their headgear donned, and the angle of backrest and seat base also provides a comfortable posture, with an extra step of recline for the backrest for better road trip snoozability.

Rear air vents, heated outer seats and USB-C power outlets should keep your backseaters happy too, and if you’re concerned about whether everyone will be in for a case of severe sunburn thanks to that enormous glass sunroof (standard equipment, amazingly enough), it’s made with an optical coating that rejects UV and infrared heat and keeps the top of your dome cool.

And if you’re wondering how that correlates to the Tesla Model 3 which sits on the same platform, there are big advantages to the Model Y in terms of not just headroom, but back seat legroom – in the Model Y, those in the back have 135mm more distance between their knees and the front seats.

Boot space is also a win for the Model Y, with 854 litres when measured to the roof and including the under-floor area, compared to the Model 3’s 561 litres. Under the bonnet the Model Y boasts a 117-litre storage area, bigger than the Model 3 by 29 litres.

If you’re tossing up between the $65,500 Model 3 RWD and the Model Y RWD, the $7K price differential buys you cabin volume more than anything else.

Drive Impressions

But what of the drive? Here is where cracks begin to appear…

The ride is at odds with this car’s positioning as a family SUV. It is brutally firm, slapping into expansion gaps and catseyes, jiggling relentlessly over anything lumpier than a billiard table, and being generally unlikeable on anything but a well-maintained highway.

Note that this isn’t the dual-motor Model Y Performance that we’re talking about, this is the rear-drive base model.

Our tester was equipped with the 20-inch Induction alloy wheels, which must be at least partially responsible for the fidgety firmness of the Model Y’s suspension. Buyers looking for better compliance would be best advised to save themselves the $2900 premium for the big wheels and stick with the standard 19-inchers instead.

While that brittle ride is an absolute pain around town, it gels nicely with the fast-acting and direct steering, making the Model Y a surprisingly satisfying corner-carver. Is that what it should be? Arguably not, we’d trade some of that agility for greater suspension compliance, but it’s nice to know that this 1900kg SUV shows some dynamic talent when thrown into a corner, with ample grip from its 255-section Michelin Pilot Sport EV rubber.

Those tyres do transmit a great deal of tyre roar on coarse-chip asphalt, which harms its viability as a road trip machine. That’s a shame, because Tesla’s extensive Supercharger network long-distance trips to regional areas a much easier prospect than other EVs. We took advantage of that capability too, driving down from Melbourne to the Bellarine Peninsula for a day-trip before topping up in North Geelong for 20 minutes (which added 47 percent to our battery) to comfortably get us back to town with plenty of electrons in reserve. It was a fast and seamless process too, a key advantage of Tesla’s car-and-charger unified ecosystem.

A quick word about range: on our standard fuel economy loop the Tesla Model Y RWD consumed an average of 15.1kWh/100km. That’s appreciably close to the claim of 14.6kWh/100km, and better than what we achieved with the Ioniq 5 RWD on the same loop (16.5kWh/100km).

Tesla’s range claims are normally quite honest, and the Model Y is no different in our experience.

But if you want to make the most of that range, keen travellers should note that there’s no spare tyre or can of sealant aboard – you’ll be reliant on Tesla’s roadside assistance in the event of trouble, which lasts for the first four years and 80,000km of ownership.

Though the ride is poor, the driveline is anything but. Without the outright frenetic behaviour of its dual-motor and Performance siblings, the RWD Model Y actually has a friendliness to its power delivery that makes it more likeable despite being slower. And really, is a 6.9-second 0-100km/h sprint actually that slow?

The Kia EV6 Air is four-tenths tardier to 100km/h and the Ioniq 5 RWD adds another tenth on top of that. The Model Y has more than enough oomph for the average driver to stay ahead of traffic without needing to resort to the immature power delivery of Tesla’s Performance products.

That said, it’s a shame the regenerative braking only has one strength now, with a strong decelerative force when you lift off the accelerator rather than a more natural gentle slowing. Tesla used to give you a lower-resistance option but that’s now nowhere to be found in the vehicle setup screen, and while you’ll adjust to the regen quickly, it was nice to have had the option previously.

Our tester was also equipped with Tesla’s ‘Enhanced Autopilot’ level-two driver assist suite ($5100), with it proving adept at maintaining the Model Y’s distance from traffic in front and keeping itself smack-bang in the middle of the lane, all the while monitoring the position of surrounding traffic and showing you what it sees on the infotainment display. Rather cool. 

Interestingly, while attempting to see exactly how long it would steer itself we came across an intriguing feature: if you ignore the multiple warnings to put your hands back on the wheel, which become progressively louder and more insistent, the car will eventually lose its patience with you, deactivate Autopilot entirely, and refuse to reactivate it for the rest of the trip. Only coming to a complete stop and cycling the power will bring it back.

Is the Tesla Model Y worth the coin? Absolutely. Could it be better? Definitely. Introducing more slack in the suspension would make it a far more likeable machine and give it better odds against its Korean competitors, both of which have outstanding compliance and comfort.

The whole single-screen thing is harder for Tesla to change, but owners should eventually become used to it. To its credit, the software side of the Model Y is slick as hell, and it also comes with a phone app that not only allows a huge degree of remote monitoring and control, but can also replace Tesla’s flimsy standard credit card key entirely. That kind of software sophistication is yet to be found elsewhere in the world of auto.

Ultimately, if the Model Y had arrived sooner it would have easily established strong control over the EV SUV segment, but given it’s a little late to the party and it arrives after some very polished rivals, it has to fight that little bit harder to keep Tesla at the front of mind for would-be EV buyers.