I'm a long-term hybrid driver and I've been itching to make the leap to an all-electric. Based on many glowing reviews from friends who own Teslas, as well as a brief drive of a family member's Model Y, I was ready to pull the trigger and buy a Model Y Long Range after the price drop earlier this year. I ended up holding off, though, to give my wife a chance to try it out with a demo drive before buying, and I ended up being glad we waited and did the demo.
After my two LR demo drives, I was surprised by several things, both good and bad, but ultimately decided now is the not the time to buy a Y. Here's my thoughts:
tl;dr I liked almost everything, but the low-frequency rumbling resonance sounds drove me crazy. Until this is fixed, there's zero chance I'm buying a Y.
Performance
Even after previously driving a Y, I was still surprised at just how much torque is available IMMEDIATELY at any speed. My foot is still calibrated to an underpowered hybrid, so this is something I haven't had in a daily driver in a long time. That feeling of instantly pinning yourself to the back of your seat is just flat out fun. and the Y is just a joy to drive in this regard. The quick responsiveness is something you can't get even in most high-end performance ICE vehicles, much less a "family car" like the Y.
Interior Finish
I was unsure how I'd feel about the interior finishes, especially after reading a few reviews from more traditional auto review sources. It's definitely minimalistic, but it's not without any styling though. There's enough detail to make it feel like some attention was paid to aesthetics, so you're not just riding in bland a box, but it's not trying to feel like driving in a high-end luxury car. For me, that's a good thing. Door panels felt solidly attached and didn't flex, there weren't any creaks or big gaps, and the quality of the surfaces felt like I expected: comparable to a middle-tier vehicle. It's not "cheap" feeling like I've seen may describe, but it's definitely not high-end either. Overall, I ended up really liking the Y's interior.
UX
This was my biggest concern going into the demo drive. I like mechanical buttons and generally don't like interacting with a touch screen in cars. To my pleasant surprise, however, it turned out my fears were completely unfounded. The things I absolutely want mechanical buttons for are still easily accessible on the steering wheel: audio volume, skipping songs / tuning the radio, and cruise control. Navigating the menus to get to the steering wheel and mirror adjustments was a little bit tricky, but no more so than with any other car I'm unfamiliar with. Temperature control, even being on the touch screen, is far easier to find and use than on most traditional cars -- I think part of the ease is due to the enormous size of the touch screen. Almost everything else, even if it's buried in a menu on the screen, is also available via voice control, making it extremely easy to operate without taking your eyes off the road. The "ding" sound when a traffic light turns green -- this feature alone almost had me ready to throw money at Tesla. The Y's UX, despite being different from what I'm used to, was a breeze to use and honestly quite refreshing.
Infotainment
All I'll say, is Tesla absolutely blows away every other manufacturer's infotainment. The screen is huge and responsive, there are tons of apps, the maps and nav are great. The only thing missing is Android Auto and CarPlay, but Tesla's software is actually good enough I don't think I'd miss it.
Ride Quality
This is where things took a turn for the worse, but not in the ways that I expected. I knew I wouldn't feel like I was riding on a cloud, and some amount of road noise wasn't going to surprise me. I drove on some moderately rough patches of road and it was just "fine." The suspension is certainly stiffer than you'll get on most other cars on the road, and you'll feel more bumps and potholes. It feels more like a sports car suspension, but the car really handles more like a sports car, so it's not all that surprising and it really didn't turn me off at all. There was some amount of noise from outside the car that was quite apparent for the drive. While it wasn't unbearable, it certainly wasn't good. What finally broke the deal for me, though, was the strange low-frequency resonance that many on this forum seem to refer to as "booming" / "buffeting." The sound wasn't always present, but when it was, oh man it sucked. It feels like having a high-power subwoofer blasting out a barely-audible frequency that just rumbles in your ears and chest. The sound was most prevalent at low cruising speeds around 30-40mph, even on pretty smooth roads. This issue was actually the main reason for my second demo drive. I thought maybe it was a fluke, but the second demo car turned out to be EVEN WORSE than the first.
Disappointing Summary
Overall, I ended up just being really disappointed in the whole thing. I went from not just ready to buy a Y, but excited to buy a Y based on a previous drive, all the way to realizing there's no way I can justify buying a car that sounds like this. And my change of heart came not from any of the typical complaints about Teslas or EVs, but from a basic inability to meet a "can I even tolerate being in this car for more than 20 minutes with my eyes closed" requirement. There's so much to love about the Y, but there's no amount of cool features that can override fundamental riding discomfort. The fact that two
demo Ys had this issue should highlight just how prevalent this issue is, and I really can't believe they're selling as many Ys as they are with demos like this.
If I don't end up buying something else soon (I'll be going to check out an EV6 later this week), then I may have another look at the Y in a year or so and see if things have improved at all.
My overall opinion: :sad_face:
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