Quick introduction: I'm on the fence about getting a Model Y LR. I test drove one, and I've been reading a LOT about the car. In short, driving it sure was fun but I read some of the negatives and I wonder if it's really worth it. So...
What pros outweigh the cons for you, and make you love your car?
Not what features made you buy a Tesla Y (or 3), but what now makes you glad that you did?
Here's a quick list of some of the things I've read about, and I am concerned about, but couldn't really test on my test drive:
- Phantom braking so bad that some people don't even use AutoPilot, and no "ordinary" cruise control at all
- Auto headlights too unreliable to rely on
- Auto windshield wipers unreliable whereas other cars do it well
- no Apple / Android integration
- lots of issues playing music from USB (I'm old fashioned and like having my 10,000+ song collection on USB in my current vehicle)
- it forgets where you were when you leave the car and get back in (that would really annoy me)
- issues searching USB by voice commands
- paying luxury car price for the car but not getting luxury features common in other cars in this price range
- rear visibility - tiny rear window, small side mirrors, no blind spot warning like many other cars have now
I guess I'm wondering if I can't use AutoPilot, auto headlights & wipers, experience problems playing musing on USB, if rear view and blind spots are worse than my current car, would I really be happy with a Model Y? Or is driving it just that much fun?
#1. Depends on your software. When I first got the car I had zero issues with phantom braking, and even after my first software update it was fine... then after another software update it has rendered TACC useless and thus AP useless. I am hopeful that the next update will fix these issues. One of my problems with Tesla is that there is zero information given
BY TESLA on what a given software update will do. We run on rumors and leaks that make their way to on line news outlets. If you go to the release notes IN THE CAR about a software update it is blank.
#2. Worse than any other cars auto headlights I have ever driven... luckily even though you are forced to have auto headlights selected in order to use AP, you can override it with the left stalk.
#3. Never had a problem with this so far, but I am pretty good about keeping my windshield clean. I suspect if I have a bug strike right over the camera it may go nuts on me, but so far so good.
#4. I use Android Auto in other cars for navigation and phone audio, but the Tesla built in Nav is pretty good, and Bluetooth audio streaming from my phone is excellent, so I don't need Android Auto in the Tesla. I can understand other people being upset about this though.
#5. No experience with this, my phone has 500 GB of storage so my entire music library is there and available via Bluetooth.
#6. You are paying luxury car prices for a giant battery, and electric motors that combine performance AND efficiency. Not a single Tesla (or other EV) on the market can compete on a luxury basis with a similarly priced luxury car. For example, the Chevy Bolt is a tinny little "hot hatch" style car that if powered by and ICE would be $20,000 to $25,000 and come with a sunroof and power seats. In the Bolt you pay (before discounts) $10,000 more than that and have no sunroof and manual seats.
7. Rear visibility is trash in the Y, but better in the 3. You do have blind spot warning, but it is NOT intuitive... you have to be looking at your center screen when changing lanes instead of looking in the mirror. To mitigate this, in the Tesla you can turn on the rear camera and the two rear looking side cameras... these provide excellent blind spot view.
What I love is the performance, the very fast charging speed, and (when it isn't screwed up by a software update) Auto Pilot. Even with a good software build I would prefer "dumb" cruise control instead of TACC, but we are not given that choice. Also, I have free charging at work, so my commuting cost is zero, and I charge up to 90% before the weekend and get some of my non-commuting miles for free
What I hate is being a Beta tester. As others have pointed out in this thread, TACC is BETA, Auto steer is BETA, auto wipers are BETA... these features have been in Beta for damn near a decade now. People seem to love having over the air software updates. I prefer having a car that has software that works and is stable.
Keith