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World's best-selling car receives an improved battery in entry-level form for a 373-mile range

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The car industry had never seen a rise like that of Tesla and probably never will see another. Just a decade ago, this was a new firm introducing a car with a novel propulsion method and minimal supporting infrastructure. Today, it’s the maker of the world’s best-selling car: the Tesla Model Y.

Rivals never rest, though, and so for 2024 Tesla has replaced the 60kWh battery in the single-motor version of its electric crossover. We think it’s the 75kWh pack from the AWD Long Range but Tesla always refuses to discuss capacity, annoyingly.

Despite having similar sloping rooflines, one of the big improvements of the Model Y over the Model 3 is that it’s a hatchback rather than a saloon.

Whatever it is, it has increased the starting price slightly from £44,990 to £46,990 but enhanced the official range from 283 miles right up to 373 miles (or 351 miles on the bigger alloys), with official efficiency remaining at 4.0mpkWh.

Meanwhile, the Long Range All Wheel Drive (£52,990, 331 miles) and Performance All Wheel Drive (£59,990, 319 miles) remain as they were – as does the rest of the entry-level package, now named the Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive.

The Tesla Model Y line-up at a glance

The Model Y was launched in the UK with two dual-motor versions only: the Long Range and the Performance. In 2023, a cheaper rear-wheel-drive model was added to the range – and now in 2024, it has been upgraded.

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There are no trim levels; the Model Y just comes with lots of equipment as standard.

EnginesPower
Long Range Rear Wheel Drive342bhp
Long Range All Wheel Drive389bhp
Performance All Wheel Drive426bhp

The Model Y competes in an increasingly crowded corner of the market: the mid-size electric SUV class. In terms of size and practicality, it goes toe to toe with EVs such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E, the Audi Q4 E-tron and Stellantis's new Leapmotor C10.

There's a choice of two power outputs, and even the entry-level RWD model packs a hefty 342bhp, which is good for a claimed 0-60mph time of 5.9sec. Move up to the Performance and this benchmark figure tumbles to a supercar-humbling 3.5sec, thanks to its muscular 426bhp output.

Thanks to the instant torque and high-revving nature of an electric motor, there’s no need for multiple ratios, as in an ICE car. However, the gearing used for the front and rear motors in AWD Model Ys is slightly different, with one having a shorter ratio for acceleration and the other slightly longer for more efficient high-speed cruising.

DESIGN & STYLING

2 Tesla Model Y 2022 road test review side pan

Anyone vaguely familiar with the Tesla Model 3 saloon won’t be surprised at any of the Model Y’s technical make-up or design. Like it or loathe it, Tesla’s design language is consistent and thus makes any of its cars clearly recognisable as a Tesla. It’s extremely clean, with no fake grilles or spoilers, and the fish-like shape and flush door handles are very aerodynamic (even if Tesla’s drag coefficient of 0.23 sounds optimistic), but it’s not exactly elegant.

The Model Y is very much like a bigger Model 3; Tesla actually claims 75% of components are shared. It is only 50mm longer, at 4751mm, but a considerable 181mm taller. Of that, 27mm goes into increasing the ground clearance to 167mm, so the body height is stretched by more than 150mm, which benefits not just head room but also the rear passengers’ seating position.

What look like side repeaters for the indicators actually house the cameras for the driving assistance. They must be in the path of muck flung from the wheel arch, because the car kept saying the side cameras were blocked.

Potentially the most significant improvement over the Model 3 is that the Model Y is a hatchback, which means it isn't at a practicality disadvantage compared with the likes of the Volkswagen ID 4Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5.

The mechanical make-up is also the same as the Model 3. That means there's a sizeable skateboard battery in the floor. Tesla is notoriously coy about battery capacity (ironic, given that it used to be the basis for its model naming structure) and power output, but the pack is estimated to have a 75kWh usable capacity in both the AWD and, following the 2024 update, RWD variants.

In Long Range AWD form, the Model Y is good for 331 miles on the WLTP cycle. In Performance AWD form, range drops to a still-impressive 319 miles. In Long Range RWD form, it shoots up to 372 miles on 19in wheels or 351 miles. Yes, you've got that right: as is often the case with EVs, the less you pay, the farther you go.

The Model Y’s body is mostly steel but has a lot of aluminium too, including a huge single-piece casting for the rear understructure. And it appears to be effective: 1979kg doesn’t sound particularly light, but it's actually a decent result for an EV of this size.

INTERIOR

11 Tesla Model Y 2022 road test review cabin

Executive cars, whether hailing from Germany, the UK or Japan, have generally wooed buyers with their sumptuous interiors full of neat details and features. If that is what you have come to expect from your car, you will be instantly turned off by the Model Y.

Its interior, like in every other Tesla, is minimalism driven to its logical conclusion. There is almost nothing in there that doesn’t need to be there, and that includes buttons. The only piece of style over minimalism is the strip of natural-looking wood on the dashboard.

Layered wood-plastic-rubber design is as whimsical as it gets in the austere cabin of the Tesla. Build and perceived quality are fine, mind you.

Teslas have gained a reputation for flaky build quality, but from the evidence of our test car at least, that is undeserved. Everything inside the Model Y gave a sturdy impression and all surfaces felt pleasing to the touch. Apart from the touchscreen, they resisted fingerprints well.

It’s all fully vegan. That thought might give some people flashbacks to nasty vinyl seats, but in reality you couldn’t tell that the seats aren’t made of real leather. As standard it is black imitation leather, or for a rather steep £1100 you can have white seats.

As well as imitation leather, you better like touchscreens, because in a Tesla interior there isn’t a whole lot else to touch. The reduction in physical controls isn’t quite as pronounced as in the latest Tesla Model S, which forgoes even the indicator stalk and drive selector, but apart from those all you get in the Model Y is seat controls, a button for the hazard lights, window switches and two multifunction controls on the surprisingly round steering wheel.

Given how few controls there are, it works fairly well, mainly because the screen reacts very quickly and there aren’t many deep submenus. Some controls are also cleverly dual-purpose. For example, there is no wiper stalk, just a button on the indicator stalk. Press it lightly for the mist function, or harder for a wash-wipe. Either way, it also pops up a menu on the screen to adjust speeds.

Even so, there are compromises. Adjusting the steering column or mirrors by first going into a menu and then using the steering wheel buttons is absurd. The ‘buttons’ for the climate control are too small, and although there are rear seat heaters, rear passengers can’t activate them because it is done only through the screen. Forget trendy minimalism, this is pure cost-cutting.

Where the interior excels is in the sheer amount of space it offers, much more than any of its rivals. Rear leg and head room are generous, but the bench is set higher in relation to the floor than in a Kia EV6, which creates a more comfortable seating position.

Tesla fudges its boot volume numbers a bit by quoting up to the roof, rather than the parcel shelf (because there isn’t one), but by our own measurements it is still larger in every direction than either the EV6 or the Skoda Enyaq, and there is a large area under the floor. To embarrass other cars further, there is also an impressive 117-litre ‘frunk’ that can be opened electronically.

Tesla Model 3 infotainment and sat-nav

Tesla is by no means the only manufacturer to eliminate buttons in favour of a massive touchscreen, but it could be argued that it was the first to do so semi-convincingly.

That is still the case to some extent, because at 15in the screen is huge, allowing large on-screen buttons. It responds instantly and most menus are clear and only one or two levels deep. There are also abundant USB ports and two wireless chargers.

However, the buttons for the climate control are too small, and there is no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto functionality, so if you want to use Apple Podcasts or Music, you have to do so through Bluetooth. At least Spotify is built in.

The navigation is Google Maps, which is mostly a good thing, but it doesn’t always work right if there is no mobile signal and the voice guidance is a bit too chatty.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

25 Tesla Model Y 2022 road test review charging port

Remember all those drag race videos of Teslas pulling away from various supercars? A Tesla may not be a driver’s car in the traditional sense, but they do trade on performance.

That’s probably why the AWD Long Range has a motor on each axle for a combined 389bhp and powered to 60mph in 4.7sec. An extra £10,000 buys you a Performance version with 426bhp and a claimed 0-60mph time of 3.5sec, but you certainly wouldn’t feel short-changed with the regular one. The base RWD Long Range will do the same sprint in 5.9sec, so even that can easily scarper away from everyday ICE traffic.

Charging a Tesla at a Supercharger, where you just arrive and plug in, makes you angry at how sluggish and inconsistent the roll-outs of other charging networks are.

After all, that performance is temptingly easy to access. There is no need to select a special mode or warm up the battery like with early fast Teslas. Just mat the pedal and this family SUV will hurl itself at the horizon. Other than the sheer level of thrust, it’s all pretty undramatic, too. On a dry road, it just grips and goes. Unlike most electric cars, it carries merrily on to an electronically limited top speed of 135mph.

If it is all a bit much for you, you can select Chill mode to soften off the accelerator response and limit power to help save battery, but it is possible to achieve the same thing simply by going easier on the right pedal. Rather than a Chill mode, we would have liked to see more options to vary the regenerative braking.

You get a choice of Creep, Roll and Hold, and all three modes provide the same high level of regen when you lift off the accelerator at speed. The difference is what happens at low speed. Creep mimics an automatic gearbox, Roll lets the car roll when not holding the brake and Hold ups the regen at low speed and enables true one-pedal driving. It’s very good at it, rivalling chauffeurs in how smooth it is when coming to a stop.

Which is fine if you enjoy driving like that, but some drivers prefer only a little retardation when lifting off, for stronger braking to be controlled using the brake pedal. Tesla doesn’t offer that option. And that typifies the prescriptive way in which the car wants to be driven and operated.

RIDE & HANDLING

27 Tesla Model Y 2022 road test review cornering front

Prescriptiveness characterises the Model Y’s handling as well. Great if that matches how you drive, but frustrating if it doesn’t. By any objective standard, it handles well. Stiff suspension and ultra-quick (two turns lock to lock) steering make this big, heavy car feel remarkably agile, because it has the grip to back up those responses, thanks to its wide tyres.

When you power out of corners hard in the AWD Long Range, you can just about feel there’s some rear torque bias to the driveline, but the traction control is quite restrictive and won’t allow any real rotation. The RWD isn't playful in its dynamics, either, despite what the name might suggest.

Model Y is grippy and responsive in corners like these, but its steering is stodgier than we would like and the ride far too firm even for a car with such vast reserves of power.

The stability systems in general are conservative but well tuned and won’t freak out when you lift off mid-corner, which isn’t always the case on heavy, tall SUVs.

It’s easy to see how someone with little experience of performance cars could drive an AWD Model Y and be bowled over by the prodigious performance, high level of grip and keen responses. However, it is all a little one-dimensional, and a Kia EV6, or even a Volvo C40 Recharge, feels more natural to drive. It’s competent rather than fun.

The one element that is simply poor is the steering. Its weight can be adjusted between Comfort, Standard and Sport, but even in Comfort it is heavy in a gloopy, unnatural way that is reminiscent of electric power steering systems of 10 years ago.

Particularly frustrating is that the Model Y takes 12.1m between kerbs to turn. Where there is no motor between the front wheels, most ground-up EVs allow massive steering angles with an excellent turning circle as a result.

For comparison, the Skoda Enyaq needs only 9.3m and even the conventional Jaguar F-Pace P400e 4WD PHEV requires less than the Tesla, at 11.9m.

Tesla Model Y comfort and isolation

It is clear there are elements of car design that Tesla considers important, like performance and battery energy density, and others that it reckons won’t be enough of a deal-breaker for people and therefore not worth pouring money into. Ride comfort and refinement are clearly quite far down Tesla’s priority list.

The suspension is relatively well damped, but it just never settles down. Even on seemingly smooth motorway, we found the back of our heads constantly being bounced against the seats.

Our car was on the smaller, 19in wheels, but you might as well go for the 20in set if they take your fancy, because there's no pliant ride here to ruin (although that will cost you some range).

Those big wheels seem to seek out every road surface imperfection and thump through them. You don’t just feel it. You can hear it too, because noise insulation is substandard.

In fairness, with no engine humming in the background, other noises are more obvious, but the sound level meter doesn’t lie, and at 70mph the Model Y is louder than a Skoda Enyaq by 3dBA, an Audi Q4 E-tron by 4dBA and a Jaguar F-Pace by a massive 7dBA. With its 70dBA, it is just as noisy as a Skoda Fabia, a small, relatively cheap hatchback. The huge panoramic roof and lack of a parcel shelf may partially explain this lack of acoustic refinement, but they certainly don’t excuse it.

The seats are good if not exceptional. The commanding driving position is appropriate and there is enough adjustment to suit most body types and all testers found them comfortable on long journeys despite the slightly short seat base.

Tesla Model Y assisted driving notes

For a company that offers ‘Full Self-Driving’ and ‘Autopilot’, you would expect it to have adaptive cruise control with lane following licked.

Not quite. First things first, the adaptive cruise control itself works well. Adjusting the speed with a scroll wheel is very easy, it anticipates fairly well and it is confident and smooth in speeding up and slowing down.

However, the Autopilot lane following is unusable: it insists on being absolutely centred in the lane, and if you tweak it with the steering, it disengages. Make a lane change too quickly or too slowly and it disengages. Lane keeping assistance can be permanently turned off but generally works fine.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

1 Tesla Model Y 2022 road test review tracking

If you've driven and charged other electric cars, Tesla’s Supercharger network is a revelation. You park up, plug in and charge at up to 250kW. You don’t need to swipe a card, the chargers work and there are lots of them. And you can use any other public charger, too.

There’s no doubt that Tesla is still ahead of the pack when it comes to convenience because, in addition to access to Superchargers, the Model Y has a very competitive range.

The Model Y is predicted to hold its value exceptionally well, even by premium electric car standards.

During our time with the AWD Long Range, including performance testing and motorway driving, it averaged 3.1mpkWh. Assuming a usable battery capacity of 75kWh, that gives a real-world range of 234 miles. Expect more in summer or with gentler usage. A single-motor Kia EV6 or Skoda Enyaq will do similar, and a Ford Mustang Mach-E Extended Range will go slightly further but with less performance.

With the RWD Long Range, we averaged 3.4mpkWh on the motorway, or 3.5mpkWh when we put the powertrain into Chill mode. That would put its range in the high-200s, making the claimed 373-mile figures seem rather dubious.

There's no outright cheap Model Y: even the basic RWD Long Range is £46,990. If you can live without the violent power and rich standard equipment, the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 can be had for much cheaper.

It's fairly competitive on PCP finance, though: you can have an AWD Long Range for £725 per month (10% deposit, 36 months, 12,000 miles per annum), while the equivalent version of the Ioniq 5 comes in at £710 per month.

What Car? New car buyer marketplace - Tesla Model Y

VERDICT

29 Tesla Model Y 2022 road test review static

Like we said in the introduction, Tesla isn’t like other car companies. Most mainstream cars to undergo our road test will perform relatively consistently across the board and can be easily classified as mediocre, good or excellent.

The Tesla Model Y has one of the worst rides of anything that doesn’t pretend to be a track-focused sports car, and the level of acoustic refinement is not appropriate for a £54,990 car. Ordinarily, that would mean a four-star verdict would be out of the question. However, it counters that with way more interior space and practicality than any similarly sized EV and a strong if not exceptional range.

There’s not much to choose with a Tesla, and the options that are there are expensive. The Long Range is quick enough, and the Enhanced Autopilot doesn’t work as it should, so save that money and invest it in a more interesting exterior colour.

But the clincher, like with any Tesla, is the access to the Supercharger network, which still does more to take the inconvenience out of charging than anything else.

The performance, range, roadholding and sheer amount of space on offer impress, too, but the button-free interior that is devoid of character and occasionally frustrating and the prescriptive way it wants to be driven make the Model Y a car to respect rather than love. An appliance, but a very effective one.

What Car? New car buyer marketplace - Tesla Model Y

Illya Verpraet

Illya Verpraet Road Tester Autocar
Title: Road Tester

As part of Autocar’s road test team, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews, comparison tests, as well as the odd feature and news story. 

Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s eight-page road tests, which are the most rigorous in the business thanks to independent performance, fuel consumption and noise figures.

Tesla Model Y First drives