Tesla Model X Review (2016-present)
Tesla Model X cars for sale
4.0
Expert review
Pros
One of the most practical electric SUVs
Hilariously quick
One of the only large seven-seat EVs on sale
Cons
Expensive to buy new
Not as fun to drive as some rivals
Lumpy ride on really big alloys
The CarGurus verdict
The Tesla Model X is a fantastically versatile MPV/SUV crossover, and an exceptional electric car. It isn’t as fun to drive as some of its rivals, nor does it have the perceived build quality and level of finish that you would reasonably expect of a car costing nearly £100,000.
But for all that, it doesn’t feel cheap and it still lives up to the luxury tag in many ways, particularly given decent standard equipment and outrageous standard performance, as well as the trademark brilliant touchscreen system with wireless software updates, and class-leading (if optional) semi-autonomous driving system. It’ll also be vastly cheaper to run than any combustion-engined rival, and will go further on a charge than most electric rivals.
Overall then, it’s not hard to see the appeal of the Model X. Provided you can justify the cost of purchasing one (new or used), it isn’t just the only large seven-seat electric car you can buy, it’s a seriously good one as well.
What is the Tesla Model X?
The Tesla Model X is a pure electric SUV that offers an official driving range of between 301 and 314 miles (WLTP) from its 100kWh lithium-ion battery pack.
In real-world driving, we’d expect to see 250 miles fairy easily in varied conditions and moderate temperatures, although cold weather and motorway miles will see that drop further. Spending a lot of time at low speeds in town should get you get close to the claimed range.
How practical is it?
It might be best known for its monstrous pace and long electric range, but the fact that the Tesla Model X is a remarkably brilliant family car is often overlooked. You can have it in conventional five- or seven-seat layouts, and access to the third row is very good thanks to the huge door aperture left by the rear Falcon Wing doors (Tesla's name, not ours). Those rear doors look achingly sci-fi cool when in action, and are useful for taking up less room than a normal door in a tight car park, but they’re also prone to reliability issues and are slow to open and close so you’ll often be wishing for a normal door. The Model X is also offered with an executive seat layout that has six full-size adult seats for maximum passenger comfort.
The practicality continues with a vast boot that easily leaves room for a buggy even with seven seats up, and then there’s space to store more stuff in the car’s nose, too. With five seats up and the rearmost folded, you’ve got van-like boot space. The second row – which is made up of three individual rear seats, so is great for multiple child seats – doesn’t fold flat but does slide and tilt forward to leave space for long items.
The exact amount of boot space varies according to the number of seats with which the Model X is fitted (but there's loads of space in all of them). Five-seaters have a 1,050-litre boot and 2,410 litres with the rear seats folded down. Six seaters have 425 litres behind the third row, 935 litres with the two back seats folded down and 2,431 litres with all four back seats folded. Seven seaters have 425 litres behind the third row, 957 litres with the two back seats folded and and 2,314 litres when all five rear seats are folded. There's also a smaller 183-litre front boot under the bonnet called a front trunk or 'fronk' – in every version.
You have to look to the Volvo XC90 T8 for anything remotely close on versatility, since it’s one of very few electric seven seaters on offer, albeit as a plug-in hybrid. The Jaguar I-Pace, Audi e-tron and Mercedes EQC are all five-seat only offerings.
What's it like to drive?
If you’re keen to replicate the face-smearing acceleration you’ve seen in all those YouTube videos then you should be looking to the Model X Performance model, which gets the shorter range in return for a 0-60mph time of 2.6 seconds, courtesy of the dual motors streaming 611bhp to all four wheels.
Honestly, though, even for those who like a serious kick of acceleration, we’d point to the Model X Long Range since it’s usefully cheaper yet can hardly be described as tardy, given its sub-5.0 second sprint time and 417bhp.
Regardless of which variant you go for, the Model X isn’t the sort of car that you’re going to relish on a good road. Sports SUV alternatives like the BMW X5 and Porsche Cayenne plug-in hybrids offer more engaging handling, but the Tesla’s brand of unflappable grip and phenomenal acceleration still has plenty of appeal and is seriously satisfying in a ‘how fast can you go without breaking a sweat’ kind of way.
More importantly, refinement is hard to fault – there’s a fair amount of tyre noise but wind noise and motor whine are minimal, and with a really airy and comfortable cabin, the Model X makes for a great commuter. With adjustable air suspension as standard it’s also fairly comfortable, although sticking to the smaller wheels (if 20-inch wheels can be described as small) will help to keep things smooth as possible. The Model X Performance, meanwhile, is available with enormous 22-inch wheels that make for a lumpy ride on poor urban roads.
Technology, equipment & infotainment
There have been various Tesla Model X variants over the years, including models with smaller 75 and 90kWh batteries which will do more like 180 and 200 miles real-world range.
Plug into one of the Tesla Superchargers (a widespread network of rapid chargers that are only available to Tesla cars) and you’ll get charging speeds of 200kW, which will deliver a 100-mile top-up in some 10 minutes or an 80% charge of the battery in under 40 minutes.
As of 2020 a standard CCS socket joined the Type 2 input, giving access to the majority of third party public rapid chargers. Prior to that you had to buy an adaptor plug to use any rapid charger that wasn’t a Type 2 or Tesla Supercharger. Bear that in mind if you’re considering a used example that doesn’t have the adaptor, since they do cost a few hundred pounds.
Most UK service stations have electric car chargers offering only 50kW, which deliver 100 miles of range in around 45 minutes to an hour, although super-rapid 100, 150 and 350kW chargers are becoming more common. Those new rapid stations, together with the excellent and famously reliable Tesla Supercharger network, will help make light work of a long journey in a Tesla Model X, although we’d still recommend you plan the route and charging stops in advance.
Most Tesla Model X owners will do their routine charging at a standard 7kW home wall box, which will deliver a full charge in under 14 hours.
The huge 17-inch portrait touchscreen system that controls all of the car’s functions takes a bit of getting used to, but having all the controls within the screen keeps the dashboard looking uncluttered, and with familiarity the Tesla’s screen becomes pretty easy to use. There’s no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, but it is easy to plug your phone in and use the car’s native systems for all your media, nav and even audio streaming purposes.
Tesla Model X running costs
The Model X will cost less to run than petrol, diesel or even plug-in hybrid alternatives like the Volvo XC90 T8 and BMW X5 xDrive45e. You have to look to smaller, five-seat only alternatives like the Audi E-tron and Mercedes EQC to find comparable running costs, and even then the Tesla’s impressive resale values mean that the costs over a three-year period will likely be less for the Tesla, provided you can stump up the higher initial purchase costs. Leasing costs are also high on the Model X next to those same rivals, plug-in or otherwise.
A full charge at home will cost less than you’ll pay for a petrol car doing 40mpg, or a diesel car doing 55mpg. Using off-peak tariffs will cut those costs even more, but remember that public rapid chargers cost roughly double what you pay to top-up at home.
Servicing on the Model X is variable, and the car will tell you when it needs attention. Tyres are likely to be far more high-maintenance and costly. The Model X has enormous wheels, so tyres will be expensive and are likely to wear quickly, even if you don’t often take advantage of the bonkers performance on offer.
As with most high performance cars – including the Tesla’s rivals - the Model X sits in the highest insurance groups and so will cost a lot to insure.
Tesla Model X reliability
Electric cars tend to be more reliable mechanically than a petrol or diesel car, since their motors and batteries have far fewer moving parts. Tesla as a whole brand also did well in the 2019 What Car? Reliability Survey, coming fourth overall out of 31 manufacturers included. However, contrary to that are Tesla’s results in the 2020 JD Power survey, which placed Tesla last (out of 32 brands included) for new car build quality. JD Power found that owners experienced 250 faults in every 100 vehicles, in the first 90 days of ownership, which is way above the industry average of 166 problems. Things improved later, though, and it came a middling 15th in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey.
Ultimately, Tesla’s reputation for build quality and customer service is seriously dubious, but those faults commonly reported tend to be with trim and ancillaries so at least they rarely stop you from using the car. You also get a four-year, 50,000-mile warranty, which is longer than most rivals in duration if lower in mileage. The battery is covered by an eight-year, unlimited-mileage warranty.
Tesla has a fantastic reputation for battery longevity in its vehicles (Tesla manufacturers its own batteries, where most EV manufacturers currently buy from a third party). Expect to lose some 15% of the car’s potential driving range over 100,000 miles, but you can help to maintain battery life by topping up between 20-80% charge in routine use. There are plenty of Teslas out there with 200,000 miles and more, and still going, so don’t fret that you’ll need a new battery at any point.
- All Tesla Model Xs have four-wheel drive courtesy of the Dual Motor powertrain, which has an electric motor on each axle. The Model X isn’t an off-roader by any stretch, for all its all-wheel drive (AWD) ability, but it is a good tow car. Tesla offers a tow bar as a factory-fit option, and with that in place you can tow up to 2,250kg. For context, the Volvo XC90 T8 will tow 2,400kg, but the BMW X5 xDrive45e can tow 2,700kg.
- Semi-autonomous driving aids, including lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control and autonomous emergency braking, are standard on the Model X. Confusingly, this system is called AutoPilot, which it is distinctly not; you still have to be in full control of the car at all times. The next step up in Tesla’s impressive (if even more misleadingly-named) semi-autonomous driving tech is the ‘Full Self-Driving Capability’, which costs £6,800 but means the car can park itself and even drive out of a space to give you more room to get in at your command. It can also navigate motorway slip roads, change lanes and more, making it the most advanced semi-autonomous driving system out there, and it’s only getting more advanced via automatic over-the-air updates. It does bring a future-proof aspect to the Tesla, and is seriously impressive tech. Just don’t expect it to truly drive the car for you, so much as take a lot of the stress out of the more tedious miles.
- The Model X has great safety standards, and not only because of the aforementioned driving tech. It also has low centre of gravity, a full suite of airbags and a large crumple zone (bigger than most cars courtesy of the space freed up by having no combustion engine). All of this helped it to a five-star rating from safety organisation Euro NCAP.
- If you're a company car driver: Then take your pick of the Model X range, since Benefit in Kind tax is currently hilariously low on pure electric cars up until April 2023. Mind you, finding a company generous enough to offer the expensive Model X on its fleet is unlikely; it’s more likely an option for company owners and directors, who still benefit from big tax perks and, of course, super-low fuel costs.
- If you want all the power: The Model X Performance is the only option for anyone who wants the full drag-race experience. Its standard Ludicrous Mode engages the banzai performance potential, which is enough to make any and all of your passengers feel thrilled, frightened and probably a little bit sick.
- If you want the best all-rounder: The Long Range model is really the sweet spot in the Model X range, given its balance of cost, range and performance. Go for the seven-seat version as it’s phenomenally practical and also holds onto more of its value on the used market if you choose to sell it on.
- If you’re buying used: The smaller battery variants are usefully cheaper than the 100kWh battery and yet still offer great range by current standards. Ultimately your lifestyle will dictate which one works best, but given how much cheaper a good 75D is than those with bigger batteries, we’d settle for lower range and lower price, especially given that you can still make use of the Tesla Superchargers that make touring much easier.
