Tesla Model Y Review (2022-present)
Tesla Model Y cars for sale
4.0
Expert review
Pros
Excellent range and rapid charging
Lots of standard kit
Roomy and practical
Cons
Would really benefit from a head-up display
Firm ride
Interior quality not at BMW or Mercedes levels
The CarGurus verdict
The Tesla Model Y is a brilliant electric family car; spacious, confident to drive and stuffed with technology. It’s also competitively priced next to other rapid, premium electric SUVs, promises to hold its value better than most, and will be one of the best touring EVs thanks to the decent efficiency, rapid charging speeds and access to the excellent Tesla Supercharger network. A heavy update in 2025 has also resulted in better ride comfort and superior cabin finish, which are welcome improvements.
There are alternatives that offer similar driving range including the Skoda Enyaq, BYD Sealion 7, VW ID.4 and Ford Mustang Mach-E - and there are rivals that are more fun to drive and have a classier finish, such as the BMW iX3. In short, Tesla is no longer the default option that it might have once been. But the Model Y it is still one of the most comprehensive pure electric family SUVs out there, and should be near the top of the shortlist if you’re considering an EV in this price range.
What is the Tesla Model Y?
The Tesla Model Y is an electric, mid-sized family SUV that comes with five seats as standard. A seven-seat Model Y did briefly go on sale in the UK before the 2025 facelift, but at the time of writing the new Tesla Model Y is only available with five seats and there’s no confirmation of if or when a seven-seater version will return. You might get lucky and find a used Model Y seven-seater, or check out the Peugeot e-5008, Mercedes EQB and Kia EV9 for other seven-seat electric cars.
There are a few models available in the Tesla Model Y lineup. The Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive starts things off with an official WLTP range of 311 miles and a 0-60mph time of 5.6 seconds. The Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive manages 387 miles and 0-60mph in 5.4 seconds, and the Long Range All-Wheel Drive posts headline figures of 364 miles and 4.6 seconds.
The Tesla Model Y is based on the Tesla Model 3, offering a more practical take on that compact executive car. It’s not Tesla’s first SUV: that honour belongs to the much bigger (and now only available in left-hand drive) Tesla Model X, but the Model Y is a more affordable way into a family-appropriate Tesla.
The aforementioned facelift in 2025 brought a drastically different look, inspired by the Tesla Cybertruck and Cybercab; you can’t miss the LED light strip lights. It also included upgraded interior materials, tweaked suspension, better efficiency and power-folding rear seats, among a few other changes.
How practical is it?
The Model Y is one of the most practical cars in its class, with space to spare for those in the back and the front. Standard electric seat adjustment and heated seats up front are welcome luxuries, and there’s masses of leg- and headroom for even the tallest of occupants to get comfortable, provided they’re happy with a fairly high-set, SUV driving position.
Perceived quality is fine in the Tesla, and feels noticeably better with the soft-touch finishes, ambient lighting and new steering wheel design that the 2025 Tesla Model Y facelift brought with it. It’s still not going to worry the BMW iX3 for perceived cabin quality – never mind the Porsche Macan that we’d rate as having the best interior quality of any electric family SUV (although you’d expect quality for the prices that the Porsche commands).
As for passenger and luggage space, you’ll struggle to find a better option despite strong competition in this class. Those in the back of the Tesla Model Y have loads of legroom, not to mention an 8-inch touchscreen offering climate controls and games to keep the kids entertained. Headroom in the Tesla Model Y’s back seats isn’t quite as generous as in the Skoda Enyaq and BMW iX3, but it’ll still be comfortable even for tall adults.
Boot space is very good. At 854 litres, it looks like the biggest in the class but it’s misleading as Tesla states boot capacity to the roof rather than measuring to the load cover, like most European manufacturers. So, we’d say the Skoda Enyaq has the better boot with its 585-litre load space. Even so, the Tesla’s boot is huge, and you can now fold the power-folding rear seats via buttons in the boot. There’s also a cubby beneath the boot floor for the load bay cover, and the frunk is enormous in the Tesla, so this is still easily one of the most practical five-seat electric SUVs you can buy.
You can also tow a braked trailer of up to 1,600kg with the Tesla Model Y, and a tow bar is available as a dealer-fit accessory.
What's it like to drive?
The Tesla Model Y is fast, as we’ve said. We’ve only driven the AWD Long Range version of the new, facelifted Tesla Model Y, but there is a proper thrill in the point-and-shoot ferocity that it delivers with its grippy, neutral handling and fairly brutal acceleration.
The steering feels nicely weighted and direct, giving you plenty of confidence in fast corners or in the daily urban muddle, but it isn’t the playful, engaging handling of the Jaguar I-Pace and BMW iX3. The new steering wheel is an improvement, too, and the Model Y still has an indicator stalk – unlike the updated Model 3 that currently makes do with indicator buttons and wiper controls on the steering wheel, and no stalks at all.
Overall, the Tesla Model Y is enjoyable to drive, whatever the conditions, and the four-wheel drive makes it a good bet for all-weather peace of mind. By far its biggest problem before the 2025 update was the harsh ride, but the update has thankfully improved matters with a more controlled, nicely damped ride. It’s still quite firm, and you really notice scruffy road surfaces at slower speeds, but it’s now much more acceptable for a family SUV.
Brake regeneration is adaptive, and you can’t change how heavy it is, but the car slows down very smoothly as you lift off the throttle and feels predictable and reassuring whether you’re around town or on a clear road. You can just forget about it and let it do its own thing.
Refinement is great, with very little wind noise or motor whine, even if there’s a bit more tyre noise in the Tesla Model Y than you get in the BMW iX3.
Technology, equipment & infotainment
The Tesla Model Y is very well equipped as standard, and comes with climate control, a semi-autonomous driving mode incorporating adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist, keyless entry via the key card or your phone, a panoramic glass roof, 19-inch alloy wheels and a powered bootlid.
Tesla is famous for its semi-autonomous driving technology, and you get one of the most advanced adaptive cruise control systems on the market as standard on the Model Y – not to mention standard over-the-air software updates to make sure that the touchscreen and safety tech stays up to date. However, if you want to be able to execute lane changes autonomously (you still tell the car when to change lane via the indicator stalk), and for the car to react to the directions on the nav and offer an auto-park function, you must pay a hefty amount extra for the Enhanced Autopilot system. To fully ‘futureproof’ the car, nearly £7,000 gets all of these functions plus the car has the ability to react to traffic lights, stop signs and more, and to have free upgrades as future autonomous driving tech becomes available.
The large, landscape touchscreen is set high on the dash, and serves as your speedo, as well as the controls for the headlights, steering wheel and side mirror adjustment, glovebox release, windscreen wipers, drive modes and more. It’s your portal to everything on the car, and it is generally quite easy to find the function you’re after and make any adjustments.
The graphics are great, the nav is intuitive and shows nearby chargers and live data on how many sockets are available, and you can stream or play music from your phone easily. There isn’t Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, though, and while Tesla’s native software is genuinely very good, it’s still sometimes annoying to not have the full phone integration that the Skoda Enyaq, Leapmotor C10, BYD Sealion 7, Hyundai Ioniq 5 (and almost every other car on sale right now) offers.
The Tesla does feel like it would benefit greatly from a head-up display to show the speed and some basic essential info directly in the driver’s line of sight, but you do get used to viewing the digital speed readout that’s positioned permanently in the top corner of the central touchscreen.
Tesla Model Y running costs
The Tesla Model Y is very efficient by the standards of powerful electric family cars, so promises to go a bit further for each kWh of electricity than most rivals. You’ll see a real world range of around 280-340 miles in the Long Range models, while the entry-level Model Y RWD will manage more like 240-290 miles. On a standard domestic electricity tariff that you’ll be paying for at home, that means a fuel cost of around 7p per mile, or using an off-peak tariff will cut that to as little as 2p per mile. A full charge for the Long Range model will cost around £19 from a home charger, depending on your tariff, or an off-peak tariff can cut that cost to under £7.
At the time of writing, Tesla Superchargers are also the cheapest public rapid chargers by some margin, so you’ll save money there over rival charge providers.
Pricing is very competitive, too. Yes, a Leapmotor C10 is much cheaper, but it’s also much more annoying to live with due to its overly sensitive warning systems, and given that the Model Y actually dropped in price after its 2025 refresh, it remains one of the best value long range electric SUVs that you can buy. Tesla’s monthly finance deals often undercut rivals, too.
Tesla Model Y reliability
The Tesla Model Y has proven to be reliable – and there’s plenty of data to support it, given that it was the best selling car in the world in 2024. It aced its category in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey, coming first out of 16 cars in the electric SUV category, with an extremely impressive score of 99.2%. As a brand, Tesla's performance in the survey was middling, as it came 15th out of 31 manufacturers.
It’s worth pointing out that there are fewer Tesla service centres than there are dealers for most other major manufacturers, so you may have to travel further to repair your Model Y if needed.
The Model Y is covered by a four-year, 60,000-mile warranty.
- The Tesla Model Y will rapid charge at up at to 250kW, making it one of the fastest charging electric cars in the class. That’ll get you a 100-mile top-up in well under 10 minutes if you plug into a powerful enough ultra-rapid charging station. These include many (if not all) Tesla Superchargers. This is a great benefit to Tesla ownership, as the network is very widespread across the UK and western Europe, and it’s typically reliable, fast and there are also usually many charging points at each hub.
- Plug into a 7kW home charger and you’ll have a full battery in around 12 hours. Ignore the stated charging times on its website that refer to an 11kW home charger: the cars are capable of charging this quickly from a home wallbox, but only if the charger has three-phase wiring, and very few UK domestic residences do. Hence, 7kW is generally the fastest home charging available. Tesla never confirms battery specifics, but unofficially it’s understood that the entry-level Model Y has a 60kWh LFP battery, while the Long Range models have a 75kWh NMC battery.
- Don’t ever let yourself believe that the Tesla will actually drive itself. Despite the company’s impressive yet misleadingly-named ‘Autopilot’ driver aids, you must still have your hands on the wheel and be prepared to fully take control of the car at all times. Until legislation changes, that will remain the case for every car, no matter how advanced the semi-autonomous technology may be.
- For the high mileage commuter: Go for the Long Range RWD model and if you think you’ll make use of it over and above the standard adaptive cruise control, add the Enhanced Autopilot function for semi-autonomous lane change functions.
- If you’re a family motorist: Again, go for the Tesla Model Y Long Range, and take your pick as to whether you want rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, depending on the conditions you routinely drive in. Don’t worry about the pricey semi-autonomous driver aids unless you think you’ll be benefit from the extra assistance on the motorway or in clogged town traffic. Do consider adding the tow bar if you think it might be useful for fitting a boot-mounted bike rack, and it might be wise to stay away from the white interior – one of two interior finishes on offer – which will mark quite easily.
- If you’re a company car user: Company car benefit-in-kind tax is so low for pure electric cars for the next few years that you’ll be paying a small amount even for the top-spec Long Range AWD, so you may as well go for that one if your company will allow it. There isn’t a bad Model Y in the range, so it’s a great shout for a company car, whichever version you go for.
- If you want the sporty one: Until the Model Y Performance arrives, the Long Range AWD is the fastest Model Y on offer.
