this is the Tesla Model y it's not a press car I rented this EV for a month to see what is it about Tesla that it has so many Die Hard fans and quite a few opponents let's find out together this is not my only video about this Tesla there's going to be an extra geek Out video here on Mark drives an English Channel in it I'll talk more about costs range and some issues that didn't make it into the main review channel members can view it right now and others will have to wait a few days okay enough self-promoting let's roll the intro thank you here I need to briefly talk about why I had to rent a Tesla with my own money rather than just get a press car Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin eberhardt and Mark tarpening two manufactured cars with a focus on technology and software in 2004 the company raised its first significant chunk of funding including from Elon Musk an eccentric businessman who had a lot of money from the sale of his Paypal shares to eBay as of 2005 musk's influence over Tesla management grew until he became CEO in late 2008. meanwhile Tesla unveiled and begun production of the Roadster model an electric sports car based on the Lotus Elise the 2008 Roadster got Tesla a lot of publicity although not necessarily for the reasons musk may have won it the Tesla Roadster was featured on Top Gear where it was praised for its breathtaking acceleration but its range and charging were questioned and the scene in which hosts pushed the car into a hangar was all too telling Tesla sued the BBC but lost grew more models were created and the network of superchargers expanded musk repeatedly criticize journalists who questioned some of the Brand's technology until he finally shut down Tesla's press Department because whatever there was to say musk communicated it himself on Twitter and since there is no pure Department there is no press Fleet either because what's the point let Tesla users preach the gospel especially since if someone buys a car through their affiliate link they get rewards now that program is mostly defunct now but some Tesla owners still have Tesla stock praise the vehicle and you get rewarded in Rising stock price so if I wanted to really see what driving a Tesla is like I had no choice but to rent it this video is not sponsored by the rental company it's your views and memberships that make it possible for me to tell you how it is the model Y is the second vehicle in the range from the bottom we have the model 3 Model y Model S and model X apparently three was supposed to be called the e but Mercedes didn't agree however three looks like an e so the model lineup can spell sexy musk's a funny man right the model Y is a crossover slightly larger than the BMW X3 the Hyundai ioniq 5 or even the skoda Kodiak a standard is rear wheel drive and has just under 60 kilowatt hours battery capacity then there are the extended range and performance model these have 75 kilowatt hour batteries the base model has a wltp range of up to 455 kilometers and the long range like this one up to 533 kilometers realistically it's closer to 350 kilometers but more on that in a moment now let's talk about practical aspects many car makers boast that they designed their electric cars from scratch on bespoke platforms but I think only Tesla and maybe Hyundai Kia are taking these claims seriously I don't know of another car that makes such good use of interior space now under the hood we have a front trunk or trunk if 117 liters doesn't tell you much it will accommodate a carry-on suitcase and maybe even a winter coat as well or just make a dirty storage and use it for cables gloves and maybe some smelly running shoes the rear trunk has about 400 liters capacity above the floor and then there is more than 100 liters under the floor right next to the sill and some flat space further on for two extra seats in the seven seater which we probably won't be getting in Europe in total there's about 550 liters the skoda enyak has a little more the BMW ix3 a little less but the Tesla Model y boot looks bigger perhaps it's a matter of extra storage compartments that hold cables and small items that normally take up the main space but Tesla failed to design the parcel shelf in a way that can be easily removed without folding at least part of the rear seat backrest and the Shelf doesn't fit under the floor either I have an impression that this is an afterthought just for the European market because in the states nobody cares about this feature the backrest split for the 2040 and there are release buttons on the boot side there is a 12 volt outlet but the shopping bag hooks are missing also water collects in these little grooves for the tailgate bumps the tailgate can be closed with a button or using an app but there is no gesture opening or closing the rear passengers get plenty of leg room and Headroom there is an armrest with some cup holders the door pockets are okay size now there are also some Pockets here in the backs of the front seats there are two USBC ports and air vents which you cannot close but even the middle passenger has good leg room because the central console has a recess down here so there is good leg room perhaps not much of butt or shoulder room but legroom is great with the flat floor and everything before I get behind the wheel a few words about access Tesla comes with cards to open the car and to get going which you can carry in your wallet but this is an emergency solution you will have to take the card out of your wallet and touch it somewhere in the middle of the b-pillar then the card has to be placed somewhere next to the cup holders in order to put the car into drive the latter can be turned off but it's generally designed to be a new sense instead Tesla wants you to use your phone as your main identification method a person carrying a paired phone gets into the car without any additional steps the phone connects to the car as you approach so there is no need to open the app let alone authenticate it just works for comparison it takes 30 to 40 seconds to open my mini from the mini app and you have to identify yourself with a pin or fingerprint Tesla assumes the phone is like a key it's your responsibility not to lose it just like you don't want to lose your car keys since the phone has its own security features that you have to unlock the app doesn't need extra Authentication back in the day BMW tried replacing the key fob with a standard smartphone this is before BMW even offered Android auto connectivity there was only Apple carplay but the only phone that supported whatever Wireless technology was necessary to unlock the car was some high-end Android phone or Mercedes which has about three different apps for different car features these are just some of the examples of how traditional car makers have failed to keep up with the development of new technologies to a fault I get the impression certain features were designed by people who have never driven a car for example to adjust the steering wheel or the wing mirrors you have to go into the menu and then use the knob on the steering wheel to adjust them and okay I guess once you set your get your settings right you just save them in your profile but if for some reason you need to readjust something you have to pull up the menu so better pull over in a safe place and then get down to something that in normal cars is done with one finger or the glove box to open it you either have to use voice commands or press a button or adjusting air vents which is also done from the screen now here I can understand they want it to be minimalist about it but for example in Porsche Panamera it was pointless now I understand every brand has its own way of doing certain things and customers either get used to it or choose a different car in my opinion Tesla is trying to be different for the sake of being different but apparently customers like it I mean even a new Alpha Romeo is allegedly better than a 20 year old Renault Laguna right and just to be clear Tesla's infotainment system actually works and is surprisingly logical and easy to use I say this from a perspective of a person who literally had a couple of hours experience over a decade with Tesla's infotainment for comparison I have many months of experience with vw's current infotainment and I still think it's shite there are large door bins and they are lined with some felt so nothing rattles in them my water bottle fits there are large cup holders a compartment under the armrest and a second compartment between the cup holders and the induction charger for two phones yes two because there are sometimes more people traveling in a car and they want to charge their phones as well not only does the Tesla not have a key but there is also no start button the car is ready to go as soon as the driver takes a seat then you just press the brake and put the car into drive thank you let me start with Tesla's biggest competitive advantage and that's efficiency I don't recall an electric car of this size that consumes easily under 15 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers in the city yes it's already spring and it's warm but in the VW id5 GDX which competes directly against Tesla Model y energy consumption never dropped below 20 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers and that was mainly in the city on B roads and it was summer I drove the Tesla Model y more than 3 000 kilometers of which about two and a half thousand kilometers was on Dual carriageways and motorways and the average energy consumption at the moment is 18.2 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers the BMW IX on a trip from Poland to the Alps and back used 27 kilowatt hours it was winter but it wasn't extremely cold only the much smaller Kia esol uses less energy and Renault Megan E-Tec has similar energy consumption while it is also a substantially smaller vehicle than any Tesla then there's a supercharger Network and as far as I can tell based on videos by U.S YouTubers superchargers are a big advantage over there because other networks are not particularly particularly reliable now the supercharger network is in Europe is not as developed so although using superchargers is indeed seamless it is sometimes more convenient to use other providers which are on the way and they are increasingly reliable as well the way superchargers are located in Europe allows for Fairly free movement between them a hub consists of several or even a dozen Chargers which can only be used by Tesla cars now depending on the region of Europe there may or may not be similar hubs from other networks I've seen large hubs from ionity or fastnet in Western Europe of course as there are more EVS on the roads even those charger hubs may become congested but Tesla superchargers outside of the states are no longer such a treat by the way Tesla navigation recognizes and plans routes only with superchargers if you need to charge on another Network it's better to know the address of the charger but there's no guarantee that Tesla's system will recognize that charger and precondition the battery for faster charging in any case the month that I drove the Tesla I encountered neither cues nor any other major obstacles that would hinder my travels a big Advantage is that 350 400 kilometers range on the motorway without major sacrifices of course I was not in a hurry either whether it was nice I planned the charging stops ahead of setting off the charges were working however I realized that a faulty charger just one on the route and the whole journey would instantly become Less Pleasant now the Tesla Model Y and this one is probably already one of the better ones made in Europe is also well sound proofed the seats are very comfortable in eight hours behind the wheel during a single day did not cause me any backache meanwhile there are cars in which I'm uncomfortable after sitting in for maybe an hour the suspension from my point of view is comfortable but several people who rode with me on short and long distances found a suspension in the Tesla Model y rather stiff now I guess I drove a bit more cars to compare it against for a two-ton electric car I'd say it's comfortable for a mid-size crossover the suspension may feel on the stiff side this one is on 19-inch rims there are optional 20s which probably make the car feel even stiffer handling like in most other EVS is nothing to write home about I can't think of any EV other than the Porsche icon which I think would be engaging to drive for what it's worth like other EVS the Tesla Model y also feels heavy in tight Corners the center of gravity may be low but the car still weighs a fair bit EVS are fast in a straight line but that gets old soon speaking of performance the Tesla Model y long range should Accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 5 seconds the car has two modes chill and standard and the former 0 to 100 kilometers per hour takes about 8 seconds while in the ladder I managed 5.3 seconds I don't know if Tesla has any limitations based on for example temperature or state of charge of the traction battery I also tested the all-wheel drive system I drive up this small incline diagonally and stop halfway so that two wheels on the diagonal have limited traction Tesla has an off-road mode as well as a slippery surface mode the first attempt is in normal mode the car struggles but eventually makes it up the hill the second approach is an off-road mode it looks as if the car struggles more and I felt that behind the wheel as well foreign the third approach is in Slippery surface mode what seems to prevent the car from going up the incline in the first place is the camera which doubles as parking sensors once the car overcomes that safety feature everything goes smoother and what about the autopilot well let's turn it on Tesla started offering a feature called the autopilot in 2015. now first of all despite
its name this is not an autopilot It's a combination of adaptive cruise control and Lane keeping assist at the time Tesla launched the autopilot similar features were available in other brands albeit mostly either premium or top end trims of mass Market models the media may have tried to explain what is what but no one listened to them Elon Musk announced the autopilot and the faithful believed this is the best thing since the invention of sliced bread fast forward to 2023 and the standard autopilot can only stay in the lane and maintain set distance from the vehicle in front it sometimes recognizes speed limits and sometimes it doesn't so sometimes it reacts to them and sometimes it doesn't usually the reaction is like several hundred meters after you pass the sign so you'll get a speeding ticket meanwhile most modern cars can start slowing down before a sign that's if the sign is in the their [ __ ] their database and only if the speed limit is not in the database they start slowing down instantly after the camera recognizes it slowing down before turns on a set route in navigation well for that you will need to spend 3800 Euro and get the enhanced autopilot and if you want the full self-driving or FSD which works better or worse depending on the region that's 7 500 euro I have been a passenger in a car with FSD on polish roads it is impressive but more as a proof of concept than a real benefit worth 15 of the price of the car but Tesla decided early on to make guinea pigs out of its customers and so it has data from hundreds of millions of kilometers data that allows it to better optimize both energy management and ongoing software improvements including of course semi-autonomous driving that's if the customer has paid for this feature this car has the basic autopilot which in addition to doing a poor job of responding to speed limits disables Lane keeping assistance whenever you change lanes you have to reactivate it every time you finish changing lanes and each activation and deactivation comes with a warning chime Tesla may be all about move fast break things in Silicon Valley it probably comes as little surprise that the autopilot which is not an autopilot can suddenly break for no apparent reason which also happened to me on several occasions I once discussed this with a representative of a legacy premium car maker who noted that if someone died in a car made by his employer because the driver was under the impression they were driving an autonomous vehicle the Brand's more than century-old reputation would be badly damaged not so with Tesla when I first drove a Tesla Model S 70 years ago I got the impression that this is not a car for people who like to drive it's a car for people who need to get from A to B and don't want to use public transportation like the plebs it's a car for people who want to be like Elon Musk who have more important things on their minds than driving and who believe that technology can finally eliminate the chauffeur profession perhaps that's why all the visualization of the traffic situation all the warnings are in such a place that the driver has to take their eyes off the road to actually see what's going on also all the warnings seem to make the same sound something beeps and since the wording is not in my field of vision by the time I assess the situation around the vehicle the warning is gone and I don't know whether I run over a child or if Tesla was about to be hit by a roadster that Elon Musk launched into space and was now falling from the sky I don't know I'd rather not have to go through the on-screen menus to turn on the lines the windshield wipers theoretically these work automatically when the autopilot is on but Tesla has a different threshold for turning on the lights than I do rain means provisibility so don't rely solely on the Twilight sensor before I give you the price and my verdict I'd like to add a few things fitting of some panels look like the car was in a bad crash the aerodynamic door handles seem to be too complicated for just about all my passengers you have to slam the front doors but at the same time you have to be very gentle with the trunk because the Bonnet seems to be made out of cardboard although the front seat rails have something that looks like plastic protectors these are also sharp your purse or shopping bag could suffer damage Tesla Model y prices start at 44 890 Euro for the standard range version 54 990 Euro for the long range like this one and 60 990 Euro for the performance model the white paint is standard choose a color maybe light interior and at least enhance autopilot and your Tesla Model y will set you back around 64 000 Euro I won't deny I'm impressed with Tesla Model y one may argue whether or not there are better SUVs of this size and in my opinion there are however also in my opinion there are no better EVS it's up to you to decide whether it's time to go all electric or wait and see what the competition will finally come up with one day and what do you think about the Tesla Model y or Tesla in general is this your dream electric car or are you taking a different direction drop me a comment below this video if you like my sarcastic down to earth and possibly mildly amusing car reviews join me every Friday at 3 pm Central European Time and don't forget to subscribe and like this video as it helps me with the YouTube algorithm thanks for watching and I will see you in the next one foreign
2023-05-22