Tesla Model Y Review- 3 Months Later

Tesla's newest car, the Model Y, has been out for a little over four months at this point, and I took delivery of mine towards the end of March. Now this is the follow-up to my original review video, because since that review video, I've actually been through a lot with this car, both good and bad. So I wanted to give you an updated owner's experience of what it has been like owning this car for four months, and also give you some updates because there have been a lot of updates from Tesla in regards to price, and new features, and a new configuration on the Model Y that is very exciting. Now when any company launches a new car, there are bound to be some production issues, and most people say to wait a few years until his ironed itself out, and the Model Y is no exception. I've had quite a few issues pop up over my ownership of this car, but I've also had really great experiences as well, and I really understand why people absolutely love Tesla. So I'll give you my updated review of the good and the bad of this car, and I'll also talk about what Tesla has updated and why it matters so much, and then I'll talk about generally what it feels like to really own this car. Also a little later I'm going to talk about why it might be a good idea to wait to get the Model Y, and it's not for the reason you're probably expecting. So now let's actually do this backwards from what you're probably used to, and get into the issues first. Now my Model Y was one of the first few thousand builds, so it's going to have some issues that later builds are not going to have. But to be honest, a lot of the issues I had, I'm still seeing popping up with Model Y owners. Now obviously I haven't talked to every Model Y owner, and I've seen people get delivered and not have any issues whatsoever, but this has been my experience. The car came with a few very small areas that were missing paint, the rear seats weren't aligned properly and were buzzing, the trim on the roof was loose, the front trunk had an issue where it thought it was open even though it wasn't and would beep at me constantly, the windows didn't roll down properly once and gashed the trim when I closed it, the headrest squeaked with each bump along with the rear seats, the driver's side window rattled, the trim on the driver's side was coming a little loose, and the front bumper gave a little when you pushed in on it. I was dealing with these issues while Tesla's factory was shut down, and this car had just launched, so a lot of the parts weren't available, and on top of that they didn't know how to fix everything. Ultimately, it took four service appointments to get everything fixed and get all the parts shipped in and all that, but now my car is as good as new, or actually better than new. It's pretty clear to me that my brand new car should not have had this many repairs and service appointments right away, but that is the nature of a new production run of a car, and especially one from Tesla. And not to excuse Tesla there, because a lot of these issues should have been fixed before it was even ever delivered to me, but hopefully it's something they can keep improving on as they get more and more built. If you want to see a more in-depth video on all the issues I went through, you can click the link up here or in the description below to watch that video. Oh, also in the process of this, a rock hit my windshield, cracked it, and I had to get it replaced. No fault of Tesla there, but definitely frustrating in the middle of all these service appointments. So after all that, why would I still want this car? Well, let's get into the good. As you probably already know, the Model Y is Tesla's follow-up to the Model 3. It looks like the Model 3's chubby older brother, but it's much more than that. In the Model Y, Tesla has taken everything they've learned in the Model S, Model X, and Model 3 production, safety, and efficiency, and put it all in one package. In fact, there are actually a few features in the Model Y that are better than all other Teslas. You can see a few examples in the two-piece rear casting assembly, which Tesla says should be one piece soon in the Model Y, as well as their new heat pump and octa-valve, which makes climate control in the Model Y incredibly efficient, and right now only exists in the Model Y. At its core, the Model Y is an electric vehicle that can go up to 316 miles on a charge, depending on which model you get, you can get a 0-60 up to 3.5 seconds, and it has 68 cubic feet of cargo space. It's a crossover SUV size, but inside, it really feels like an SUV. Getting in and out is easy. You sit high, have a great view of the road in front of you, and have plenty of headroom, in part thanks to the beautiful, fully panoramic glass roof. To be honest, as a driver, I tend to forget about the beautiful roof since I don't look up when I'm driving, but from the back seats, it really provides an amazing view, and in the front, it's giving me more headroom, as I mentioned. The sloped roof in the back is what really makes it a crossover SUV, since when comparing it to a lot of other standard SUVs, you can't fit quite as tall of objects in the back. But this is a fully electric car, which means that everything is configured completely differently, which in turn gives you a very deep understorage compartment in the back, a front trunk where an engine would typically go, a second shallow understorage compartment in the rear, and two side cubbies. I'm a drummer, and I've had no issue fitting all of my drums in the Model Y while still keeping a seat up. Real quick, if you're enjoying this video, make sure to hit that thumbs up so that more people can find it. In the Model Y 5-seater, you have a few different configurations for those rear seats, and a personal favorite of many people is being able to fold just the middle seat down and use it as a pass-through for large cargo. The Model Y comes with 5 seats standard, and I think that's the best option. Tesla is planning on releasing a 7-seater option either late this year or early next year, but I really don't think they're going to be that useful. The trunk space, because of that sloped roof, makes it not very spacious back there, which in turn I think is going to make it exclusively for children, and also not very safe. Overall, the best feature of this car is the fact that it's electric. Electric cars drive different, smoother, quieter, and faster, and Tesla has optimized their electric drivetrain to be the indisputable champion when it comes to electric cars. Instead of going to a gas station, I charge my car each night with my home charger. Whenever I get home, I plug in, and the next morning, my car is charged up. I've also saved a good amount of money charging instead of paying for gas. On top of this, Tesla has their Supercharger network, which is a big advantage for them as opposed to other electric cars. If you go on a road trip pretty much anywhere, you'll be able to find a Supercharger along the way. Tesla has just under 2,000 Supercharger stations and is continuing to expand. They charge incredibly fast, but it is important to note that on a road trip, you will be adding about 15 to 45 minutes or so to charge at one of these Superchargers. So if you were planning to go on a road trip and only stop for gas, and not stop to rest, not stop to get food or anything, it will add some time to your trip. But if you plan ahead, you can usually just be charging while you're getting food and resting and using the bathroom and such. My Model Y is super quick, and I love it. Sometimes it's fun to max out the acceleration, but more often than not, the times I appreciate the acceleration the most is when needing to make an assertive or aggressive lane change from a slow lane to a fast lane, or merging quickly onto a freeway like the 101 in LA. On top of that, this car is nearly silent and smells great because it is zero emissions. You'll notice a huge difference when pulling into your garage or sitting idle anywhere because there's no exhaust smell, or any smell for that matter, which is really nice. Not to mention the fact that the Model Y isn't polluting the environment with carbon emissions. Some features that the Model Y has that only electric cars can have include Sentry Mode, the security system that records with the cameras around the car anytime there's activity. Like this man unplugging my car at a free city charger. Additionally, you can pre-condition the car to any temperature at any time, anywhere from the phone app. This is all made possible since there's a giant battery powering these tasks, as opposed to just one 12-volt battery which might die. Now some of these features do exist in gas cars and hybrids and plug-in hybrids, but overall they work best in electric cars, again because of that giant battery. And again, I can pre-condition my car in the garage, not worry about fumes. I can be in the car pre-conditioning my car in the garage and not have to worry about fumes. I feel like this is a really under-appreciated aspect of electric cars, and it just comes with the territory of a car that doesn't pollute. If you're not already, make sure to subscribe to this channel for lots more videos about the Model Y, Tesla, and tech in general, and you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at ryanshawtech. For me, the main things that set Tesla and the Model Y apart from other electric cars are efficiency, range, their charging network, and their self-driving systems. When it comes to range, nobody has beaten Tesla. The Model S just got updated to a range of 402 miles. And the Model Y has a range of 316 miles, as I mentioned before, which is the highest of any car in its class. Even in great competitors like Ford's upcoming Mach-E, the range is expected to be 300 miles. Now 16 miles isn't a huge difference, but it actually is when you look at efficiency. The Model Y gets 316 miles on a 78 kilowatt-hour battery pack, versus the Mach-E is going to get 300 miles on an 88 kilowatt-hour battery pack. So the Model Y uses less power for more miles, it's cheaper to drive, and faster to charge. And that's all thanks to Tesla's efficiency using the power from their battery packs. Now I don't say that to knock the Mach-E, I'm genuinely excited for that car, but I did want to illustrate just how Tesla is ahead in efficiency. And then my personal favorite, Autopilot, Tesla's confusingly named driver assistance features that come standard on all Teslas. You get included safety features to prevent accidents, as well as adaptive cruise control and auto-steer. Autopilot uses 8 cameras all around the car to drive for you, and currently it does a really great job. At this point it's mostly intended just for freeway use, and overall it makes my freeway driving way less stressful. But Tesla doesn't stop there, they also sell that full self-driving package. This software update adds Navigate on Autopilot, Auto Lane Change, Auto Park, Summon, and Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control, and they say that later this year it will be bringing auto-steer on city streets. Overall these features are good, but not great. I mean, they're all technically considered beta features, and Tesla sells this package with the promise of future features and updates that will improve it and make it better and better. Currently it is by no means full self-driving, or worth $8,000 for that matter, but Elon Musk is confident that it soon will be. So a big part of what you're paying for with that $8,000 purchase is future features that you will get via software updates. Now some of these features like Summon are kind of a gimmick, and they feel so far from being actually great that you wonder if they'll ever be there, but others like Navigate on Autopilot do an overall good job and give you a real sense of the future. For a more in-depth video on my experience using Navigate on Autopilot to drive across LA, you can check out my video up here or in the description below. Now if you don't want to spend the money to get this package, the included basic Autopilot is really great, and I use it almost every time I drive. In fact, for the first three months owning this car, I only had basic Autopilot, and it was great. So throughout all the struggles I've had with the Model Y, and then all of my experiences that have been great with high-tech features, what does it really feel like to own a Model Y? Well, it's awesome. It's relaxing, simplistic, high-tech, quick, and clean. Driving this car is the best part about it. I mean, it drives smoother and reacts faster than any car I've ever driven. I typically hate driving, and since owning the Model Y, I purposely go on drives, just for the fun, because it's a joy to drive. With shutdowns currently, I don't have many places to go, so I've just been setting different destinations at different Tesla superchargers just to go check them out, and to go on a fun drive, because I love driving this car. And that's something I've absolutely never done before. Furthermore, the Model Y has one-pedal driving, so when you let off the accelerator, it's automatically going to start doing regenerative braking for you. Now I've gotten so used to it that 99% of the time, I'm never touching the brake, and it's really hard to explain just how convenient and relaxing that is to just use one pedal. Like the other day, I did a 30-minute mountain drive, downhill, and I never touched the brake once. Now, hanging out in this car is really fun. The simplistic design is really inviting to me, and on top of driving, it makes it a great place to just hang out and get work done. I frequently edit my videos in the front seat and plug my laptop into the USB-C port, and it's super comfortable, since the car is silent. It's also a great car to work out of. I mean, yesterday, I went up into the mountains to shoot all of the shots you're seeing of the Model Y. I mean, it was about 95 degrees outside, out in the sun, and I just kept the car running, keeping the climate control going, and it had no issues whatsoever, and there's no exhaust, there's no nothing. Also, the back platform in the back is super convenient to just set stuff down. It was a really great experience and kind of solidified my love for this car, even though it was in the process of me filming this review video. And running the AC constantly is just something you can't do in a gas car, unless you want it to constantly be running. Now, Autopilot, while definitely not close to perfect, has been an absolute dream for me. I used to get so stressed out driving across LA, especially in traffic, and now my stress has been cut in half, I guess? I don't know, but it's been cut a lot. On the freeway and in stop-and-go traffic, my car is doing most of the heavy lifting. Now, of course, I'm still there paying attention, but it's a much more relaxing driving experience. Following up with Autopilot, the tech of this car is awesome, and not just frivolous or fun. I can use the app to precondition the car temperature as I'm walking to it, I can set charging limits, find the car's location, open the hatch, vent the windows, and so much more right within the app. Features that are fancy and cool at first, but then end up being really useful. On top of this, receiving regular software updates for your car is really fun. Sometimes it's just bug fixes, which of course are very important and great, but sometimes you get something incredibly beneficial like the new rear camera that also brings up the side cameras when activated for even more visibility. It gives you confidence that Tesla is always improving the tech of these cars, and that this car will only get better with age. Now, of course, I'm talking about the feeling of owning this car. There has been some stress with those four service appointments I mentioned. But at this point, I've been driving it for about three weeks since my last appointment, and I've really had no issues and it really doesn't feel like anything more is going to pop up. Most of what I had was from the factory. I love this car, and I'm incredibly excited to see how it holds up over the next few years because at its core, it's the best car I've ever driven. So the first and biggest thing Tesla changed since the original launch of the Model 3 four months ago is that they already dropped the price. And it dropped quite a bit. For the AWD version, which is the one that I bought and is the cheapest option, it is now going for $49,990. And that's $3,000 cheaper than it was at launch at $52,990. On top of that, the Performance model also got a price drop of $1,000, so it now comes in at $59,990. So the price difference between the AWD model and the Performance model used to be $8,000, but now it's $10,000. And after driving both, I can tell you that the AWD has plenty of power. Now in the Performance model, you're going to get a top speed that's 20 mph faster, a 0-60 that is 1.3 seconds faster, you'll get Performance wheels, brakes, and pedals, but in turn, your range drops from 316 down to 291 because of those heavy Performance wheels. Now for me, that's definitely not worth it to lose range and pay $10,000 just for those upgrades. And in my opinion, if you're going to be racing this, you might as well get a Model 3, but of course people are still going to want that Model Y Performance, which is why it exists. So in addition to this price drop, Tesla actually raised the price of full self-driving. It used to be $7,000, and now they're selling the package for $8,000. It's only going to keep going up because Tesla sees the features that they're going to be coming out with as well worth the price. But if you just look at the features that it comes with, when you get it, and pay the money, it's not worth it. And that brings us to the second thing that has changed about the Model Y since it was launched. Originally, there was going to be a standard range version of the Model Y, and a long-range rear-wheel drive version. Now we haven't heard anything about either of those, but originally the standard range wasn't available for pre-order, but the long-range rear-wheel drive was available for pre-order. Well, recently Elon tweeted and said that they will no longer be making the standard range version because it would only have about 230 miles of range, and once it's getting closer to 200, people don't really want it. But what he did say is that the long-range rear-wheel drive is going to be made, and it's going to have a price drop, and he hinted that it's going to be around $45,000. On top of that lowered price, which is about $3,000 less than it was announced at, it should get more range than all of the Model Ys that we've seen so far, with people estimating about 335 miles of range, since it doesn't have that front-motor weight. So based on estimates, you're looking at a $45,000 rear-wheel drive Model Y that should get around 330 miles of range or so, and will still go 0-60 in 5.5 seconds, which is still way faster than most cars in its class. This is the Model Y that makes the most sense, and the one I kind of wish I would have waited for, especially if it does indeed have a higher range. I mean, I love accelerating up to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds in my AWD version, but is it really worth an extra $5,000? Up to you. Now we're still waiting on all the official specs on that from Tesla, but Elon did say he was confident that it should be produced by the end of the year, so I'm excited to see that, and hopefully we'll hear soon. So on top of all those things, Tesla has just started leasing the Model Y as well, starting at $499 per month. Now that's a great monthly price, but you do have to put $4,500 down at the beginning, and you don't get the option of buying out at the end of the lease. And that's because Tesla plans on taking those cars back and using them for their robo-taxi fleet. The final two updates have to do with parts in the car. First, the rear seats have been reworked, and Tesla actually made an official fix on those because they had this misalignment issue, and mine came with it, and they have since fixed it. And second, the AC used to be incredibly loud and kind of piercing with this really high-pitched noise on the outside of the car. Well, they've now added an acoustic blanket around the AC on all production models, and they're retrofitting it for customers. So those are some of the updates from Tesla, and part of why this video is coming out in July as opposed to right at the release date. So a lot has changed on the Model Y, and hopefully they're fixing a lot of those issues that I mentioned. But at its core, it's still the same car, and it's still awesome. And as I mentioned, that rear-wheel drive version might be worth waiting for. Additionally, if you wait for the rear-wheel drive, that gives more time for Tesla to figure out how to fix these issues that they've had in production. As you can tell, even through all of this, I absolutely love this car, and I can't wait to get back out there and drive it again. I'm going to go drive it right now, as a matter of fact. So I hope this was helpful to hear my experience owning this car for four months, and maybe it helps you decide if you want to buy or possibly lease this car. In the meantime, make sure you subscribe to this channel for lots more updates about the Model Y, Tesla, and tech in general, and make sure to like this video if you appreciated it. You can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter, at RyanShawTech. Thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you on the next one.