New Tesla Model Y – World’s Best-Selling Car Updated!

This is the new Tesla Model Y, the one nicknamed Juniper on the internet. For what reason, we don't know. Possibly because it just sounds better than, say, Derek. Now, Top Gear does not usually get overly flustered about mid-level, mid-life refreshes for cars like this, but the Model Y is in fact the world's best-selling car, and not just electric either, but across the board. So we thought we ought to look at the changes, and by look at the I mean in detail. Like, does it still have indicator stalks? And why does it have a drain hole? And where? That means we'll have a look at what's different on the outside, what's changed on the inside, see if you can still stand in the boot, and take the current version out for a quick spin to figure out what Tesla might be up against, and where it needed to make improvements. So, let's break this down a little bit. This is the new Model Y, and it weighs in at £60,990 in the UK for the launch edition. The first thing you'll notice is it has a little bit of a lower front end with these slimmer headlights, and this big light bar in the front, which is a bit like a Cybertruck, except less kind of Lego brick. Or it's a bit like every other electric car on the planet at the moment, because light bars, they're everywhere. These little gaps aren't dead pixels, by the way. Anyway, it's got a slicker front end generally, and it's absolutely ruined by a UK number plate, but don't get me started on that. It's got two cameras up in the windscreen, and the third one down here has now migrated into the middle of the front bumper. Now that's used for autonomous driving functions, and for the summon feature, which is basically like remote control for your car. That also now comes with a washer, because it wouldn't work if it was blinded by dirt. Very useful. Front ends compare and contrast. There's no Tesla badge on the front. Again, big full width arrangement at the rear, which is a bit different to the old car, and then there's this full bar here of light that is actually quite interesting, because the light itself is tucked up under here, and then it reflects back off this reflective section of bodywork along the Tesla badge. That's quite interesting. They say it's the world's biggest reflective indirect light. Sounds like grabbing for some stuff to me, but then also the number plate has migrated down onto the lower portion of the rear bumper, leaving this big acreage of space. It does look quite slick. I know this is a bit geeky, but one thing I did notice was that the tailgate now has some extra sections in it. Now that's interesting, because if you have an accident and you can replace just one smaller part, it means it's cheaper and quicker, which should, in theory, bring down insurance premiums. That rear window is also squarer rather than curved like on the old Model Y, and there's now a more distinct rear bumper on the revised rear section. Again, probably to help with easier and quicker repairs. It's faster too, despite having the same motors and general hardware. The rear wheel drive has allegedly shaved a second off the previous 0-62 mile an hour time, which is nice. The 507 brake horsepower all-wheel drive, like this launch edition, should also be quicker, dropping the 0-62 from 5 to 4.1 seconds, which, let's face it, is plenty for a family bus. Peak charging remains at 250 kilowatts, but that's plenty, even if it is an 800 volt, which is more efficient, but also more expensive. Battery sizes, by the way, are as they were before and vary from 60 kilowatt hours to 78. And no Cybertruck-style 48-volt system either that replaces the 12-volt. It has, however, got slipperier because all of the bodywork changes have led to a reduced coefficient of drag for the new car. Now, it's not much, but hey, it all helps, and it should lead to about 5% better reading, which means the launch car should have a total range of about 353 miles. And it's got updated wheels and tyres, and the rear suspension has been tweaked to improve ride comfort and noise, something the old car was likely criticised for. This is Tesla kind of listening to customers and reacting, rather than a massive revolution. Oh yeah, and it is worth noting that when it was launched, the Model Y actually got the highest ever recorded Euro NCAP safety rating, and Tesla thinks that the new car will do the same. So this is very clean, isn't it? It's almost like a concept car that hasn't had any of the buttons or the functions put into it yet. It's very bald. Not that there's anything wrong with being bald, but let's start with a quick vibe check. New seats now, front and rear, get heat and ventilation. The rear seat squabs are now 30 millimetres longer, so they're a bit more comfortable, and they electrically recline, which also means that you can fold them electrically from the boot. There's also a new eight-inch little touchscreen back here for your passengers. That comes with wireless Bluetooth, so the kids can watch and see their own stuff, and they don't disturb you. As ever with a Tesla, you've got this 15-odd-inch touchscreen in the middle, which controls the majority of the functions, although there is, on the left-hand side, an indicator stalk. That's Tesla listening to feedback. People seem to like an indicator stalk. Weird thing about this screen is that the bezel is actually thinner, so it looks a little bit slicker, and then on the steering wheel, you've got a couple of the most used functions and a It does feel really nice and clean. Also, for your phone, you've got twin wireless charging, and then in here, masses of storage. Now, Model Y owners will be used to that. Cup holders here, and even more storage back here. It's a practical car from the front. And there's a new glass roof that deflects more of the sun's death ray UV. As for having everything on the touchscreen, people often get a bit weirded out by it if they're coming from a traditional car, so I just thought I'd run through a few different things. If I wanted to, say, open the bonnet, I literally just go to this graphic with the car on it, prod the bonnet, and press open. If I want to open the boot, I just press that. It all works. If I want to change, say, the air conditioning, press the air conditioning there, and then I switch it on, and it's ready to go. If I want to put the headlights on, I just go there, here is the headlights, put them on auto, they're on. Windscreen wipers, again, even if I'm off the screen, I can just press the car button, and then press windscreen wipers on, and they're on. It's not as complicated or as strange as people think it is. It takes you a little while to get used to it, but once you have, it's absolutely fine. I'm going to switch that air conditioning off. Very, very simple. I think, usually, we complain about these things when you're struggling to find the button when you're driving, but once you've had a Tesla for more than a week, you get completely used to it. The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice that the graphic on screen is, in fact, the old Model Y, but that'll be corrected in over-the-air updates. The launch edition also comes with a 16-speaker stereo. We'll see how that copes with my excessive drum and bass consumption. There's also clearer phone calls, faster Wi-Fi, and better connectivity all around, so this is a much more media-friendly kind of car, but the thing that I keep thinking is, even though there are subtle changes in the new Model Y, this is a rethink rather than a revolution. This is Tesla listening to their customers and gently giving it a bit of an improving thing, but is it enough to make it feel completely different? Let me know what you think And as before, it's got a really big boot with loads of underfloor storage, as well as this normal flat floor, and yes, you can flop the electric rear seats from little switches back here. Interestingly though, this boot is actually technically smaller than the old car at 20 litres less. Fun fact, you can actually buy Tesla Model Ys in France without back seats because they use as electric vans. It's that capacious. And of course, a frunk. Now one weird but useful thing, this frunk, which is a good size by the way, now comes with a drain plug so that you can fill this entire thing up with liquid and then drain it out if you have excess fluid. So the big question is, are all these little changes enough to keep the Model Y as the best-selling car of any fuel type on the planet? But, and it is a big but, of the top 10 battery electric vehicles globally, the best-selling, BYD owns seven of them, albeit with some Chinese-specific models, but the threat is there. The war currently comes from the Chinese, even though that's where Tesla itself is seeing big sales gains. The BYD C-Line 7 is the big-selling competitor. It's another slightly bland SUV that offers pretty good value for money. It's the second highest-selling plug-in vehicle globally, but that includes FEVs. So depending on which stats you look at, it's either the C-Line 7 or the Tesla Model 3 Saloon that takes the second spot. So Tesla is still on top of the game when it comes to pure electric cars. You can say what you like about the Model Y, but it's one of those cars that just covers off a lot of bases for a lot of people and completely fits with their lifestyle. It's fast, it's spacious, it's got good multimedia, it's got the supercharger network, and it's kind of comfortingly bland-looking, and the new car, it just continues in that same vein. The interesting thing is that Tesla hasn't actually changed the hardware, the motors, and the control systems in the new Model Y, because it was quite far ahead of the game anyway. These cars have got good range, they've got good efficiency, good aerodynamics, and they didn't really need to change much. And don't forget, Tesla's kept getting updated with over-the-air updates, so some of the improvements we never saw, they didn't make a big fuss about them. They've been gently getting better the whole time. It's interesting driving this original Model Y, that Tesla wanted to improve the rear suspension, because this one is slightly jittery and a little bit noisy, so any comfort that you could get out of this car would be good. Listen, it's quite noisy, and you know what? These things are fast enough. Add in the general good vibes and savings that you get when you run an EV, and you'll come up with a car that people wholeheartedly respect without totally falling in love with. We can all rant about Elon being Elon, but most people who own a Model Y are more interested in access to the 1,700-unit supercharger network. That's the thing that's going to keep this car on top for a long time.