Tesla Model Y 2026 Review

Exterior Design

The exterior changes are arguably more radical than they were for the last Tesla Model 3 update. Gone are the frequently derided frog eyes, replaced by a thin frontal light bar housing matrix LED headlights, which has some hints of the Cybertruck about it.

The side profile looks no different to the original. However, the rear is also redesigned with a hidden light bar that reflects off the back panel of the car. This is a unique feature we’ve not seen in another car and does look quite cool from behind when driving at night.

Overall, the Model Y looks less goofy and more futuristic, although it's also similarly generic like Chinese competitors. If you want a more original look, the Smart #5 has greater character of appearance.

Interior Comfort

The interior includes more subtle but welcome enhancements. It hasn't changed in an obvious way, apart from gaining ambient lighting bands like the latest Model 3. There is a sense of incremental quality, however. The sliding covers over the forward cubby and cupholders have a more premium mechanism, and the cupholders will now hold a greater variety of cup sizes in place.

There are two wireless phone charging spaces, as always. This isn't a premium German interior, but it's another step up over previous Model 3 and Y Teslas. There’s better acoustic insulation, so the car is up to 30% quieter inside. The front seats are as comfortable as before and now offer ventilation as well as heating, but still no massage function.

The rear is as spacious as before too, with plenty of head and knee room, and the space is accentuated by the panoramic sunroof, as always. The big change in the back is the rear LCD panel, which provides climate controls and a subset of entertainment functions. Rear passengers also get a couple of USB C ports and air vents to go with their climate controls. The two outer back seats have ISOfix points for child car chairs.

Storage and Load Carrying

The Model Y has always had leading load carrying abilities in its class, and while the baseline figures haven’t changed, the overall experience has been improved. The boot has always been powered, but now there’s allegedly an option for gesture control, although we couldn’t work out how to get it working.

Of course, the capacity is as huge as ever. Even with the seats up, you get 854 litres, and there’s a large space under the boot floor. Dropping the seats forward is now made easier with switches easily accessible from the rear, so you don’t need to go to rear passenger doors to do this. There's a 40/20/40 split, and the capacity rises to 1,869 litres with all seats down. There's even a sizeable 117-litre frunk, taking overall capacity beyond a Range Rover, which is a much larger car externally.

The Model Y can also be specified with a towing bar that can pull up to 1,600kg braked. That's a £1,350 option. Overall, the luggage space on the Model Y is outstanding, making this a supremely flexible cargo carrier.

Tesla's removal of steering wheel stalks for the Model S Plaid and latest Model 3 was met with a mixed reception. The lack of an indicator stalk was a particular focus of criticism. With the new Model Y, it’s back. Tesla claims that as the Model Y is aimed at more mainstream family drivers than the 3, it felt this was needed instead of the steering wheel buttons of the 3. But we’re pretty sure they realised the lack of an indicator was costing them sales. In fact, this is the best Tesla indicator stalk yet, turning indicators off and on with much greater assurance than the previous Y and 3.

You still need to use steering wheel buttons for the lights and windscreen wipers, however. You then use the wheel to adjust the wiper speed. You will need to access this, because the auto sensing system is still temperamental. We continue to be surprised how a company with so much technology as Tesla can’t make auto rain sensing wipers work properly. It's also a drawback that you can't control lights beyond flashing without the central screen. You now also have to press the right-hand wheel to enable the autopilot cruise control, with a separate button for voice commands.

Everything else, as before, is accessed through the central infotainment screen – and that includes selecting drive modes. You run your finger up for forward, down for reverse, and press for park. During three-point turns, it will switch between forward and backward automatically, which takes a little getting used to but works quite well once you have. There are some auxiliary drive controls above the driver’s head, but those are there in the case of a problem with the screen, so you can still drive the car.

The interface of the 15in landscape infotainment display continues to evolve, but incrementally. You now get a big 3D car as the home screen. Since the most recent Teslas have no ultrasonics, the camera-based Tesla Vision delivers a rather organic-looking 3D impression of the surroundings, which is a bit weird but not terrible. Other than that, previous Tesla users will find the same menu system as before, which is supremely well organised and easy to use. There is sill no support for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, however, which many don't mind due to the feature-rich smartphone app, but lots of people consider a dealbreaker.

Performance and Driving

The original Model Y was criticised for its ride quality, and the new suspension setup on the updated version takes bumps in its stride much more effectively. The ride is very smooth up to and including typical motorway speeds.

The Y is just as quick as before getting to motorway speeds. The Launch edition has the acceleration boost pre-applied so gets to 60mph in just 4.1 seconds. Without that upgrade it's 4.6 seconds. The original standard range car took 5.6 seconds while the Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive is slightly faster at 5.4 seconds. However, the new cheaper Standard car now hits 60mph in a more pedestrian 6.9 seconds. The Performance takes less than half that, requiring just 3.3 seconds. So the principal Tesla party trick of insane acceleration is still present and correct.

However, there isn't much steering feedback so while cornering at speed is composed and assured, you're not getting a particularly sporty feel. When we drove this car from London to Devon, the improved ride really made the hundreds of miles very comfortable indeed. The claimed reduction in cabin noise was also obvious on motorways. This is a great car for eating through long distances. It's a little big for tight cities and single-track Devon roads, like most SUVs, but not horrifically so. Overall, an improvement in driving comfort over the previous Tesla Model Y.

Range and Charging

Although Tesla hasn't made any significant changes to the drivetrain, there are aerodynamic efficiency improvements, which have increased the range. Tesla doesn't divulge its battery sizes officially, but the net capacity of the Long Range battery is believed to be 81kWh while the smaller option is 70kWh.

The original Long Range All-Wheel-Drive promised 331 WLTP miles, but the new version initially went to 364 miles, or 353 with 20in wheels car, but this has recently increased to 391 and 372 miles respectively. The Rear-Wheel Drive car with the smaller battery could manage 311 WLTP miles, but the new Standard version ups that marginally to 314. Go for the Long-Range Rear-Wheel Drive car and you get 387 miles, while the Performance offers 360 miles.

We drove our test car all the way from London to Devon and back, mostly on clear motorways, managing over 3.4 miles per kWh. That would mean a real-world range of around 256 miles, and probably more if you're driving roads at 60mph or less.

Tesla's Supercharger network also made that Devon journey a breeze, with loads of dependable charging options. The Long-Range Y charges at 250kW max, too. Chinese cars such as the XPENG G6 are cruising past this now to 400kW and beyond but you need to find the network to support that, which isn't readily available yet. Tesla Superchargers are ubiquitous, and you can charge from 10 to 80% in just 27 minutes, which is perfectly fine. They also tend to be cheaper than other networks in the UK. It's easy to do two or three hours of driving, stop for a coffee or food, then continue. Really, long distance is a breeze in the Tesla Model Y.

Running Costs

You’re getting up to 4.6 WLTP miles per kWh with the Tesla Model Y, but even with our real-world result of 3.4 miles per kWh, the efficiency is good considering the size and performance of this vehicle.

However, the insurance groups are high for the Model Y (apart from the new Standard), ranging from 37 to 42, although these are lower than the previous generation. The basic warranty is four years or 60,000 miles – decent but not outstanding. However, the battery and drive unit have eight years or 100,000 miles, extending to 120,000 miles with the Long Range battery.

Safety

Teslas have always done well for safety, with a solid five stars in Euro NCAP and high ratings in every category for the Y. This mostly hasn't changed with the new Y, but there are now blind spot detection LEDs on the A-pillars near the rear-view mirrors, which are an improvement. You also get emergency braking and collision warning. This car has Matrix LED headlights.

The key feature is of course Autopilot, which all cars get. Some people don't like the Tesla system, but we find it great in average speed zones and heavy start-stop traffic, which it deals with extremely well.

You can of course buy the Enhanced version and take a bet on Full Self Driving for £3,400 or £6,800 respectively. The Enhanced version already gets Summon and Autopark functions but doesn't seem great value and FSD has been promising features that are never delivered for years now.