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Car Review

Tesla Model Y review

£51,935 - £64,935
810
Published: 18 Dec 2023
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Buying

What should I be paying?

Prices now begin at a very impressive £44,990. That's a £5,000 uplift from the Model 3. White paint is free. Any other colour costs £1,100. Except red. That's £2,100. Black 'vegan leather' is standard. White is £1,100. 

Upgrade to the Long Range and you'll be paying £52,990, while the Performance variant is pitched at £59,990 (although it's worth noting that at one point that would set you back £67,990).

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Is the Performance worth the additional outlay for 0-60mph in 3.5 seconds? Impressive as that is, we'd say 'no': the Long Range is more than fast enough to impress your friends with its silent 4.8-second run to sixty.

Upgrading from 19-inch rims to 20s costs £2,100. The larger wheels look fantastic but Tesla reckons you’ll get 20 miles more range if you go an inch smaller. You'll also get a slightly better ride.

Tell me about 'Autopilot'.

You just did an air quote gesture with your hands, didn't you? 'Enhanced Autopilot' - which allows (rather haphazard) automatic lane-changes and a summon feature to call the car across a car park to you - is £3,400. The full-house, ‘full-self driving capability’ is £6,800. Worth noting that the Y is in no way an autonomous car, though – Tesla does explicitly say so on its website.

Charging the battery takes less than half an hour at one of Europe’s 6,500 Superchargers (at up to 250kW DC) but a 7kW home wallbox is going to need just over 11 hours. Mind you that’s less than a Ford Mustang Mach-E Extended Range – the Model Y's battery still does more, with less.

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