I just climbed out of the Tesla Model Y, and if first-impressions are anything to go by, Elon Musk’s newest EV hasn’t strayed far from its predecessors. The all
I just climbed out of the Tesla Model Y, and if first-impressions are anything to go by, Elon Musk’s newest EV hasn’t strayed far from its predecessors. The all-electric crossover isn’t going to arrive with buyers until Fall 2020 at the earliest, but when it does I suspect they’ll be struck more by how familiar it is, rather than how new.
Certainly, you may need to take two glances in order to tell which, exactly, you’re looking at. The Model Y is taller than the Model 3, though not as significantly as you might think given it’s officially billed as a crossover or compact SUV.
That same impression continues inside. You sit a little higher, though in the same seats as you’d find inside the Model 3. Tesla has added risers underneath them, to give that crossover height drivers prefer. The panoramic glass roof, though, is more akin to what you’d get in more expensive Tesla models. It’ll likely be far more impressive in daylight than it was at night, helping keep the cabin light and airy – even if you’re in the third row.
That third row of seats – which I wasn’t able to sit in – is certainly going to be more cramped than, say, the rearmost seats in a Model X. Unlike in the Model S, however, they’re forward-facing. I suspect you’ll only want to put children back there for anything more than a ride around the block: leg room and head space are going to be limited by virtue of the Model Y’s dimensions.
The dashboard is lifted from the Model 3, too.
