The dispassionate folks at Consumer Reports are not impressed with the Tesla Y. Their recently released road test rates the vehicle a pathetic 50 out of 100 (SUVS that cost half as much rate 89 (Subaru Forester), 83 (Mazda CX-5 ), 82 (Honda CR-V), and 81 (Kia Sportage)).
They noticed the same things that we noticed about the Tesla X, i.e., compared to a conventional Honda or Toyota, it is noisy inside and bumpy:
Bumps and ruts punch through noticeably into the Model Y’s cabin, to the point that passengers will be keenly aware of nearly every road imperfection. The stiff suspension delivers short, quick ride motions over any bumps, which makes the car feel nervous. The Model Y isn’t nearly as comfortable as the Toyota RAV4 Prime (plug-in hybrid) SUV let alone the all-electric Audi E-Tron.
The Model Y has a nearly silent powertrain, but the interior ambience is spoiled by a considerable amount of impact boom when the tires encounter bumps. Some wind noise infiltrates at highway speeds, and we could hear a rattle at times emanating from the rear of the vehicle. The Model Y is quieter than the Model 3 sedan, but it certainly doesn’t set any new standards for SUVs, whether of EV or gas variety.
Predicted reliability is 1/5. Can the $61,000 car drive itself to the repair shop?
We purchased the Full Self-Driving Capability option, which adds several advanced features including Smart Summon, Navigate on Autopilot, and Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control. We found most of the features perform inconsistently and aren’t actually all that helpful in many situations.
How about the user interface that comes from sticking a $299 touch screen monitor in the middle of the dashboard?
While Tesla’s climate system did a decent job of keeping everyone comfortable, no one liked the controls, since all of the adjustments must be done via the center infotainment screen, even including changing the direction of the air vents. Drivers have to spend too much time with their eyes off the road to make simple adjustments on the screen, such as fiddling with tiny arrows to make temperature changes. Since the screen doesn’t offer any haptic feedback, it’s tough to know if you’re actually making a change to the controls.
You can’t worship simultaneously at the altars of Apple and Tesla:
Neither Android Auto nor Apple CarPlay are compatible with the Tesla infotainment system. We found the voice commands to have a significant lag when initiating phone calls. Incoming phone calls appear on the lower left part of the infotainment screen, and you have to reach down there and touch the screen to accept the call. Most cars give drivers the ability to interact with phone functions through the steering wheel.
One of our favorite safety features on the beloved 2018 Honda Odyssey is blind spot warning. This is implemented differently on the Tesla:
Blind spot warning — The Model Y does not have a traditional blind spot warning system with icons that are visible in the side mirrors. Instead, it displays an image of the car in the center screen and shows images of surrounding vehicles. Red lines are displayed when a vehicle or object is in close proximity. An audible warning can be activated through the settings menu. In our experience, this is an inadequate warning system as drivers naturally check the mirror for a blind spot warning, not a center screen.
As with the stock, owners love the car! 89 percent say that they would buy it again. Engineers at Honda, Toyota, Ford, et al. must be going nuts! The Tesla Y flouts every rule in the book of car engineering and buyers don’t care!
Related:
The NVH aside, I think it’s amazing that the radical design of the interior controls sucks so badly and the enthusiasts think it’s a feature, not a bug. If they complained about it, Musk would change it! He added Dog Mode based on a tweet, and if his customers got together and said: “We’d like to have some manual air vents that you don’t need to interact with a supercomputer to use.” I’ll bet he would do it.
Of course, this way, every single thing the driver and passengers do while “driving” is logged, including where they want the air to blow.
>Drivers have to spend too much time with their eyes off the road to make simple adjustments on the screen, such as fiddling with tiny arrows to make temperature changes. Since the screen doesn’t offer any haptic feedback, it’s tough to know if you’re actually making a change to the controls.
They are conditioning everyone with a Tesla to become passive “rollers” consuming transport. It’s fast, though! Tesla is inching ever closer to the Woody Allen “Sleeper” car.
https://images.app.goo.gl/UhUbGH8n5hEx5dCHA
Actually it’s all right in line with Akira Yoshino’s grand vision of the future of mobility for the proles:
“The ideal style for the future is people don’t own a car and a self-driving vehicle is coming whenever anyone wants to use the service.”
https://europe.autonews.com/suppliers/nobel-prize-winner-says-battery-recycling-key-meeting-electric-car-demand
In the future, there will be no Consumer Reports reviews of cars you can buy. If the ride is bumpy and loud, you’ll complain to a faceless government agency on the Moon.
Addendum: it looks like Tesla spends part of its enthusiast capital by using its owners as beta testers for some of the advanced features that don’t work very well. My fave. EV/Hybrid YouTuber Prof. John Kelly has promised that he’s working on a deep dive video into a Tesla, but he hasn’t posted it yet or said which model. I wonder how that’s going to work? I guess Weber State in Utah has to buy the car outright. I wonder if Tesla will crush him like a bug if he has anything unfavorable to say?
One of his latest videos is a deep dive into the Honda Hybrid E-Drive transaxle, which he describes as “Incredible.” And indeed it is a very interesting piece of engineering.
Oh, please I own Model 3, Model X, F-150 and BMW M3 (and soon-to-be-sold Highlander). Out of the bunch by far the most comfortable car is Model 3 exactly because it has FSD package, which is extremely useful on the long drives and in traffic, I use literally all the time.
Model X with FSD is nice, but not as nimble. F-150 King Ranch is extra-comfortable inside, tows the trailer, but not exactly convenient daily driver. M3 is a good track car, but after Tesla – annoying daily driver.
Anyway, I was very skeptical about single center screen, but it turns out it’s not a big deal at all, controls are very well designed. True about warning blinker, and also no bird view, but that is about it.
Horses for courses, I guess. The owners seem to love their Teslas.
I think avoiding gas stations would be pretty nice, assuming 99% of the refueling would occur overnight in my garage. The NVH may be poor, but the acceleration is pretty great. I also thought the Model Y had a ton of storage space. I still think road trips would be a pain, but I also think these buyers don’t drive long distances, but rather fly.
Horses. Self-Replicating. Green fuel source. Peerless bio-logical vision and object avoidance neural network systems. Cheap. Recyclable. Fun to drive.
The Amish are a smart people. the past is the future.
The next tycoon will make a fortune on buggy whips.
Please take a look at the Mustang E. I find it an intriguing take on the Model Y. I don’t know how close to reality the autonomous mode is and how well it will work when (if) it gets here. I have not seen and am too lazy to look up whether it has Lidar, but others have convinced me it is required for reliable autonomous driving.