There were no improvements in minivans from Honda, Toyota, Chrysler, or Kia for 2026 (see Minivan news for the 2026 model year). What did the legacy automakers do with the additional year of engineering time? There are no improvements in minivans for the 2027 model year either! Honda’s driver assistance tech on the Odyssey, for example, is the same as it was in 2017 (for the 2018 model year). The only change for Honda is a $400 price increase. Car and Driver says that “the [Toyota] Sienna carries over into 2027 unchanged” (this is the only manufacturer from whom we might have to wait until October to get official news; maybe there will be some tech improvement over what was introduced in 2020).
Chrysler killed the plug-in hybrid version of the Pacific and tweaked the styling (for people like us who buy minivans for maximum style/prestige!).
So… it is time to buy the Tesla Y L. Car and Driver:
A dynamic difference we can comment on is the Y L’s new suspension. The Y L uses the Y Premium’s single-valve adaptive damping with a specific tune for the L’s larger chassis that prioritizes comfort without permitting unnecessary body roll in corners. There’s even a passenger-comfort setting that attempts to absorb more impacts for those in the rear seats. Anyone who has ever bounced around in the back of a Tesla Uber will appreciate the idea of a softer rear-seat ride. The Model Y’s excessively firm ride has long been a sticking point at C/D, and the Y L addresses it in a way that doesn’t compromise the car’s handling strengths.
I guess we won’t be able to get one until March? It would be absurd to have an AWD version in Florida (the last snowstorm in Palm Beach County was on January 19, 1977 and deposited 1/4 inch). Dragging around a second motor that compromises the range makes no sense. (The extra acceleration from from the dual motor version isn’t interesting either given that the RWD Model Y can do 0-60 in roughly the same amount of time as our Odyssey, which is overpowered for America’s traffic-choked roads.) A friend in Maskachusetts ordered the Launch edition as a replacement for his Lucid Air due to that machine’s lack of FSD and, of course, he will be able to take advantage of AWD if Climate Change doesn’t progress faster than expected by the expert consensus. When he ordered the machine, a couple of weeks after the launch of the Launch, he was told that it would be delivered in September or October. This was later updated to perhaps as late as December.
I don’t think the Y L will win any beauty contests, but maybe it isn’t dramatically uglier than the Y? It’s 7-9 inches shorter than today’s minivans.
(source)
What about just buying everyone in the family a Corvette ZR1X “minivan” of their own (with hired drivers if necessary) to replace the dated Honda? Seems like the right thing to do.
This is a great idea. I can be Mindy the Crippler’s ZR1X driver and the rest of the family can fend for itself!
If you buy a Tesla now, how are you going to explain it to your woke friends? It will be too late adding a sticker on a bumper that reads: “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy.”
Woke friends are idiots
Good news! For a modest contribution of $500 I can provide an official certificate eliminating the sin of owning Tesla. We take credit cards!
Make sure you and all passengers know how to open the electronically controlled doors in case of an accident, lest you end up like these 4 people who were burned alive when they couldn’t get out:
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-14069607/friends-burned-death-trapped-inside-tesla-electronic-doors-failed.html
… Or this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsqK5V3df_E
Report: Tesla Doors That Won’t Open Have Led to 15 Crash-Related Deaths
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a69838848/tesla-doors-dont-open-report-of-deaths/
Don’t worry, Tesla is going to push a fix. The new software update will make the rear windows open up in case of a crash. That way the occupants can safely get out through the window. Unless, of course, the window was broken during the crash, but I am sure that is very rare. In such rare cases, the passengers can follow the simple 3-step procedure to remove the cover, open the hatch, and pull the emergency release. Not even a screwdriver is needed!
Yoshiaki Mita In a crisis situation needing to access the emergency release hidden away behind a panel to open the doors is incompetent interface design. It creates a demonstrable and repeatable threat to anyone in these cars.
I resent that I have to explain to my family how to get out of our Tesla in case there’s an emergency and the door handles don’t work.
When I bought a new car this year I made sure it had mechanically controlled doors. If there’s an emergency and the car loses all electrical capability, I can get out through my door by actuating the handle as normal.
Have you considered importing the Toyota Alfred https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APL2gohu3u8
or wait for the luxury of the new Genesis where the seats will swivel and it can double as a conference room?
https://www.genesis.com/worldwide/en/models/gv90?msockid=0e271bdd96cd6b2d1f550cff97606abe
The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus_LM is available in Islamic countries, such as the UK and Spain. Why won’t they sell it in Michigan, Maine, Illinois, Texas, and Minnesota?