Note: I’ve been fairly inconsistent with which unit of measurement I use, both in my various articles, as well as on my podcast. This inconsistency ends today, with this article: henceforth, for obvious reasons, I shall always default to metric (with imperial units in parentheses).
So I know this review has been a long time coming; those of you who listen to my podcast will remember that my wife and I took delivery of our white-on-white Tesla Model Y Long Range All Wheel Drive in June of this year; based on a delivery tracking site, I think it’s safe to say we were one of the first in California to take possession of that particular configuration. And now, after already hitting just over 16,000 km (10,000 mi) as of this writing, I feel confident that I can finally give a properly objective review of this undeniably astonishing, if flawed, machine.
By now, however, you’ve all read and watched enough superlative-laden reviews about all Teslas’ face-distorting teleportation-like acceleration — suffice to say the Model Y is for all intents and purposes nearly as quick as the Model 3, if admittedly a bit less agile, as expected — so this review will focus instead on four main areas: design; flaws; my thoughts on the latest build of Autopilot, because of course; and charging.
So let’s dive in, Episode 177, the Season 5 finale and Holiday Special for 2020, begins now….
THE HELVETICA FONT OF THE AUTOMOTIVE WORLD
The first thing that strikes you about the Model Y is its looks, if only because you’re expecting something that looks like a caricatured, enfattened Model 3. Instead, the first time we saw ours in the flesh, we thought “wow, it’s like a better Model 3.”
