Model Y RWD
Price: $72,300 (NSW, plus on roads, some states may have stamp duty rebates etc).
Range: 455km
Acceleration: 0-100 in 6.9 seconds.
Battery: 60kWh.
Verdict: 9/10
Apart from the Cybertruck, Tesla’s futuristic electric ute, there is no more eagerly awaited electric vehicle in Australia than Tesla’s best selling electric crossover, the Model Y.
And finally, the Model Y is here, its Australian order book has already gone through the roof, the first customer deliveries will take place in August, and the first question that was posed as I took a three day road test trip last week from Sydney to Canberra and back was the obvious one: What’s it like to drive?
The answer, to existing Model 3 owners is relatively simple: It’s just like driving a Model 3, but sitting in a high chair. To those who don’t already own a Tesla, the answer is also pretty simple: Pretty damn good, it’s the electric SUV you’ve probably been waiting for, and you might just be able to get your hands on one.
The Model Y is higher, bigger, and slower than the Model 3 sedan. But that, based on my informal survey of people charging their own Tesla, is exactly what the market wants.
The market data tells the story. SUV sales have easily outperformed sales of sedans in recent years, and while the Model 3 has been – by some distance – the most available and the best selling electric car in Australia since its launch in 2019, it’s probably going to be rapidly overtaken by its bigger sibling.
Tesla won’t reveal the number of Model Ys orders to date, but it seems it’s at least 12,000 and possibly as many as 20,000 in Australia in its first week. Maybe more. And there has been a sudden boost in second hand offerings of Model 3 EVs. It seems that some Model 3 owners were just biding their time.
So what is the difference between a Model 3 and a Model Y?
The Driven’s chief reporter, and Model 3 owner, Bridie Schmidt went into a lot of detail about the main specs when she got to have a look inside a Model Y more than a week ago. It’s worth a read:Â Bigger than the Model 3: How the Model Y shapes up to Tesla’s electric sedan
Basically, the Model Y is slightly longer, has a slightly longer wheelbase, is slightly wider and is significantly higher – both in road clearance and overall height – and it has a lot more interior room. The boot space of the Model 3 (542 litres) is trumped by the greater hatch space of the Model Y (853 litres).
All of this means that the Model Y has more room for a family, and a slightly largely turning circle than the Model 3, and there is no doubt that it feels slightly heavier and bigger than the Model 3 on the road, but the difference is marginal.
The big change I noticed, also being a Model 3 owner, is that the Model Y is significantly slower. The RWD version (the one that we got to drive last week) gets from 0-100km/h in 6.9 seconds. That’s more than the 6.1 seconds of the new Model 3 RWD, and significantly slower than the original Model 3 built in Fremont with different battery chemistry.
But, that may only be noticeable to an experienced Tesla driver. Getting from 0-100km/h is still quick enough, and faster than nearly everyone has experienced in a fossil fuel car. It’s really only rare occasions when the extra zip is missed.
The big winner for most people is going to be the higher ride. Some people I know didn’t buy the Model 3 because they want to step up into a car, not down. Personally, I’m unfussed, but it was kind of cool to see more of the Nepean River as I drove over the succession of bridges on the Hume Highway, and to go eye to eye with other SUV drivers.
And if it’s performance that’s really important, then you can go and get the AWD Â version. It will cost you $96,700 before on roads, some $24,400 more than for the RWD version at $72,300 (the price has already gone up once since orders opened 12 days ago).
We haven’t had the opportunity to drive the performance version yet, but it will be pretty special. The long range version will fit somewhere in between in pricing terms, but is not available for order yet in Australia, and may not be.
The driving experience for the Model Y RWD is about fun on hilly, windy roads – thanks to its handling, its low centre of gravity, and its torque. On the freeway, and in the city, its biggest benefit is that it is smooth and quiet. And on the freeway, with autopilot, it’s pretty relaxing.
You can add Enhanced Autopilot for an extra $5,100, which adds lane changing and parking and smart summon, and Full Self Driving for $10,000, which for the moment adds only traffic light and stop sign control, but eventually auto-steer on city streets. This car had neither option.
The range on the RWD drive is advertised at 455kms from its 60kWh battery. Yes, but. The real world range is likely closer to 400kms, given the average consumption of around 160 watt hours per kilometre in the three days I had it. That’s more than 140wh/km from the sleaker Model 3.
With a fully charged battery, the Model Y told me it could get to Canberra (up the hill and some 300kms away) with a bit to spare, although it suggested I stop on the way at the Goulburn Supercharger, which is what I did.
It was fascinating to see how quickly the other Teslas charging at the facility emptied, as their owners came out to inspect the new model. By my count, 90 per cent of them (surveyed over three different stops at Superchargers) had already put their order in for a Model Y. Some as an extra EV, some as an upgrade for the Model 3.
There’s no doubt that there is a greater feeling of space than in the Model 3 – because there is more space. The back seats fold down to pretty near flat and offer a near double bed option, even for me at 188cm.
With a single clear glass roof panel over the main passenger section, that would make a nice way to spend the evening under a star-lit night. It’s a shame that, unlike the Ioniq 5 and the EV6, there is no vehicle to load facility.
For the uninitiated to EVs, the Model Y will offer a whole new world, something they are unlikely to have seen or experienced – both in driving (smooth, quiet, fast and great handling) and in the inside layout.
It has a great feeling of space, and of the future – it’s dumped the wide dashboard with a centralised screen containing most controls, and just a few paddles and buttons on the steering wheel for gears, indicators, wipers, autopilot, audio and voice commands.
There are now a bunch of electric SUVs to compare – from the adapted petrol models of the Volvo XC40 Recharge, the BMW iX3, the Hyundai Kona, the MG ZS EV, and the Lexus UX300.
Those offerings represent pretty safe transitions to electric for brand loyalists that don’t want the EV experience to be too different from what they know now, apart from the refuelling (oh, and the comfort, silence, lack of pollution, and handling).
For those wanting a big leap into the future, the electric SUV choice comes down to those built on new electric platforms, the  Model Y, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6. All are impressive models in their own right, and all three have won various “car of the year” awards.
The big difference with the Model Y is that it doesn’t have the vehicle-to-load options the other two have, which means you can’t plug in your appliances – either on the move or at home, and the RWD version probably has the lowest range out of the three. Tesla’s auto assist, however, is vastly superior to the others.
But you do wonder, sometimes, just how serious the legacy car makers are about the switch to EVs. On the way to returning the Model Y to the Tesla depot in Alexandria I saw an Ioniq 5 draw up alongside. Nice car, I thought, shame it’s impossible to get one.
Hyundai, by all accounts, had more than 16,000 registrations of interest for the Ioniq but has so far offered just a fraction of that, little more than 500 to customers. Within months, the Tesla Model Y will have outsold the Ioniq 5 by a factor of maybe 10 to 1.
That just seems like a gap that the Ioniq 5 could have filled and you wonder if it hasn’t just let an opportunity go by. Tesla’s big advantage is not just making great cars, and building a fantastic charging network, it’s also delivering EVs on a scale not imagined by its rivals.
What I liked most: High ride, great ride, seats fold down for a double bed. Very similar feel to the Model 3.
What I didn’t like: Tesla still hasn’t figured out the driver’s floor mat, the arm that goes up the left hand side flaps all over the shop. Its voice command is often pretty random, particularly for making phone calls. And the driver assist freaks out at pot holes, or at least when you try to avoid them.
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.