By Gareth Butterfield 
People are often surprised to learn that the Tesla Model Y was the best-selling car in 2024. And not just the best selling electric car, but the best selling car overall.
There are several reasons for its popularity, not least because it makes for a very competent family car, but also because of Tesla’s fabulous Supercharger network, the obvious financial benefits, and some tempting lease deals.
It all makes this, the new Telsa Model Y, quite an important car, then. Especially when you consider that there were some very necessary improvements over the outgoing version.
Firstly, although it was a very ubiquitous sight, the old Model Y wasn’t really a pretty one. And that certainly has been addressed with the replacement.
Sleeker wrap-around lights front and rear, new bumpers, and new wheels have made a massive difference – and that’s quite a clever trick, because the overall shape hasn’t really changed. Look at it side-on, and you’ll see what I mean.
The changes inside are harder to spot, but one of the more notable alterations is the extra minimalism. Yes, that’s right, it now has even fewer physical controls, and even more functions are moved into that massive central touchscreen.
There’s now only one stalk on the steering column, for example. Gone is the gearstick, which also used to quite neatly operate the adaptive cruise control.
The cruise control settings are now on the steering wheel, and the gear selection has gone to the display. I guess we should have seen that coming.
It’s actually all a lot easier to get your head around than you’d imagine and, quite cleverly, the car can work out when you’re doing a manoeuvre like a three-point-turn or a reverse park, so it actually selects Drive and Reverse on your behalf. Controlling it manually is just a case of swiping up or down, and tapping the “P” for Park bit on the driver’s side of the screen. I thought I’d hate it, but I actually don’t.
Indicators, mercifully, are still on a stalk, but lights and wipers are now on the steering wheel. The wipers aren’t quite as dimwitted as they were on the old Model Y, but they’re not great. And having a small button to flash the main beams actually makes sense once you figure it out.
There really isn’t a lot more to say about the front cabin, because there’s nothing else in there. The main screen is still surprisingly good to use, there’s acres of storage, and the vast panoramic roof is a real show-stopper.
In the rear, it’s just as comfortable as the front, with plenty of room and now the addition of a little touchscreen to give passengers access to air conditioning controls and Tesla’s suite of games. Yep, your kids will never be bored in this car. A bit sick, perhaps, but definitely not bored.
The boot is enormous, and the rear seats fold down electrically now to offer up a vast 2,138 litres. And there’s still a fairly decent frunk with a further 117 litres.
If you think this is all sounding rather positive, you’d be right. But we haven’t got to the best bit yet. Because Tesla has properly fixed one of the Model Y’s biggest flaws – its ride quality.
The whole base of the car is now simpler, and far more solid. It still feels heavy, but softer suspension adds a welcome sense of refinement that was missing from the old car.
If anything, it’s lost some dynamic prowess, but given the Model Y was never much of a sporty offering, that’s really not missed. It’s a more sensible approach to smartening up the driver appeal, offering an overall quieter, more comfortable, and much more serene experience.
It’s important to emphasise that none of the alterations in the new Model Y are really that significant in isolation, and a cynic might be forgiven for pointing out that this is more of a mid-life refresh than a new car. But all the small changes have added up to make a big difference, and it’s that that should be celebrated. Tesla has listened to criticisms and made changes. And added some of its own imagination in at the same time, for better or for worse.
The rear-wheel-drive long-range is arguably the pick of the range, and it will cover 387 miles between charges in theory, comfortably 300ish in practice.
In the all-wheel-drive launch edition there’s around 500bhp on offer, so it’s still unnecessarily fast, especially off the line, but the less aggressive ones will make more sense economically.
New prices flutter around at the £50,000 mark as a starting point, but it’ll be the lease deals that will be worth watching out for, because the new bumper design should make it easier to fix, and that’ll make pricing more attractive.
Even without the Supercharger network, and the car’s symbiotic relationship with it all, the Model Y has always been an appealing prospect. That infrastructure just makes any Telsa the easiest EV to live with, when all’s said and done.
And now the car itself has had the improvements it’s always needed, it’s obvious the Model Y isn’t going to be disappearing from the top of the sales charts any time soon.
