Tesla Model Y Standard review: is this the affordable mass-market EV that Elon promised?

Is this the $25,000 Tesla that Elon promised all those years ago?

Erm, not quite. In fact, in the US this new entry-level variant of the Model Y costs just under $40,000, and by the time it gets to our shores with some market-specific tuning it’s £41,990. Not exactly the affordable EV for all, then.

And yet, here in the UK the Standard is a chunky £7,000 less than the next rung up the Model Y ladder. That’s the Premium in Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive form. That kind of saving is not to be sniffed at.

So, where have costs been cut?

Well, from the outside you can tell it’s a Standard by the lack of lightbars. Both the front and rear units have been replaced by more generic LEDs, and the bumpers have been simplified. We actually prefer the new face. Headlights give a car more personality than a whopping great light strip across the brow.

In the US the Standard gets 18in wheels, but over here 19s are, erm… standard. That’s to help residual values, because us Brits are obsessed with shiny things even when they’re second-hand. The step up in size apparently has a negligible impact on range, too.

Ah, so what is the range?

For the Model Y Standard, you’re looking at 314 miles on the WLTP cycle from a battery with a capacity of around 60kWh. Tesla has stopped giving out official figures for its battery sizes, but for comparison the Model Y Premium in Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive form gets a 75kWh-ish unit and claims 387 miles on a single charge.

The Standard also gets a single motor driving its rear wheels, but it has been dialled back to slow acceleration and curb the top speed. In Premium trim, the single-motor Y will hit 125mph and do 0-60mph in 5.4 seconds, but here in the UK the Standard tops out at 110mph and hits 60mph from standstill in 6.9 seconds. It’s even slightly slower than the Standard in the US, but that helps bring the insurance group down to 34. Good news.

Is it any different on the inside?

Well, the real bonus to making a boggo Tesla is that there’ll be no blank buttons, because there weren’t any buttons in here in the first place. You do still get the monster 15.4in touchscreen up front too. It’s just as snappy and responsive as ever and the menus and shortcuts make it genuinely easy to navigate.

Of course we’d like some physical climate controls and a proper drive selector, but if you’re going to put it all into a screen then at least make it a good one. This one is, and you don’t seem to lose any apps or functionality for selecting Standard over Premium.

However, you do get slightly different seats with a mix of fabric and vegan leather upholstery, and the glass roof has been covered with a fabric headliner. It’s a little bit gloomy inside as a result, and there’s less ambient lighting than you get in other Model Ys.

Other changes? Well, the steering column is now manually adjustable, the audio system makes do with just seven speakers (although sound quality is still perfectly acceptable), the touchscreen for rear seat passengers has gone, and only the front seats are heated. You do still get a toasty steering wheel though, and there’s a new Cybertruck-inspired centre console with a giant space for rucksacks and handbags below the two wireless phone charging slots.

How does it drive?

The motor may have been reined in, but the Standard still feels plenty quick enough for a family wagon. There’s instant torque and it’ll fire itself up to motorway speeds in no time. There’s even the option of switching to ‘Chill’ mode for more progressive and efficient acceleration.

There are two settings for regen braking too (Standard or Reduced) and the brake pedal itself is firm but doesn’t offer too much feel. Similar story for the steering, which is actually surprisingly weighty but still pretty numb. Changes direction quickly enough though, and there’s a bit of body roll through corners to remind you that you are driving a 1.9-tonne SUV.

The Standard gets simple passive shock absorbers (Premium trim adds ‘frequency dependent’ shocks), but the facelifted Model Y rides far better than the previous gen anyway, and the humble components here don’t throw things off course. It’s still fairly firm, but bumps don’t crash through the cabin like they used to. Oh, and the glass in the windows is thinner too, but even so road and wind noise is well suppressed.

What about efficiency?

Great question, because this is supposedly the most efficient Model Y yet. Tesla claims 4.5 miles per kWh, and even on a day where the ambient temperature was just above freezing and the heater was being run on max, we saw an average of 3.6 mi/kWh on a 90-mile test route. Mightily impressive, although with the smaller battery it means you’re probably looking at a real-world max range of 220 miles in winter.

Still hugely practical too, isn’t it?

Well, you get a massive 835 litres of boot space, or 2,118 litres if you fold the rear seats flat. Still plenty of underfloor storage in the boot too, and there’s a simplified frunk that’s slightly smaller than the Premium’s.

Rear seat space is plentiful with enough leg and headroom for adults over 6ft to be comfortable back there.

How does it compare to its rivals?

The introduction of the Standard trim brings the Model Y in line with the entry price of most of its closest competition. In fact, it’s actually cheaper than a Peugeot e-3008 and costs £5k less than an entry-level Audi Q4 e-tron. It also makes the Ford Mustang Mach-E look a little short with its higher entry price and worse range.

The Koreans are still putting up a good fight though, and for a little more cash you can have an 84kWh battery in a Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Kia EV6. Both get more range than the Model Y Standard, although of course with the Tesla you’re also getting access to the full Supercharger network. There are currently over 2,000 Superchargers in the UK and new sites are going in every week.

Should I buy the cheap Model Y?

If you’re paying in cash and don’t plan on doing too many long journeys, the Standard does look like decent value. It’ll likely be your first Tesla, and you get all of the headline features like Dog Mode, Sentry Mode and a basic version of Autopilot (essentially just adaptive cruise control with lane-centring). It’s also quicker and gets a better touchscreen than most of its circa-£40k rivals.

And yet, the step up to Premium trim is just £100 per month on a PCP deal, so if you can stretch to that it should be well worth it. That unlocks  that useful wedge of extra range, faster charging, a fancier interior and a couple of colour options that aren’t just shades of grey. The entry-level Tesla is finally here, but it’s probably not the one we’d want to own…

Photography: Tesla