The Tesla Model Y is not only the best-selling vehicle in Tesla's line-up, it has also taken the crown of best selling car in Europe in 2023, shifting 1.2 million units globally the same year. Its popularity is due to its beguiling mix of interior roominess, including one of the largest boots you’ll find anywhere, it’s easy-to-live-with demeanour, very competitive electric range and technological prowess. It’s certainly not the cheapest electric SUV on the market, but Tesla is doing its best to tempt buyers away from rival brands by recently lowering the cost of its entry-level Standard, which now costs just over £40,000.
For most, the Tesla Model Y will be all the electric car they ever need, with a huge amount of interior space and one of the biggest boots. Once you get past the company’s penchant for committing everything to touchscreen, including the gear selector, it is one of the easiest cars to live with. The recent refresh has vastly improved the exterior styling and now the overall fit, finish and refinement is up there with the more established players. Tesla’s charging network is also fantastic, taking much of the range anxiety out of owning an EV.
Jack is an experienced motoring journalist who has been covering the latest new-car releases for the last 10 years.
Read bioTesla announced a new Standard edition of the Model Y at the end of 2025, removing some of the interior niceties, such as a premium sound system and a screen for rear passengers, to get the price down to £41,990.
The company is keen to point out that it can also cost as little as £299 per month on a PCP deal, while the retail price brings it almost in line with some of the more lavish but much smaller Model 3s.
Prices increase to £48,990 for the Premium Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive version, which reintroduces those items lost in Standard cars, while the more powerful Long Range All-Wheel Drive variant costs £51,990.
Finally, Tesla also offers a dedicated Performance variant that is the fastest accelerating of them all and features bespoke design touches to make it look racier. It costs a good chunk of change, though, at £61,990.
Things haven’t changed much since Tesla first launched the Model Y back in 2020, with the company offering only a couple of different battery packs and chemistries. The Standard version uses a 64 kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) chemistry battery, while Premium and Performance cars feature a 75 kWh pack that uses a more expensive Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) make-up.
Ignore the chemistry complexities, as range and performance are the only things any customer really needs to think about. Standard cars deliver 314-miles of range, while Long Range All-Wheel Drive cars offer the most at 391-miles.
Of course, if breakneck acceleration is top of the shopping list, there is a Performance variant that uses the same twin motor set-up as the Long Range All-Wheel Drive car, but turns its output up to 11.Expect the 0-60mph dash to take just 3.3 seconds in these variants.
While the basic battery set-up has remained largely the same throughout the Model Y’s life cycle, range and performance have gradually improved as Tesla has continued to work on both aerodynamic and powertrain efficiency, so expect slightly less if opting for an earlier car on the used market.
The Californian company’s reputation for making effortlessly fast electric cars precedes it and things don’t change with its mid-sized, family-orientated SUV. Even in basic Standard models, you can expect to shoot from 0-60mph in just 6.9 seconds. As previously mentioned, that figure drops to 3.3 seconds in the Performance cars.
However, the glut of performance isn’t backed up by a chassis, suspension set-up or steering that can deliver a genuinely fun drive. It really is a “point and squirt” affair, which is great for dashing away from the traffic lights but little else.
The mid-life refresh, often referred to as ‘Juniper’, brought with it an extensive amount of upgrades and improvements to chassis hardware, as well as a stiffer body structure and a revised suspension system, including frequency dependent shock absorbers in Premium cars that help smooth out rutted roads.
Overall, these many small changes have added up to a car that now rides and handles much better than previous generations, reducing the amount of crashing felt through the cabin when driving over potholes, as well as reducing body roll through corners.
In addition to this, overall quality and refinement of the cabin means it is now a much more hushed and premium-feeling experience inside, particularly at motorway speeds. Tesla claims road noise is reduced by 22%, impact noise by 20% and wind noise by 20% compared to older cars.
That said, the steering remains numb and void of feel, while those chassis improvements still don’t add up to a particularly exciting car, even if you do plump for the very expensive Performance variant with its electronic continuously variable shocks.
It’s great in a straight line and will impress friends and passengers with its acceleration, but it lacks the feedback and nuance of something from BMW, Porsche or even Audi, for example.
Before Volvo changed its interior design language and before sister company Polestar launched a vehicle, Tesla was the undisputed king of the minimalist interior. Pretty much everything is committed to the 15.4-inch touchscreen that is mounted to the dash — including the gear selector mechanism.
Overall, the interior is bright and airy, thanks to the sheer amount of glass employed. Although the Standard variants cover the glass roof, which makes it generally feel darker inside.
Standard models also lose the 8-inch second row screen, ambient lighting and the microsuede and textile interior fabrics, which cover the dash and door cards, opting instead for a basic, pure textile option. It’s still a nice place to be, despite these obvious cost-saving moves.
Premium level cars and above receive vegan leather materials to the seats, as well as heated and cooling technology. Overall, they feel expensive when you get in them, until you start noticing some of the cheaper plastics used.
This is where the Model Y shines, as it offers an absolutely cavernous interior that’s easy to get in and out of, and then proves hugely spacious once inside.
The boot is similarly spacious, offering one of the best-in-class volumes of 890 litres when the rear seats are intact. The shape and the size of the boot also makes it very easy to load with bulky or awkward items, such as prams or golf clubs.
In Standard models, the rear seats fold flat manually, but Premium cars and above have a power-folding mechanism, which practically transforms the rear of the Model Y into a van-like space.
All Model Y vehicles come with a front storage compartment that offers more than enough space to place charging cables and small bags. However, during the refresh, it shrunk slightly and its insulating surround generally got thinner and cheaper.
Almost everything is committed to an interior display, which feels more like a giant Apple iPad than it does a traditional automotive infotainment system.
The majority of vehicle functionality has to be controlled through this touchscreen and the numerous sub-menus, including the wiper speed… if you choose to remove it from its temperamental automatic mode.
Thankfully, the system is incredibly slick and quick to respond, with the option of mapping shortcuts to favourite menus. But it could prove extremely distracting for anyone not used to such modernity. Tesla also offers its own voice assistant that can take care of much of this without having to prod the screen.
A further 8-inch screen can be found in the rear on all cars above Standard trim, which allows those in the back to binge YouTube, take control of the air conditioning or even play a handful of arcade games.
The same Premium or above cars also get heated and cooled seats all-round, adjustable interior ambient lighting and a unique HEPA filter with what Tesla calls “Bioweapon Defence Mode”, which essentially detects poor air quality outside the cabin and prevents it entering, filtering out any nasty particulates in the process.
Tesla doesn’t really do trim levels, offering the same sort of equipment across the majority of its range. As previously mentioned, Standard does away with some of the extras in order to keep cost down and Performance adds some interior and exterior design touches to make it look more purposeful on the road.
Exterior colours are limited to just three (white, grey or black) in Standard models but Premium and Performance unlock additional hues, as well as the option of a black or white interior and bespoke alloy wheel designs.
Finally, Tesla entices customers with its technological offerings, including Full Self-Driving Capability (a £6,800 extra), which is the name given to its most advanced highly automated cruise control.
A slightly lesser version, dubbed Enhanced Autopilot, is also available for £3,400, although basic Autopilot is included on all models.
Both the 2022 version of the Tesla Model Y, and the most recently refreshed model, scored a full five star Euro NCAP safety rating, with the previous generation notching up an impressive 97% adult occupant safety rating.
This dropped to 91% after the 2025 refresh, which is still an exceptional score, while the child occupant rating increased to 93%, compared to just 87% in 2022.
Overall, it is regarded as a very safe car with the latest generation driver assistance systems on hand to help. However, some of the reliability and build quality of previous generations has been questionable.
The company came 11th out of 31 manufacturers in the 2025 Driver Power survey, which is fine, but not brilliant. Tesla also offers a four-year warranty on its cars, which falls short of many electric rivals.
The first year of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is £10 if registered after April 2025, followed by a standard rate of £195 thereafter in the UK.
There is nothing in the way of emissions from the tailpipe but it is worth noting the UK government introduced a £425 per year Expensive Car Supplement, which must be paid on any vehicle that costs over £40,000. Despite the threshold rising to £50,000 in the near future, this still includes most of the Model Y range.
The Tesla Model Y is one of the most efficient electric vehicles out there and unlike many rivals, the WLTP range figures can be trusted. In Standard models, it’s possible to achieve a max range of 314-miles, increasing to 387-miles in the Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive variant and topping out at 391-miles in the Long Range All-Wheel Drive option.
Despite featuring the same larger battery pack as Premium models, the Performance trim sees range dip to 360-miles due to its more powerful electric motor set-up.
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