Tesla Model Y received Full Review From WSJ, “Will Legacy Car Makers Ever Catch Up? It’s Debatable.”

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The Model Y has been the subject of reviews by many automotive observers. This time an incredible compact SUV was a reviewed by Dan Neil.

Dan Neil is an automotive columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He writes that the Tesla Model Y is the most technically advanced electric automobile made; and that electric cars are functionally superior to those powered by internal combustion. 

The car has approximately 70% of the same parts as its older brother - Model 3. The Y is 7.1 inches taller (+1.1 inch ground clearance) than the 3, a couple inches longer and nearly 3 inches wider. Under the liftback (very like a Model X) is about 53 cubic feet of storage, with another 15 or so in the front trunk.

"From behind the wheel of the Model Y, every competitor in the category feels like a sluggish, sloppy antique."

Neil draws attention to a minimalist and austere interior design, noting the convenience of controlling almost all the functions of the car using the 15-inch central touch screen located in the center of the dashboard. As in any other Tesla, the highlight of the interior is the glass roof, which gives pleasure to anyone who is under it.

Source: the_tesla_model_y / Instagram

The technologies used in Model Y put it on a completely different level. "Meanwhile, we have this car, this one program, beating the competition on core technology like a drum. From behind the wheel, everything else in this category — Mercedes-Benz GLC 300, Range Rover Evoque, Jaguar F-Pace, Porsche Macan “Feels like a sluggish, sloppy antique, a squawking modem trying to connect to the cloud."

Neil understands that until 2030, regardless of the general policy of states, global automakers will reduce the production of gasoline cars until they completely disappear.

Tesla Model Y's an induction motor in front and a larger, permanent magnet motor in the rear is powered by a 75 kWh lithium-ion battery. Vehicle accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds (3.5 seconds for the 456-horsepower version of Performance). "At highway speed, our LR/AWD Y was capable of gasp-inducing bouts of acceleration, surging into triple digits with quite ridiculous nonchalance."

Source: @BLKMDL3 / Twitter

Neil stops separately at the HVAC system. "Tesla developed a super-efficient heat pump for climate control; as well as a remarkably compact network of coolant loops coming together at the“ Octovalve,” serving the thermal needs of disparate systems. The HVAC's efficiency is crucial to the Y's 316 miles of range."

Infotainment system and driver-assistance systems also did not leave him indifferent. "The touch screen interface, and the graphical software behind it — smart, playful, situationally aware, connected to the hilt — sets a standard that other infotainment and driver-assistance systems undershoot by a mile. The voice-command system works well out of the box, and its error rate declines with use."

At the end of his review, Dan Neil has only one question left: "Will legacy car makers ever catch up?"

But the Model Y is so high-tech that it has the answer to its own question: "It’s debatable."