Our 2023 Tesla Model Y Two-Year-Long Test Is Over - MotorTrend Review

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hater will be hater

Motortrend has reviewers check out the vehicle here and there. That means anything that is outside the norm is punished for being unfamiliar.

Total garbage review. Door handle - can be a pain, but a total - not great, but not a reason to give af. It's like stating - I hate this clock since the second hand is a shade the wrong colour... That is, unless you have long nails, then it really sucks. But the app does alow remote open so.... Most of the reviewers' issues were their phone - not the car. Bad phone will give anyone a bad experience.

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This is the strangest review, like someone who pines for cars of the 20th century. Bah humbug! Though, I do agree that the Model Y feel way less in control over bumps than the Model 3 which is a shame. Other than some numbness in feedback, the steering responsiveness is great! This reviewer clearly element into this with a predetermined outcome in mind.

The most commonly used input, along with pedals and steering, sucking ass is, in fact, a big deal.

This is coming from someone w/ a 2020Y and 53k miles: There are fair criticisms here: * Door handles do kinda suck * Wipers DO suck in light rain * HW3 FSD is not great However * Best seats * Feature updates all the time * Best smartphone app * Had nearly zero issues with phone key unlock * Zero maintenance...although i do need new tires finally If the writer took this same level of scrutiny to any other car, it would not survive - there's a reason why the model Y sells so damn well...good sieze, range is fine for 90% of drivers and 95% daily drives you take. The only reason I havent upgraded is range hasnt changed at all, give me a 500mi model Y and ill be buying tomorrow.

Audio system is bad? Okay Tesla is actually known for having a good audio system

My pixel has worked fine

I would be lying if I said that the door handles had no influence on my decision to get the I5 over the Tesla. I’m not saying they were THE thing I hated, but when I stepped back and looked at the total package and everything I didn’t love, that was one of those things that was just like, “the door handles aren’t even that good” kind of a situation that made it easy to talk myself out of it.

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This guy sounds like a whiny baby. What a tough read. It's funny when super popular products get critical reviews and the reviewer acts all confused because they're so popular. Like bro, it's fine if you don't like it, but it's a bestseller for a reason. "Am I out of touch? No, it's the kids who are wrong."

I sometimes have to wake my phone up to get in the car.

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Definitely seems to be an OS thing. My OnePlus 7T Pro running like LineageOS was straight up flawless, but my Pixel 9 Pro XL doesn't connect to the car unless I turn the screen on and/or unlock it multiple times a week. I've already disabled battery optimisation and stuff for the Tesla app. No idea what the deal is. My SO's Pixel 8 works flawlessly.

nah, you shouldn't have to do that anyway, and I never do and i have to wake my iphone up to get it to unlock sometimes

> Audio system is bad? This is the only reference I find in the article to the MY's audio system - and it seems to be mostly complimentary: > Here’s what I enjoyed about the 2023 Tesla Model Y MotorTrend bought for its yearlong review program: Its audio system was good. Not incredible or anything, but good. I do wish that Tesla would add an analog audio input, or a USB digital (DAC) input. Something better than Bluetooth. Oh, and fix the Youtube Music app to work reliably instead of glitching/stopping almost every time I pull out of my garage.

iPhone is where I've had the most troubles with phone-as-key. This has been a problem with iPhone 12/14/15/16 series phones with both a 2019 Model 3 and a 2021 Model Y, but the frequency of the problem has varied over time. Currently it happens about 50% of the time with an iPhone 16 Pro Max, requiring pressing the side/power button to activate the phone screen before the door will open. I've had much better success with Android phones. Galaxy S23/S24/S25, Galaxy Z Fold 5/6, Pixel 7/8/9 have worked mostly reliably with few failures.

I would also like to see Atmos support. It has what, 15 speakers? It could be incredible

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modern bluetooth audio is indistinguishable from lossless -- and even if it weren't in an ideal listening situation, it still would be in a car which is the antithesis of an ideal listening situation. This whole thing about people thinking "lossy is by definition bad" needs to die.

Yep, the editor told them to write a negative review for the clicks and to make their advertisers happy. Same with ars.

I’m surprised no one is mentioning dynamics and ride quality, one of the first and main critiques this review mentions. I’ve got a 2023 MYP with a touch under 50k, my suspension and wheels are stiffer than the long range in the review. But I wholeheartedly agree - you feel EVERYTHING in this car, for better or worse. Next EV I buy will almost exclusively be decided by in cabin comfort and noise. I don’t dread driving the car by any means - and I find the instant accel/decel totally fine unlike the author - but I’d never consider it a “nice” ride. I’ve never personally had issues with phone key on my iPhone, but my father who has a Pixel has had issues across multiple cars (Tesla and others) getting his to work. I think that’s just as much of a problem on the phone end as it is on the car end, but at the end of the day it’s a design choice to force phone as a key instead of a fob

If your iPhone does a software update, you have to reopen the Tesla app sometimes. This is likely what happened.

> Oh, and fix the Youtube Music app to work reliably instead of glitching/stopping almost every time I pull out of my garage. Holy crap this is annoying. How in the world is this not resolved?

Probably true if using AAC (which most phones likely do nowadays). The standard SBC codec is pretty meh (to keep it low power) so it's somewhat justified to be worried about Bluetooth audio quality, just probably not in Teslas.

It’s surprising how many people can’t hear the difference blind

I'm going to tell you a scary. aux connections aren't lossless.

The possibility of improved audio quality is a nice-to-have, even if most can't hear the difference. This is also a usability thing - as an analog (AUX) input would allow more flexibility in connection for devices like portable CD players, iPods, laptops, etc. And with better reliability than an FM transmitter/adapter. And without getting in the way of keeping a phone connected via Bluetooth for hands-free calling (which currently prevents any other BT source from being used for music/audio).

It’s not “most” it’s “none” So much of audio sales (and people who listen to sales) is creating fomo

Happens every once in a while for me

2021 M3, happens to me once in a while

And so are speaker wires and DACs. I'm on you're side, Tesla Bluetooth is fine. I'm just saying I've had senarios years ago (different car and my smartwatch splitting the bandwidth) where Bluetooth was noticably bad, so it can be a thing. Forget I ever got into the nuance. We do not need aux in, 100% agree. What we really need is Dolby Atmos support. That would be a way bigger bang for the buck.

MotorTrend is heavily influenced by their corporate sponsors to propagate the common belief that if it doesn’t have a Bose, Harman or JBL badge on it, it must be garbage.

Happens to me all the time with my 2018 model 3 and an iphone

I am under the impression that it works better with Apple.

The newer Y feels better.

2024 Model Y here... Literally none of the issues he is talking about seem like issues to me. Granted I have 10k miles. I work from home but when I do have to drive anywhere, It's always fun/enjoyable for the most part. Are the seats as comfortable as a big truck or SUV? nope. But have I not considered gas prices for over a year and my car literally drives me everywhere 90% of the time? Yep. Never had any issues with the phone key on iPhone 13 Pro Max. Going back to a vehicle that can't do these things seems very tough to imagine at this point.