2024 Tesla Model Y

To open the doors on your Tesla Model Y, best to set your smartphone up as a key – but then you’ve also got a Tesla key card to open the doors by swiping it on the B-pillar.

It works rather well and the car automatically unlocks as you walk up to it, and locks itself as you walked away. Wouldn’t just a key fob suffice?

Here’s the thing: while Tesla is all about cutting-edge technology, there’s not a lot on show in the cabin besides a singularly-huge, centrally-mounted,15-inch tablet-style touchscreen. Those boffins at Tesla figure that’s all anyone needs, and to some extent, they’re right.

There’s an equally strong argument for and against, especially for those like this tester, who prior to driving the Model Y Performance wouldn’t have bought a daily driver without Apple CarPlay or even a digital instrument display in front of the steering wheel.

As an avid CarPlay adoptee from its earliest days, I can tell you it was all rather confronting when faced with a journey without it for the first time in years. How is one going to make calls, message colleagues, use Waze or even play music without it? Of course you can do most of these things using Tesla's system but CarPlay is sorely missed.

While Tesla voice commands function well enough most times, simply by pressing a rather annoyingly-fiddly scroll wheel on the steering wheel; asking it to navigate its way home to Collaroy on Sydney’s Northern Beaches immediately had me heading to Colorado in the US – some 13,400 kilometres away as the crow flies.

I tried it several times and got the same result, eventually calling on Siri to intervene.

As tech heavy as the Model Y Performance is, it’s nice to sit back and enjoy the driving experience without any such distractions ahead of you. There’s not even a head-up display to break the single-minded focus and newfound on-road serenity.

The entire dash is completely devoid of knobs, dials and buttons, except for the touchscreen and those fiddly scroll wheels either side of the steering wheel. At this point I’m on the fence as to how I feel about all this.

Despite the Model Y Performance’s lowered suspension, the seating position at its lowest adjustable point puts you well into the car, leaving you feeling like you’ve got a commanding view of the road yet also braced for some proper spirited driving.

The steering wheel itself is relatively small in diameter and nicely tactile, while the all-vegan-upholstered seats are exceptional for their super-soft feel, comfort and support. Easily some of the most comfortable I’ve sat in; though given this Model Y’s performance credentials, adjustable side bolsters might prove a useful feature… Elon.

One of the Model Y’s outstanding features is the quite incredible 13-speaker sound system – most likely using Dolby Atmos surround sound as part of recent upgrades.

The great thing about driving an EV is there’s no warming anything up like you should do in an combustion-powered car.

You just hop in, move the right-hand instrument stalk up or down and off you blast – it’s that easy. When you arrive at your chosen destination, simply push the button at end of the stalk, get out, and walk away.

There’s no handbrake to worry about or key fob to push – all of that stuff is automatic in the Tesla.

There’s so much instant torque on tap that small gaps in traffic are dealt with ease. And don’t bother about joining the queue of cars at the next set of traffic lights, either – as long as there’s a free lane, use that, and you won’t even need to punch it.

Just a quick prod of the throttle and you’ll be 50 metres down the road before the rest of the mob even get rolling.

With the complete absence of a driver’s instrument display, you obviously don’t have a speedometer ahead of you. Instead, it’s on the top-right-hand corner of the touchscreen at eye-level.

You’ll get used to it in no time at all – but it’s still not the ideal position for a quick glance.