2026 Tesla Model Y Performance - Actually still the best?

So, if you look back long enough at this

channel, I've talked about Tesla

products many times before. Uh, and I've

had a lot of good things to say about

Teslas. I've called uh Tesla Model S the

best daily driver in the world. And in

general, I feel like Tesla's been ahead

of the curve for EVs for a long time.

But competition has come a long way. And

I think a lot of people would agree that

the competition in many ways has caught

up to Tesla.

But the thing about testing one and

actually driving a Tesla for a while,

you start to remember all of the ways

that Tesla is still ahead of the

competition. And so that's what this

video is about. I finally got my hands

on uh the Tesla Model Y performance, and

driving it has reminded me of the things

that Tesla is still the best at. But

like usual, let's start with the basics.

This is the Tesla Model Y refresh. It's

their fully electric midsize SUV, dual

motor, all-wheel drive. And this is the

performance version. So, I'll point out

the things that are specific to the

performance one when we get to them. But

that does mean you're looking at about

460 horsepower here. 0 to 60 in 3.3

seconds. And with these 21in wheels gets

about 305 mi of range. And I've been

driving it around in this really poppy

ultra red color, which I know I have a

soft spot for red cars, but I think this

looks pretty sharp. You might agree with

me. red with the black 21in wheels and

the white interior. Uh you've probably

already seen a bunch of Tesla Model Y

refreshes out there, but this big light

bar at the front is a big part of it.

So, ambient lighting here or DRL here at

the front, but then the actual

headlights are down here. It's got a

little bit of functional air venting,

which you can see through. And since

this is the performance one, this little

underbite it's got going on. This little

bit of an extra front lip is a little

more prominent. It has a frunk, of

course. And then you get over to the

side and Model Y still looks like Model

Y. 21in wheels though make it a little

sportier looking. And I think the 21-in

turbines are nice. You can see the white

interior that we'll get to in a second.

Black trim, black door handles, and then

you get to the back. Now, this is one of

them sleek sloping roof lines that you

see in some stuff in this category,

which means it doesn't have the most

second row headroom, but still looks

pretty sporty, obviously. Then you get

to the back and you've seen the refresh

Model Y probably already by now, but uh

just weighing in here, I think this is

the best looking back of any Tesla ever.

Uh with the sort of squared up lines

here and then the big tail light bar,

which you've probably seen at night on

the road by now. Looks really good. And

of course, that's how you know you're

looking at the performance version right

there. Kind of looks similar to the old

plaid and Ludacris mode stuff for the

past, but they like that aesthetic. but

then also this big carbon fiber spoiler

which has a little bit of shape to it.

Then you get in the back and uh pretty

classic Tesla minimalism here with the

cover, this really big sub trunk which

they've done for so many of these

generations of cars which lets you throw

some groceries down there without them

sliding around. And I must mention power

sliding folding second row seats. So, if

this is going to be the most popular

vehicle in the world and a practical

family sedan, well, it should have

folding seats that you can conveniently

access with that button right there. So,

that's really nice. Power folding

liftgate right there. Yeah, I think the

back of this thing they've pretty much

nailed. And if you want to know where

the charging port is, just back left

like every other Tesla with the NACS

port with their super fast charging

curve. But none of that is the extreme

stuff. I think a lot of others have

caught up to Tesla on aesthetics and

build quality. Actually, they've been

ahead of Tesla on build quality. But the

the stuff I want to talk about here is

the stuff that Tesla is still really

good at. Cuz you guys already know about

Model Y's. These things have been on the

road forever. You've seen a thousand of

them probably today already. And this

refresh Model Y isn't even particularly

new. It's the performance trim. This one

that's new. Um, so shout out to George

from JNS Auto House. You've probably

seen his YouTube channel for letting me

borrow this car uh from him to review.

Last time I borrowed a car from him when

the company wouldn't talk to me was the

Fisker Ocean, by the way. Fun fact.

Anyway, uh, first thing Tesla does that

others haven't caught up to yet is this

display. Now, I'll talk software in a

second, but I literally just mean this

physical display is awesome. It's a

16inch touchscreen. Uh, it is really

high resolution, really bright, thin

bezels. Looks basically like a computer

or an iPad. Lots of others put nice

large displays in their cars. Cadillac

will do like this whole huge like center

40in touchscreen, whatever you want to

call it, and a lot of them look really

cool, but they also have like big piano

black bezels. A lot of them aren't as

high resolution or as bright. This to me

is the gold standard just as far as

physical displays in cars. It's ironic

because they don't have any other

displays in the car. No HUD, no behind

the steering wheel, but this is still

top-notch. Now, second is this is very

specific. This is the best software in a

car that is not Android Auto or Apple

CarPlay.

So, obviously people love Android Auto

and Apple CarPlay. I'm one of those

people. I've grown to just throw that on

almost by default in every car I review

and test. But in case you don't um or if

you don't care about that sort of thing,

which is a few people, or if you're just

interested in good software, uh Tesla

does it right. Like this, first of all,

is the most responsive. It's the

smoothest. This is a real-time

representation of your car. So, if I

were to open this door right here, see

how that opens in real time. I close it.

I think if I even put the window down,

you can see that going down. So, all of

the software experience here from all of

the settings and how intuitive things

are, all the things you want to go and

jump into and find are super fast. Uh,

they just their software is second to

none still. And I know a lot of that is

kind of useless to people who are like,

"Just give me Android Auto, just give me

Apple CarPlay." But I must at least

point that out. That's really good. Now,

I drive these cars around and I do wish

that there were more physical controls.

Tesla is the lowest amount of buttons in

any car that you'll ever see. So, if you

look around this cabin, you know, it's

got this nice carbon fiber trim and this

uh little contrast stitching here with

the white and this gray on the black.

This is all like a nice place to sit,

but there's no buttons anywhere. No HVAC

controls, no volume, no nothing. The

only buttons are the steering wheel and

I think technically this hazard button,

which is not even really a button. It

really contributes to the way these

things end up feeling which is just

basically like an appliance. Like the

emotion and the fun of a lot of other

cars is virtually absent here. This is a

pure efficient machine with no buttons

and no unnecessary stuff in it. Like

it's got a little bit of character. You

see these seats? This is a nice seat.

It's got a little bit of bolstering for

the performance seats and it's got this

little little uh space balls trim Easter

egg that they like putting in these

performance cars. So that's cool. Uh but

yeah, it's very sparse in here. But then

you get to driving the thing, and that

brings me to another thing that I

immediately noticed, which is, and it's

specific, but Tesla's regenerative

braking is A+. It's the best. It's the

best anyone's ever done. The liftoff

regen, it was it was one of those early

things that Tesla committed to uh that

others didn't necessarily pick up right

away, like cars like the Porsche Tyan

would not lift off regen. You'd have to

put your foot on the brake, then it

would start regen braking, and then

blending it with friction braking. But I

took my foot off the brake in this car

with the standard regen braking and it

was very smooth, very predictable. And

then the very end was a nice soft

rolloff like a limo stop. It was

incredible. It's really, really good. So

Tesla's regen braking is also

surprisingly still the best I've ever

tried. So then one more thing in the

technology department. Tesla has a bunch

of cameras all over this car which of

course contribute to the self-driving.

It is also, like I've said, the best

self-driving in any car I've ever tried.

I have a whole separate video doing a

tier list of all the different

self-driving systems I've gotten to try.

So, we'll link it below. Watch that. Uh,

but it also means that uh all of the

blinker cams and all of the reverse

cams, yeah, I know in Mountain Gear,

sorry. Uh, but they're the best still as

well. Super high resolution, super

smooth, and lots of dynamic range, and

just really good to look at. So, if I

were to, I guess, take the key out of my

pocket, which is just a card, and put it

there and throw it in reverse, which I

wish was a button, uh, you get this huge

display, this massive rear camera. His

stuff is awesome. Uh, I like the tech in

the Teslas. That's not a shocker either,

but it's just kind of surprising how few

of them have gotten. I think maybe Riven

is the only other one with cameras that

I've seen this good in a vehicle that

you can look at for blinkers or

reversing. Now, I'll pop out to the rear

seat just so you guys can see it. You've

probably seen a Model Y rear seat

before.

Should I be

Should I be worried about this? That's

probably fine. Uh so if you've written

in the back of one of these because

they're Ubers a lot. Uh then this is the

experience you're used to. And I do have

a couple of notes here. So number one,

it is a glass roof all the way back and

that's better for headroom than if it

wasn't a glass roof. So that's nice.

two, I must say, and this is the thing

you immediately notice when you start

driving a refresh Model Y, is the

suspension is way better. It's way less

crashy. It's way smoother, and it's

quieter on the inside. So, that's nice

for those of you who ride in the back of

these things as Ubers all the time like

I do. It'll be way less nauseating and

way less uncomfortable, way less crashy.

This is a better passenger experience

than the previous one. So, that's really

cool. Also, it's got this display in the

back. Oh, of course it turned off

because it thinks I'm not in the car

anymore. Okay, back to the front seat

because we got to talk about one more

thing for the Model Y performance.

And that's just the performance part.

So, the last thing that Tesla sort of

commoditized with a lot of their cars is

just straight line speed. Okay, so this

this being a Model Y performance, like I

showed you guys, there's the little

slightly bigger front bumper and a tiny

spoiler on the back and it's got sport

wheels and this nice design in the

seats. But when it comes to actually

performance driving, there's no track

mode in here. And actually, okay, one

more thing, just a note for Tesla, you

can change like these settings

individually and then also change regen

and then also change ride and handling.

I would love like a single button to

change all of the settings to be sporty

versus all of the settings to be soft.

Like just just give me a button on the

steering wheel so I can just switch to

sport everything. Um anyway, uh the this

performance driving aspect of a Tesla is

very much just more power. It's just

faster. So the brakes are not

dramatically different, if at all. The

suspension is not dramatically

different, if at all. It's just

ridiculously quick. I mentioned it

earlier, but when you put your foot

down, you get almost 500 horsepower. It

will do 0 to 60 in like 3.3 seconds,

which is silly fast. And that's crazy.

Like, you might have watched the video I

just recently did on uh the Toyota RAV 4

GR Sport. Um,

sorry, I'm just I'm distracted. I don't

know I don't know what they're doing. I

don't know why they're doing it, but

they're they're doing a lot over there.

Uh the Toyota GR Sport uh RAV 4 was it

was sportier than a regular RAV 4. It

had a customtuned suspension. It had a

different steering weight and a couple

other aesthetic trim pieces, little

spoiler on the back. And uh it was a 5.6

seconds 0 to 60. Very cool, but not

this. I mean, this is for 60 grand. 0 to

60 in 3.6 seconds is crazy. And Tesla

does this across their whole basically

every category. It's like the the Model

S Plaid did this for under a hundred

grand or I guess way under 100 grand

now. You get a,000 horsepower and like a

ridiculous 0 to 60 and a mid9's quarter

mile. Tesla commoditized speed a long

time ago. So that's not new. But it's

just when you start testing these

things, it reminds you of just how

different Teslas are in that way. But

yeah, that's that's really it. That's

the theme of like what it was like for

me to get back into a Tesla after a

couple of months. Uh there's all all

sorts of little things that Tesla's

improved. Their build quality is better.

NVH is better. Um suspension, like I

said, especially with this refresh Model

Y and like I said with the Model 3, is

better. Design is solid. I think a lot

of others have great design, too, with

the bars and all the fun stuff that they

do with uh craftsmanship and trim. And I

prefer many other interiors now at this

point to Teslas, but like I said, it's

really hard to escape the stuff that

they still do super well. The best

self-driving, the best screen, the best

regen braking, uh, what else did I say?

The best software experience, how smooth

and responsive and intuitive it is, how

many options they've added, and all the

things you can do with the dash cam, and

it's just they do some stuff really

well. So, there you have it. That's been

my impressions testing the brand new

Model Y performance. I'm going to give

it back to George now because it's his

car. Catch you guys in the next one.

Peace.