Of course, a lot can be said about what Elon Musk is doing right now and what it is doing to the car company he built. The car company that has largely contributed to where he is today. But now we're not going to talk about Elon, but the Model Y car model that has just been released in an updated version. So say what you will about Elon and how he handles many things, but one thing we can agree on is that he is very good at designing and building electric cars! In my profession as a motoring journalist, I have driven quite a few of Tesla's models and I have always been impressed. I was and still am the first and only Swedish journalist to have driven and written an article about Tesla Cybertruck. Models Model X Plaid I have also test driven both here in Sweden and in the US where the autopilot system worked fully. So my expectations when I picked up the updated Model Y were relatively mild. I knew even before that it would be a good car.

As you who have followed me here on carscollection.com know, I'm not quite friends with electric cars yet. For shorter distances absolutely, then it really works perfectly! But as soon as you have to drive a longer distance and have to charge, it becomes a completely different thing, you can't keep the same pace as you can in a fossil car. Compared to how easy it is to just turn in and fill up the tank, it's impossible. But at the same time, electric cars have advantages that a fossil-fuelled car could only dream of and can be compared to super sports cars just a few decades back. 

But as with anything, there is a time to adjust, and so it is with driving and charging electric cars. Like, for example, when you come out after a slightly longer dinner, expecting the battery to be almost fully charged, and discover that the charging never started. Then it becomes a very negative experience and something that happened to me on the way home. I know that this is something that would never have happened if I had checked that the charging really started or had the app that would have given me a warning if the charging did not start. Now Maria at Tesla had not had time to install the app and therefore I did not get access to it. But still, this would never have happened if I had filled up with petrol or diesel. 

To feel what the updated Tesla Model Y was like, I chose to make a trip down to my original hometown Gothenburg. In Gothenburg I took a trip with a close friend called Lars, Lars has an updated Tesla Model 3 and had a Model 3 generation 1 before. In addition, Lars is very well read about Tesla but also new technology so we had a lot to talk about. It was fun to include him because he has been with Tesla for a while now and seen their change as owners. Because what they have achieved in such a short time is really impressive. Let's keep our fingers crossed that Elon doesn't manage to crash it as quickly as he managed to build it up.

Lars and I took a trip outside the city and visited a piece of forest he had acquired. On the way back to Gothenburg we passed Lerum. In Lerum you can turn off the motorway and take a back road through a forest called Härskogen, that road leads to Landvetter where the airport is located. Härskogsvägen is a classic stretch of road where you can drive if you want to challenge yourself and the car you drive. Much like Bogesundsvägen here in Stockholm. The first time I drove Härskogsvägen myself was with my friend Daniel and his Porsche Boxter that he had when I took my driving licence. It was pretty much the first car I drove after I had managed to get my driving licence so I will never forget that trip! 

Now, x number of years later, I am sitting in the updated version of the Tesla Model Y and have Härksogsvägen in front of me. Tesla Model Y can still be seen as a small family car in the elevated format. If you were to take a comparable car in the same segment but a few years older, it would not be possible to compare the cars. What Mr Elon has achieved is really something special. I won't hide the fact that electric cars are generally much more fun to drive than conventional fossil-fuelled cars. For example, if you take a smaller and cheaper electric car today, it has pretty much the same performance if not better than a sports car had in the eighties. 

Of course, there is no difference to the Tesla Model Y that really went to have fun with on the Härskogsvägen. You have the power from the bottom and directly. There is nothing wrong with the steering feeling and you can choose if you want a little heavier steering but I choose to keep it in standard. What I could comment on to comment on something is that the brakes could take a little earlier and clearer. Absolutely no danger but something I feel. But to be able to drive this hard with a family car in this segment fifteen, twenty years ago would never have been possible. As I wrote in my article about the Tesla Model X Plaid, to experience a family car designed for six people that has over 1,000 electric horsepower and could also drive all by itself for over three hours was really something completely different and nothing I've been around and experienced in my career as a motoring journalist. Autopilot is not yet available here in Europe, but it's definitely coming. There has been talk of a Plaid version of the updated Model Y but nothing yet.

Among the updates, no changes have been made to the powertrain, charging speed or battery in the updated Tesla Model Y. However, a lot of other things have been done and also on the appearance. For example, if you take the lights at the front and rear, the updated Model Y has a similar LED light bar across the front as the Cybertruck. However, many other, and especially Chinese, electric cars have got a LED light bar that goes all the way across the front. If you look at the back of the updated Tesla Model Y, the LED light bar is actually an indirect light that shines down on the panel at the back where it says Tesla. In the US, there was a lot of talk that Tesla managed to get it approved as the rear lights must shine with a certain strength to be approved. 

Among the other updates, we find a better choice of materials in the interior. In the back seat and between the front seats is an 8-inch touchscreen for climate and media controls. For the front and front passenger, there are now two charging pads for mobile phones. To reduce noise in the cabin, the updated Model Y has been fitted with double laminated windows, as well as sound deadening in the doors and felt material in the storage areas. I found the noise level very comfortable and the sound system better than many other car models. 

Even though I only had the updated Tesla Model Y over a weekend, I still felt that I had time to experience it well. Why Tesla has not made it possible to connect your iPhone via Apple CarPlay is something I wonder about but do not intend to go into detail in this article. And as mentioned above, what Elon is actually doing now I will not go into further detail. The updated Tesla Model Y is a really good car that you will enjoy behind the wheel or as a passenger. 

Tesla Model Y (Juniper) Dual Motor

Base price: From SEK 544 990

Engine: Two electric motors, four-wheel drive
Power: 514 hp, 493 Nm

Acceleration: 0-100 km/h 4.8 seconds

Top speed: 217 km/h

Range: 568 km

Weight: 1 997 kg

Dimensions (length/width/height): 4 790/1 921/1 624 mm