New Tesla Model Y owners are starting to test the new electric SUV, and their first real-world tests are showing some impressive performance, including drifting, off-road driving, and 0-60 mph acceleration.
Last week, Tesla started deliveries of the Model Y, its fourth vehicle in the current lineup and fifth model ever.
Since the start of deliveries, we have been learning more details about the new electric SUV, including that it is equipped with an “Off-Road Assist” mode.
Tesla describes the feature in the Model Y’s owners manual:
Off-Road Assist is designed to provide overall improvements when driving off-road. In addition to allowing the wheels to spin, Off-Road Assist balances the torque between the front and rear motors to optimize traction. Off-Road Assist improves traction on rough and soft surfaces where one side of the vehicle may lose traction while the other side still has traction. When Off-Road Assist is on, the accelerator pedal provides more gradual torque, which is useful for crawling at low speeds (for example, over rocky surfaces). When enabled, OFFROAD displays on the touchscreen above the driving speed.
The YouTube channel Out of Spec Motoring, who has some experience testing Tesla vehicles off-road, have put it to the test in a new Tesla Model Y:
#ModelY off-road rest with @i1Tesla in #OffRoadAssist – ESP sending power to the correct wheels (simulating a locking differential) way better than any Tesla could before pic.twitter.com/6xzJURmC3N
— Out of Spec Studios (@Out_of_Spec) March 22, 2020
They have also taken the Model Y drifting using the new dyno mode, which is not just for Model Y, but again, should be used with caution:
#ModelY will it drift? Yes! Thanks @i1Tesla for letting me rip the Y in #DynoMode – Drives like a rally car, love it! pic.twitter.com/XmK0fISW05
— Out of Spec Studios (@Out_of_Spec) March 21, 2020
We expect Out of Spec Motoring to release a full video of their experience with the Model Y soon.
Leading up to start of deliveries, Tesla already made some improvements to the production version of the electric SUV versus the specs announced a year ago.
Most notably, Tesla increased the range of the Model Y to 315 miles.
The Model Y Performance is advertised with a 0-60 mph acceleration in 3.5-seconds.
YouTuber DÆrik put the Model Y Performance’s acceleration through a real-world test and it performed fairly well:
https://youtu.be/-g8URPHCWhg
He got times between 3.30 and 3.42 seconds — all faster than the advertised acceleration.
However, he was using a Vbox kit with a rolling start, which would put the 0-60 mph in the 3.5-second ballpark without a rolling start.
What do you think of these Tesla Model Y features and performance? Let us know in the comment section below.
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