review with features, price and technical sheet

Let’s face it: there are people who don’t like driving.

Yes, there are people who are not at all inspired by seeing an advertisement of a person sticking his arm out the window. There are those who don’t care about the power of a car if it has enough to overtake reliably. There are those who don’t mind investing in four wheels if it will allow them to save much more money on a daily basis. There are those who do not value either a gear change or the sound of an engine.

Yes, there are people for whom the car is an object of mobility. They conceive it as an object with four wheels, seats and a steering wheel that must take them to their destination in the best possible way in relation to the money spent.

And in that area, it is very difficult to compete with the cheapest option of the Tesla Model Y. Yes, the Tesla electric SUV is the perfect option for those who only aspire to get into a car, spend little money on a daily basis and reach their destination without problems.

For that audience, Elon Musk’s people have the (almost) perfect car.

Tesla Model Y Standard technical sheet

With just a little bit you convince many

Tesla has been trying to make its offer cheaper for a long time. It is a red button that has been pressed on numerous occasions to reduce the price of its models. But it seems we have reached a limit.

For years there has been talk about Tesla Model 2 and the Tesla Model Q (the latter with different names). Brothers of the Model 3 and Model Y current to propose to the client, especially the Europeanmore attractive versions in price and size. Cheaper versions of the sedan and SUV to play in the European market where the bulk of sales are made.

The company, however, doesn’t seem to get the numbers and The Standard versions seem to confirm it. In both cars it has been cut there and here to put a car on the road at a slightly lower price and raise the price of what until a few months ago was the entry to the range, obtaining better economic performance at the cost of earning a few thousand euros more for those who are not satisfied with the basics.

What do we lose with the Standard version? Very little in practical terms. The car does not mount the sunroof (in plain sight because for production reasons it is kept dark on the outside but covered by fabric on the inside), hubcaps are added to the wheels, the bumpers are less voluminous and the front and rear lights do not have the full beam of light representative of the latest Tesla renovations. Inside, the ambient light is lost, the screen for the rear passengers and the seats are cloth.

The car is therefore less attractive to look at but for 39,990 euros It remains one of the best options among electric cars and a very solvent alternative, even if we expand the focus to cars with combustion engines. It must be taken into account that this price does not include possible aid (which until December 2025 they could reach 7,000 euros discount but that, when we write these lines in January 2026, We still don’t know if they will be extended in the same quantities or how they will be delivered).

And the Tesla Model Y Standard is less visually attractive but it dispenses with details that a customer may consider minor. Especially if that client uses the car as a taxi or for a VTC. In that case, the Tesla Model Y Standard multiplies integers.

The car designed by Elon Musk maintains key comfort elements such as air conditioning in the front seats or on the steering wheel. There is also no cut in the software for its infotainment system and the customer can contract he Full Self Driving (FSD)the most advanced driving assistance package and therefore with level 2+ driver assistance such as adaptive cruise control with lane change assistance, optional summon vehicle before getting into it, automatic parking or remote control of functions such as air conditioning or entry and starting with the mobile phone.

The Tesla Model Y is, therefore, a frictionless car that tries to make your trips as simple as possible. It is a car without edges, a car where you sit down to drive, reach your destination and leave without looking back. There is no start button because the car starts by pressing the brake pedal, the direction is marked on the screen (forward or reverse) and the car turns off only when we have reached the destination. Because it demands you, it doesn’t even require you to put the car in P in Parking.. When the driver parks, he applies the handbrake directly if we remove the seat belt. We get out of the car and with the phone as a key, the car locks itself.

Tesla’s latest update had generated some of those frictions by eliminating the steering or turn signal lever. The latter is present again (good news in a country like Spain full of roundabouts) but I don’t particularly miss the steering lever. Especially if we take into account that the automatic function to change the direction of travel for us when we are parking does it wonderfully.

Bringing everything to the screen does generate friction when we face unforeseen situations, such as fog. In that case, the absence of physical controls does pose a problem because it forces us to go through several screen touches to activate them, forcing us to look away from the road.

Otherwise, Tesla’s software is good enough that a first configuration makes us forget about multiple options such as steering hardness or accelerator response (choosing between the two available driving modes). The air conditioning is close at hand and although I prefer a roulette wheel with physical controls, the screen is so good that I have not suffered a single ghost touch, managing the temperature with ease.

As we said, the Tesla Model Y Standard is a perfect option for that type of driver who drives because he has no other choice. Driving comfort on a long trip is very good, with excellent soundproofing. The sound (the speakers are of lower quality than the higher versions) of the infotainment system is good and its 299 HP with rear-wheel drive is more than enough to move with solvency and face any problem. In the city it is easy to wander around and on secondary roads (and this time we have done a lot of them) I have not had a single problem when facing an overtake.

Besides, highway consumption is low and that is a good part of its success. At legal speeds we have measured a consumption of 17.2 kW/h over 100 kilometers in very bad weather and a lot of wind. That leaves us with runs of almost 350 kilometers between recharges and the intuition that it is easy to reach around 16.5 kWh/100 km and cover a few more kilometres. As it supports 175 kW of peak power when recharging, we are talking about recharges of just over half an hour to reach 80% and have another almost 300 kilometers to go.

This is perhaps the biggest black point of the car since the higher versions increase the charging power to 250 kW and the times between stops are significantly reduced. However, if we make three, four or five long trips a year, it is something we can do without unless our right foot is on fire and we highly value that difference in time.

For all these situations and, above all, if we move more than 50 kilometers daily with the car, we will be adding a ridiculous maintenance cost. Especially if we can charge at home. It must be taken into account that in an urban cycle the car will easily move between 14 and 15 kWh/100 km at most. If we recharge at 0.15 euros kWh (a figure that is not particularly low), the cost per 100 kilometers is just over two euros when in a hybrid car with a consumption of 5 l/100 km we are talking about spending about seven euros if the liter is 1.40 euros/liter.

Traveling 15,000 kilometers a year we are talking about a saving of about 750 euros per year as long as gasoline does not rise much beyond those 1.40 euros/liter. And all this without taking into account that, looking to the future, we will not have to spend the money or time on the maintenance of a combustion car (oils, spark plugs, timing belts…).

Xataka’s conclusion

I am very clear that for those people who value simplicity and ease of use above all else, the Tesla Model Y Standard is presented as a perfect object. Recharging could be one of the issues that puts this driver profile back, but moving at ranges slightly greater than 350 kilometers is already more than enough for this customer profile.

The big drawback is that Tesla still does not have one size option plus content. The car falls in love with its interior habitability and luggage space. Tesla does not offer clear data on the available space but talks about 822 liters of storage in the rear trunk measuring up to the roof and, we imagine, adding a double bottom that is enormous. The front trunk totals 122 liters according to the company. Beyond the figures, we can tell you that in our case we have traveled with a large suitcase, another cabin suitcase, two backpacks, several shopping bags and a small desk chair without using either the front trunk or the rear double bottom.

But all this size may be irrelevant for many customers who prefer a car of about 4.5 meters instead of the, already large for European soil, 4.78 meters in which the Tesla moves. Because that means more problems navigating the streets and more headaches when parking in a parking lot.

It’s the only big drawback.

For everything else, the Tesla Model Y Standard is a perfect car if you are looking for a solvent vehicle that gives very few headaches.

Photos | Xataka

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