Tips and Tricks for Tesla Model Y – How Tesla has made an SUV look like a performance sedan and will the public get it?

April 13, 2019 by Paul Fosse

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In this article, I would like to look at the crossover style and show some of the tricks that Tesla used to style the Y model. These styling tips allowed Tesla to design a highly functional 7-seater crossover with a storage capacity of 66 cubic feet ( 2nd and 3rd rows). folded) that still looks like a model 3 for the average person.

I have mixed feelings about it. Although I like the look of Model 3, I think people looking for a crossover might want it to be more robust than the Y model. Also, as I said it very clearly, I think that place 7 is very important for Tesla's success in this market.

Let's look at other very popular crosses. Here's the Nissan Rogue 2019 with 70 cubic feet of cargo space:

I've highlighted the black area around the wings (notice that the Y model has them too). Also note the sports wheels of each car. But apart from these similarities, the style is different.

The Rogue has a front and rear box box area. In addition, it has a roof rack and conventional door handles, while the Y has a smooth roof and the door handles 3 are hidden for more sportiness. Nissan highlighted Snape's 0.33 drag coefficient and combined mileage of 28 MPG in its 2016 press release. The Y-model's 0.23 coefficient and the expected economy of 111 eMPG completely outperformed the Rogue. I've scaled the mileage of the 3 model (taken 0.9 times out of 123 because the X model gets 90% of the S model mileage). The Rogue's 70 cubic foot cargo area is similar to the Y's 66.

When I changed the color to white, I noticed that the black area above the wheels had almost disappeared. I think this is an optical illusion intended to fool your eyes into thinking that the car has big wheel arches. So why did Honda (or Tesla) not just design the car with huge wheel arches? Because it would kill fuel economy. Why does he want you to think that he has huge wheel wells? Because it looks sturdy and makes you think that this crossover can withstand a bit of off-road driving. The CR-V holds 76 cubic feet, which is slightly more than the Y of 66, but the CR-V can accommodate only 5 people, while the Y can accommodate 7 people. The AWD CR-V gets a best handset combined at 29 mpg, but the 2018 SUV of the year would be considered a slow dog by Tesla standards at 7.5 seconds from 0 to 60 mph for transmission integral compared to 4.8 for the Y model.

In this picture you can see that they let you see the black around the wheels, but look at the pictures. Look well and the road is pretty smooth, but there are jagged rocks left and right and big mountains in the background. This is clearly designed to show you that the car can take you out of the urban jungle. As for the statistics, although they boasted several times in their press kit a few months ago of the weakness of their drag coefficient, they did not publish it.

This all-new 5-seat SUV offers a little more cargo space at 78 cubic feet, but the mileage is excruciating at 21 mpg for the all-wheel drive version. Honda suffers from gas blues. In a gas car, you must decide if you want to design based on efficiency or performance. You can not have both. Someone who wants an effective SUV should buy the CR-V above and live with the slower acceleration.

Note that if you go to the passport to get an acceleration of 5.8 0 to 60 mph, you will not only pay $ 10,000 more for the car, but you will also spend an additional $ 5,000 over the next 10 years. Model Y generates an annual fuel cost of about $ 600 (10% more than the model 3 presented), a fuel saving of $ 13,000 over 10 years compared to the new passport and $ 8,000 per year. report to the "effective" CR-V. You can read this 2019 test of the latest 5-seater crossovers and see how the Y model will have a cost of ownership similar to the larger mid-size crossovers (which cost between $ 40,000 and $ 50,000 like the Y model, but the model Y 5 times fuel consumption, significantly better handling and much faster acceleration, put 2 more people and keep the same amount of cargo).

So, how can the Y look like 3, but have a lot more room?

If you look at the pictures above and ignore the red lines, the cars are pretty much the same. I drew the line to see how the Y model could be a lot more spacious without looking different. The bottom line on each photo is right in the center of the wheels. Since the Y uses the same wheels as the 3 model, it gives us a base.

Note that in both photos, the door goes a few inches below the baseline, but in the Y model, there is only black under the door. It is difficult to see where the car ends and where the space under the car begins. It's probably intentional to make you think that he has more ground clearance than what he does. Note that model 3 has a few inches of white metal under the door. You can not see it in the photo, but I went to see my model 3 and I checked that there was one or two inches of black plastic under the color of the bodywork, even on the model 3. You can see that Model Y's defenses have an inch and a half of black and an inch and a half of white around each wheel.

The next red line I traced was at the top of the 19-inch tires. Again, this should be a base, as the tires and wheels are the same on both models.

The next red line follows the fold of the door of each model. Here you can see some things. First, it seems that the fold lengthens a little more on the 3 than on the Y, but it is not important. What's important is that you can see that in model 3, the fold is only 3 or 4 inches above the top of the wheels and that the door handles are a few inches above the top of the wheels. that. In the Y model, there is at least an extra 2 inches between the top of the wheels and the door handles. You do not see it because the underbody and the blackened wings fool your eyes, but with the red lines you can see the extra height and where it is added. Note also that the side cameras are exactly on the fold with the model 3, but below the fold with the model Y.

The next red line is at the bottom of the windows and I do not see much difference between the area above the door handles and the window area between the 2 models. It looks like the windows are about 9.5 inches above the top of the wheels in the 3's and about 13.5 inches in the Y. So there's about an extra 4 inches hidden in this area. Look at the back of each car and notice that model Y is just above the red line and model 3 is just below the red line, that is, say about 2 inches tall (plus the 4 inches previously mentioned). So, it is likely that the tailgate is 6 inches higher than the top of the trunk in the 3 (which is already so high that I have a hard time looking at it looking back). Very few people would look at the Y and realize that the top of the hatch is 6 inches higher than the 3 (that's why I wrote this article).

The next red line is at the top of the glass for each model. I measured the height of the B-pillar on the screen of my computer for each car and the Y model was larger by an eighth of an inch. Scaling using known 19-inch wheels means that the glass area is slightly less than 2 inches. Looking at the dimensions of the S model and the X model, Tesla has made the X model bigger by 7 inches. It seems to me that the Y model is also about 8 inches taller than the 3. This is consistent with Max's article (though my calculations before reading his article).

I think they will have a little more width for the Y, simply because they did it for the X compared to the S and a little width contributes to increase the loading capacity. This 8-inch (plus the extra few inches saved by not having a headliner) is why the Y model may look like an exotic crossover but have as much room as a bulky SUV. Once again, Tesla changes the rules of the game.

Let Tesla understand how to replicate Lamborghini's look and outperform it, while respecting the affordability and seating capacity of the Toyota Highlander and roughly adjusting the cargo capacity (Highlander approximately 12 cubic feet of additional cargo space).

In short, if you could have the convenience of a Toyota Highlander with the look and performance of a Lamborghini, who could say no?

Conclusion

In this article, I tried to show some of the tricks used by Tesla to give the Model Y the utility of an SUV, but the look of a sport sedan. These tips are brilliant, but could turn against Tesla.

If the public understands how this vehicle allows a family to have the best of an SUV and a sport sedan in one vehicle, it will be a great success! But if people see it as an expensive toy for the rich, like a Porsche or a Lamborghini, ordinary people will not even think about buying the Model Y. Maybe friends and the referral program will get the message across. Maybe Tesla will have to resort to advertising. Time will tell us.

If you want to take advantage of my Tesla referral link to get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging on a Tesla Model S, Model X or Model 3 (you still can not use it on the Y model), here is my code: https: //ts.la/paul92237 (If another owner helps you more, please use his code instead of mine).

Keywords: Tesla, Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model Y