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We test drove the Y and passed on it. We found the visibility out of the back poor, all the mirrors tiny, and the headrest also tiny and my head kept rolling of

We test drove the Y and passed on it. We found the visibility out of the back poor, all the mirrors tiny, and the headrest also tiny and my head kept rolling off it. Do you not experience these problems?

jondwillis 5y ago
cameras kind of make all of that less of a concern in my experience. dunno about the headrest
hansendc 5y ago
The rear visibility felt weird when I test drove it for sure, coming from a normal sedan. But, over a year in to ownership, it never feels tiny when driving it. All the cameras and sensors make it a MILLION times better to maneuver in small spaces than my old car. It was more a matter of getting used to something different (and I'd argue objectively better) rather than an overall downside. As for the headrest, I've never thought about it once myself.
- azinman2 5y ago
  Why is it objectively better to have less rear visibility? Note you can have both excellent rear AND cameras/sensors. Do you not feel its tiny when driving on the freeway?
  - 11thEarlOfMar 5y ago
    Not sure how you'd get to objectivity, but there are tradeoffs. The M3 and MY have higher rear which provides more trunk and rear passenger space. I drive an M3 and usually keep the rear seats folded down to add a little more visibility out the back. Cameras and visualization compensate sufficiently in my view. It's to me a minor negative in a long list of positives, and not a reason to avoid Tesla.
  - hansendc 5y ago
    The Y's overall visibility is objectively better than my old sedan. It's also really hard to have that really aerodynamic shape and good rear visibility. The Y's visibility reminds me of a Prius in a lot of ways. I've never thought once that the rear visibility was a problem on the freeway.
    - azinman2 5y ago
      Thanks! FWIW We went with the VW ID.4. $20k cheaper with federal rebate, and absolutely love it. Doesn't feel cheap. No issues with visibility or headrest size, prefer mechanical door locks, and appreciate not having a single offset screen. Wish CarPlay was a little more integrated with the rest of the car, and I miss physical buttons for things like setting temperature (which is even worse on a Tesla Y as there are no buttons, but it seems at least their touch screen has more things visible at once than the VW does). Having to touch a touchscreen while driving is difficult, even as a passenger, because unless you're on the most perfect road ever the shaking will make it hard to tap your target.
  - ajross 5y ago
    > Why is it objectively better to have less rear visibility? Because it's an artifact of the tapered afterbody that makes the cars the most energy-efficient on the road. Teslas beat every other EV on range, and the tiny handful of cars that do better (Lucid Air being the most notable) do so with significantly larger batteries. Everything has tradeoffs. FWIW: a few years of driving a van in my youth cured me of reliance on the center mirror anyway. This is very much an ejectable feature in my mind, something very much worth trading for ~30 miles of extra range or whatever. There are plenty of other quirks like this. The Y has a very poor turning radius (to reduce the void size in the wheel wells) too. It only comes in five boring colors. The third row seating is real and useful, but the headroom is comically small (same tapered afterbody). Everyone has their own list. The car isn't perfect. But it's absolutely as close to perfect as anything else I've driven.
    - clouddrover 5y ago
      > and the tiny handful of cars that do better (Lucid Air being the most notable) do so with significantly larger batteries The Lucid Air does it with both a bigger battery and better efficiency.
      - ajross 5y ago
        I think the Air is sort of the exception that proves the rule. Though it's also early and independent verification on production vehicles is still in the future. They're only barely shipping right now.
        clouddrover 5y ago
        No, there are no rules being proven. The Air is just a more efficient car. The Mustang Mach-E has greater range for less money than the Model Y: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSmSiOo-v8s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSmSiOo-v8s That's more battery for your money.
        ajross 5y ago
tills13 5y ago
While I agree with you that the rear visibility seems really bad, you eventually get used to it. Don't get me wrong -- that's not a valid excuse but in my experience I've never felt like I couldn't see what's behind me. Suggesting that's what the cameras are for is, imo, a worse excuse. As for the head "rest", technically it's a head _restraint_ not a head _rest_. Your head shouldn't be resting against it while driving.
- sovnade 5y ago
  Yeah I feel like I'd have to artificially push my head back an uncomfortable distance to keep it against the headrest. Looking into getting a 3 or a Y next year myself.
  - maxdo 5y ago
    It's a typical first impression before I bought model Y i saw one youtube review one person criticized the seats. He had some back pain issues due to some medical conditions. After he drove model Y on o long distance 500+ miles he said he's taking his words back. It almost scared me away also because it looks visual but I can confirm seats experience of tesla is very good. Musk in interview to Munro told they tried several contractors to produce a comfortable seat. Most cars outsource seats. They ended up producing their own with better ergonomics. They invest a lot with distributing the pressure/weight across entire seat.
mirkules 5y ago
Same here. I needed a larger car that can seat my family of five (3 kids). Everyone was cramped, the visibility was poor, especially with everyone in the car and I just can’t get over having the dashboard in the center. It’s a shame because I really love the acceleration, I love the technology, and I would love having an electric car. Model X would be a great fit, but not for a 6 figure price. In the end I got a Subaru Ascent, which is a better overall fit for my family than the Y, but I’m not excited about it like I am a Tesla. It’s basically a glorified minivan (actually, it’s even a little less utilitarian than our Odyssey). But there are some exciting new electric cars and vans coming, and I’m really looking forward to the next generation of electrics!
elif 5y ago
The rearview mirror itself has a light filter which works in concert with the light filtered by the back window such that the interior of the car does not show up on the mirror, but everything coming through the window is perfectly clear. So if you were looking at it going "this is too dark" it was probably misunderstanding a feature. In terms of the amount of space you can see, it is sufficient.. but also the 3D rendering will give you a much better idea of what's behind you than any mirror.
- azinman2 5y ago
  Actually I wasn’t concerned with the darkness, just total visibility. My understanding is that the 3D rendering is meant to be a subset of what the car sees, and not a safety feature. If that’s the case, I saw it miss all kinds of cross traffic and other cars that should have been in it… and that was just on a short car ride plus the few times I’ve been in other Teslas. > but also the 3D rendering will give you a much better idea of what's behind you than any mirror. I don’t buy this. To me it’s a poor substitute to look down at a display rather than a quick glance out in my rear view mirror to learn the distance to the car behind and it’s acceleration curve, who is behind me, etc. I much rather rely on my human eyes to gather all the information I’m looking for than an abstracted subset by an inferior camera with latency, and then having to extrapolate distances.
maxdo 5y ago
Model Y owner, visibility is definitely not an issue. If you used to drive an F150 maybe, but apart from that is very spacious car. I'm 6'3 and I have 6'4 friend in back of me with no issues. I can also do a camping mode in the car. This is by far the best car I ever owned. It's nothing even to compare with. My friend bought 2 years old BMW, and I feel like there is a 10 years gap between bmw and tesla. I guess you just biased against tesla. Check the videos about their car seats on youtube. they are one few companies that don't outsource Car seat production because of ergonomics.
_ea1k 5y ago
The rear visibility came up a lot in reviews early on. After a day or so of driving, it becomes unnoticeable and doesn't actually cause a problem in practice. On top of that, you can turn on all three rear facing cameras while driving for amazing visibility. I don't use the headrests, but I've found the seats to be amazingly comfortable on long road trips.

jondwillis 5y ago

cameras kind of make all of that less of a concern in my experience. dunno about the headrest

hansendc 5y ago

The rear visibility felt weird when I test drove it for sure, coming from a normal sedan. But, over a year in to ownership, it never feels tiny when driving it. All the cameras and sensors make it a MILLION times better to maneuver in small spaces than my old car. It was more a matter of getting used to something different (and I'd argue objectively better) rather than an overall downside. As for the headrest, I've never thought about it once myself.

azinman2 5y ago
Why is it objectively better to have less rear visibility? Note you can have both excellent rear AND cameras/sensors. Do you not feel its tiny when driving on the freeway?
- 11thEarlOfMar 5y ago
  Not sure how you'd get to objectivity, but there are tradeoffs. The M3 and MY have higher rear which provides more trunk and rear passenger space. I drive an M3 and usually keep the rear seats folded down to add a little more visibility out the back. Cameras and visualization compensate sufficiently in my view. It's to me a minor negative in a long list of positives, and not a reason to avoid Tesla.
- hansendc 5y ago
  The Y's overall visibility is objectively better than my old sedan. It's also really hard to have that really aerodynamic shape and good rear visibility. The Y's visibility reminds me of a Prius in a lot of ways. I've never thought once that the rear visibility was a problem on the freeway.
  - azinman2 5y ago
    Thanks! FWIW We went with the VW ID.4. $20k cheaper with federal rebate, and absolutely love it. Doesn't feel cheap. No issues with visibility or headrest size, prefer mechanical door locks, and appreciate not having a single offset screen. Wish CarPlay was a little more integrated with the rest of the car, and I miss physical buttons for things like setting temperature (which is even worse on a Tesla Y as there are no buttons, but it seems at least their touch screen has more things visible at once than the VW does). Having to touch a touchscreen while driving is difficult, even as a passenger, because unless you're on the most perfect road ever the shaking will make it hard to tap your target.
- ajross 5y ago
  > Why is it objectively better to have less rear visibility? Because it's an artifact of the tapered afterbody that makes the cars the most energy-efficient on the road. Teslas beat every other EV on range, and the tiny handful of cars that do better (Lucid Air being the most notable) do so with significantly larger batteries. Everything has tradeoffs. FWIW: a few years of driving a van in my youth cured me of reliance on the center mirror anyway. This is very much an ejectable feature in my mind, something very much worth trading for ~30 miles of extra range or whatever. There are plenty of other quirks like this. The Y has a very poor turning radius (to reduce the void size in the wheel wells) too. It only comes in five boring colors. The third row seating is real and useful, but the headroom is comically small (same tapered afterbody). Everyone has their own list. The car isn't perfect. But it's absolutely as close to perfect as anything else I've driven.
  - clouddrover 5y ago
    > and the tiny handful of cars that do better (Lucid Air being the most notable) do so with significantly larger batteries The Lucid Air does it with both a bigger battery and better efficiency.
    - ajross 5y ago
      I think the Air is sort of the exception that proves the rule. Though it's also early and independent verification on production vehicles is still in the future. They're only barely shipping right now.
      - clouddrover 5y ago
        No, there are no rules being proven. The Air is just a more efficient car. The Mustang Mach-E has greater range for less money than the Model Y: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSmSiOo-v8s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSmSiOo-v8s That's more battery for your money.
        ajross 5y ago

tills13 5y ago

While I agree with you that the rear visibility seems really bad, you eventually get used to it. Don't get me wrong -- that's not a valid excuse but in my experience I've never felt like I couldn't see what's behind me. Suggesting that's what the cameras are for is, imo, a worse excuse. As for the head "rest", technically it's a head _restraint_ not a head _rest_. Your head shouldn't be resting against it while driving.

sovnade 5y ago
Yeah I feel like I'd have to artificially push my head back an uncomfortable distance to keep it against the headrest. Looking into getting a 3 or a Y next year myself.
- maxdo 5y ago
  It's a typical first impression before I bought model Y i saw one youtube review one person criticized the seats. He had some back pain issues due to some medical conditions. After he drove model Y on o long distance 500+ miles he said he's taking his words back. It almost scared me away also because it looks visual but I can confirm seats experience of tesla is very good. Musk in interview to Munro told they tried several contractors to produce a comfortable seat. Most cars outsource seats. They ended up producing their own with better ergonomics. They invest a lot with distributing the pressure/weight across entire seat.

mirkules 5y ago

Same here. I needed a larger car that can seat my family of five (3 kids). Everyone was cramped, the visibility was poor, especially with everyone in the car and I just can’t get over having the dashboard in the center. It’s a shame because I really love the acceleration, I love the technology, and I would love having an electric car. Model X would be a great fit, but not for a 6 figure price. In the end I got a Subaru Ascent, which is a better overall fit for my family than the Y, but I’m not excited about it like I am a Tesla. It’s basically a glorified minivan (actually, it’s even a little less utilitarian than our Odyssey). But there are some exciting new electric cars and vans coming, and I’m really looking forward to the next generation of electrics!

elif 5y ago

The rearview mirror itself has a light filter which works in concert with the light filtered by the back window such that the interior of the car does not show up on the mirror, but everything coming through the window is perfectly clear. So if you were looking at it going "this is too dark" it was probably misunderstanding a feature. In terms of the amount of space you can see, it is sufficient.. but also the 3D rendering will give you a much better idea of what's behind you than any mirror.

azinman2 5y ago
Actually I wasn’t concerned with the darkness, just total visibility. My understanding is that the 3D rendering is meant to be a subset of what the car sees, and not a safety feature. If that’s the case, I saw it miss all kinds of cross traffic and other cars that should have been in it… and that was just on a short car ride plus the few times I’ve been in other Teslas. > but also the 3D rendering will give you a much better idea of what's behind you than any mirror. I don’t buy this. To me it’s a poor substitute to look down at a display rather than a quick glance out in my rear view mirror to learn the distance to the car behind and it’s acceleration curve, who is behind me, etc. I much rather rely on my human eyes to gather all the information I’m looking for than an abstracted subset by an inferior camera with latency, and then having to extrapolate distances.

maxdo 5y ago

Model Y owner, visibility is definitely not an issue. If you used to drive an F150 maybe, but apart from that is very spacious car. I'm 6'3 and I have 6'4 friend in back of me with no issues. I can also do a camping mode in the car. This is by far the best car I ever owned. It's nothing even to compare with. My friend bought 2 years old BMW, and I feel like there is a 10 years gap between bmw and tesla. I guess you just biased against tesla. Check the videos about their car seats on youtube. they are one few companies that don't outsource Car seat production because of ergonomics.

_ea1k 5y ago

The rear visibility came up a lot in reviews early on. After a day or so of driving, it becomes unnoticeable and doesn't actually cause a problem in practice. On top of that, you can turn on all three rear facing cameras while driving for amazing visibility. I don't use the headrests, but I've found the seats to be amazingly comfortable on long road trips.