We Bought a New Tesla Model Y. How Does It Compare to the Old One?

The Model Y is the world's best-selling EV, so we added one to our One-Year Road Test fleet

2026 Tesla Model Y and old model

written by Ryan Greger^{Social Media Content Strategist
Ryan Greger entered the automotive industry straight out of college in 2020. Since then, he's managed social media and created content for several companies, most recently at Edmunds, where he is a social media content strategist. In addition to his social media prowess, Ryan is an avid writer, authoring reviews and other articles at Edmunds. Ryan also enjoys high-end automotive photography and has developed a sizable following on social media, where he shares photos of some of the world's finest vehicles.}
edited by Steven Ewing^{Director, Editorial Content
Steven Ewing has worked in the automotive industry since 2003. In that time, he's written thousands of articles and tested just as many vehicles. Steven is Edmunds' director of editorial content and has previously been on staff at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog, Motor1.com, CNET, and was the U.S. correspondent for Top Gear magazine. Steven has also contributed to Automobile magazine, Car and Driver, The Drive, Jalopnik, Porsche Panorama, and dozens of other publications. In his spare time, Steven loves to play the drums, cook, and drive his 2000 BMW M Roadster.}
3/21/2025
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We added a 2026 Tesla Model Y Launch Series to our One-Year Road Test fleet.
This is the first major update to the Model Y since it launched in 2020.
How does it compare to the old Model Y? We'll find out over the course of a year.

There’s no getting around it: The Tesla Model Y is a massively successful product. Not only was it the best-selling electric vehicle in the world in 2023 and 2024, it was also the best-selling SUV, full stop. For a relatively new product (the Model Y only launched in 2020) to make such a global impact is, frankly, unheard of — especially considering it's an EV. This speaks volumes about the Model Y’s importance to not only to Tesla but to the automotive industry as a whole. That's why we bought a new one for our One-Year Road Test fleet.

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What did we get?

We paid $61,380 out the door for our 2026 Tesla Model Y Launch Series. The Launch Series is currently the only trim available for the new Y, and it’s essentially a fully loaded Long Range model that includes Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) hands-free driving assistant and all-wheel drive.

The new Model Y’s updates largely mirror those that the Model 3 received last year. The exterior styling is even more dramatically updated, with a Cybertruck-esque front light bar (fortunately the only bit of Cybertruck design language here) and a more angular look overall. Tesla also redesigned the taillights and incorporated something we’ve yet to see on another vehicle: A hidden LED element shines down on a silver panel across the trunk lid, resulting in a light bar-like effect without actually using, well, a light bar. The new exterior styling likely won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but at least Tesla has more greatly differentiated the Y’s design from the 3’s.

2026 Tesla Model Y front 3/4

The redesigned interior is just about identical to the Model 3’s, save for one crucial difference: There’s still a turn signal stalk. Whereas the Model 3 pivoted to unintuitive steering wheel-mounted turn signal buttons (which we really, really don’t like), the Model Y keeps a physical stalk. Unfortunately, Tesla’s annoying on-screen gear shift is present here, and in the limited driving we’ve done so far, we’ve already found ourselves in the wrong gear on multiple occasions despite using the system as designed.

How does it compare to the old Model Y?

The new interior is a big improvement — especially compared to the 2020 Model Y we owned. The quality of materials is way up, and we love the new strip of ambient lighting that encircles the cabin. Plus, the faux leather seats are now perforated and offer ventilation up front — a huge plus since there’s still no sunshade for the glass roof, so the cabin can heat up real quick.

2026 Tesla Model Y interior

We’ve only had our Model Y for less than a week, so we haven't put many miles on the odometer. So far, we can tell you the ride comfort and overall build quality are both much improved. We'll be putting the Model Y through our full instrumented testing regimen and the Edmunds EV Range Test soon, though, so stay tuned.

Photos by Ryan Greger

2026 Tesla Model Y with old one

Ryan Greger

Ryan Greger entered the automotive industry straight out of college in 2020. Since then, he's managed social media and created content for several companies, most recently at Edmunds, where he is a social media content strategist. In addition to his social media prowess, Ryan is an avid writer, authoring reviews and other articles at Edmunds. Ryan also enjoys high-end automotive photography and has developed a sizable following on social media, where he shares photos of some of the world's finest vehicles.

Steven Ewing

edited by Steven Ewing

Steven Ewing has worked in the automotive industry since 2003. In that time, he's written thousands of articles and tested just as many vehicles. Steven is Edmunds' director of editorial content and has previously been on staff at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog, Motor1.com, CNET, and was the U.S. correspondent for Top Gear magazine. Steven has also contributed to Automobile magazine, Car and Driver, The Drive, Jalopnik, Porsche Panorama, and dozens of other publications. In his spare time, Steven loves to play the drums, cook, and drive his 2000 BMW M Roadster.

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