[hansendc]

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]

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?

[ajross]

> 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]

> 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]

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]

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

That's more battery for your money.

[ajross]

The Mach-E RWD variants with the 88 kWh battery get about the same range as the Y with 77.8 kWh. That's significantly less efficient, not more.

[11thEarlOfMar]

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]

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]

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.