In 2024, the Tesla Model Y was the most sold automobile in the world. In 2025, it was a close second. It sold more than the Ford F-Series, Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and BYD Song. The grey 2026 Model Y Rear Wheel Drive is the least expensive version at $39,990. Putting nothing down and using the $500 discount for current Tesla owners, with zero % financing over 6 years, it’s ~$550/month. Teslas are still the only EVs that you can drive anywhere on the US Interstate Highway System without worrying about a place to charge. If you have a garage, you can start every morning with a full charge. Furthermore, you never have to take the time and spend the money for an oil change. Bottom line: A Tesla Model Y is much more convenient than a gas car for local driving, and I personally vouch for the fact that it is minimally less convenient than a gas car for cross-country trips. Also, don’t forget that you can drive new Teslas with Full Self Driving anywhere in the US using a system that is by far the best automatic driving system available in this country. Why are many more Tesla Model Ys sold than Model 3s? The Model Y has a big hands-free, automatically opening liftgate that is big enough for a bike, big box, small piece of furniture, etc. It’s much bigger than the small trunk opening of the Model 3 sedan. The Model Y has twice the trunk storage space (30 cubic ft) of a Model 3. The Model Y is also taller than the Model 3, so you don’t have to slouch and slide into the car. There is also more rear seat foot room and a 7-seat version is available. Furthermore, you can order a tow bar receiver (Tesla calls it a tow hitch) factory installed or have it installed later in a Model Y as we see below. What are you missing if you buy the least expensive Model Y like I did: For $1,000 or $1,500, you could have picked another color besides dark grey. If better winter traction and better acceleration is important to you, you can spend $2,000 for the dual-motor version. The Premium version for $6,000 extra has: 1) Front and rear external light bars, 2) A mood lighting bar around the front cabin, 3) Vegan leather seats, 4) A subwoofer speaker, 5) A glass roof, and 6) A small flat screen TV screen for your kids to watch movies or play games. Why don’t I need dual motors? The acceleration of the rear-motor model is still better than any gas car I have owned and I seldom need better winter traction. Why I don’t need the Premium version: The synthetic cloth seats are great and are very durable. The base sound response without a subwoofer on the cheaper Y is very good. I don’t need to entertain kids in the back seats. You can’t see anything through the dark glass roof of the Premium anyway and the cloth headliner of the base version helps deaden road noise. I can live with the dark grey exterior and no mood lighting in the interior. The styling of the cheaper Y still looks great. As per my previous article, we settled on a new Tesla after our previous Tesla was totaled and picked up the vehicle we wanted from inventory at Tesla Sales Lake Elmo. Using FSD for the first time as we left the Tesla Sales/Service Center, it automatically drove us to the nearby Olive Garden and parked automatically. Then it automatically left the parking lot and drove us to COSTCO Wholesale in Eau Clair, Wisconsin. I was all ready for it to park automatically in the COSTCO parking lot, but there was a small problem. The Google Map that Tesla uses in its navigation didn’t know about the Eau Clair COSTCO and just showed a green field in that location, as you see on the right side of the figure below. On the left, you see Costco as mapped by Apple. As I parked manually, the navigation showed me driving through the green field. Inside the COSTCO, I asked an employee when the store at this location was built. I was expecting it to have opened only weeks earlier. To my surprise, I was informed that COSTCO had been there for 3 years. For those of you expecting 100% automatic driving soon, you can see that it depends not only on Tesla’s driving algorithms, but also on the quality and accuracy of the maps that Tesla is using. Costco Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Present on Apple (left) but missing on Google (right) Maps Driving my new Tesla with V14 of FSD, I keep learning how it works and how to use it. For example, I just learned that the right scroll wheel no longer sets the exact target speed but now rotates through the Sloth, Chill, Standard, Hurry, and Mad Max driving modes. However, I do like the new system, because I can pick the mode I like and let it go. On V12 in my 2019 Model 3, I was constantly twiddling with the speed control. In the rare case when the map speed limit is way off, you need to drive manually or disable FSD and use traffic-aware cruise control, which still allows you to precisely set your speed manually. My biggest gripe with the new car is the missing right control stalk. Shifting between forward and reverse on the screen is terrible. It’s supposed to switch between forward and reverse automatically, but it hasn’t done it properly for me so far. Below, please see the Tesla remote service person about to install my tow bar receiver (tow hitch) at our summer home in Three Lakes, Northern Wisconsin. Tesla mobile service person about to install my tow bar receiver at Camp Hasler, Three Lakes, Wisconsin. June 8, 2026. Photo by Fritz Hasler. Doctors haven’t routinely done house calls for 80+ years, and car dealers never have. However, a Tesla service person drove ~100 miles from Green Bay to my house to install my tow bar receiver. As you see below, he had to remove all the trunk trim and tail lights for the installation. After only an hour or so, the receiver was installed. With the service person’s help, my bike rack was installed and was ready for my mountain bike, as you see in the following photo. Tesla mobile service installation of tow bar receiver. Camp Hasler, Three Lakes, Wisconsin. June 8, 2026. Photo by Fritz Hasler. Mountain bike on rack after remote tow bar receiver installation. Camp Hasler, Three Lakes, Wisconsin. June 8, 2026. Photo by Fritz Hasler. Mountain bike on rack. After tow bar receiver installation. Three Lakes, Wisconsin. June 8, 2026. Photo by Fritz Hasler. Tesla Referral Program If you find any of my articles helpful to you, please use my referral link when buying a new Tesla: https://ts.la/arthur73734 (be sure to use it when you make your order). Tesla keeps changing the program but here’s the latest: If you are buying a new Tesla Model 3 or Y and use my link, you will get 2 months of free Full Self Driving (a ~$200 value) on top of the one month that comes free with every new Tesla. For a Cybertruck, you will get $1,000 off your purchase price. I just got FSD V14 on my new Model Y and it is incredible. You can give the command verbally and it will drive you automatically to basically any place you specify, or any address you enter into the navigation. You will be getting the new Hardware 4 computer and upgraded cameras with a new camera in the front facia (bumper). This enables running FSD V14. The steering is extremely accurate. It now handles the beginning and end of your trip. It will automatically back out of your garage or leave your parking spot or a parking lot and it will park automatically when you arrive. It slows down automatically for sharp turns and speed zones. If someone is about to cross the street, it will stop for them automatically, etc. etc., etc. It’s like having your car driven by a really good chauffeur.