Tesla Malaysia previously invited us over to its Centre in Cyberjaya to get an early look at an upcoming electric car. That electric car turned out to be the upcoming Model Y L Premium. Well, upcoming for the local market anyway, as it has already made appearances elsewhere.
As the name suggests, this is the long wheelbase version of the car, but there are more differences than just the number of seats. For better or worse, if you’ve already seen the Tesla Model Y L elsewhere, then not much here will be a surprise to you. That being said, based on a quick specifications overview, there are slight performance differences compared to, say, the Chinese version of the car.
So to get those out of the way first, the local Tesla Model Y L Premium has a century sprint time of 5 seconds rather than 4.5. range is probably not as comparable, but the company says that our version of the car has a WLTP range of 681km. DC charging is rated at 250 kW as before, as is the top speed of 201 km/h. The company is not sharing further details on the performance end, at least not yet, so we’ll have to trust that they are no different from the ones in other markets, unlike the acceleration figure. But the brand rep has said it is dual-motor AWD, and uses NCA (Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide) for its battery.
With that out of the way, let’s start comparing the Tesla Model Y L Premium to the other models in the Y family. The obvious one is that it’s longer, measuring 4,976mm long. This, in turn, results in a wheelbase of 3,040mm. Less obvious is that it’s also slightly taller, at 1,668mm. Combined, this also gives it more luggage space, at 2,539L. And 2mm more ground clearance at 169mm.
Inside, the centre console is mostly identical, from the dual wireless charging pads down to the 8-inch screen for the second-row passengers. That being said, the wireless chargers are now 50W and 30W for the driver and passenger sides respectively. The company also notes that the main screen in front measures 16 inches, and as with prior Teslas, just about everything is done from here. Even opening the glove box, believe it or not.
One of the primary improvements that the Tesla Model Y L Premium has over its shorter siblings is, oddly enough, the seats. The first two rows of seats get an adjustable headrest. These look reminiscent to what you’ll find on certain airline seats, but better as they lock in place.
Specific to the front seats though are the power-adjusted under-thigh support. Which is probably only of value to the extremely tall, with extremely long legs. Making up the difference somewhat, the middle row seats get armrests on the middle side, also power-extended. They’re tucked away nicely, so much so as to appear nearly invisible when not in use. These don’t get their own wireless charging pads, but they each get a USB-C port, located just below the second row screen.
The last row though is probably where there would be some issues. Getting there involves getting through the space between the two middle row seats, rather than folding and sliding the middle row seats away, which can be a bit of a squeeze. You can technically fit a couple of adults back there, but it’s another bit of a squeeze in there as well.
The amount of legroom at the back here depends entirely on the position of the middle row. And taller passengers will likely have the glass ceiling as a secondary headrest. Oh, and these don’t get adjustable headrests like the rows in front. The USB-C charging ports here are also in between the seats, a spot that’s liable to making you break your cables. For what it’s worth, you do get your own cup holders here.
As basic as they are compared to the front row seats, they are still electrically reclinable. They can’t lean back much on account of what little headroom that’s left, but you can electrically fold them forwards from the back with the boot raised. In fact, you can even do this to the second row seats. This is for when you need to move really long luggage. At a glance, you don’t get a flat surface here, but there’s a trick you can do to “fix” that. This is done by lifting the floor board, lifting the stands on both sides, then putting the floor board back, upside down.
Oh, I should also mention at this point that, Tesla has put AC vents on the B and C pillars of the Model Y L. Which is great, as just from where they are located they are probably more reliable than the vents beneath the second row seats.
The top of the Tesla Model Y L Premium though, is mostly glass. The most you get in terms of blocking out the sunlight is the tint that it comes with, unfortunately. It gets a bit worse, though, as the glass at the back is not tinted, so you may want to have hats or caps stashed away for passengers sitting in the third row.
At the time of this preview, the Telsa rep we spoke to said that the company is not offering test drives for the Model Y L Premium yet. In fact, it would be weeks after its launch before you can ask for one. And on that note, as of the publishing of this preview, the launch of the car should just be a couple of days away. As in, in two days, on 1 April. That will naturally be when the company reveals its price, as well as available add-ons or visual changes.
