Thoughts From First Test Drive

[Black306]

As a former Model Y owner, I got to drive the Y again after owning the CT for about 2 months, and wow it was shocking. The Y felt so small and the windsheild felt like a one of those London cabs: super vertical and short / small! lol

Had a Y when my CT was in service. Thought the same thing; glass felt very vertical, but I was thinking old-school VW Bug.

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[HaulingAss]

Had a Y when my CT was in service. Thought the same thing; glass felt very vertical, but I was thinking old-school VW Bug.

I was really struck when I got into my Model 3 while it was raining after driving the Cybertruck exclusively for a few months and the automatic wipers made the two short, dinky little wipers go back and forth. It actually made me laugh because of the absurdity of it, I felt like I was in a cheap toy car compared to the majestic sweep of Cybertruck's mono-wiper!

 

[koolio]

I was really struck when I got into my Model 3 while it was raining after driving the Cybertruck exclusively for a few months and the automatic wipers made the two short, dinky little wipers go back and forth. It actually made me laugh because of the absurdity of it, I felt like I was in a cheap toy car compared to the majestic sweep of Cybertruck's mono-wiper!

lol. I forgot to mention that when I had the Y loaner. The windshield wipers looked like they were from an 8 year old’s toy car lol

But, let’s be honest, until they fix the CT wiper issue, it’s not as good as the old school wipers.

 

[WILLK]

I had a similar experience in test driving the CT. I currently have a Ford Lightning Lariat. The rear wheel steering was impressive to me when parking. Also the cameras are better resolution than my Lightning. One thing the Lightning does have is good visibility. Wish I could own both.

 

[Engi_Nerd]

Converted my day 1 reservation to a preorder for the $60K trim, just to have the option to purchase next year.

Test drove a 2026 AWD for a refresher and it really impressed me, felt like a noticeably refinement of the truck I originally tested. The body panel and door alignment was perfect. The interior quality felt noticeably better. Motor and wind noise was super hushed. Doors closed like they were made of concrete. It felt like the SBW was a little more dialed in and intuitive than when I drove over a year ago. And FSD finally works great on CT, which helps complete the Tesla experience. If the $60K version ends up being remotely comparable it seems like an unbelievable value. We stopped by a Toyota dealer to sit in a $60K Tacoma for comparison and the difference was ridiculous. Helped show the wife what a screaming deal this is.

A few things we still struggled with:

-Comfort suspension in medium height made us kind of queasy. Felt more to our taste in sport/low so hopefully that matches up well with the coil suspension.

-I still think these are the cheapest feeling seats Tesla makes and don't understand it. Maybe they soften up over time and become more comfortable? Will be interested to try the cloth ones.

-The rear-view feed is half-baked, like auto-wipers. Putting it on the right side of the screen where it's larger messes up the UI and feels too far away. Putting it on the left shrinks to an unusable size, particularly when the gear shift slider refuses to hide when it should. Having zero rear visibility when your turn signal is on is straight up unsafe, as is not having a cleaning nozzle to clear the rear-camera (especially when they are on robotaxis).

In the unlikely event that the economy isn't a smoldering pile of ash next year, I could see myself moving forward with my preorder, but I do think Tesla putting a washer nozzle on the back camera would be a huge improvement.

 

[Jabman]

Converted my day 1 reservation to a preorder for the $60K trim, just to have the option to purchase next year.

Test drove a 2026 AWD for a refresher and it really impressed me, felt like a noticeably refinement of the truck I originally tested. The body panel and door alignment was perfect. The interior quality felt noticeably better. Motor and wind noise was super hushed. Doors closed like they were made of concrete. It felt like the SBW was a little more dialed in and intuitive than when I drove over a year ago. And FSD finally works great on CT, which helps complete the Tesla experience. If the $60K version ends up being remotely comparable it seems like an unbelievable value. We stopped by a Toyota dealer to sit in a $60K Tacoma for comparison and the difference was ridiculous. Helped show the wife what a screaming deal this is.

A few things we still struggled with:

-Comfort suspension in medium height made us kind of queasy. Felt more to our taste in sport/low so hopefully that matches up well with the coil suspension.

-I still think these are the cheapest feeling seats Tesla makes and don't understand it. Maybe they soften up over time and become more comfortable? Will be interested to try the cloth ones.

-The rear-view feed is half-baked, like auto-wipers. Putting it on the right side of the screen where it's larger messes up the UI and feels too far away. Putting it on the left shrinks to an unusable size, particularly when the gear shift slider refuses to hide when it should. Having zero rear visibility when your turn signal is on is straight up unsafe, as is not having a cleaning nozzle to clear the rear-camera (especially when they are on robotaxis).

In the unlikely event that the economy isn't a smoldering pile of ash next year, I could see myself moving forward with my preorder, but I do think Tesla putting a washer nozzle on the back camera would be a huge improvement.

I’m glad you are finally joining the club. I will second your notion of camera washers. Not only for the rearview camera, but for the side cameras as well. This should have been standard. One push of the washer button should clear all of the cameras at once. Especially since the CT rearview camera is almost exclusively used as the rearview mirror. I would never drive another vehicle other than the CT, but this is one major flaw IMO

 

[koolio]

Converted my day 1 reservation to a preorder for the $60K trim, just to have the option to purchase next year.

Test drove a 2026 AWD for a refresher and it really impressed me, felt like a noticeably refinement of the truck I originally tested. The body panel and door alignment was perfect. The interior quality felt noticeably better. Motor and wind noise was super hushed. Doors closed like they were made of concrete. It felt like the SBW was a little more dialed in and intuitive than when I drove over a year ago. And FSD finally works great on CT, which helps complete the Tesla experience. If the $60K version ends up being remotely comparable it seems like an unbelievable value. We stopped by a Toyota dealer to sit in a $60K Tacoma for comparison and the difference was ridiculous. Helped show the wife what a screaming deal this is.

A few things we still struggled with:

-Comfort suspension in medium height made us kind of queasy. Felt more to our taste in sport/low so hopefully that matches up well with the coil suspension.

-I still think these are the cheapest feeling seats Tesla makes and don't understand it. Maybe they soften up over time and become more comfortable? Will be interested to try the cloth ones.

-The rear-view feed is half-baked, like auto-wipers. Putting it on the right side of the screen where it's larger messes up the UI and feels too far away. Putting it on the left shrinks to an unusable size, particularly when the gear shift slider refuses to hide when it should. Having zero rear visibility when your turn signal is on is straight up unsafe, as is not having a cleaning nozzle to clear the rear-camera (especially when they are on robotaxis).

In the unlikely event that the economy isn't a smoldering pile of ash next year, I could see myself moving forward with my preorder, but I do think Tesla putting a washer nozzle on the back camera would be a huge improvement.

Regarding rear view visibility, I will say once you get used to it, it’s not a big deal. I also thought it was weird how rear view camera is gone when a turn signal is on, but have gotten used to it. Plus, the side camera does give a decent rear view.

In short, you’ll get used to it and I don’t think you’ll be that bothered by it.

 

[SlegMD]

Every time I jump into an ICE vehicle, I feel like I'm steering a sailboat

This was my quote Gus! Just add some potential yellow line crossing

 

[TyPope]

Converted my day 1 reservation to a preorder for the $60K trim, just to have the option to purchase next year.

Test drove a 2026 AWD for a refresher and it really impressed me, felt like a noticeably refinement of the truck I originally tested. The body panel and door alignment was perfect. The interior quality felt noticeably better. Motor and wind noise was super hushed. Doors closed like they were made of concrete. It felt like the SBW was a little more dialed in and intuitive than when I drove over a year ago. And FSD finally works great on CT, which helps complete the Tesla experience. If the $60K version ends up being remotely comparable it seems like an unbelievable value. We stopped by a Toyota dealer to sit in a $60K Tacoma for comparison and the difference was ridiculous. Helped show the wife what a screaming deal this is.

A few things we still struggled with:

-Comfort suspension in medium height made us kind of queasy. Felt more to our taste in sport/low so hopefully that matches up well with the coil suspension.

-I still think these are the cheapest feeling seats Tesla makes and don't understand it. Maybe they soften up over time and become more comfortable? Will be interested to try the cloth ones.

-The rear-view feed is half-baked, like auto-wipers. Putting it on the right side of the screen where it's larger messes up the UI and feels too far away. Putting it on the left shrinks to an unusable size, particularly when the gear shift slider refuses to hide when it should. Having zero rear visibility when your turn signal is on is straight up unsafe, as is not having a cleaning nozzle to clear the rear-camera (especially when they are on robotaxis).

In the unlikely event that the economy isn't a smoldering pile of ash next year, I could see myself moving forward with my preorder, but I do think Tesla putting a washer nozzle on the back camera would be a huge improvement.

Just tap the camera button on the steering wheel to bring up a large rear view. It takes over the screen but if you need something big, there it is.

 

[zip]

-I still think these are the cheapest feeling seats Tesla makes and don't understand it. Maybe they soften up over time and become more comfortable? Will be interested to try the cloth ones.

Agree 1000%. CT seats are the weakest across the Tesla lineup. I have a M3P and the seats are fantastic. Even my old MX is better. And now that the MY has thigh extenders, we should expect CT seats to be upgraded to match its all-around goodness.

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