Tesla provided me a weekend-long Demo Drive within the new Mannequin Y, a brand new program the corporate is providing to individuals as a technique to style what it’s wish to personal an EV. For me, it was an excellent look into proudly owning an EV whereas renting a townhouse with out charging infrastructure, however it gave me much more perception as effectively.
A Gross sales Advisor at a neighborhood showroom texted me a number of weeks again to see if I might wish to take the brand new Mannequin Y from the showroom to my home for a weekend. I instantly mentioned sure, scheduled a weekend when household and associates can be close by to expertise issues like Full Self-Driving, and booked it.
I picked it up on Saturday at 6 p.m. because the showroom closed, and I used to be on my manner again residence inside ten minutes.
First Issues First
My first order of enterprise was getting some Full Self-Driving demos in, taking my Fiancè for a hands-free — however supervised — journey first. It was not her first time experiencing FSD, as we had taken a Demo Drive just a few months again and skilled {Hardware} 3 and the previous iteration of the Mannequin Y.
Nevertheless, we solely used FSD for about ten minutes whereas trying out a Mannequin Y to purchase again in February.
The subsequent morning, we picked my mother and father up for breakfast and took them on their first-ever FSD expertise. They stay in a rural a part of my hometown in Southern Pennsylvania, the place there aren’t any traces on the street, potholes in all places, deer continuously crossing the street, and sharp turns that may be harmful through the daytime, as you can’t see oncoming headlights.
🚨 First order of enterprise: Took my mother and father on an FSD journey.
“Wow!”
“That is loopy!”
You might hear the skepticism in my Dad’s voice as I began the drive. By the top of it, he couldn’t consider the way it navigated non-lined backroads to his home! https://t.co/qisRxDlY5O
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) Could 4, 2025
It was actually one thing to see how my Dad modified his perception on FSD within the matter of just some minutes. The night time earlier than, I took my Mother and Step Dad on a drive, they usually felt the identical manner. My Dad is simply extra vocal about his skepticism, so I used to be glad to listen to the reversal of his perspective.
Residing with out Charging and How It Modified My Mindset
One of many largest issues that saved me from shopping for the Mannequin Y we checked out in February was the shortage of charging in my neighborhood. I don’t get to park straight in entrance of my entrance door, and my neighborhood continues to be contemplating some minor infrastructure for residents.
With the Lengthy Vary All-Wheel-Drive model of the brand new Mannequin Y, Tesla boasts a variety of 327 miles. We picked it up from the Showroom at 98 p.c state-of-charge.
We ran our typical errands, went out to dinner, drove round for leisure to benefit from the automobile, and in spite of everything that, we nonetheless returned the automobile with 40 p.c left. This really eradicated any considerations I might have about charging at residence, not less than within the close to time period.
Realistically, I want to have charging at residence. The expertise made me understand I might in all probability be driving to a Supercharger as soon as per week to get vary, which is about as frequent as I go to a gasoline pump now. It will not be an amazing change, and it made me understand that after I do finally make the bounce, if I’m nonetheless dwelling in our townhome that we hire, I might get by way of it with none actual points.
Take my phrases as a bit of recommendation: In case you’re overly involved about not having charging at your residence or residence, don’t stress an excessive amount of about it.
The Good and Dangerous with Full Self-Driving
Total, our Full Self-Driving expertise was extremely beneficial. My plan was to drive the automobile manually more often than not, however I actually solely did that for roughly 5 p.c of the miles we traveled collectively.
I deliberate for an enormous stress take a look at on Sunday night, and that’s what we did. We needed to run out and get some issues for a marriage we’re attending this coming weekend, and it required us to journey throughout York from the East finish to the West finish, a lot of which was spent touring on the Lincoln Freeway. In West York, this stretch of freeway is extremely dysfunctional, busy, and is likely one of the drives I rue probably the most within the space.
Full Self-Driving made it very simple, as I simply set the vacation spot on a number of events and let the automobile do all of the work.
Our first drive took us from our home to our native Goal. It did every thing flawlessly. I took over as soon as we obtained into the car parking zone simply to discover a parking house by myself:
🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving takes my Fiancé and I to Goal
Flawless drive! We’ll doc the remainder of our errands immediately! pic.twitter.com/TAx3mWmVgh
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) Could 4, 2025
I didn’t file the journey from Goal to the Burlington Coat Manufacturing facility, only a mile away, however I did file the following leg of the journey, which was from Burlington in East York to Burlington in West York. This was after I had my first grievance with FSD, and it handled the operation in parking tons.
You’ll see in the beginning of this video that there was an occasion the place the automobile waited for one cross-traffic warning to cease earlier than continuing, however ignored one other cross-traffic warning from the opposite path. The automobile pulled out on this particular person, you’ll see me wave to apologize, then I take management of the automobile, because it was too near that different automobile for my liking. This was the one subject we skilled on this drive:
🚨 On this drive, FSD pulled out of this spot whereas there was a automobile approaching from our proper (you’ll see the Pink cross-traffic warning on the display)
It additionally approached that car somewhat too shut for my liking, so to be protected I took over.
An excellent drive throughout city… pic.twitter.com/ANuZ4QcZB6
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) Could 4, 2025
I discovered that parking tons had been a weak level of FSD. It’s not that I didn’t really feel assured in its skills to make it by way of these tons safely, however it jogged my memory quite a lot of what I believe a 16-year-old who simply obtained their license would drive by way of a busy parking space: hesitant, not assured, tentative.
A number of of our X followers mentioned the identical factor:
That is such an issue… To the purpose I don’t even use begin FSD from Park anymore
— ProjectRCC (@Project_RCC) Could 5, 2025
Parking tons are little little bit of a weak spot. However I consider this will likely be solved within the subsequent replace we get 💯
— Overly Optimistic Future (@OOpFuture) Could 4, 2025
Leaving the West York Burlington and heading to a Walgreens to select up some photos we had printed was the following leg of our journey. This was the place we obtained to check a tough off-ramp on I-83 south and Autopark within the Walgreens car parking zone.
The off-ramp for the Market Road exit and the on-ramp use the identical lane, so merging site visitors could be a little bit of a nightmare for these attempting to get off of the freeway, which is what we had been attempting to do. FSD managed it cleanly, as a number of automobiles had been merging onto I-83, the automobile discovered a tender spot within the site visitors and obtained off with none subject. This impressed me as a result of I do know it may be nerve-racking at instances, particularly throughout rush hour.
Autopark labored effectively and backed right into a spot with no points:
🚨 The ultimate leg of our journey right here: FSD did an excellent job of navigating by way of this car parking zone and getting us onto a freeway with a really brief on-ramp (a really typical a part of dwelling and driving in Pennsylvania).
Additionally, Autopark did an excellent job! I want to see it enhance by… pic.twitter.com/OBefKZKDCo
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) Could 5, 2025
Our last journey with FSD was from our residence to the showroom. This might be our longest single-trip utilizing FSD, and it was probably the most spectacular but.
The very first thing it was tasked with was merging onto the freeway with a really brief lane to take action. FSD acknowledged this, noticed an oncoming automobile that didn’t recover from into the passing lane to create space (regardless of it having the room to take action as a courtesy), and sped as much as take the slot it was given. It overtook slower automobiles, stayed in the correct lane close to on-ramps to make merging for others simpler, and obtained us by way of the Harrisburg break up with no points.
As we turned onto the Carlisle Pike, the correct lane was closed a couple of quarter-mile after we merged onto it. We had a car beside us that didn’t wish to allow us to over, so FSD waited, allowed the automobile to go, and rapidly took the three-car-length hole, safely getting on. This was a humorous one as a result of I observed my Fiancè’s hand seize the deal with on her door as a reactionary response.
She realized after it was pointless, and it did a greater job than many individuals we all know would have accomplished:
🚨 The brand new Tesla Mannequin Y drove my Fiancé and me again to the Tesla Showroom immediately to half methods 🥺
It was superior to have a complete weekend with this superior automobile. This 45-minute drive is condensed to only 36 seconds.
One portion of this drive included a powerful merge right into a… pic.twitter.com/TjCXcpRUXG
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) Could 5, 2025
This completed our expertise with the Mannequin Y for the weekend, and it was laborious to say goodbye.
Conclusion
Evidently a trade-in will likely be taking place within the coming months. My largest reservation was residential charging, and I realized it actually was not one thing I wanted to be overly involved about.
Full Self-Driving was really the large factor that bought me on this automobile. The brand new Mannequin Y is clearly an excellent car to start with, however FSD was the primary factor that I’ll miss as a result of it made driving such a breeze.
Extra novelty issues I’ll miss are with the ability to watch YouTube whereas I wait within the automobile, and pranking individuals with the Fart on Contact/Sit Occurs characteristic, one thing that gave us all snigger.
It was an excellent weekend with the brand new Mannequin Y! Within the coming months, I hope to get my arms on one other car for a weekend.
