I've now owned my 2023 Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD for two full years, TL;DR I really like it. I live in Colorado, I've put it through daily commutes, mountain drives, and longer trips across the Western Slope. Here's my honest take after clocking 33000 miles.
Performance: Fantastic
The acceleration and handling are still jaw-dropping. Instant torque from the dual motors makes merging onto highways or passing on two-lane roads effortless and fun. It's quiet, smooth, and feels planted even on twisty mountain roads. No regrets here—this is where the Model Y truly shines.
Range: Adequate, with a Big Caveat for Western Colorado
Real-world range has been solid, typically Its a honest 200 miles with a typically starting charge of 80% draining down to 10%, It takes some time to be comfortable running the battery that low, but its doable. You can always increase range by slowing down. That's plenty for daily use and most outings. However, the sparse Supercharger network on the Western Slope is a real limitation for longer trips. When I was younger, I'd wake up at 2am, drive 3-4 hours to get to some western slope 14er to hike and come back, that can only be done with some backtracking and diversions to superchargers, they are very limited west of the Continental Divide. If you're sticking to the eastern side or major routes, it's fine—but for true Western Slope adventures, the lack of chargers forces detours, fortunately I'm at the age I don't do these much anymore.
Full Self-Driving (FSD): Massively Improved
When I bought the car in 2023, FSD was promising but inconsistent. I got one free month of FSD at that time, which honestly didn't give me any confidence. I got one free month as a promotion about a year ago and it was much improved, but the most recent update V14 has really made it far superior. I finally ponied up 100 to test it over a month and its something I'm seriously considering finding the budget for going forward. It's now much smoother on highways, handles city streets confidently. Its awesome.
View out the rear view mirror still both sucks and blows, but I'm getting used to using the cameras.
There is no way to easily adjust the degree of regenerative braking (Almost every other EV on the market allows this) Its only real problem on ice, when easing off the gas basically slams on the brakes, its easy to lose control. There is a after market switch you can install that fixes this, but it shouldn't be necessary, older versions of the software allowed you to control this yourself.
You can make the car horn sound like a fart, its the only company that allows this as a stock option to my knowledge.
Saving on gas is nice, but its should not be the reason you get one, you will never save enough to make that rational. My company offers free charging so I charge as little as possible at home or a super charger and I've probably saved at most 2000 in 2 years. Incidentally my tires are almost worn out at 33000 miles and I've got some sticker shock on the cost of replacing them.
I wish I had waiting till the new model y that came out this year, build quality seems to be better, quieter and nice updated features all around.
One final note, if you are considering the Tesla and can't decide between the 3 and the Y, get the Y, yeah it looks uglier, but its more practical, also has 6.7in of clearance which is just barely enough for Colorado winter driving.