Tesla Model X Review 2024

The 2016 Tesla Model X gives you things that no other luxury electric car can, namely the ability to seat seven people and theatrical Falcon Wing doors. It also gives you all the stuff EV buyers like, such as emission-free motoring, low running costs, strong performance, a very long driving range and impressive refinement. It’s very expensive, though, and cheaper rivals such as the Audi E-Tron, Jaguar I-Pace and Mercedes EQC drive better and are far stronger on interior quality.

You’ve got to hand it to Elon Musk, he’s one heck of a marketeer. It’s incredibly difficult to get any start-up company off the ground, let alone one selling cars, let alone one exclusively selling electric cars at a time when hardly anyone was buying them.

And yet, that’s precisely what he did with Tesla. Amazing what you can achieve when you already have billions behind you, isn’t it?

But how did he do it? Simple. He made Teslas cool. He made it cool to drive a socially-responsible electric car. He made it cool to have pretty much every function controlled through a touchscreen. He made it cool to have a car that was so technologically advanced, it could receive updates and upgrades over wifi, rather than from a visit to the dealership.

Things like these really struck a chord with technology fans the world over, and Tesla soon became a must-have brand for any self-respecting early-adopter.

The Model X is one of the firm’s more aged offerings, and it’s also the biggest. Yet aside from its techy image and desirability, what does it give you that other electric cars can’t? Well, Falcon Wing doors, for one thing.

These lift up, up and away from the car’s body in dramatic fashion, meaning you’re bound to get noticed when you’re getting in or out. Another big tick for Tesla customers.

Unlike any of its rivals, it also has the ability to seat seven people, provided the right box on the options list has been ticked, that is. Interior space is pretty generous, too, although adults will only want to travel in the extra two chairs for short periods of time.

Where the big Tesla can’t match its rivals, though, is on interior quality. The materials, and the precision with which they’re assembled, simply can’t live up to the incredible standards set by the Audi E-Tron and Mercedes EQC, and that becomes even more galling when you consider how much more expensive than those cars the Model X is.

The Tesla trails the rest on the quality of its driving experience, too. It doesn’t handle as keenly as the Jaguar I-Pace, while the jittery ride means it’s not as comfortable as most rivals, either. And while an electric car will always be quieter than a combustion-engined car, it can’t match its direct rivals for refinement, either.

That said, the Tesla does have the edge in a few areas. All of the cars in this class are fast, but choose the fastest version of the Model X, and you’ll have one of the fastest cars on the planet, capable of doing 0-60mph in just 2.6 seconds. What’s more, and importantly for EV buyers, the Model X’s official range figures also have the beating of rivals’.

Looking for a second opinion? Read heycar's Tesla Model X review

Unfortunately, the Model X isn’t up to the standards of the Model S or Model 3 for dynamic polish, but it still does a decent enough job.

Inevitably, a car as big, tall and heavy as the Model X is going to pitch and roll significantly in corners, but it actually delivers better control over these things than you might think. The standard air suspension prevents the body lurching around too much, and that helps the car feel stable and secure, if not as much fun as, say, a Jaguar I-Pace. The steering isn’t as nicely weighted as the Jag’s, either.

The payoff for this control, though, is a rather unsettled ride. You constantly feel it fidgeting beneath you, even on roads that look smooth, and when the road gets rough, you get jittered around even more.

It never thumps or crashes, so it’s not what you’d call uncomfortable, but it’s true that the Audi e-tron and Mercedes EQC are much more civilised.

This is a rather confusing area, because the range chopped and changed pretty much constantly throughout the car’s life. It’d take all day to take you through all the various minuscule iterations, so it’s easier to just take you through how the naming convention works.

The most basic one was the 60D. The D referred to the fact it was a dual-motor car (as all Model Xs are) while the 60 referred to the battery capacity in kW.

Other models available included the 70D, 75D, 90D and 100D, and broadly speaking, the bigger the number, the longer the range and the higher the power output. See a model name with a ‘P’ on the front (P100D, for example), and that signifies that the model is a ‘Performance’ model that’s as quick as Model Xs get at that particular point in time. 

Then later, just for good measure, Tesla abandoned that naming convention altogether, and the models available were called ‘Performance’ or ‘Long Range’. Still with us? Hope so…

All versions, however, are fast. Even the slowest of them will smash from 0-62mph in around six seconds, and because electric motors deliver their full torque from the moment they begin spinning, there’s barely any delay between pushing the go pedal with your foot, and the rest of your body being pushed back in your seat.

The fastest ones, meanwhile, are among the fastest cars on the planet. The later Performance models could hurl you from 0-60mph in just 2.6 seconds, quicker than most Ferraris or Lamborghinis.

The Model X has achieved the full five-star score in Euro NCAP crash tests, which should give you peace of mind that you’ll be well protected if you become embroiled in a smash. 

However, the car will do its very best to help you avoid that smash in the first place. All cars come with automatic emergency braking and blind spot assistance as standard, along with the capability to support two different levels of semi-autonomous driving.

The first - known as Autopilot - will keep you a set distance from the car in front by speeding the car up or slowing it down accordingly, while the steering keeps you centred in your lane. The higher grade system also lets you change lanes automatically or summon your car out of a tight parking space using your smartphone.

As standard, the car comes with five seats, and all of those get a generous amount of head- and legroom. What’s more, all of these seats slide and recline electrically, allowing passengers to easily play with their seating position.

As an optional extra, the car can also be specified with six seats (three rows of two) or seven seats (three in the middle row and two behind). This gives it an immediate practicality edge over rivals like the E-Tron, I-Pace and EQC, which all have five seats only. Adults will fit in the rearmost chairs, but headroom and legroom are limited, so you’d only want to stay there for short hops.

Access to the rear is made easy by those theatrical Falcon Wing doors. The massive openings mean it’s easy to clamber into any of the rear seats, and the cutout in the roof also means you don’t have to stoop when fitting a child seat, or strapping your offspring into it.

Things aren’t perfect, though. They can be rather slow to operate, and they stop moving automatically when they come too close to another car’s bodywork, leaving the door hanging only half-open. If the parking space you’re in is particularly tight, this might mean limboing into your seat.

The boot is pretty big in five-seat mode, on a par with those of competitors, but it’s pretty miniscule with seven seats in place. You can’t fold the middle row down flat like you can in rivals, either, which limits your capacity when carrying big loads.

Judged in isolation, the interior looks fine. The minimalist design looks smart and progressive, while many of the materials have a pleasing finish. Man

y others, however, don’t, and with panel gaps that are often large and inconsistent, there’s a distinctly flimsy feel to the cabin. Well, to the whole car, actually, because you’ll find these iffy panel gaps on the exterior bodywork, too.

This is especially disappointing given the lofty price of the car, and it becomes even more noticeable when you compare the Tesla directly with impeccably built rivals like the Audi E-Tron and Mercedes EQC, both of which are considerably cheaper to buy.

The whole cabin is dominated by the huge portrait-orientated 17.0-inch touchscreen, partly because of its size, and partly because there’s so little other stuff to look at: everything is incorporated into the touchscreen system.

Considering how complex it is and the sheer number of functions it has to deal with, it’s actually pretty easy to find your way through the menus without getting too lost. One or two functions are tucked away in some odd places, but overall, the system is fairly intuitive.

Like all touchscreens, though, it’s not as easy to use on the move because you have to concentrate on pressing exactly the right bit of the screen. Some of the icons are a wee bit small, too, but there’s no faulting the speed and responsiveness of the system, and the graphics look really smart. 

Most of the functionality you’d expect is covered, including Bluetooth, DAB radio and Google maps navigation. If you're a fan of Apple Carplay/Android Auto, though, you’ll be disappointed, because Tesla refuses to support it.

At the time of writing, brand new examples of the Model X started at around £90,000 for the Long Range and rose to just over £100,000 for the Performance.

That’s considerably more than rivals including the Audi E-Tron, Jaguar I-Pace and Mercedes EQC, but in fairness, the Tesla is considerably bigger and none of the rivals can offer seven seats (which did cost a considerable amount to add, by the way).

The Tesla doesn’t hold onto its value as well as its rivals, either, meaning you’ll lose a comparatively large slice of your outlay when the time comes to sell the car on, although used car buyers will be rubbing their hands together because somebody else has already taken the financial hit of depreciation. These weaker resale values won’t do much to keep monthly payments down for finance customers, either.

Not only has Tesla been changing things constantly since the Model X was launched, but the way ranges (and fuel consumption and CO2 emissions) are tested has also changed during that time.

For example, compare the old P100D’s range of 351 miles with the latest Long Range version’s figure of 314 miles, and you’d think that the older car goes further in the real world. It doesn’t, though, it’s just that it was tested under the older NEDC standard rather than the later - and more stringent - WLTP one.

Compared with other electric cars, though the official range figures (even the Performance version manages 301miles) are significantly higher than those of most rivals. Like with any of them, though, you shouldn’t bank on matching that figure in the real world. Assume a figure of around 280 miles is more realistic in good conditions, and that’ll drop significantly in cold weather.

A 7kW wallbox charger takes around 15 hours to deliver a full charge of the batteries. Obviously, rapid chargers will juice your car up quicker, and the good news is that Tesla has its very own network of these dotted around the country for exclusive use by its customers.

As ever with Tesla, though, there’s some confusion around the terms. It was once completely free, then in 2017, Tesla changed its mind and began to start charging customers to use it, and then in 2019, the firm changed its mind again and made use of the network free once more for Model S and X customers. So, at the moment it’s free, but frankly, Lord knows how long that’ll remain the case for.

Choosing an electric car offers buyers savings in a lot of areas, but insurance isn’t one of them: it seems our friends in the underwriting world are less keen to encourage motorists into eco-friendly cars, and are more keen to get their cut.

As such, the Model X sits in insurance group 50, the most expensive group there is, which is hardly surprising given the astronomical cost of the car.

Tesla doesn’t really do trim levels as such. The amount of standard kit your car gets varies slightly version to version, but the bigger differences between versions come in the form of how much power and range they give you.

And like with so many other things, Tesla makes changes to the spec of its cars on such a regular basis that the precise amount of kit you get will also depend greatly on exactly what point in time your car was built.

Looking at the most recent models, all versions get equipment including climate control, cruise control, the funky Falcon Wing doors, keyless entry, a powered tailgate and all the infotainment and safety kit we’ve already talked about. The Performance most has a few bits of spangly trim, but hardly anything in the way of extra luxury kit.