- The new Tesla Model Y Standard and Model 3 Standard are $5,000 and $5,500 more affordable than the rest of the lineup, respectively.
- Tesla cut a laundry list of features from the cars to make them cheaper.
- No FM radio and no lane-centering are among the dropped features, but there’s also a peculiar choice regarding the Model Y’s glass roof.
The newly introduced Tesla Model 3 Standard and Model Y Standard come with a price cut of at least $5,000, which means both EVs now start from just under $40,000. That’s great news for people who have been waiting for more affordable options from Tesla, but the cheaper prices don’t come without some compromises.
That’s to be expected from any car manufacturer. But when it comes to Tesla, you just know that something will be a little weird.
So let’s take a look at how deeply the Elon Musk-led company cut features to compete with cars like the 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 5 and 2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV.
The most obvious visual change on the Model Y Standard is the removal of the front and rear LED lightbars.
Photo by: Tesla
2026 Model Y Standard: What Features Does It Lose?
Let’s start with the 2026 Tesla Model Y Standard, which will probably be more popular than the Model 3 Standard, despite costing more. The entry-level Model Y has an MSRP of $41,630, including destination and the obligatory order fee, making it $5,000 cheaper than the next trim, the Premium Rear-Wheel Drive.
The most peculiar change centers around the glass roof. Despite the car still being fitted with a panoramic glass roof, just like the Premium version, it’s completely covered by a single-piece headliner. Tesla said this saves some money compared to replacing the glass with a solid metal roof, but it’s just unheard of.
Compared to the other, more expensive trim levels, the Model Y Standard has less power and a shorter driving range of 321 miles, whereas the Premium RWD model is rated at 357 miles. The base kit comes with 18-inch steel wheels instead of aluminum 19-inchers, and the LED lightbars at the front and rear have been removed.
The headlights have also been redesigned to integrate all the beams in a single unit, and there’s no adaptive high-beam. The front trunk is smaller than on the other trims, and there’s a lot less pretty plastic cladding under the hood.
The shock absorbers are run-of-the-mill passive units, whereas the other versions come with either frequency dependent shocks or adaptive suspension. The charging power has also been reduced from 250 kilowatts to 225 kilowatts.
2026 Tesla Model Y Standard
Photo by: Tesla
Inside, there are fewer speakers for the audio system—seven instead of 15 speakers and a separate subwoofer—and there’s no FM radio, according to Tesla’s website. The 8-inch rear passenger touchscreen has been removed, none of the seats are ventilated, and only the front seats are heated. The upholstery is a dual-tone design with vegan leather and cloth instead of the full vegan leather upholstery of the other trims.
The rear seats are not power-folding but manually-folding, and the rear center armrest has been removed. There are still cupholders available for back-seat passengers, but only if you fold the center seat.
The side mirrors of the Model Y Standard can be manually folded and don’t have an auto-dimming function. Plus, the entry-level crossover doesn’t come with lane centering (Autosteer in Tesla speak), even though the car has all the necessary hardware for it. Customers need to pay an extra $8,000 to get Full Self-Driving (Supervised) if they want something resembling Autopilot on the highway.
The 2026 Tesla Model 3 Standard looks the same on the outside as the more expensive trims.
Photo by: Tesla
2026 Model 3 Standard: Why It Costs Less
It’s more or less the same story with the Model 3 Standard, too. The sedan costs $38,630, including fees, which is $5,500 less than the next trim in the lineup, the Premium Rear-Wheel Drive. That makes it one of Tesla’s cheapest new models ever.
Compared to the more expensive version, though, the bare-bones Model 3 has a shorter driving range–321 miles versus 363 miles—and a lower charging input of 225 kW versus 250 kW.
Just like the Model Y Standard, the Model 3 Standard doesn’t get FM radio, an 8-inch rear touchscreen, ventilated seats, Autosteer and frequency dependent shocks. It does, however, retain the panoramic glass roof and you can actually see through it.
That said, there is no customizable ambient lighting, only the front seats are heated, and the side-view mirrors are manually adjustable, which is something out of the brochure for a cheap sedan in the 2000s. The steering wheel is also manually adjustable, and the upholstery is split vegan leather and cloth.
Bottom Line: Low Price Doesn’t Always Mean Great Value
So, yes, the new Tesla Model Y Standard and Model 3 Standard are definitely more affordable than the rest of the lineup, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they offer better value for the money. It will be interesting to see how well these two trims sell, but it’s fair to say that Tesla has played this game before, with disappointing results.
The entry-level Tesla Cybertruck Rear-Wheel Drive adopted the same philosophy of cutting deep into the features list, but it was short-lived, as the company pulled the plug on it after just five months.
Not to mention, crossovers like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Chevrolet Equinox EV have been burning up the sales charts and now undercut the Model Y by thousands of dollars. Time will tell whether the Model Y Standard and Model 3 Standard can compete in an increasingly crowded—and now tax credit-free—EV market.
