It’s always amusing when we’re writing about collector cars to check the huge sums buyers paid out for optional equipment. Fifty years ago, for example, anyone buying a C3 Corvette had to pay a hilarious $284 ($1,710 in 2025 money) for an AM/FM radio, then a highly desirable and expensive option.

Today, though, it’s something that we expect to see on even the cheapest, most basic modern car. Yet, AM/FM radio is one of the pieces of equipment Tesla has cut from its new entry-level models.

Related: Analog AM Radios In EVs Could Cost Automakers Nearly $4 Billion

Called Standard, the new base Model 3 and Model Y are designed to keep the barrier to entry of Tesla’s EVs low in the wake of federal tax credits disappearing at the end of September.

The Model 3 Standard costs $36,990, against $42,490 for the next trim up, now renamed Model 3 Premium RWD. And the Model Y Standard comes in at $39,990, versus $44,990 for the Y Premium.

The lack of a radio is far from the only difference between the new Standard and Premium Models. Base 3s miss out on the 8-inch second-row touchscreen, ventilated front seats and heated rears, power door mirrors and steering column, Autosteer, and frequency-dependent shocks.

They also downgrade to simple 18-inch steel wheels with covers, need 5.8 seconds instead of 4.9 seconds to reach 60 mph (97 km/h), and the driving range is cut from 363 miles to 321 miles (584-517 km).

Wheels aside (and an upgrade to 19s is available), the Model 3 Standard doesn’t scream “I was too cheap to upgrade!” in the same way its Model Y counterpart does. Because the Y Standard loses the facelifted Y’s front and rear LED light bars, and Tesla covers over the panoramic glass roof (which, in the ultimate insult, is still present) with a conventional headliner.

It also downgrades to textile seat surfaces, loses the adaptive headlights, subwoofer, and HEPA filter, and misses out on various bits of the same kit omitted from the 3 Standard spec.

But performance takes a much bigger hit than it does in the sedan. The boggo Y needs 6.8 seconds to reach 60 mph compared with 5.4 seconds for the Premium, and the range is reduced from 357 to 321 miles (575-517 km).

Test drive reveals more missing features

YouTuber Everyday Chris got his hands on the new Model Y Standard and points out some other differences in his video, including the very basic frunk, trunk, and door pocket liners, lack of electric frunk opener and rear parcel shelf, the single-pane door glass, and the fact that the max charging speed is down from 250 kW to 225 kW. You can also no longer recline the second row of seats from the trunk.

We’re guessing most owners will be more frustrated by that trunk-folding button having disappeared than they are by the radio getting a bullet. Still, according to a 2023 study, cutting the AM unit could save Tesla around $50–70 per car, since it no longer needs to shield radio waves from interference created by the electric motors.

This cost has led several automakers to consider junking radios, though lawmakers want to make AM availability in cars a legal requirement, because it’s viewed as essential for drivers in rural areas. Would you care if your next car didn’t have a radio, or have you never used yours since 2004?

Tesla

Xiaomi has already proved its SU7 mettle at the Nurburging, demolishing the fastest times set by its Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S rivals. But what happens when you take those corners out of the equation? That’s what we find out in a new Carwow video pitting the the top-spec SU7, the Ultra, against a Model S Plaid.

Also: Xiaomi Boss Admits They Bought Teslas And Tore Them Down To Learn Every Secret

It’s no understatement to say things don’t look good for the Tesla going into this fight. We now live in a world so crazy that even the Plaid’s once outrageous four-figure power output seems kind of ordinary.

Its 1,006 hp (1,020 PS) and 1,047 lb-ft (1,420 Nm) stats are dwarfed by the SU7 Ultra’s 1,527 hp (1,548 PS) and 1,306 lb-ft (1,770 Nm), and though the Tesla fights back with a 375 lbs (170 kg) advantage you don’t need to reach for a calculator to know it’s on the backfoot.

Launch Control Drama

But when the flag drops it’s the Plaid that drops the SU7, again and again. Carwow host Matt Watson has spent more time on runways than most pilots and is obviously a dab hand at launching cars, both in terms of reacting to the flag and managing wheelspin – and the more powerful SU7 obviously has more wheelspin to manage. But it’s still a shock to see how long it take the Xiaomi to even begin to start reeling the Tesla in.

But once it gets going, it makes the Plaid look like it’d struggle to outrun a Dacia Spring. The in-car shot from the Tesla looking across Watson to the SU7 streaking by is mind blowing. However, the resulting quarter-mile times are pretty close.

That’s because the Xiaomi takes so long to hit its stride – 9.3 seconds for the SU7, 9.5 seconds for the Model S – and based on this evidence the Chinese car might not have the space to make up the ground in your average stoplight grudge match.

US-based Plaid owners don’t have to worry about finding out because Xiaomi doesn’t offer cars in America yet (though European sales are on the horizon). And that’s just as well for Tesla, because in China, the Ultra sells for the equivalent of $74,300, while the Plaid is almost $100k in the US.

Lead image Carwow

It’s not just in the United States where Tesla is facing scrutiny over its electric door handles. Shortly after it was revealed that safety regulators in the US were probing the door handles of the Model Y following several disturbing incidents of parents not being able to access their kids inside the cars, police in Germany connected the same design to a crash that left a driver and two children dead earlier this month.

Read: Electric Door Handles Face Global Scrutiny After Deadly EV Crashes

On September 7, the Tesla veered off the side of a road and quickly burst into flames. Images shared online indicate that it was a Model S, meaning it features the completely electric, pop-out door handles. A man who witnessed the crash, Roman Jedrzejewski, ran over to the scene of the crash and attempted to save the occupants, but couldn’t find any way to open the doors.

Trapped Inside

“I just took the fire extinguisher and ran over. But … It didn’t help,” he told German media, reports the New York Post. “I wanted to save people. I tried to open the car, but that didn’t work either. It was already so hot from the fire, but the right side of the car was still relatively undamaged. Damn it, I didn’t help. It didn’t work. The car was half hanging in a tree at head height and was burning at the front. But you just couldn’t get it open, I wanted to pull the children out.”

One of the passengers, a 9-year-old child, managed to escape. The driver, a 43-year-old man, and two other 9-year-olds could not get out and lost their lives in the blaze.

Local outlet Ruhr Nachrichten reported that firefighters struggled to bring the fire under control as it kept reigniting, most likely because the battery pack had entered thermal runaway. The flames only subsided once the vehicle was completely destroyed.

Recurring Concerns

This is not the first time that the pop-out door handles of the Model S have been linked to a death. In early 2019, a man was killed after crashing his Model S into a palm tree. Police were reportedly unable to open the car’s door handles before the flames took hold and burned the vehicle.

Also: Tesla Is Rethinking The Design Of Its Door Handles

Facing mounting criticism and pressure, Tesla says it is now working on a new design for its door handles. Engineers are developing a single-button system that combines manual and electronic releases, designed to make exits easier not only for drivers but for rescuers trying to reach them.