It’s time to stop arguing about what a berk Elon Musk is and start taking the cars he makes seriously. After all, Tesla has stuck around for long enough to make it blindingly obvious that it has zoomed past “brazen startup” status.

Surprisingly, I still meet senior executives from legacy carmakers who believe the American trailblazer lives off government subsidies or carbon credits, on the road to financial exsanguination.

Meanwhile, the Model Y quietly became the world’s best-selling car (of any kind) in the first quarter of this year.

It’s not hard to see how that happened. Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are generally hot while electric vehicles (EVs) are still all the rage, so combining the two didn’t exactly require the mind of an evil genius.

Then there’s the fact that the Model Y just brings a very strong game to the playing field. It’s stripped down and minimalist inside, which might not be to everyone’s taste, but it has a darn spacious cabin and a large boot, both of which exemplify how much room you can free up if you don’t need an engine, fuel tank or gearbox.

It’s more than decent to drive, too, with the kind of surging acceleration that has everyone all excited about electric cars, though with the market now crowded with battery-powered SUVs, that isn’t much of a party trick any more.

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If you always felt that it looked a bit frog-like from some angles, the Model Y certainly did its part to bolster the impression; the Performance model I drove last year had such hard, bouncy suspension, I much preferred driving it gently, in order to keep my fillings in my teeth.

I use the past tense because Tesla’s engineers have since hopped to it and reworked the Model Y’s suspension, turning down the stiffness for the dampers and installing softer coil springs. Even the suspension’s top mounts are less solid, to better dampen the body from vibrations.

That’s the sort of stuff a real car company gets up to, and it’s transformed the Model Y. It takes bumps in its stride now, despatching both big and small undulations with admirable calm. That allows you to notice the other stuff, like how its brakes blend friction and regenerative braking so smoothly.

But with the suspension sorted, Tesla should turn its boffins to other areas. Some sort of shade under the roof, which radiates heat at your head, would be handy, and a head-up display so you can know how fast you’re going and still watch the road ahead would be just swell. It’s not always easy to see out of the Model Y, either, and a 360-degree monitor would make parking much less fraught.

Yet, the improved ride quality has made the Model Y a much more pleasant car, and it feels more like it knows that it wants to be a practical, family-friendly and comfortable SUV, instead of something designed to nip at a Ferrari’s heels.

Chances are the Model Y’s new suspension merely filtered down from the Model 3, which received a major revamp this year. That brought so many improvements to the car in terms of refinement, cabin quality and new features that it is easily the Model Y’s fiercest foe. Unless you really need the space of an SUV, the new Model 3 is the better car, pure and simple.

The Model Y isn’t short of external competition either, of course, with combustion machines such as the BMW X3 or Mercedes GLC firmly in its crosshairs. That said, the Tesla is actually priced low enough to take aim at smaller rivals from those same brands, namely the X1 and GLB. For a similar amount of money, Toyota’s Harrier comes close in terms of space and performance, alongside the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6.

All three are excellent cars, though they arguably come without the high-tech sheen of the American brand. But whether you think any Tesla is worth the hype, the Model Y is certainly worth the money.

Tesla Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive Motor power/torque 295 hp, 450 Nm Battery Lithium ion, 60 kWh Charging time/type 6 hours (11 kW, AC, estimated), 30 minutes 10 to 80 per cent (170 kW, DC, estimated) Range 455 km Top speed 217 kmh 0-100 kmh 6.9 seconds Efficiency 15.7 kWh/100 km Price S$137,836 without COE Agent Tesla Singapore Available Now