Snuuzu: the mattress made for sleeping in a Tesla

Sleeping in the back of a Tesla sounds simple. It isn't. With the rear seats folded, the floor pitches towards the boot, with a kink right where the seats hinge. Throw a foam pad on top and you'll wake up at 3 am, sliding into the tailgate, with your hips trying to escape.

The Snuuzu is a mattress designed for exactly that geometry.

It's a 20cm-thick inflatable, shaped to sit on the folded rear seats of a Tesla Model Y (or Model 3, or Model X). Out of its duffel bag it looks like a regular mattress. The clever bits are inside: layered foam over a pressurised base that Snuuzu call "surface-flattening" — patent pending.

Honest verdict on the surface-flattening claim: it doesn't actually flatten the slope. The floor still slopes down towards the boot, so we either back the car up onto a small hill, or use plastic wheel ramps under the rear, or sit the mattress on top of our Teraglide platform. But the layered padding is thick enough that the kink at the seat hinge disappears under your hips. On the cheaper Tesla-shaped mattress we tried first, you can feel that kink. On the Snuuzu, you can't.

The pump is built into the top of the mattress. USB-C rechargeable, with Inflate and Deflate buttons. Press, wait about a minute, done. Neat — except for one trip when we'd forgotten to recharge the pump before leaving home. The battery died halfway through inflation. The pump has to come out of the mattress to plug in, which means it can't pump and charge at the same time. We sat with a half-inflated mattress while it topped up. Lesson learned: charge it before you go, or carry a power bank.

We've slept on the Snuuzu at the Ayers Rock Campground and at the campground in Coober Pedy — the long-distance car-camping nights when we had the mattress in the car without the Teraglide underneath. Overnight temperatures ran from about 3°C at Uluru to 30°C during the day. Tesla's Camp Mode kept the cabin at whatever we set it to, drawing maybe 10% of the car's battery over a night. No engine noise, no fumes, no generator — just a quiet, warm cocoon.

Combined with the Teraglide platform, the Snuuzu makes the most comfortable car-camping bed we've ever set up. It sits very high — getting in is a bit of a commando-crawl, and a small folding stool helps a lot. Inside, there's room to roll over, look at the sky through the glass roof, or read your phone, without bumping into glass or the support arch.

Firmness is adjustable: a short press of the deflate button lets a little air out for a softer feel.

The cover is removable Tencel (organic Lyocell), zips off, goes in the washing machine. Two-year warranty.

Dimensions: 204 × 130 cm, 20cm thick on the Model Y (18cm on the Model 3), 10.6 kg packed. The duffel is 74 × 32 cm — small enough to live in the sub-trunk while we're driving. It's a touch shorter than a true double bed. Fine for our height; worth measuring against yours if you're tall.

In Australia, the Snuuzu for the Model Y is $1,309 AUD at the time of writing, with an optional bundle that adds two pillows. Use code TRIPPING for a discount.

It's still in the boot, ready for the next trip.