Cancelling MME Order

[FLmac]

I think it really depends on your personal situation. This is the first new car I’ve ever bought. Some stories I read here scare me about something going wrong. I’ve also had ICE cars with reliability issues. I owned a 1997 BMW about 5 years ago that I loved, but there was always something wrong with it. I’m thankful I have close friends who can rebuild a car if needed, but thats zero help with the MME.
I hope if something goes wrong it can be fixed and I can get a loaner. I also went with Ford over other options because of the number of dealers close to me. This varies for everyone.
This is my only car, but if I needed another car and a loaner wasn’t an option I would figure it out. I guess I have people in my life who I could depend on, but if that wasn’t my case I would have to go with what I felt most comfortable with reliability wise.
Good luck!!!

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[Ride_the_lightning]

$1300 once a year is still less than a monthly payment for a 2nd car (even twice a year).

Lol are you serious? The second car isn’t for me, it’s for my wife. Am I supposed to drive her to work every day in my MME like some sort of Uber driver?

 

[JamieGeek]

Lol are you serious? The second car isn’t for me, it’s for my wife. Am I supposed to drive her to work every day in my MME like some sort of Uber driver?

The OP was talking about a single car household, hence the rest of this topic is about a single car (or EV only household).

Thus your wife can also drive an EV only.

Having the requirement for 2 cars in a household, however, does open up options (e.g. PHEV or hybrid).

 

[mkhuffman]

The OP was talking about a single car household, hence the rest of this topic is about a single car (or EV only household).

Thus your wife can also drive an EV only.

Having the requirement for 2 cars in a household, however, does open up options (e.g. PHEV or hybrid).

To me it is less about the cost and more about the convenience. But why would I spend $62k on a car that is going to sit in my garage every time I need to go out of town?

What happens when I have to make an unexpected out of town trip, like when my Dad went in the hospital? Finding a rental car quicky and outside of normal business hours is not easy, and then you have to get to the rental car place. And can you get a rental car when there is a hurricane evacuation? Not likely.

 

[JamieGeek]

To me it is less about the cost and more about the convenience. But why would I spend $62k on a car that is going to sit in my garage every time I need to go out of town?

What happens when I have to make an unexpected out of town trip, like when my Dad went in the hospital? Finding a rental car quicky and outside of normal business hours is not easy, and then you have to get to the rental car place. And can you get a rental car when there is a hurricane evacuation? Not likely.

Sure everyone has their own criteria and own reasons.

Someone going into the hospital is an exceptional problem, however--to some degree: Many people do care for loved ones and the possibility of that happening may be higher for them than others (I have a parent that has been rushed to the hospital several times over the past year--their place and the hospital they went to, however, are well with in the range of our Mach-E--heck they are within range of our old Focus Electric).

Just saying that being able to rent a car may be a way someone can use when they just have one EV. Does it work for you? Obviously not. Can't really extrapolate that situation for all, however.

 

[ChuckA]

Hi all,

Gonna say thanks for a few months of entertainment but I'm gonna go a different way. Basically, gonna switch my Accord to a hybrid Accord. I'm still a single car guy and need a car to reliably take me to and from work for a few more years. The MME can be uncertain. Also, the recent price increase and the silence from the dealer got me to rethink things and my trust in Ford has never been 100%.

I'm not trying to stick it to Ford or anything, really I'm just going in a direction that makes a bit more sense to me.

As an aside, it's just as bad on the Honda side to get a car.

One place had an online order system. I went through it, applied for credit, then got a) it won't be here for a few weeks and b) there's a $6,750 markup that isn't on the website. They couldn't be half-arsed, or honest, enough to put the ADM on the website. The dealer I'm going to buy from won't have the car until April but they said it was pretty certain it would arrive 4/15-4/21. There is ADM but I bought my current Accord from them and they were very fair and transparent about the process. They gave me a screaming deal a few years ago and I'm going to get roughly 70% of what I paid for that car in trade.

Peace out!

Edit: While writing this got an email from the dealership saying my price had not changed on my order. Still gonna cancel.

I have a ‘17 Accord Hybrid EX-L and get 48 mpg summer, 38 mpg winter. It’s a fine car when I can’t use the MME.

I have one warning, my hybrid had a rearview camera but no backup sensors. I had the dealer install them for $800. But that was 2017, not 2022..

 

[machdady]

Speaking of consumer reports. MME a top pick:

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars-best-cars-top-picks-2022/

 

[jonkMACHE]

I love my car, but if I didn't have an ICE backup I would not buy a car that I cannot use for all my driving. Right now taking a trip to my mom's house is not a problem, but in a year or two I probably will have to take my wife's ICE because of the lack of charging capacity on the route. I would not pay $62,000 for a car and then get a ICE rental because my $62k car can't make a trip.

So I think you made the right call. Good luck!

I don't understand the whole ICE range argument... a 15 minute stop at a 150kW DCFC will give you 100 miles of range... plenty enough to make it to the next DCFC on your journey. And honestly... if it required more than one day of driving I'd probably look into flying

 

[Ride_the_lightning]

I don't understand the whole ICE range argument... a 15 minute stop at a 150kW DCFC will give you 100 miles of range... plenty enough to make it to the next DCFC on your journey. And honestly... if it required more than one day of driving I'd probably look into flying

There just aren’t DCFCs in large swaths of the country, certainly not enough to be reliable yet. And definitely not once you get off major interstates.

 

[mkhuffman]

I don't understand the whole ICE range argument... a 15 minute stop at a 150kW DCFC will give you 100 miles of range... plenty enough to make it to the next DCFC on your journey. And honestly... if it required more than one day of driving I'd probably look into flying

In all my travels around Virginia, North Carolina and DC, I have used a few DCFC stations. At all of the stations there were at least one or two chargers out of order. In every case I was able to find a working charger and get my fast charge. So as of today, I agree with you. It is no big deal to stop for a 15-40 minute charge - that does not bother me at all.

What I am referring to is the massive flood of EVs coming on the market. In all the DCFC stations I have visited, there were 2-6 working chargers and most (or all) were available and not being used.

However, since November when I first used DCFC on my way home from picking up my car in NJ, I have seen a noticeable increase in the number of people charging when I stop. There really does not need to be much of an increase to fill the 2-6 available chargers I have typically seen available.

In my opinion, by the end of 2022 it will be common to stop for a DCFC and have to wait for someone to finish charging before you can get a charge. It might happen this summer when more people are traveling. Who knows.

The bottom line: if you need to travel beyond the range of your car, you will probably need to count on 1-2 hours per charging stop. Or more. That is unacceptable to me and not a viable way to travel.

 

[yngwenli]

In Norway, there are not enough DCFC now I've read.

I'm still planning to only use the ICE for road trips, nice that we still have one (10+ years old). I'm thinking after it dies (hopefully many more years), new EVs can hit 400+ miles by then and are more affordable (not counting the Lucid) and the charging infra will be even better and abundant.

I don't even want to stop 15 minutes on a road trip being a never stop driver.

 

[jonkMACHE]

What I am referring to is the massive flood of EVs coming on the market. In all the DCFC stations I have visited, there were 2-6 working chargers and most (or all) were available and not being used

thats true, but there is currently billions being invested in EV infrastructure near where I live. Infrastructure growth should outpace the number of EVs delivered… and by the way, a brand new EV is very hard to get in 2022.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I don't understand the whole ICE range argument... a 15 minute stop at a 150kW DCFC will give you 100 miles of range... plenty enough to make it to the next DCFC on your journey. And honestly... if it required more than one day of driving I'd probably look into flying

I just did a 1000-miles trip from northern AZ to southern CA and back in our Mustang. Out here, it's not uncommon to find DCFCs 150+ miles apart, or more. For a 300-mile range vehicle we first have to subtract 20% for the 80% cap on reasonable charge rates, so we're down to 240 miles. Then take 25% off (of the 300) for the bottom 25% "quarter tank" that we've become accustomed to. That brings us to 165 miles before we start to get concerned.

I agree that 165 mile range between charging is plenty for most trips.

However, we had a situation where we were driving 150 miles between the only two charging stations on one section of the freeway, and we ran into 30-40 mph sustained headwinds for most of those 150 miles. That meant our energy expenditure was more akin to driving at 105-115 mph when going freeway speeds. We were down to about 1.5 Mi/kWh for a time and had to cut our speeds to about 60-65 mph. In the west, going 15 mph slower than the speed limit is a recipe for danger. If we had continued with our very low efficiency, 1.5 Mi/kWh would only have brought us about 2/3 of the distance. There are literally no chargers between those two, and it's not clear there are even options for 50A wall plugs. To get an idea of the remoteness of this area: there are two reliable and three total gas station between those two chargers, so poor mileage in an ICE is also potentially problematic.

All of that said: We will do this drive again in the Mustang, and happily, with only moderate changes to our approach.

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