Order: Cali Rte 1 vs Premium, quandry

[bbulkow]

I've convinced myself to have my first e-car be a Mach-E, and the order banks are open, but I find myself in a quandry.

The most important feature to me is range (cargo capacity is actually #1, but I've already removed the Tesla Y for poor vent controls [actually my partner vetoed it] and lack of Android Auto and poor self-driving], and the Ioniq 5 for poor buying experience).

In 2022 I would have ordered the Rte 1 with RWD and done. Had I decided all this a month ago, it would have happened that way , but today is today

Today, the Rte 1 RWD doesn't exist. The 2023 Premium Extended RDW is almost the same range as the Rte 1 AWD, so my primary buying consideration has vanished. Sad.

Or has it? If I do primarily freeway driving (not the test profile), will the Rte 1 outperform or under perform in range by any measurable amount (10 miles out of 300 is not reliable).

The Premium has Bose sound and a power liftgate (which I like, have one on my CRV) and the lighter seats. The Rte 1 has more power. Power is good but I see this as my practical car.

I can upgrade speakers and sound if I don't like it (benefit Rte 1). Can I add aero wheels to the Premium, and accrue most of the range benefits? Or are the drivers of (what used to be) a 15% range increase on the Rte 1 RWD vs Premium RWD deeper than the wheels? Don't see much about people trying to goose the range on a Premium (because those people would order a Rte 1, I imagine).

Opinions?

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[Tom L]

I've convinced myself to have my first e-car be a Mach-E, and the order banks are open, but I find myself in a quandry.

The most important feature to me is range (cargo capacity is actually #1, but I've already removed the Tesla Y for poor vent controls [actually my partner vetoed it] and lack of Android Auto and poor self-driving], and the Ioniq 5 for poor buying experience).

In 2022 I would have ordered the Rte 1 with RWD and done. Had I decided all this a month ago, it would have happened that way , but today is today

Today, the Rte 1 RWD doesn't exist. The 2023 Premium Extended RDW is almost the same range as the Rte 1 AWD, so my primary buying consideration has vanished. Sad.

Or has it? If I do primarily freeway driving (not the test profile), will the Rte 1 outperform or under perform in range by any measurable amount (10 miles out of 300 is not reliable).

The Premium has Bose sound and a power liftgate (which I like, have one on my CRV) and the lighter seats. The Rte 1 has more power. Power is good but I see this as my practical car.

I can upgrade speakers and sound if I don't like it (benefit Rte 1). Can I add aero wheels to the Premium, and accrue most of the range benefits? Or are the drivers of (what used to be) a 15% range increase on the Rte 1 RWD vs Premium RWD deeper than the wheels? Don't see much about people trying to goose the range on a Premium (because those people would order a Rte 1, I imagine).

Opinions?

I don’t know if this helps your quandary, but I have 6000 miles on a 2022 CR1 with ER and my 90% SOC has never been below 302 miles, and that is after some occasional 200 mile trips at freeway speed. I typically get 325-330 true miles of range at 90% SOC for my usual country road driving @ 55 mph. My best range at 100% charge was 375 miles, but that under ideal conditions. With AWD my numbers would be lower, probably 10-15% given my driving style but this will vary from person to person. We will see what happens to my range when winter comes.

 

[jason330i]

I would say unless you need the additional power and AWD, go with the premium RWD.

 

[bbulkow]

I don’t know if this helps your quandary, but I have 6000 miles on a 2022 CR1 with ER and my 90% SOC has never been below 302 miles, and that is after some occasional 200 mile trips at freeway speed. I typically get 325-330 true miles of range at 90% SOC for my usual country road driving @ 55 mph. My best range at 100% charge was 375 miles, but that under ideal conditions. With AWD my numbers would be lower, probably 10-15% given my driving style but this will vary from person to person. We will see what happens to my range when winter comes.

Congratulations on having a CR1 with RWD, I'd love to buy one, they aren't made anymore, so I'm not sure how your range numbers help me decide between a CR1 with AWD and a Premium with RWD. What am I missing?

 

[bbulkow]

I would say unless you need the additional power and AWD, go with the premium RWD.

Why?

 

[jason330i]

Why?

I feel the premium features are worth it, 0 to 60 in about 6 sec is not bad, and RWD is kinda fun.

 

[Pushrods&Capacitors]

I've convinced myself to have my first e-car be a Mach-E, and the order banks are open, but I find myself in a quandry.

The most important feature to me is range (cargo capacity is actually #1, but I've already removed the Tesla Y for poor vent controls [actually my partner vetoed it] and lack of Android Auto and poor self-driving], and the Ioniq 5 for poor buying experience).

In 2022 I would have ordered the Rte 1 with RWD and done. Had I decided all this a month ago, it would have happened that way , but today is today

Today, the Rte 1 RWD doesn't exist. The 2023 Premium Extended RDW is almost the same range as the Rte 1 AWD, so my primary buying consideration has vanished. Sad.

Or has it? If I do primarily freeway driving (not the test profile), will the Rte 1 outperform or under perform in range by any measurable amount (10 miles out of 300 is not reliable).

The Premium has Bose sound and a power liftgate (which I like, have one on my CRV) and the lighter seats. The Rte 1 has more power. Power is good but I see this as my practical car.

I can upgrade speakers and sound if I don't like it (benefit Rte 1). Can I add aero wheels to the Premium, and accrue most of the range benefits? Or are the drivers of (what used to be) a 15% range increase on the Rte 1 RWD vs Premium RWD deeper than the wheels? Don't see much about people trying to goose the range on a Premium (because those people would order a Rte 1, I imagine).

Opinions?

My opinion is get the one with the features that will keep you happy for however many years you keep a car.

Both the CA Rt1 and 4X outperform their EPA estimates by a great deal in Edmunds EV range tests that run a 60/40 city/hwy split. The old 270 mile 4X got 303 miles and the 305 mile CA Rt1 got 344.

Additionally, Car and Driver achieved 250 miles in a 4X at constant 75mph in their strict hwy test.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/electric-car-range-and-consumption-epa-vs-edmunds.html

 

[bbulkow]

My opinion is get the one with the features that will keep you happy for however many years you keep a car.

Both the CA Rt1 and 4X outperform their EPA estimates by a great deal in Edmunds EV range tests that run a 60/40 city/hwy split. The old 270 mile 4X got 303 miles and the 305 mile CA Rt1 got 344.

Additionally, Car and Driver achieved 250 miles in a 4X at constant 75mph in their strict hwy test.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/electric-car-range-and-consumption-epa-vs-edmunds.html

Thanks! If there was one order that was a superset of the others, I'd order it in a heartbeat (which is basically what the CR1 RWD was, I'm suffering some heartburn that I can't order one).

I guess I"m asking if people think the CR1 AWD has substantially better freeway range than a Premium RWD.

Seats, Sound, I can make my own call on.... sorta.... I would normally make a final decision by sitting in each one of them and deciding which seats I like... Power is a little tougher (because I can't test drive any of them) but my experience with a friend's single motor tesla says these have enough power for me.

 

[bbulkow]

I feel the premium features are worth it, 0 to 60 in about 6 sec is not bad, and RWD is kinda fun.

Thanks! How do you feel the range difference shakes out?

 

[jason330i]

Thanks! How do you feel the range difference shakes out?

Route1 AWD gets 312 miles, Premium RWD gets 306 miles.

With only one motor drawing power and some aero wheels, my guess is that you could probably squeeze out more range on the Premium.

 

[bbulkow]

Route1 AWD gets 312 miles, Premium RWD gets 306 miles.

With only one motor drawing power and some aero wheels, my guess is that you could probably squeeze out more range on the Premium.

You mean: Ford's posted numbers are that, yes I did bother to look up Ford's numbers, which another poster clearly stated were pretty bunk - in a similar way to the EPA numbers.

We have the Edmund's extended range premium RWD numbers, which are great, but we don't have a comparison with AWD CR1 numbers. We have a previous poster on this thread with CR1 RWD numbers.

This pretty good thread on the same topic is wildly inconclusive. It speculates about throwing away EPA data and the RWD Premium is better than the stats, one poster claims the CR1 data is bogus, that Ford is pushing people to the CR1 for business reasons, and the awesomeness of 18 inch wheels.

I even called a local dealer. They were, of course, less help than yall .

I guess I'm coming down on "no one will ever know" and I suppose between the sound and seats and potential underrating of the Premium Extended RWD, I'm leaning that way.

But damn you, Ford! Why not just leave the undisputed range king on the market? Maybe someone is listening out there. (I know, the best range car wasn't the most expensive. Sigh.)

Thanks again for everyone's speculation.

 

[daemonic3]

Thanks! If there was one order that was a superset of the others, I'd order it in a heartbeat (which is basically what the CR1 RWD was, I'm suffering some heartburn that I can't order one).

I guess I"m asking if people think the CR1 AWD has substantially better freeway range than a Premium RWD.

Seats, Sound, I can make my own call on.... sorta.... I would normally make a final decision by sitting in each one of them and deciding which seats I like... Power is a little tougher (because I can't test drive any of them) but my experience with a friend's single motor tesla says these have enough power for me.

As someone that feels duped by the "AWD penalty" in range *rating* on the Premium, I will say that every real world range test I've seen data on shows very little AWD penalty versus RWD. I think Ford's Route1 numbers in the 2022 table I put together below *are* correct, and that Premium have NEVER been correct

I wanted the Premium trim, and since we don't care about AWD it seemed a no brainer to pick RWD to save $2700 and add ~26 miles. Had we known the real-world testing data I probably would have just gone AWD since you can probably get back most of the $2700 when selling it eventually.

If you think about it, the Premium ER AWD never made sense if we believe the Route1 numbers... RWD goes 303->314 miles, so 11 extra miles for the 18" aero wheels in RWD, while AWD goes 277->312 miles, so 35 extra miles for 18" aero wheels in AWD?? 277 was never correct in the first place

Also, did the Route1 have an efficiency algorithm to utilize only one motor in AWD more often? It only had a 2mi range penalty for AWD vs RWD, which likely made no one buy the RWD (hence dropped for 2023) even if $2700 cheaper.

 

[bbulkow]

Thanks! I also want the Premium trim, primarily for the seats secondarily for the stereo, but don't want to pay range.

The 2023 numbers for Premium show only a 15 mile range difference between the Premium RWD and the Premium AWD, and 12 between the Premium RWD and the CR1 AWD, which I think supports your thoughts about the 2022 numbers. At this point, I'm just believing it's all the same - differences of 6 and 12 miles are barely anything - and I'll probably find some aftermarket aero covers and high milage tires to eek out a bit more. I'm not really a car reseller - I drive 'em into the ground. So why not the better trim.

I made a similar choice when I bought my 2017 Honda CRV - they had RWD and AWD. The AWD had a MPG penalty and a price penalty and a complexity/service penalty. But, it turns out the FWD is skittish in the wet. Being a cali driver, and given the changes in ocean currents over the last 10 years, even northern cali has a lot less rain, but that car is skittish, more so than any other car I've owned. One has to keep a strong weather eye on the tire pressures, lower them a touch, slow down a bit, and I wish I had AWD. No way to know that until one's owned it a bit! Otherwise it's a great car and I'll keep it in the stable alongside the mach e for a while....

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[ARK]

I’d say if you’d take advantage of the additional options on the Premium, you should go for the Premium. If you don’t care for them, easy way to save some cash.

The difference in range is quite minor. I don’t know what your use case is, but my hunch would be that you can afford to give up that small amount of range without it limiting what you want to do.

And honestly, if you really do need those extra few miles, I’d caution on getting either one - your efficiency will vary greatly based on things like speed, temperature, elevation change, etc., you shouldn’t count on getting EPA range, particularly driving up a freeway into the mountains during winter for a ski trip or something along those lines.

 

[bbulkow]

I’d say if you’d take advantage of the additional options on the Premium, you should go for the Premium. If you don’t care for them, easy way to save some cash.

The difference in range is quite minor. I don’t know what your use case is, ....

And honestly, if you really do need those extra few miles,

Having lived with a 265 epa quoted miles Tesla for a few weeks, I am fully aware that epa miles are not real world miles. I had simple everyday driving days where I would have gotten home with 6 percent, but stopped at a supercharger.

My use case is the same as my ICE car. I drive places. I live very centrally in the bay area, and a busy weekend might well involve 150 to 200 miles, and with epa ratings being what they are, I would prefer not to be limited.

I think everyone wants more range. My gas car is essentially unlimited, with a 5 minute stop I add 400 miles, and that stations are very common and 24/7. We have 80 years of American civilization built around the car, so yeah, i want as come to the same as possible. Why wouldn't I? If I could get 800 Mike's, at a reasonable price, i would. 800 miles is about 16 hours averaging 50 mph, which i find is my usual long distance speed, stopping for a stretch every once in a while. 800 miles would mean a charge every week, plenty to handle a power outage. Or 500. At that point I can't imagine wanting much more... but 300 epa? seems short, based on my experience with the model 3.

i believe dc fast charging is equivilent to tesla super charging, and we'll get rapidly better (with tesla opening up to others, with a single non tesla plug format, etc). I will also get a home charger (which I don't have now, getting bids).

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