Possibly Buy Mach-E Premium RWD

[bbulkow]

We are strongly considering buying a Mach-E Premium RWD (big battery). We’ll be asking the salesman these questions shortly, but I’d really like to hear answers from actual owners like you folks! If any of you have a few moments to answer these questions we’d much appreciate your time. Thanks!

• Realistically, how much range can we expect at temperatures of 40F, 72F, and 100F, with reasonable levels of climate control and pretty-conservative driving style?
• We can use Tesla Superchargers now (if we have the NACS adaptor), right? Does the adaptor limit charging speed?
• We can still use Electrify America, EVgo, Chargepoint, etc, right? That is, Ford striking a deal with Tesla didn’t PO Electrify America or something crazy like that, right?
• How hot does the frunk get in 95-degree weather? On the one hand, it’s not ventilated, so it should be hotter than outside, but on the other hand, it’s not exposed to sunlight either, so hmmm…
• Please tell me about the reliability or not of your Mach-E…?

Thanks again!

I own that model, happy with my purchase. You don't state what year though. The 2023.5 and forward had a good change to the cooling and heating system that should improve range.

I get a realistic 250 miles between charges on a road trip with modest climate control. That includes charging to 80 percent and charging up again somewhere in the 10 to 15 percent range. My 0 to 100 range on freeway is probably 320 to 340, but i dont usually push it on either end.

My at home range is hard to say. On cold days the heater comes on to heat the battery, and the cabin (i tend not to preheat because the ford app is bad at it), and then do a short trip (like a few miles to the store). The drive to the store (not freeway) is almost nothing but the heating is a lot. If i do a longer trip (an hour to another town) the heating of the battery is essentially spread over time. What is real is i never need to think about public charging during the course of any normal day, and that includes days where i have to drive an hour and a half somewhere, and back.

The car has been reliable except for bluecruise. It tends to throw 'driver facing camera fault' errors. It is sporadic and has been to the dealer 4 times. They always do a software update and shrug, which is frustrating.

I recently got the a2z adapter and have used it in anger a few times. It changes everything. Yes you can still use all the other networks, but supercharge stations are the easy button except for parking and getting the adapter on. The stations are all 250kw so you dont need to learn arcana about charger types (eg evgo 200kw max out at 71kw on a 400v architecture car, but an ea 150kw delivers all the way to 160kw). The number of stalls at a supercharger is usually a lot more than other networks where there might only be one or two, and a big station is 20, while a big tesla station is 100. The annoyance is we don't have access to the entire network but it is still so, so, much better to have. Road trips just aren't an issue any more.

The larger battery charges more kw, thus more miles per minute, but there are more miles in the tank, so you're charge times are about the same. On a road trip it seems a couple of tacos and a bathroom break are 20 to 25 minutes which is a decent 60 percent charge, and back on the road. In round numbers 10 percent is 30 miles on a 91kwh battery but we get anywhere between 2.8 and 4.0 m / kwh depending primarily on traffic. More traffic is more efficient because it keeps us more in the 60mph zone, and drafting naturally. The open road we are temped to flow at 75mph with no draft targets, that hits the low end of the range.

I don't road trip much. I charge at home. If you have home charging an ev is a great thing, especially one with this much range.

I would say the most common non tesla evs i see on the road are rivian, id.4s and ioniq5 and bolts, probably in that order. If i was in the market today i would look at the toyota brzx, which has similar interior space to a mache. The 800v architecture of the ioniq is a plus, as is the interior space, but i didn't optimize for road trips. I love the fit and finish and solidity of the car, and fords conservative engineering of the battery pack. I am also glad i didn't go through the hvbjb issues (while parts still seem to fail, just like the similar part failed on my uncle's tesla, it isn't the high rate pre mid 2022). It seems most other companies had teething pains of some sort or other, buying just about anything now gets you past the early adopter pain.

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[Sikkun]

I've had my RWD Prem Extended range for a couple of months, and I gotta say I've been grinning from ear to ear the whole time - I think you'll love it. I've had no reliability issues. I had the same questions regarding range, and after having it for 1500 miles or so I can only say I haven't had range anxiety once - it has simply not ever come close to being an issue. I charge it overnight at home whenever I get below 50% or so. In Colorado our summer off peak rate is .12cents/kwh - waaay cheaper than gas. I've charged on different brands of public chargers a few times just to see how they worked, no issues. Still waiting on my adapter from Ford so I haven't used a Tesla station yet.

My biggest complaints are that the rear hatch buttons are finicky, the app is a bit sparse, and the lack of a built in shade for the sunroof (I've covered it until winter with an off market shade.) But hands down my favorite car I've ever owned. Good luck!

If your rear hatch isn’t opening completely when the car is locked (aka you have to hit it twice). That’s is a software bug a dealer could fix fyi.

 

[bbulkow]

So I recently purchased a rear wheel drive premium with the big battery and the range is really good. Its not like Tesla telling you 340 and only going 325. In this heat its easy to get 320 miles on a full charge. Honestly I have never used the frunk but I can tell you the Mach E sitting out in the sun all day is cooler inside than my model Y with a roof shade outside for 15 minutes. Im giving you my honest opinion here, my 24 model Y RWD makes driving seamless because the tech, the app is solid. The car is stress free, the biggest issue with the Tesla is getting use to operating the entire car from a computer screen. The mach E is more fun and comfortable to drive but the issue with Ford is the tech is antiquated compared with Tesla. The app is quirky and the car is not as user friendly as the Tesla. Having said that though if this is your first EV the Mach E will be a better experience for you because it is familiar to an ice vehicle with most controls the same and you won’t have to worry about the price going down 10k in a couple weeks because the owners a jerk.

I find the mache more user friendly, because the controls are like the controls i grew up with. Knowing where on the black surface to tap the card, for example, instead of having a back up fob that works just like all the fobs i have in other cars. And having the speed in front of me, not on the side. Sure you get used to it but why??? I don't find the mache antiquated at all.

 

[bbulkow]

(Sorry, I thought I asked this follow-on question earlier, but I can’t seem to find it in the thread if so.)

The salesman gave me an answer to one of my questions that seems … unlikely. I suspect I didn’t ask the question clearly, or I misinterpreted his answer.

Scenario:
— You’re in stop&go traffic.
— Adaptive cruise control halts your Mach-E because the car in front of stops.
— After a short time, the car in front of you moves forward.
— Does the Mach-E automatically move forward in response? Do you have to tap the accelerator or some button, to resume?

The salesman’s replay (again, not what I expected) was that, once you come to a stop, the Mach-E completely cancels and resets all of your adaptive cruise-control settings. You have to turn the whole system back on, set a new target speed and so forth.

Don't trust the dealers answer to anything, as you have learned. There are probably other wrong answers you didn't detect. Better to ask questions here.

The actual answer is it depends how long the stop is. If you touched the brake it cancels, but if you didn't (your example), and it is a short stop (maybe less than about 15 seconds?) it just goes, a longer stop, it needs an input. It tells you on the screen right in front of you. A gentle tap on the accelerator, or the up (resume) button on the right hand steering wheel control. Using the accel keeps your speed setting, using the button resets to your current speed. This is almost like how my other car with adaptive cruise control works (up button on my honda restores previous setting, mache sets to current speed, so there are some differences). Most things in the mache work like 'normal'.

You asked about the frunk temperature. I find the frunk fairly useless because of its small size (unlike my Porsche which had a frunk big enough to fit a human body). I only use it for my laptop bag, and only occasionally. The rwd doesn't have a large hot motor right by the frunk so the temp seems to be whatever ambient is, generally. I read the awd versions get warm.

 

[bbulkow]

Great impressions, Mr Breeze. Thanks!

Neither my wife nor I understand what Tesla calls their “minimalist” vibe. As far as we can tell, it’s just “cheapness made cool by hype.” Nobody would actually want it if Tesla hadn’t told them they wanted it. My opinion… That’s the main reason we’re not getting a Tesla.

Anyway, could you please tell me a little more about your comment that, “the app is quirky and the car is not as user friendly as the Tesla,” especially the latter?

Also, if you use Android auto or apple car play, the use experience is mostly that, and i love that experience. All my contacts and routes and music just the same as my other cars.

I am not a fan of the climate controls in the mache, it takes too many button mashes, and the auto settings drain range. But it is better than tesla where you can't independently control air flow on passenger vs driver on the 3 and y. That was a true 100 percent dealbreaker for my partner. The big knob on the mache is a plus even though it is a little quirky. And don't get me started about the missing precondition button on the mache, that is just dumb (all other evs have a precondition button).

The phone app got a lot better a few months ago with version 5. I think it is on par with tesla now. The tesla app has quirks, like about 1 in 5 launches it doesn't know my location and never figures it out (puts me in africa), and i have to restart, just for example.

The mache app on the phone is actually useless at finding charging but that's ok, there are many other apps that are better. In car the apps are really uneven, because so many networks. Google maps in aa on the dashboard improves every month little by little and is ok not great. It doesn't know your current state of charge, it doesn't show number of available stalls when doing a search right on the display, for example. I hit a bug yesterday where it wouldn't find tesla chargers even though it knew i have an adapter. I removed and added the adapter and superchargers showed up again. I expect in another year it might get great. The ford in car nav is worse all around. No tesla chargers at all, sub par traffic and directions, poor voice controls.

On the mache, you also have choice. Abrp (owned by rivian) runs right on the dashboard if you want. It has very good projections of arrival charge, and is best at finding chargers, but the overall nav experience isn't great. Last trip we used a little abrp but once we decided on the next charger we used google. love the choice. That is the one killer feature i would demand on any new car, especially an ev where you need good nav, but that's just me.

Realistically, on a road trip, you should expect your copilot to find a good charger based on a variety of factors, like availability of food or bathrooms or shopping or price or distance from freeway. Kind of like finding a lunch stop, it can be complicated! If you are solo you will probably pick out your next charger or have a couple options before you start driving, so you only need to search for the chargers you have already researched.

 

[Mr Breeze]

I find the mache more user friendly, because the controls are like the controls i grew up with. Knowing where on the black surface to tap the card, for example, instead of having a back up fob that works just like all the fobs i have in other cars. And having the speed in front of me, not on the side. Sure you get used to it but why??? I don't find the mache antiquated at all.

What I mean by antiquated is the tech is still needing improvement for example I have my charging set to start at 11pm and charge to 80% but for some reason when it gets to 80 it changes itself to charge to 100% and keeps going and I don't know why. Its things like that, not that Im complaining Hey whenever I go on a road trip the Tesla stays in the garage and we take the Mach E. Im just saying by now Ford should have these bugs worked out.

 

[bbulkow]

What I mean by antiquated is the tech is still needing improvement for example I have my charging set to start at 11pm and charge to 80% but for some reason when it gets to 80 it changes itself to charge to 100% and keeps going and I don't know why. Its things like that, not that Im complaining Hey whenever I go on a road trip the Tesla stays in the garage and we take the Mach E. Im just saying by now Ford should have these bugs worked out.

Yeah, i guess my experience is they all have quirks and bugs and since app version 5 i don't think ford is any more or less buggy than tesla app. Version 4 was bad, so much of the time it would report 'service unavailable try again later '. Paak is even reliable for me now (4 was very hit and miss).

Otoh charge limits have worked properly on my car since day 0. The car obeys limits properly and overrides properly and does remote start for climate control properly. I might share your dim view if i experienced a long running bug. The fact that limits are based on destination, so to get access to charge limit feature you have to share data with ford, bothers me. There should be a general charge limit you can set independent of location, that is a poor product decision, imho

Have you called ford? They run the app and service and seem friendly. It might be something about your car or your account that needs fixing. Assuming you have been through some of the normal things like reinstall. Eg, if your cars gps is malfunctioning, charge limits won't work.

One place i worked had a big parking garage with two entrances and i ended up with two destinations i had to set limits on, for the same charger. I ended up always using the same entrance, then they turned on restrictive charge policies at the charger so i disabled car based policies, so it didn't matter. Dumb tho.

 

[Mr Breeze]

Great impressions, Mr Breeze. Thanks!

Neither my wife nor I understand what Tesla calls their “minimalist” vibe. As far as we can tell, it’s just “cheapness made cool by hype.” Nobody would actually want it if Tesla hadn’t told them they wanted it. My opinion… That’s the main reason we’re not getting a Tesla.

Anyway, could you please tell me a little more about your comment that, “the app is quirky and the car is not as user friendly as the Tesla,” especially the latter?

Well for example I have my charger setting to charge to 80% at home starting at 11 pm but for some reason when it gets to 80 it changes the setting to 100% and keeps going and that is really annoying and I don’t let it charge overnight anymore until I figure out whats going on. Also in my Tesla when planning a trip it brings up many chargers available with guidance to whichever one you choose, easy peasy but in the Ford it kind of does the same thing but its harder to understand and easier to mess up. It could just be me as Im not very tech savvy meaning the Ford makes you work for all information and Tesla doesn’t. Also I got my mach e for just under 41k I would never have paid the 55 sticker

 

[Mr Breeze]

Yeah, i guess my experience is they all have quirks and bugs and since app version 5 i don't think ford is any more or less buggy than tesla app. Version 4 was bad, so much of the time it would report 'service unavailable try again later '.

Otoh charge limits have worked properly on my car since day 0. The car obeys limits properly and overrides properly and does remote start for climate control properly. I might share your dim view if i experienced a long running bug.

Have you called ford? They run the app and service and seem friendly. It might be something about your car or your account that needs fixing. Assuming you have been through some of the normal things like reinstall.

I haven’t contacted Ford yet Ive only had the car a month and still getting use to it. Making sure Im not doing something wrong

 

[bbulkow]

Well for example I have my charger setting to charge to 80% at home starting at 11 pm but for some reason when it gets to 80 it changes the setting to 100% and keeps going and that is really annoying and I don’t let it charge overnight anymore until I figure out whats going on. Also in my Tesla when planning a trip it brings up many chargers available with guidance to whichever one you choose, easy peasy but in the Ford it kind of does the same thing but its harder to understand and easier to mess up. It could just be me as Im not very tech savvy meaning the Ford makes you work for all information and Tesla doesn’t. Also I got my mach e for just under 41k I would never have paid the 55 sticker

I agree that fords in car nav is terrible, and teslas is not.

But the mache lets you use google maps (through apple car play or android auto). Googles nav is generally better and find charger is improving. i bet in a year it will be up to tesla, it isn't yet. And Google nav is fully free, not 10 bucks a month to get traffic based routing like tesla.

Route to charger is better in tesla of course, but that's not an issue with antiquation, it is the benefit of a vertically integrated solution.

Tesla doesn't show you non tesla chargers, so they don't have the hassle of integrating with all the networks. Pretty sure they don't let you say you have adapter, so you can see and route to ea chargers, for example? Tesla only is an easier technical problem. I really dislike how tesla locks you in, but vertical integration works well ... Until it doesn't. Fords solution there will always be competition (like how i can run abrp on the console, and Google maps, and waze, and plugshare, even ea has an android auto app... I like choice).

I haven't used in car nav on any car i bought. I always expect a specialist product to be better, it always is. I had a garmin in my car before we all had cell phones, for example.

 

[bbulkow]

I haven’t contacted Ford yet Ive only had the car a month and still getting use to it. Making sure Im not doing something wrong

They are genuine about being there to help. If you are doing something wrong they will help you find it. It is a customer support phone number. Kind of shocking. I suggest giving them a call and letting them try.

 

[Mr Breeze]

Appreciate your insights, you definitely have a better grasp on the Mach E than I do. I do have a question for you. I set up my charging in the app. Should I be doing it in the car?

 

[Mr88cet]

Superb impressions and info, bbulkow, thanks!

Could you tell me more about “the annoyance is we don't have access to the entire network but it is still so, so, much better to have.”

Are Mach-E drivers only allowed to use certain Supercharger stations? If so, why is that, and is there a map of which ones may be used?

 

[Mr88cet]

Great clarification of stop&go, bbulkow, thanks. Indeed pretty similar with how it works on our Prius Prime.

 

[bbulkow]

Superb impressions and info, bbulkow, thanks!

Could you tell me more about “the annoyance is we don't have access to the entire network but it is still so, so, much better to have.”

Are Mach-E drivers only allowed to use certain Supercharger stations? If so, why is that, and is there a map of which ones may be used?

Yes. There are about 3 factors that determine whether a given station is available to us. I won't go through them all.... V2 vs v3, holdout stations, magic dock....

Most apps have figured it out - google maps knows i am in a ford and has an adapter setting. Tesla app knows i am in a ford too, shows only the stations i can use. Plugshare has a 'tesla only' tag, so you enable tesla fast charger plug type then filter out tesla only. Abrp is based on car type like google. Some apps have quirks, like google. You can find incompatible superchargers if you search by address or the word supercharger (like, what is a friend in a tesla messages you and asks for a nearby charger they can use), but there is a little tag in the results that you can't use it even with an adapter, or that it requires an adapter, or that it doesn't. I am not quite sure what happens with Google maps if i am not in my car. It probably shows tags for the last car i was in.

Tesla app is probably the easiest to use. When you create an account you will set up car profiles, eg, if you had a tesla and ford, then you can switch back and forth.

Kind of car is important. It is even different if you have a bolt or vw, they can use a very small part of the supercharge network (v4 magic dock only). But 'soon' bolts get access, so all the apps have to be ready for that day and be able to flip the switch the same day tesla does. And vws will get yet a different day.

They have figured out all the back end infra to do all that.

Ford's in car nav is the outlier. It is way behind and doesn't list superchargers at all, let alone being smart. Ford claims it will get that updated 'by the end of the year'. Use any other app.

Another problem is filtering out private chargers, like the ones companies have only for employees. Google seems bad at that. Some public chargers have hours (like at a car dealer and only works during dealer hours). If you are counting on a charger, the general recommendation is to look it up in plugshare. That will have extra info like people reporting it is usual 'iced' (blocked by gas cars) if that is the case, and the best info about private access chargers

I know, all this seems crazy. But we do have fuel type differences in ice cars, like finding diesel stations. It's just worse with evs.

You get used to it.

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