Nasty Review (Warning: Disturbing Analysis of the MACH-E Design On The 1st 11 Mins)

[Mr. B]

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[hybrid2bev]

"Nobody with walls that color has the right to be nasty."

-- Ms. Janet

 

[Snakebitten]

The thing about an ICE expert reviewing an EV.......

The EV will almost guaranteed have a sizable percentage of well informed and educated owners. Because of that, the bar is pretty high for the reviewer.

I haven't watched his review. (full disclosure) But I have seen some of his ICE reviews in the past. Enough to have earned credibility on certain aspects of his expertise, but nowhere near enough for expertise on an EV. And since I have personal experience with the Mach-E, as well as the collective expertise found on this forum? He would need to own a Mach-E for several months before his review would carry enough weight for me personally.

Still, I might watch now that I'm curious. ?

 

[DugthePug Dad]

I can summarize for you: Too much plastic tubing and inefficient heat distribution with loss of heat and cooling efficiency.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

I am yet to hear anyone complain about my “giant hose”.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

Ok, hose sizes aside, his main issue with Mach-e’s thermal management is that the “giant hoses” waste heat. That’s the least of my concern. Thermal management deficiency we are concerned about is around consistency of power delivery, protection against damage to contactors, and faster charging.

Garbage review.

 

[dalola]

lol.... sorry, about 3 minutes was all I could take......? Some peoples opinions just aren't interesting ?

 

[dan_meh]

I dunno, he seems to retread known issues. Let’s go through them.

HVAC
Yes, since Munro’s first tear down, we knew that the HVAC needed improvement. I think Munro (never understated) called it a “nightmare.” Ford’s engineering lead admitted, back in 21-22, that it was sub optimal, but that Ford wanted continuous improvement.



Ford indeed took a continuous improvement approach. This mechanic review wanted Ford to make no improvements until the thermal system until they could take a big swing. I’m happy that Ford ignores this advice. I like that when I needed a car, it was better.

It’s also helpful to separate conversations about heat pumps from conversations about hoses. Hoses…. Sure. It became more compact. Sure it needs to be more compact. And sure maybe it shouldn’t be two loops. Hyundai went to one loop in 2025. And making it more compact would lower manufacturing costs, and that’s good.

Heat pump… Let’s understand that in the winter, you want to save range by preconditioning the battery. Most of the time, it doesn’t matter. When I had to do long trips and I need the battery to be up to temperature, I just preconditioned the battery from “shore power.” Range was fine. Even in the WV charging desert.

Door Mechanism
It’s a fair criticism. In fact, there’s a lawsuit against Ford on this issue. https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...-to-change-mustang-mach-e-door-handles.43619/

I don’t understand why the doors have to open this way, especially when there’s no remote control. If I could open a door from miles away, maybe? But then why?

This does feel like an unforced error. Aren’t door handles solved problems?

If Ford added a manual override, I wouldn’t care. But the current tool for emergency override is a brick. ?

The Conclusion
His big conclusion is at the start of his “Things I Don’t Like” chapter. He says, “The 2025 model should have been the first model.” He repeats it in various ways: the 2021 falls short of the 2025.

Well, sure, but it’s an academic conversation. Maybe Ford should have done a heat pump and lower price in 2021, but they had no problem selling them.

Maybe he’s inelegantly trying to say on the used market, you should watch out for the 2021-24 model years because mechanically, they’re not as good as the 25 MY. Sure, but the market has successfully priced that in. If you’re paying the same amount, in 2025, for a 2021 and a 2025, something is wrong. So what’s the practical advice here?

I like a counterfactual as much as the next guy. What if Elon stayed at Tesla? What if he developed a three row SUV like the Gravity instead of a triangle? What if Ford had a better first effort? I spent many hours in a dorm room with counterfactuals. It was a blast, but it also didn’t matter.

What does matter, what gave me faith in the brand, is that Ford made it better year after year. Ford can’t get in a time machine and bring a 2025 model back to 2021 just like I can’t change our timeline to make the 2025s available when I bought a 24. But they can relentlessly improve.

 

[thekat03]

Car Care Nut's a Toyota and Lexus master mechanic, and that's the perspective he's coming from, even though he looks at a lot of other cars as well in his car reviews. He has reviewed other EVs from the standpoint of a master mechanic, and his criticisms are fair. We don't really know how long those plastic coolant hoses will hold up. Plastic gets brittle with time. We will just have to give it time and see how these do. I find his videos far more useful for knowing what kind of issues I might expect further down the road beyond what we know from the first edition Mach-E owner experiences, and what to expect on older cars, like my old Prius.

 

[HayfieldDad]

I agree with thekat03. I've watched many of this guy's videos. It's always from the perspective of "things to keep an eye out for" and WYSIWYG mechanically. He typically breaks down things the engineers did and praises or critiques their decisions almost as if he's a high school principle wondering how often he's going to see that student in his office.

I watched his review yesterday since I just bought a 2025 MME GT. His emphasis seemed very much from the perspective of someone who bought a 2021-2024 MME. He's already taken a look at both the Ioniq 5 and Model Y. If they reduce the hoses and improve fluid flow in the model refresh, he'll sing it's praises. But all in all, he gives his perspective as a mechanic and what he sees as potential problems. It's up to the viewer to figure out whether that information sways your purchasing decision.

 

[ChehRob]

That Munro attempt at hysterics was all that much justified. As I remember they are not operating at high pressure, nor do they figure very highly in the faults we frequently discuss on this site. Good plastic can have a long lifetime. And as well, they seem pretty accessible. Edit ps, read that 'not all that ...." grrrrrrr

 

[RickMachE]

I am yet to hear anyone complain about my “giant hose”.

Your imagine runs wild. ?

 

[RickMachE]

I agree with thekat03. I've watched many of this guy's videos. It's always from the perspective of "things to keep an eye out for" and WYSIWYG mechanically. He typically breaks down things the engineers did and praises or critiques their decisions almost as if he's a high school principle wondering how often he's going to see that student in his office.

I watched his review yesterday since I just bought a 2025 MME GT. His emphasis seemed very much from the perspective of someone who bought a 2021-2024 MME. He's already taken a look at both the Ioniq 5 and Model Y. If they reduce the hoses and improve fluid flow in the model refresh, he'll sing it's praises. But all in all, he gives his perspective as a mechanic and what he sees as potential problems. It's up to the viewer to figure out whether that information sways your purchasing decision.

Principal

I always wonder why people watch videos like this (or most any of them).

 

[Eagertrader]

Question: did Elon pay for this review?
I own a 21 MME GT since 12/21. None of what he points out has been an issue to me, with the exception of the 12V battery dying prematurely on me ( one week before 3 years and the dealer replaced it under the warranty free of charge).
Overall best car ever. Had Camaro, Accord, Camry, Saab 9000 turbo, Maxima, Audi A6, Avalon. My MME GT beat them all. Oh, did I mention that I only spent 20 bucks on replacing the cabin air filter myself for the last 3 years?
In Summer I get 310 miles on a full charge.

 

[rhieb]

That Munro attempt at hysterics was all that much justified. As I remember they are not operating at high pressure, nor do they figure very highly in the faults we frequently discuss on this site. Good plastic can have a long lifetime. And as well, they seem pretty accessible. Edit ps, read that 'not all that ...." grrrrrrr

The environment for under the hood applications of plastics on ICE is very harsh. The chemicals, hydrocarbons, heat are extreme. Plastic chemistries are chosen to withstand that environment. It's safe to assume Ford is using same materials for the MME. Using those chemistries in an EV application, all should be good. The 'under the frunk' environment is so much more gentle. Heat given off on ICE is hundreds of degrees F. The coolant (and plastic pipes) are managing to keep that at boiling. The heat of the high voltage battery is barely 100F. The reliability testing has to give better results on an EV. I heard nothing from this youtuber as to why the failures would be more (other than the extensive mechanical connections - but Ford's got those figured out - apparently since they've been using them since 1969 mustangs).

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