ctenidae
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Alex
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2022
- Threads
- 33
- Messages
- 1,358
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- Location
- Stamford, CT
- Vehicles
- DMG GT; Taycan, Q7, Sienna Hybrid
- Occupation
- Solver of problems
- Thread starter
- #1
Here's a handful of random-ish observations, based on 400 miles of driving. I had a Model 3 Stealth Performance before, and we just got a Taycan a couple days ago, so those are my comparisons.
Overall impression, it's a good car, fun to drive, and great looking. Worth $65k? Probably not, at least not yet. This is my first Ford since a drove an '86 escort to over 200k miles, and my first American car since a 1994 Chevy S10. Getting over paying that much for a Ford was hard, but worth it in the end, I think, especially since every jackass who tried to roll coal on me in the Tesla is going to have to deal with an electrified Ford future.
Tesla’s 10 years and billions of miles of driver data and development shows. Most everything involving the electric motors, especially their controllers, is too chunky in the Mach e. The adjustments aren’t made on a fine enough scale yet. This will change over time, I’m sure. I’m interested in seeing how it compares to Porsche’s system. The Taycan doesn’t have 1-pedal driving, so the regen effect won’t be as noticeable. I wonder if they haven’t released 1-pedal yet because it’s just not good enough yet.
Transition from coasting to power is hard sometimes, like the motor has to take up slop in the transmission. Feels like my brothers 1983 Land Cruiser when you let off the gas, then get back on it. Not sure if it’s a mechanical or control issue on the Mach e. When in 1PD at a stop, the brake releases rather heavily sometimes, and if you've got your foot hardish on the brake when switching from P to D the pedal will drop all of a sudden, like someone pulled a pin out and let it drop.
The last couple mph in 1PD, or crawling at 1-2 mph the car feels like a stepper motor, or like it’s rolling over a bad bearing. Could be the charge controller switching between regen and not. Have to see if it’s different if decelerating or accelerating through it
Steering behaves oddly at the locks. Turn the wheel to lock and it stops at the end, but then sometimes it goes a little bit further after a second. Release is sudden, though, and unexpected. Steering overall is odd feeling. More feedback than the Tesla, but it weights up like pulling a compound bow. The weight builds nicely, but it sometimes releases all of a sudden, causing an oversteer. Slight, but surprising.
Skittery under any power over rough surfaces, likes to skip sideways a little bit. Haven’t noticed it moving enough to matter, but it’s noticeable. Also haven’t noticed it especially on turns. Could be the motor controllers aren’t adjusting power quickly or finely enough.
Nowhere near as fast as the Tesla, but it hardly matters. 50-80 acceleration is perfectly fine, but feels like it should pull harder. Could be a result of the 5-second rule (which seems to be cumulative – 5 seconds of max power over 15 seconds or so), have to test on some 50-80 races.
Tesla built a car around an electric motor. Ford and Porsche have put an electric motor in a car. Different.
On my first school run I accelerated some coffee out of my cup, right into the parking brake switch well. Oops.
Interior fit and finish is fine. Materials are decent, but there's some bean-counter thin plastic in places. Not a big fan of the seat fabric- it's grippy enough, but feels kind of like the fabric on the T in Boston. No
Overall impression, it's a good car, fun to drive, and great looking. Worth $65k? Probably not, at least not yet. This is my first Ford since a drove an '86 escort to over 200k miles, and my first American car since a 1994 Chevy S10. Getting over paying that much for a Ford was hard, but worth it in the end, I think, especially since every jackass who tried to roll coal on me in the Tesla is going to have to deal with an electrified Ford future.
Tesla’s 10 years and billions of miles of driver data and development shows. Most everything involving the electric motors, especially their controllers, is too chunky in the Mach e. The adjustments aren’t made on a fine enough scale yet. This will change over time, I’m sure. I’m interested in seeing how it compares to Porsche’s system. The Taycan doesn’t have 1-pedal driving, so the regen effect won’t be as noticeable. I wonder if they haven’t released 1-pedal yet because it’s just not good enough yet.
Transition from coasting to power is hard sometimes, like the motor has to take up slop in the transmission. Feels like my brothers 1983 Land Cruiser when you let off the gas, then get back on it. Not sure if it’s a mechanical or control issue on the Mach e. When in 1PD at a stop, the brake releases rather heavily sometimes, and if you've got your foot hardish on the brake when switching from P to D the pedal will drop all of a sudden, like someone pulled a pin out and let it drop.
The last couple mph in 1PD, or crawling at 1-2 mph the car feels like a stepper motor, or like it’s rolling over a bad bearing. Could be the charge controller switching between regen and not. Have to see if it’s different if decelerating or accelerating through it
Steering behaves oddly at the locks. Turn the wheel to lock and it stops at the end, but then sometimes it goes a little bit further after a second. Release is sudden, though, and unexpected. Steering overall is odd feeling. More feedback than the Tesla, but it weights up like pulling a compound bow. The weight builds nicely, but it sometimes releases all of a sudden, causing an oversteer. Slight, but surprising.
Skittery under any power over rough surfaces, likes to skip sideways a little bit. Haven’t noticed it moving enough to matter, but it’s noticeable. Also haven’t noticed it especially on turns. Could be the motor controllers aren’t adjusting power quickly or finely enough.
Nowhere near as fast as the Tesla, but it hardly matters. 50-80 acceleration is perfectly fine, but feels like it should pull harder. Could be a result of the 5-second rule (which seems to be cumulative – 5 seconds of max power over 15 seconds or so), have to test on some 50-80 races.
Tesla built a car around an electric motor. Ford and Porsche have put an electric motor in a car. Different.
On my first school run I accelerated some coffee out of my cup, right into the parking brake switch well. Oops.
Interior fit and finish is fine. Materials are decent, but there's some bean-counter thin plastic in places. Not a big fan of the seat fabric- it's grippy enough, but feels kind of like the fabric on the T in Boston. No
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