Buying the Best EV Under $60,000: I Tested the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Others

[voxel]

The MY is that much with advanced autopilot, before rebate.

Not saying that's a fair comparison but that's where the $71k comes from

GM's Ultra Cruise is a closer comparison.

I love BlueCruise but it's a glorified hands-free ACC. There are many highway driver assists as good - SuperCruise, HDA, BMW's DAPP.

For local roads, I still prefer Hyundai/Kia's auto lane-centering (one step above lane keep assist)

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[stealthytolkien]

The MY is that much with advanced autopilot, before rebate.

Not saying that's a fair comparison but that's where the $71k comes from

you’re right. It’s not a fair comparison.

 

[tuminatr]

I would add to the list of EV's under 60K the Volvo C40 or XC40 EV the new 2024 has a 260-mile range and it has a really nice suspension. Sporty but not jarring an absolute blast on the highway.

 

[Logal727]

On looks alone, the MME has it. It’s very strange, the design language of the Tesla makes is almost impossible for the uneducated to tell the models apart, heck, I have a hard time being sure what I’m looking at when I see a Tesla. No other car make has that going on.

The MME is a better “car”, the TMY is a better “EV”. I was looking for a car first, the EV was incidental originally.

Exactly, I have to look if they kept the factory license plate bracket to tell which model is which lol

 

[Msnwcpa]

GM's Ultra Cruise is a closer comparison.

I love BlueCruise but it's a glorified hands-free ACC. There are many highway driver assists as good - SuperCruise, HDA, BMW's DAPP.

For local roads, I still prefer Hyundai/Kia's auto lane-centering (one step above lane keep assist)

Yes I was pleasantly surprised that Hyundai's lane centering worked well on local roads

 

[RickMachE]

If you read the article (vs. watching the video), she really summarizes the change from early adopter to person buying an EV today.

FREE LINK TO READ IT

https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-t...brg5fzaj8ij&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

"What does a tech columnist like me know about cars? So much.

Sure, I thought “drivetrain” was what a railroad engineer does, and a “catalytic converter” was a meow-to-English translator. But in the past decade, cars became computers on wheels. Especially the new electric cars. And I do know computers."

Farley in his recent trip noted to a blogger that the buyers have changed in two years. Yes, they have.

The things discussed in many of the replies here aren't top of mind, and won't be, for most buyers?

"Charging curve"? What the hell is that? I go to the charger, plug in, and car charges. Right?

We took the Lightning to Cars and Coffee (with our F-150 hoping to find a buyer). The #1 question was "how long to charge?" followed by "how far can it go?". They're not asking about a curve, they don't even understand that at home charging speed is largely irrelevant because it happens overnight. And when asked, most admitted they rarely go on trips.

The general public is largely clueless and doesn't care about this stuff.

 

[JoelOclock]

She doesn’t really say why the Kia EV6 is dismissed. Given her notes on display I would’ve thought it’d be worth comparing properly

 

[tuminatr]

She doesn’t really say why the Kia EV6 is dismissed. Given her notes on display, I would’ve thought it’d be worth comparing properly

it has a really soft suspension and that appeals to many

 

[Mach1E]

She doesn’t really say why the Kia EV6 is dismissed. Given her notes on display I would’ve thought it’d be worth comparing properly

I also wondered why Genesis GV wasn’t on the list.

 

[Mach-Lee]

"I don't want cameras anymore, I WANT MAP"

Joanna has the same bug I've had for months that locks the whole screen in the reverse camera view after shifting to drive (because the X button is missing). Very frustrating, they still haven't fixed that.

I also love her critique of the navigation being very "Mapquest 1995". They could display a lot more data on the roads and switch to a better map data provider then HERE so routing works better. Surprised she didn't call out the slow responsiveness of the Mach-E vs. the Tesla screen, Tesla responds so much faster. Tesla using Google map data is also a huge win because the map data quality is leaps and bounds better.

And last, I liked the critique of the Tesla Autopilot being unnerving, vs. BlueCruise is much smoother and more conservative. As Marques said, Tesla would be the winner if she had to take a lot of trips simply because of how much better the Supercharging is. Very slow on and fraught with charger reliability issue on the Mach-E/CCS side.

"Why do you like this car?" "Because it farts!" - Tesla owners

Since she's going to be a media Mach-E owner, I think it would be smart if Ford reached out to her for more feedback about what to improve and listened to her critiques carefully.

 

[Reign of Ravens]

I also wondered why Genesis GV wasn’t on the list.

Her criteria was cars under $60,000 - both the GV60 and GV70 are above $60,000 (although when I checked the GV60 just now, it's just a few hundred over).

 

[Auto Motive]

That's great to see, she's my favorite tech columnist. I especially like her iPhone/iPad reviews - when the NY Times guy has made his phone review column say 'no big change, keep your old phone' for the past several years now, she actually talks about what's new/good/bad.

Anyway, back to the Mach-E, I think her conclusion makes sense. Most of the automotive media makes a big deal out of range and charging infrastructure, and this forum too has a big focus on road trips, but for the average person, it's just not a particularly relevant consideration and she basically says as much in her conclusion (driving dynamics trump charging network).

We have a GTPE and model Y AWD long both extremely nice ev. We found that the Y will get 300 miles at 65 mph highway and yes their are superchargers everywhere. Both are fast comfortable and very quiet. The GTPE is sporty and the Y more elegant. I have the GTPE and love it. Wife has the Y. The 2023 Model Y is very different with a new susp upgrade, acoustic glass, better bolster seats and 6 cameras. Tech is superior to all ev. So its cruising in the sporty GTPE and hitting the highway and tripping in the Y.

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