Edmunds: Mach E vs. Tesla Model Y comparison review

[guyofthesky]

I'm mainly just curious to know what driver assistance is included with the MY without paying $10k extra. Tesla is pretty shifty about it's website info. The pricing is listed by default as including things like "gas savings" and even after I got to the true cost, it included a $1,500 California Clean Car credit and I don't live in California.

Obviously the MY has a bunch of driver assistance included - so does Ford. The MY has the lane keeping and adaptive cruise control. But can I plug in a destination in the MY and drive autonomously on the highway, including lane changes, provided my hand is on the wheel (or I hack it to think my hand is on the wheel)? If that comes standard, I might need to at least take a look at the Y. Or does that level of automation require the $10k?

I think the $10k is crazy speculative and a bad idea for anyone who doesn't have FU money to burn. Tesla folks say they're making an investment, but it is one car / one owner. You can't transfer it to a new owner if you sell the car, and you can't take it with you to a new model.

UPDATE: Found an article that finally cleared it up for me. Tesla's Basic Autopilot doesn't appear to be meaningfully better than Ford's Co-Pilot360. To get lane changes, summoning, and other cool party tricks, it's the $10,000 upgrade to the Full Self Driving Capability package. This package might occasionally be discounted. Regardless, those added capabilities are priced so much higher than I'm willing to pay that it doesn't sway me toward Tesla.

https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/what-is-tesla-autopilot

The MME has lane centering (not lane keeping) and it works quite well, in my opinion. It will track a highway curve almost perfectly, but it requires that you have to touch the wheel every ten seconds, so you do have to keep your hands on the steering. If you don't, you get warnings on the dash panel, and it will eventually stop working. I haven't driven the Chevrolet Super Cruise, but the lane centering on the MME is definitely better than what I had on my 2017 Ford.

That requirement, to hold the wheel, is supposed to go away later this year with an OTA. Then, the system will monitor your eyes using infrared sensors (I believe they are IR), so it can see your eyeballs even with sunglasses on. If you are looking down the road, you won't have to hold the wheel. There is no charge for the OTA to do this, or at least most people believe that it will be included in the purchase price. I can't wait for this, because the lane centering is good enough that holding the wheel is basically useless, although keeping your hands close enough for a quick grab is always prudent.

The MME adaptive cruise works fine--it will go to a full stop, and then accelerate again when the car in front of you moves again. It does allow you to set four different following distances, and the longest one is longer than I'm used to with other adaptive cruises. I like the longer distance so I don't feel like I'm riding someone's butt (when the traffic is light enough that people aren't always pulling into the gap).

The MME also has the option of "intelligent cruise", which means that it will read speed limit signs and slow you down when you enter a new speed limit zone. You can set this to respond to the signs but with an additional buffer set it: you can set it to slow to 50 mph in a 45 mph zone, for example. I'm not sure I like this option in areas where I know the speed limits, but it could save you a speeding ticket in one of those places where the speed limit is way less than you'd expect and you missed the sign. All of this is adjustable on the center screen, which has a lot of options. Most are easily found, but sometimes I have to look for a little bit to get there.

Sponsored

 

[OH2AZ2OH]

Everyone in the US, understandably, likes to compare the EPA ranges. But, as noted, there are games that the manufactures can play with the EPA numbers. The Mach E actually gets slightly higher ratings than the MY in the WLTP test, and WLTP doesn't have the same wiggle room as the EPA test. But, it also looks like Ford might be using a different tune on the European versions - I think I remember a slower 0-60 time quoted from the European site compared to the US site.

I would like to see more info about Edmunds range test, as well as InsideEV's 70mph range test. I suspect the Mach E will beat the MY in some conditions and lose in others, but will generally be quite close.

Edmunds posted more details of their range test finally, along with a table comparing all the EVs they've tested. They bias the test more towards city driving, with the justification that most EV drivers will understand that city driving is the best use case for EVs. If they had done more highway driving all of the EV ranges would have suffered, but Teslas would have likely dropped less than others given their low CDs. The Teslas have impressive efficiency, but they are the only brand tested by Edmunds that falls short of their EPA ratings.

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

 

[DaveRuns]

I have said this before, so I apologize for repeating. But in my estimation, the only real test to compare the range of all these EVs would be to gather a half dozen different cars, as many as we can get, and charge them all to the top with a Level 2 charger. Then they'd all start driving together, no drafting, of course, and drive for 2-3 hours on the highway. Minimize regen braking, because it's highway miles that we all care about in this conversation.

Same distance driven, same speeds, same roads, etc. We'd stop and measure SOC of the various batteries, and using the known battery capacities, we'd have a real-world comparison of the miles/kwhr of all of them.

I would love this comparison...

Another important factor that I'm sure 'Out of Spec' will incorporate is to use similar models with similar features and range. For example, you can't compare a standard range, RWD MME with a Long Range Dual Motor Model Y.

 

[efisher]

The media blows it out of proportion. Tesla's philosophy is ship it now, fix it later, so they have the service centers remedy a lot of the issues. Once the service center fixes those initial issues (it's called a Due Bill), usually there's not much of an issue and the ownership is typically smooth sailing. I had some issues on mine at pickup, Tesla fixed them, and the car's been fine. I don't expect any visits to the service center for maybe 2-3 years, to swap out the cabin filter, possibly a 12v battery. At 4 years, brake fluid flush. At 6 years, A/C service. There some random issues with various sensors, inverters, motors, etc but those aren't widespread.

Ship it now, fix it later. Quality is job two!

Sponsored