First Rivian, but the MME wins for now

[mkhuffman]

I am still a big Rivian fan, but after following this forum since November, there is real world experience from members here that made it much easier to make a decision. I placed my order for my MME yesterday! Very excited. And now the five month wait begins.

The two vehicles are aimed at totally different buyers, and I happen to be in the Rivian target market, so I want the MME to be more like a Rivian. It is not, as much as I want it to be: low ground clearance, zero towing capacity, no opening roof (the Rivian is supposed to have one eventually) and no ventilated seats (I sweat easily).

So why did I decide to go with the MME instead? In reality, I only dream of driving off road. In my years of driving existence, I have never driven anywhere the MME cannot go. So while climbing over rocks sounds awesome, I have never done it and maybe never will. So I am being practical. The MME is a perfect fit for what I actually use a car for. For what most people use it for, really. I often wonder how many high riding Jeeps have actually driven on dirt...

After I placed my order request on-line, about five minute later the dealer called me. I thought the process was all virtual, but apparently the dealer has to actually enter the order. So they wanted me to come in and confirm before placing the order. Fortunately, my dealer happens to have a MME available for test driving and since I have only seen one in person one time (from the rear as it drove away from me), I wanted to go to the dealer anyway to see and drive what I already ordered. Sounds backwards, but I purchased my last three cars without ever driving or seeing them first. On-line research was enough in all cases and I have never been disappointed. This forum provides so much information on the MME, there really are no surprises if you spend the time here.

So I drove a Premium AWD MME yesterday for the first time. I can confirm what others have posted here: the ride is definitely somewhat bouncy. When the road is smooth, it is perfect. When the road is uneven, the bounce is there. Many have speculated that the bounce is due to poorly mated struts/shocks. I hope it is the tires/wheels, because I plan to replace mine. In about six months, I will report here if the bounce is mitigated with the 20" wheel/tire combination I have decided to use.

I also echo what others have said: it is sooo easy to drive way too fast in the MME. The acceleration is addictive, and when I finished my test drive, my ICE car felt sluggish and slow. I got the MME up to 80 mph without even trying or noticing. Cruise control is really required for the highway if you want to avoid a ticket, IMO. The sales guy let me take the car out alone (because of COVID, of course), so I was a little more aggressive than I would have been with a passenger. So much fun. Those of you who have yours are so lucky! (The narrow tires do seem to slide too easily, as others have noted - one reason I am getting fatter 20" tires.)

BTW - the bounce is not horrible, and maybe Ford will improve it with later production models. But it is something I hope if fixed with the new rims/tires. Will report back in six months! Meanwhile, I am sure others in this forum will have solutions before then. I will be looking for them.

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[macchiaz-o]

BTW - the bounce is not horrible, and maybe Ford will improve it with later production models. But it is something I hope if fixed with the new rims/tires. Will report back in six months! Meanwhile, I am sure others in this forum will have solutions before then. I will be looking for them.

The fits of bounciness were awful in my vehicle when they happened... But they've lessened with time and miles to the point where they've pretty much stopped happening and a harsher (but not unexpected or disagreeable) ride had settled into their place.

So if you want to replace the wheels anyway, that's cool. But at least for some of us, the problem mostly resolved with wear in. And for others, they never had the problem in the first place.

I think at least one forum member still has the bouncies in a bad way, so I suppose anything is possible.

 

[exact33]

I still feel the bounce on concrete roads. That seems to be the only area where the bounce is noticable

 

[mkhuffman]

The fits of bounciness were awful in my vehicle when they happened... But they've lessened with time and miles to the point where they've pretty much stopped happening and a harsher (but not unexpected or disagreeable) ride had settled into their place.

So if you want to replace the wheels anyway, that's cool. But at least for some of us, the problem mostly resolved with wear in. And for others, they never had the problem in the first place.

I think at least one forum member still has the bouncies in a bad way, so I suppose anything is possible.

Some in this forum have said they plan to replace the shocks when aftermarket ones become available. It will be interesting to see how much that helps - for those who still have the problem..

The car I drove obviously had very few miles on it. Less than 1,000. So it is not "broken in" yet.

 

[krafty81]

It has lessened for me at the 1k mark.

 

[Timelessblur]

So I drove a Premium AWD MME yesterday for the first time. I can confirm what others have posted here: the ride is definitely somewhat bouncy. When the road is smooth, it is perfect. When the road is uneven, the bounce is there. Many have speculated that the bounce is due to poorly mated struts/shocks. I hope it is the tires/wheels, because I plan to replace mine. In about six months, I will report here if the bounce is mitigated with the 20" wheel/tire combination I have decided to use.

Something else to look at as many on the forum have is the Mach E are delivered with way to much air pressure in the tires. They are delivered at 44-45 PSI. The recommended spec is 39 PSI. After dropping the pressure to the recommended amount it smooths out the ride a lot.

Also I do not think the Mach E will ever be as smooth as say a ICE crossover. Big reason is the Mach E is a VERY heavy girl at 4800lb. Most BEV are pretty heavy and struggle with that smoothness. It is beating out the model Y pretty much in all the reviews in the smoothness of the ride.

 

[dbsb3233]

I still feel the bounce on concrete roads. That seems to be the only area where the bounce is noticable

Same here. It does seems like it's not as bad after 3000 miles though. I figure it's probably half from the suspension loosening up some, and half me just getting use to it. Same with the jarring over bumps. That was more annoying to me than the bouncing, but it's gotten better.

After having read and seen many videos on other BEVs, it sounds like that's a pretty common issue in nearly all of them. Probably to do with the extra weight from the batteries.

On smooth roads though, and at highway speeds, it's just the opposite. This thing is so smooth at 75 MPH. Although some of that is tied to it just being so wonderfully quiet. Psychologically we tend to link quietness and smoothness together, and the quietness makes it seem even smoother.

The comfy seats help too. Even though there's jarring an road imperfections, the seat helps buffer them. This thing is a born interstate cruiser (well, ignoring the whole road trip charging challenge, anyway).

 

[JamieGeek]

I notice it being bouncy but it doesn't bother me.

As far as the purchasing process: I placed my reservation the day of the presentation in November 2019 and picked mine up on 2/9/21 never having ridden in one, never drove one until I drove mine off the lot (even did 90% of the paperwork online before even seeing mine in person).

 

[EV Lab]

I am still a big Rivian fan, but after following this forum since November, there is real world experience from members here that made it much easier to make a decision. I placed my order for my MME yesterday! Very excited. And now the five month wait begins.

The two vehicles are aimed at totally different buyers, and I happen to be in the Rivian target market, so I want the MME to be more like a Rivian. It is not, as much as I want it to be: low ground clearance, zero towing capacity, no opening roof (the Rivian is supposed to have one eventually) and no ventilated seats (I sweat easily).

So why did I decide to go with the MME instead? In reality, I only dream of driving off road. In my years of driving existence, I have never driven anywhere the MME cannot go. So while climbing over rocks sounds awesome, I have never done it and maybe never will. So I am being practical. The MME is a perfect fit for what I actually use a car for. For what most people use it for, really. I often wonder how many high riding Jeeps have actually driven on dirt...

After I placed my order request on-line, about five minute later the dealer called me. I thought the process was all virtual, but apparently the dealer has to actually enter the order. So they wanted me to come in and confirm before placing the order. Fortunately, my dealer happens to have a MME available for test driving and since I have only seen one in person one time (from the rear as it drove away from me), I wanted to go to the dealer anyway to see and drive what I already ordered. Sounds backwards, but I purchased my last three cars without ever driving or seeing them first. On-line research was enough in all cases and I have never been disappointed. This forum provides so much information on the MME, there really are no surprises if you spend the time here.

So I drove a Premium AWD MME yesterday for the first time. I can confirm what others have posted here: the ride is definitely somewhat bouncy. When the road is smooth, it is perfect. When the road is uneven, the bounce is there. Many have speculated that the bounce is due to poorly mated struts/shocks. I hope it is the tires/wheels, because I plan to replace mine. In about six months, I will report here if the bounce is mitigated with the 20" wheel/tire combination I have decided to use.

I also echo what others have said: it is sooo easy to drive way too fast in the MME. The acceleration is addictive, and when I finished my test drive, my ICE car felt sluggish and slow. I got the MME up to 80 mph without even trying or noticing. Cruise control is really required for the highway if you want to avoid a ticket, IMO. The sales guy let me take the car out alone (because of COVID, of course), so I was a little more aggressive than I would have been with a passenger. So much fun. Those of you who have yours are so lucky! (The narrow tires do seem to slide too easily, as others have noted - one reason I am getting fatter 20" tires.)

BTW - the bounce is not horrible, and maybe Ford will improve it with later production models. But it is something I hope if fixed with the new rims/tires. Will report back in six months! Meanwhile, I am sure others in this forum will have solutions before then. I will be looking for them.

I also had a reservation for the Rivian R1T, but I ended up cancelling. We dry camp quite often with our F-150 pulling a 18' high clearance trailer setup with 50 gallon tanks, solar and dual batteries and propane tanks. I really couldn't see replacing the F-150 with the R1T for pulling the trailer... While the R1T certainly can do it, the range would be so limited that it wouldn't really be feasible unless for just short trips. I also couldn't imagine how I'd charge the truck with the trailer attached. We also have a Jeep Wrangler which we've recently setup for basic overlanding. The R1T is much better suited for this type of travel, however, I'd still worry about going too far off the beaten track. I doubt a loaded R1T could get more that 200 miles range offroad.

So, while I like the idea of the Rivian R1T, I really couldn't see the feasibility for real off road use. Like the Hummer, it will likely be used for mostly urban adventures...

BTW, I do not regret getting the Mach-E. It is now intended to serve as a commuter and weekend getaway car and it is great at both!

 

[dbsb3233]

I notice it being bouncy but it doesn't bother me.

As far as the purchasing process: I placed my reservation the day of the presentation in November 2019 and picked mine up on 2/9/21 never having ridden in one, never drove one until I drove mine off the lot (even did 90% of the paperwork online before even seeing mine in person).

Same here. We did get to sit in one during the Machetour in January, which helped confirm by biggest unknown (seat height). But that was in the showroom. I never actually drove it before buying, or got a ride. I was so intimately familiar with it already from reports here and watching a ton of YouTube videos that I knew that wouldn't change my mind. The dealer even asked if I wanted to drive it first before signing on the dotted line, and I said no.

 

[dbsb3233]

So I drove a Premium AWD MME yesterday for the first time. I can confirm what others have posted here: the ride is definitely somewhat bouncy. When the road is smooth, it is perfect. When the road is uneven, the bounce is there. Many have speculated that the bounce is due to poorly mated struts/shocks. I hope it is the tires/wheels, because I plan to replace mine. In about six months, I will report here if the bounce is mitigated with the 20" wheel/tire combination I have decided to use.

I won't be changing mine, but if I did, I'd probably go down to 18" wheels rather than up to 20", to try and smooth out the bumps more.

 

[DBC]

I am still a big Rivian fan, but after following this forum since November, there is real world experience from members here that made it much easier to make a decision. I placed my order for my MME yesterday! Very excited. And now the five month wait begins.

I think you'll be happy with the MME. Ford put together a great feature set at a decent price. It's a nice ride with plenty of power.

I am also a Rivian fan. The biggest downside for me is that even the R1S, which is what I'd be interested in, would be hard to fit in my garage. It would also be overkill most of the time. Might be convinced at some point though, and it's definitely still on the list.

 

[mkhuffman]

Something else to look at as many on the forum have is the Mach E are delivered with way to much air pressure in the tires. They are delivered at 44-45 PSI. The recommended spec is 39 PSI. After dropping the pressure to the recommended amount it smooths out the ride a lot.

That is the reason I hope less bouncy tires will help the overall bounce issue.

Reducing the pressure will negatively impact range, of course. It can be significant depending on how low the pressure is. In studying various tires in preparation for my wheel swap in October(ish), I discovered the tire Ford used is not a low rolling resistance tire. It appears they decided to go with a narrow tire at high pressure to reduce rolling resistance, rather than a wider low rolling resistance tire like Tesla tends to do. I think it was a smart decision.

Low rolling resistance tires have very poor tread life, and do not perform well in the snow. I am not a fan of switching tires for the winter, since the snow totals in my area of VA are very small most years. I am basically Ford's average buyer who prefers all season tires that can handle snow when needed. Ford is avoiding many complaints about poor snow performance and poor tread life with their decision, which looks like the right one to me. But the decision probably also enhances the bounce, as you noted.

 

[mkhuffman]

I think you'll be happy with the MME. Ford put together a great feature set at a decent price. It's a nice ride with plenty of power.

I am also a Rivian fan. The biggest downside for me is that even the R1S, which is what I'd be interested in, would be hard to fit in my garage. It would also be overkill most of the time. Might be convinced at some point though, and it's definitely still on the list.

There is also the price. My R1T configuration was $90,000. Personally I think it is worth that price, but my wife... not so much. Also I need a new vehicle and really can't wait another year or two for Rivian to add the opening roof and for real world testing of the 400+ mile version and how far it will really go on the highway. That said, it is still on my list as well, just much further down the road now that I have ordered the MME.

 

[dbsb3233]

That is the reason I hope less bouncy tires will help the overall bounce issue.

Reducing the pressure will negatively impact range, of course. It can be significant depending on how low the pressure is. In studying various tires in preparation for my wheel swap in October(ish), I discovered the tire Ford used is not a low rolling resistance tire. It appears they decided to go with a narrow tire at high pressure to reduce rolling resistance, rather than a wider low rolling resistance tire like Tesla tends to do. I think it was a smart decision.

Low rolling resistance tires have very poor tread life, and do not perform well in the snow. I am not a fan of switching tires for the winter, since the snow totals in my area of VA are very small most years. I am basically Ford's average buyer who prefers all season tires that can handle snow when needed. Ford is avoiding many complaints about poor snow performance and poor tread life with their decision, which looks like the right one to me. But the decision probably also enhances the bounce, as you noted.

Since I only care about range for road trips, I simply use high PSI on road trips and lower the other 95% of the time (around home).

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