Mr. Toejam
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Spence
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2021
- Threads
- 13
- Messages
- 324
- Reaction score
- 465
- Location
- So. Cal.
- Vehicles
- 22 MME Premium AWD Ext, 21 Chevy Bolt, 16 Honda Minivan
- Occupation
- Retired - Dir of MFG Eng
- Thread starter
- #1
Meet Machete! Get it...Mach-e(te). And no. It is not Mach-ette, like my wife and daughter keep saying. They ride in the back until they stop. (cont below)
So, I picked up my MME on 3/1/22. Just over 7 months after I ordered it.
So after a week of driving my short commute to work and a load of "coworker test rides" and driving my miles/KWH down to around 1.5 (lot's of launches...and giggles) I headed out on my road trip of 380 miles from the OC to the Bay Area. I charged to 100% and started off.
Actually, before I set-off, I slapped some cheap PPF on the front bumper because of a pending road trip (you can see the wrinkles) while waiting for my profession job at the end of the month. I did drop in my 3D floor mats which are really great. The AOSK arm rest tray, rear cargo mat and rear seat back covers. I also ceramic coated the seats with Geyon. Needed to protect the seats from the road trip food and iced coffees. By the way, super easy to do and the "leather" feels the same.
As soon as I got onto the freeway I started playing with Bluecruise for the first time. Not a good experience but, it had more to do with the freeway. If you have driven the 5 or the 10 or ....basically any LA Freeway, they are in terrible condition. There are so many expansion cracks, and repainted lanes and extra lines that Bluecruise was constantly hunting left and right in the lanes to the point I was getting nauseous. The second issue, if someone if the lane to the left of me decides he wants to be in the lane to the right of me (or 3 lanes to the right of me), he will cut right in front of me, with about 1 car length and then into the lane to the right. As the car dives into my lane and out quickly, adaptive cruise doesn't react until after the car leaves my lane and it slams the break hard. There wasn't heavy traffic, but the semi behind me was getting upset at "me" slamming on my breaks after the car was already out of my lane. I turned BC off until I got to the open road.
Remember that 1.5 mi/kwh. I did not reset my trip computer. I can't remember exactly when, but it took at least 40-50 miles before the GOM said my range was reducing. As I was driving, it was slowly creeping up and then it finally started to drop. But don't think I was babying my MME. The power was great for pulling around traffic when needed. The suspension is firm but not harsh. This was way more comfortable than my 2016 GT Performance Pack. And way more comfortable than my brother in-laws Model 3 Performance.
Finally, out of LA, past the mountains and now on the flat 5 freeway in the Central Valley. BC did much better here. The freeway is basically straight with some slight bends. But BC handled it all fine without issues...well, except for one. BC seems to favor the right side of the lane. It is slight, but I am definitely not in the middle. I don't like this because I tend to favor the left side of the lane when I am driving. It makes me feel a little uncomfortable. I wish there was a way to set a bias. Actually, there was a second issue. I tend to keep my head tilted slightly backwards...it keeps me from slouching. Well, I guess BC can't see the area of my face that it wants to see, so I had to force myself to keep my head pointing directly forward.
So I drove about 18-200 miles and decided to charge. Actually, I needed a "break" and a bite to eat. I plugged into and EA charger (free) and it started automatically. But the screen said that that the rate was $0.43/kwh. So I stopped it and called EA. They said I am OK. It is just showing my $/KWH. above that is what it is charging me and that remained at $0.00. So I plugged back in. I was at 30%. 80% was done at 20-25 minutes. I shoved my burger down my throat and took off. I charged a little more so that I could leave the 5 and venture off to one of my favorite driving roads between the 5 and the 101 freeways. I am not going to say which roads because "they are all mine".
After some extended spirited driving I can say this. The Summer "Bicycle Tires" on the Premium did well. They had really good grip. When combined with the suspension, low center of gravity and the AWD, I have more confidence driving the MME in a very "spirited" manner than my 2016 GTMustang Gt Performance Pack. With the GT, the second you push it passed its limit...the backend becomes the front end. I know for a fact the MME was carrying more speed out of some of the twisties, and I am stilling getting the feel of this heavy vehicle. With about 50 miles to Gilroy (the next fast charger), I realized my last estimate with "spirited" driving was a little off. So I slowed down and turned off the AC. I did make it to Gilroy, with less than 5% left. So did I have range anxiety? Yes and no. Remember that 1.5 mi/kwh. We'll. that isn't a fluke. On my 2016 GT, I averaged about 9-10 miles per gallon in the city and my first set of rears (Pirelli P-Zeros) lasted 5k miles. No joke. Yes, I have a heavy foot. So my 2016 had a total range of around 160-170 miles in the city. I was constantly running that thing down to 10 miles (no use carrying all of that extra weight in gas). So range anxiety from charging doesn't bother me. What does bother me is showing up to a charger and finding it being blocked. on this trip I was ICE'd by a big MB G-wagon. But I was also blocked 2 times in San Jose by Teslas in charging spots and they were not even charging. They just wanted the front row parking. Now I had to find a different charger and I couldn't do my errands because they were back at the other chargers. I was charging in San Jose because my families house does not have an available 220v and the charging infrastructure in Morgan Hill is pretty bad for non-Teslas. The only DCFC is a 20kW system. Everything else is j1772.
For the car, very comfortable. Smooth and quiet on the road. Only had to roll down my windows 3 times at stop light to give impromptu car reviews. I did run into someone at a charger with the same spec (except he had the black interior) and he got his 2 days before me. I shouldn't have shown him my interior. His wife gave him the, "...huh, it actually looks really nice. You were right, we should have gotten the white interior..." He looked to the sky, closed his eyes and smiled.
So what is next. 1) Ceramic tint. There is some IR blocking but not enough for a bright day in California. XPEL XR is my choice. 2) PPF on the full front: XPel. 3) Draw-Time tow hitch. This one I will install myself. Just for the bike rack and for a cargo carrier.4) I put in the retractable cargo area cover:AOSK) The stock fabric cover doesn't pop out of the hooks. They fixed this from the first units. But when you drive with the windows down, that cargo cover flaps around like crazy. 5) I put in some of the AOSK rubber matts in the door pockets and the cup holders. They keep things quieter in the door pockets. 6)and the last thing for awhile is to try Hyperdip on the wheels.
After that, I will be done for awhile. I probably should financially recover from the car, PPF and tint purchases. But it is time to just enjoy the MME.
Oh yeah...one last thing. My company has free on-site charging. Nice, right!. We have 6 charge point chargers and 8 Tesla Wall chargers. I bought the 48A Lectron Tesla to J1772 adapter. Well. It only works with 2 of the 8 chargers. None of the wall chargers are locked. When it works, it works well. Lectron says they have never had a problem reported but they said they will send me a replacement but they don't currently have any in stock. We will see what happens.
So, I picked up my MME on 3/1/22. Just over 7 months after I ordered it.
So after a week of driving my short commute to work and a load of "coworker test rides" and driving my miles/KWH down to around 1.5 (lot's of launches...and giggles) I headed out on my road trip of 380 miles from the OC to the Bay Area. I charged to 100% and started off.
Actually, before I set-off, I slapped some cheap PPF on the front bumper because of a pending road trip (you can see the wrinkles) while waiting for my profession job at the end of the month. I did drop in my 3D floor mats which are really great. The AOSK arm rest tray, rear cargo mat and rear seat back covers. I also ceramic coated the seats with Geyon. Needed to protect the seats from the road trip food and iced coffees. By the way, super easy to do and the "leather" feels the same.
As soon as I got onto the freeway I started playing with Bluecruise for the first time. Not a good experience but, it had more to do with the freeway. If you have driven the 5 or the 10 or ....basically any LA Freeway, they are in terrible condition. There are so many expansion cracks, and repainted lanes and extra lines that Bluecruise was constantly hunting left and right in the lanes to the point I was getting nauseous. The second issue, if someone if the lane to the left of me decides he wants to be in the lane to the right of me (or 3 lanes to the right of me), he will cut right in front of me, with about 1 car length and then into the lane to the right. As the car dives into my lane and out quickly, adaptive cruise doesn't react until after the car leaves my lane and it slams the break hard. There wasn't heavy traffic, but the semi behind me was getting upset at "me" slamming on my breaks after the car was already out of my lane. I turned BC off until I got to the open road.
Remember that 1.5 mi/kwh. I did not reset my trip computer. I can't remember exactly when, but it took at least 40-50 miles before the GOM said my range was reducing. As I was driving, it was slowly creeping up and then it finally started to drop. But don't think I was babying my MME. The power was great for pulling around traffic when needed. The suspension is firm but not harsh. This was way more comfortable than my 2016 GT Performance Pack. And way more comfortable than my brother in-laws Model 3 Performance.
Finally, out of LA, past the mountains and now on the flat 5 freeway in the Central Valley. BC did much better here. The freeway is basically straight with some slight bends. But BC handled it all fine without issues...well, except for one. BC seems to favor the right side of the lane. It is slight, but I am definitely not in the middle. I don't like this because I tend to favor the left side of the lane when I am driving. It makes me feel a little uncomfortable. I wish there was a way to set a bias. Actually, there was a second issue. I tend to keep my head tilted slightly backwards...it keeps me from slouching. Well, I guess BC can't see the area of my face that it wants to see, so I had to force myself to keep my head pointing directly forward.
So I drove about 18-200 miles and decided to charge. Actually, I needed a "break" and a bite to eat. I plugged into and EA charger (free) and it started automatically. But the screen said that that the rate was $0.43/kwh. So I stopped it and called EA. They said I am OK. It is just showing my $/KWH. above that is what it is charging me and that remained at $0.00. So I plugged back in. I was at 30%. 80% was done at 20-25 minutes. I shoved my burger down my throat and took off. I charged a little more so that I could leave the 5 and venture off to one of my favorite driving roads between the 5 and the 101 freeways. I am not going to say which roads because "they are all mine".
After some extended spirited driving I can say this. The Summer "Bicycle Tires" on the Premium did well. They had really good grip. When combined with the suspension, low center of gravity and the AWD, I have more confidence driving the MME in a very "spirited" manner than my 2016 GTMustang Gt Performance Pack. With the GT, the second you push it passed its limit...the backend becomes the front end. I know for a fact the MME was carrying more speed out of some of the twisties, and I am stilling getting the feel of this heavy vehicle. With about 50 miles to Gilroy (the next fast charger), I realized my last estimate with "spirited" driving was a little off. So I slowed down and turned off the AC. I did make it to Gilroy, with less than 5% left. So did I have range anxiety? Yes and no. Remember that 1.5 mi/kwh. We'll. that isn't a fluke. On my 2016 GT, I averaged about 9-10 miles per gallon in the city and my first set of rears (Pirelli P-Zeros) lasted 5k miles. No joke. Yes, I have a heavy foot. So my 2016 had a total range of around 160-170 miles in the city. I was constantly running that thing down to 10 miles (no use carrying all of that extra weight in gas). So range anxiety from charging doesn't bother me. What does bother me is showing up to a charger and finding it being blocked. on this trip I was ICE'd by a big MB G-wagon. But I was also blocked 2 times in San Jose by Teslas in charging spots and they were not even charging. They just wanted the front row parking. Now I had to find a different charger and I couldn't do my errands because they were back at the other chargers. I was charging in San Jose because my families house does not have an available 220v and the charging infrastructure in Morgan Hill is pretty bad for non-Teslas. The only DCFC is a 20kW system. Everything else is j1772.
For the car, very comfortable. Smooth and quiet on the road. Only had to roll down my windows 3 times at stop light to give impromptu car reviews. I did run into someone at a charger with the same spec (except he had the black interior) and he got his 2 days before me. I shouldn't have shown him my interior. His wife gave him the, "...huh, it actually looks really nice. You were right, we should have gotten the white interior..." He looked to the sky, closed his eyes and smiled.
So what is next. 1) Ceramic tint. There is some IR blocking but not enough for a bright day in California. XPEL XR is my choice. 2) PPF on the full front: XPel. 3) Draw-Time tow hitch. This one I will install myself. Just for the bike rack and for a cargo carrier.4) I put in the retractable cargo area cover:AOSK) The stock fabric cover doesn't pop out of the hooks. They fixed this from the first units. But when you drive with the windows down, that cargo cover flaps around like crazy. 5) I put in some of the AOSK rubber matts in the door pockets and the cup holders. They keep things quieter in the door pockets. 6)and the last thing for awhile is to try Hyperdip on the wheels.
After that, I will be done for awhile. I probably should financially recover from the car, PPF and tint purchases. But it is time to just enjoy the MME.
Oh yeah...one last thing. My company has free on-site charging. Nice, right!. We have 6 charge point chargers and 8 Tesla Wall chargers. I bought the 48A Lectron Tesla to J1772 adapter. Well. It only works with 2 of the 8 chargers. None of the wall chargers are locked. When it works, it works well. Lectron says they have never had a problem reported but they said they will send me a replacement but they don't currently have any in stock. We will see what happens.
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