MME Not a long-term vehicle. How come?

[MachoHulkWarrior]

I've seen quite a few threads with comments indicating that people don't see the MME as a car they anticipate owning, "long term".

Curious - if you feel that way, what brought you to that conclusion? I buy vehicles to last (Current vehicle is an 07 Camry). Is it a reliability issue? Comfort? Technology becoming outdated?

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[ZuleMME]

My goal is to make it a 10 year car. I think most people here are concerned battery tech is about to have a evolutional leap. But that doesn't stop you from getting your monies worth on this one. People are just starting to car swap like their phone swaps. lol.

 

[Garbone]

Depends. A lot of folks never really own a car but pay to drive them.

It is the Cash vs Credit thing. Studies show paying cash is actually more mentally painful as the buyer experiences the loss immediately and the credit folks are just getting killed by thou$ands of smaller cuts.

Our pickup truck has been in the Family since 1967. Maybe this Mustang, being the first year and in the 6000s on the Vin may also.

 

[GrumblesTheDog]

My goal is to make it a 10 year car. I think most people here are concerned battery tech is about to have a evolutional leap. But that doesn't stop you from getting your monies worth on this one. People are just starting to car swap like their phone swaps. lol.

Agree. I bought mine with Options juuuuuust in case there were any surprises that would push me towards not keeping it for the long haul, but I love this car so much already I am probably going to pay it off early.

The faster 800V charging in the Kia/Hyundai platform is nice, but the MME is right at the spot where I can tolerate (and even prefer) a 30 minute charge break on road trips. I don't think that's the battery advance which would make me trade it in. Furthermore, I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not totally sure solid state battery tech will be mature enough in 5 (or 10) years to give a comparable range at a comparable price...

Even the random mechanical issues posted here have been hugely exacerbated by the pandemic, which is terrible luck. If supply chains weren't so severely stressed, I would imagine some of these repairs would only take a day or two for a part to be overnighted, rather than 3-4 weeks to get one direct from the supplier.

 

[Scooby24]

IMO if you're buying a vehicle to keep it long term you should never buy a first model year. They WILL have issues. They always do. You can usually get those issues resolved but it makes so much more sense to wait for those issues to get ironed out, see what those issues are, determine if they are going to be problematic for keeping the vehicle long term, and then make your purchase if you've concluded it's a good fit. If you've got a vehicle you've kept for a long time already you should have the patience and the discipline to wait it out where some of us don't.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

My goal is to make it a 10 year car. I think most people here are concerned battery tech is about to have a evolutional leap. But that doesn't stop you from getting your monies worth on this one. People are just starting to car swap like their phone swaps. lol.

many people on here have pointed to this specific thing - the battery tech. Nobody knows what is going to happen in the next three years but there's a general consensus that the battery tech is going to improve noticeably (things like motors, etc. are pretty much as far as they are going to go, so that's not really on the table).

 

[praxiscat]

Different people take different approaches to cars. Some prefer leasing and swapping out every 3-4 years, others like owning for 10+ years. I fall more inbetween, as I want a vehicle around for 5-7 years, so owning is actually more practical than leasing.
With this vehicle, I purchased it with a low interest rate loan (2% ish). I will likely trade it in or sell it at some point. Probably six or seven years. I don't commute to work by car, and the vehicle is largely for weekend trips and seeing friends. Likewise I needed a hatchback for the shows I do as a musician outside my day job. Since I am doing almost exclusively level 2 charging the battery is likely to hold up.

Battery tech is going to improve, but I think the big leap is 5 or 6 years from now when Solid State batteries become economically feasible. So the time I will be looking for a new car is when the battery tech is substantial enough to upgrade my ER model. Again this is why I went for ER to begin with, is I have a little more time to wait for that tech improvement as well.

 

[breeves002]

I just don't keep cars long in general. I buy and sell them way too much. I will likely not keep this more than 3 years, but you never know. Could be 1 could be 5 I paid cash too.

 

[TRP]

We put too many miles on a vehicle to make lease/Options a real option for us. So we financed this one at .9% (damn near free money) and will likely keep it for at least 6 years or more.

 

[Mach-Tony]

Wives aren't even a long term thing these days...

 

[DYohn]

Yea, there is nothing about the MME making it not a "long term vehicle" except personal choice. As the old saying goes, to each his own.

Same goes for wives.

 

[Chuck]

My dad said to me once, "Son, I spent too much money on cars. It was just a waste of money." For that reason I've always kept my cars for 10 years. Cars are built so well these days they just don't wear out. The 2009 Edge that I just sold after 12 years of ownership was in pristine condition and the paint looked like new. With 177,000 miles on it it could easily go another 5 years without issue. I'm not a car buff and see a car as a tool so I have no emotional need to get new cars often. They're not a status symbol to me which is good because where I live a Mustang Mach E is no status symbol.

Aside: Our cars are in the garage every single night. I believe that the biggest harm to a car is weather and ultraviolet light.

Aside 2: I was taught to make the car payments BEFORE buying the car and to not buy the car until I had the cash to pay for it. That philosophy has always worked well for me.

 

[jaycake]

Depends. A lot of folks never really own a car but pay to drive them.

It is the Cash vs Credit thing. Studies show paying cash is actually more mentally painful as the buyer experiences the loss immediately and the credit folks are just getting killed by thou$ands of smaller cuts.

Our pickup truck has been in the Family since 1967. Maybe this Mustang, being the first year and in the 6000s on the Vin may also.

what portion of the VIN tells you the vehicle number?..Thanks.

 

[Chuck]

what portion of the VIN tells you the vehicle number?..Thanks.

 

[Eraser]

I'm not holding my breath on battery tech having any meaningful leaps in the next 10 years or more. Even if some new tech comes to market it will only be in the very high end EV's first, which wouldn't be at my price point. As long as the software continues to be updated I don't see why this car wouldn't last me for at least 10 years. My last two cars I had for 10 and 13 years each, which had 0 functional updates for the life of the car. We should see many functional updates over the life of the MME, which should breath new life into it over time.

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