MME Not a long-term vehicle. How come?

[boywundr]

Great thread!

I know my wife and I plan on keeping this car for a very long time, probably well after we pay it off in a few years. We kept her Camry for just under 8 years and only traded it because we're not driving enough to own two cars. Sure, we're still in the honeymoon phase (the car, but our relationship is still pretty awesome too!), but we just had to drive a rental for a week and sounded like spoiled brats because we missed our car! HAHA, we never think of cars like that but this one did it.

I haven't been this excited for a car since my first one, which was a Mazda Protoge (don't judge me) and that was only because I paid for it myself and put a sweet system in it. Oh the 90s...

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[SuzzyQ]

Agreed. I learned that if you don't have the money to buy something up front, you really have no business buying it with the bank's money. Only exception I made was on our home.

I have a different theory. When vehicles (way back when) didn’t have the price tag they do now, paying cash was a good option. These days paying cash, once the money is spent it’s gone! Interest rates are low, so using bank money is a great option. Plus paying cash for a necessary evil and depreciative item may not make sense. I choose to lease and do not put money down and this is where I agree with you if you can’t afford the payments you shouldn’t be buying it.

 

[SuzzyQ]

We needed to replace my wife's daily driver anyway, and we recently moved and her commute went from 10 to 40 miles each way. I swore I would not own some electric 'toy car', but then I started doing the research, and as most people here already know, a BEV is going to save me a ton of money over ICE.
So despite being a first year model, and me not really being a 'Ford guy', we got the MME because it looked like the best overall choice in BEVs for all the reasons you can find in other threads. I like it, and more importantly, the wife loves it!
However, she was used to a bigger SUV, so we have already talked about looking at the F150L or some other more truck-like BEV in a couple of years. I will probably not buy another first year model next time, assuming the MME continues to exceed my expectations (except for the software... LOL)

You mentioned you are looking at the F150, your looking in the right direction. It’s a great vehicle. I’ve owned 2. I still have my 2010. Now, tech wise it lacks compared to these days, but its reliably at its best! Don’t hesitate. Lease the purchase (lower payments) by when lease ends.

 

[Noctivigan]

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.

Hence why many lease the first model year

 

[Chuck]

Hence why many lease the first model year

What are your monthly lease payments?

 

[AzCoronaDog]

You mentioned you are looking at the F150, your looking in the right direction. It’s a great vehicle. I’ve owned 2. I still have my 2010. Now, tech wise it lacks compared to these days, but its reliably at its best! Don’t hesitate. Lease the purchase (lower payments) by when lease ends.

We are thinking about the not yet built F150 Lightning BEV. I have always been a Chevy (now GMC) guy when it comes to trucks, but both my wife and I would rather have the truck platform for our BEV rather than the SUV / crossover thing that the MME is.
And we are older now, so I don't generally do payments on anything anymore! Cash or I can't afford it! LOL

 

[BMT1071]

We are thinking about the not yet built F150 Lightning BEV. I have always been a Chevy (now GMC) guy when it comes to trucks, but both my wife and I would rather have the truck platform for our BEV rather than the SUV / crossover thing that the MME is.
And we are older now, so I don't generally do payments on anything anymore! Cash or I can't afford it! LOL

Very thin on details at this point, but GM has announced the electric Silverado.

 

[CarsIMBwife]

I’m planning on keeping it for quite a while. It’s my fifth new car. My other cars lasted 8, 11, 10, and 14 years respectively, each paid off within 2.5 years. Options was not an option in NC when I bought mine, don’t know if that has changed, but at .9% interest, it almost doesn’t make sense to pay it off early.

 

[billy_at]

And what is this flexibility costing me? Nothing...in fact, it's saving me money. Total interest on 3-year Ford Options for me is $1,626, while I got a $2,500 incentive for going through Ford Options.

I'm a Ford Options buyer too, but I never thought of it in quite these terms. You're totally right - the bonus cash more than pays for all of my interest payments. That's excellent!

 

[Rt1AWD]

About 10 years ago the time was coming to upgrade my ageing cars. During the long family vacation roadtrip I thought about that.......... Ok, I spend a crazy amount of money for the upgrade, and what I get in return? Same four wheels, same controls that I would have to use exactly the same way to get extremely tired after driving it for 300-500 miles........
So I've made a pledge: I pay that crazy money only if the transaction gives me something extra that worth all that money.......... like autopilot...... whatever....

So apparently the time has come.....

 

[Magnitude]

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.

I thought about this regarding this Car. But i dont think the first year built stay away approach actually apply to the Mach E. I do see that software will need to be improved. But this car seems to be over built by Ford. I think Ford not wanting this car to fail in any way really did an excellent job. I have owned old Mercedes, Acura's, Toyotas and this is one of the best i have driven.

 

[Stangracer]

I plan on keeping my MME for a long time. (Once it finally gets here LOL) I plan on retiring in the next 3 to 5 years so the mileage I put on the MME & my Lexus convertible will drop considerably. I will trade up for a boost in range. Something that gets me comparable to a full tank of gas in my Lexus.

 

[Peaceowl]

We would like to keep the mache as long as our solar power excess pays the charge each night!

we’ve gotten used to no car payments after hanging on to our cars for mostly over 10 years. After realizing how much of our produced solar goes back to the grid, we need to use it or lose it. Hence, the mme order was born.

came back to say I agree, my thoughts too about the 3 year Ford options in case there are huge improvements on the e-cars and extended mileage by then. 400 miles would be very appealing.

 

[RickMachE]

For me, the Mach-E's range combined with potential advances in technology will determine how long we keep it. Longest we have gone is 15 years. That is shortening as we age and desire newer vehicles. With our on order Mach-E changed to a 2022, will sell this one when the 2022 is delivered assuming breakeven or better.

 

[bncwhite]

I'm trying to decide whether I want to keep the car after the Options portion of ownership comes to an end. I was considering trading in my 2019 Edge as a down payment of around $15-20K(currently owe $15.5K on it) and that would bring my payments down to a decent number. Problem with that is, when I hit the 36 or 48 month mark and I want to upgrade to the next MME MY, I won't have a car with equity to repeat that down payment amount again, which then has me considering to just keep the car indefinitely.

Then, I went to parts.ford.com and checked the price of a replacement battery for the MME. It is over $23,000 just for the part, not including labor.

I calculate I will put around 20,000 miles on the car each year, based on my current circumstances. I realize this is an extremely rare and unlikely "what if", but if I kept the car over 5 years and the battery died with me having 100,830 miles on it, I'd be looking at a $23,000 battery replacement, or sell it at a steep discount, and buy a new MME.

Considering the cost of the main battery, it seems like I should find a plan that allows me to always stay with upcoming MME models and always drive with a factory warranty.

Any suggestions out there? Thanks in advance.

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