new user first impressions

[bbulkow]

Received '23 Premium RWD ER Thursday. Wrote this Saturday, now with 250 miles on the clock.

• BlueCruise took 48 hours to activate. All you peeps who said "I got a new '23 and no bluecruise!", it appears to be account setup and verification - a matter of time. The dealer had told me 48 hours, and that's about what it was for me. It's not about setting up the cell modem, although who knows, maybe that puts you earlier in the queue.
  
  
• BlueCruise is pretty spanky good. I had it on bay area roads (101) and it worked as advertised. I use the auto lane change - I don't think it's slow, it's just polite, as polite as I aspire to be and never quite am. My partner did make fun of Blue Cruise : what's the point if you still have to pay attention?
  
  
• WITH ONE MAJOR SAFETY EXCEPTION. There are a few spots on 101 in the bay area where Blue Cruise believes the speed limit is 45 and 55. I'm certain there was construction there 6 months ago, but there's nothing there now. It's 65MPH and traffic is flowing 70 to 75. Bluecruise "helpfully" resets your cruise speed and starts dropping pretty quick (staying within regen), giving you enough time to react, but it's unsafe. This is a serious issue. Any idea of someone to yell at @Ford? It seems hard to turn off? There's a system setting for "speed limit assist" but I don't think it takes effect for BlueCruise? Checking that out today.
  
  
• Disappointed with the RWD performance, yes, as expected. The horsepower numbers aren't that different from my Honda CRV. The 3 is a bit lower and more fun, too, but I was buying a car with semi-SUV cargo capacity and I knew it. "As expected". It's still an EV, just a kinda big hulking one. The suspension seems fine - tight enough, not too tight. I wouldn't call it a great driving car by any stretch.It is nice being in a modern car with RWD, did get the wheels spinning a few times.
  
  
• Charging times seem long compared to the Tesla 3. I'm having to deal with public charging while I get my box installed (no 220 plugs in my house, long story). I hit a DC fast charger, and wish I knew how fast it was really charging…. according to the box, 50KW. I hit the same spot later, lower on charge, and maybe I got to 70KW? Wasn't terribly cold (55F?). Reading up, it looks like you get 150KW and similar only when you're really quite low (10%?), so doing 10% -> 50% charges might be optimal. When I get my home charger, I'd expect to do away-from-home only when I need a few more miles on a longer driving day, so just driving it to 10% to get a bump to 30% to get home then putting it on overnight would be a quick stop, so this goes away.
  
  
• Charging. Non-tesla networks have chargers Near Things! One is near a large and fancy shopping mall, so I cruised over to my favorite fancy food store, stopped for a coissant and an espresso, got a nice 20%.. Very different from the parking lot of an apandoned Sears, and a scary parking lot between a 24 hour fitness, taco bell, and mcdonalds. For a road trip, close to the freeway and no amenities *is* better, though. But we also see Magic Docks rolling out at Supercharger stations, so in 12 months I hope the "either or" will be a thing of the past.
  
  
• Dealer experience was OK(ish)! I've had an order on the books since 9/7/22 and no motion. With tax changes of '23, I wondered if "my car" (RWD ER Premium "Orange") was nearby. I found one at the closest local dealer, oddly enough, out of a 500 mile radius search there were only 2. 5 miles away! I went down partially because I was still on the fence with Red (orange is better!), partially because I wanted my partner to give a thumbsup (she's picky; she did), and I had never sat in one. I told the sales guy I would do the deal at MSRP, and he tried playing all the usual games but not very hard. Paid cash, spent maybe an hour and a half at the dealer between sitting in it (going home), doing some initial paperwork (which put the sale on the books from their perspective but wasn't very binding), and doing the final paperwork (acutal DMV bill of sale and actual check). Being a few miles away helped ("wait for your manager? yeah, here's my cell number, text me one word yes or no, I'm out of here though"). I considered taunting them by asking for a discount… but took the car at MSRP. Man, these things are going to be tough to move at MSRP, it's just not that much car for the money with Tesla afoot.
  
  
• Charging and route planning software is far worse than I thought! I had some fantasy that between Android Auto enabling third party, Google Maps, and all the charging networks, I would be able to say "find a charge on the way home" and it would work. So not so! ABRP's android auto hangs too much (and is designed for longer trips). Google's "charging stations" shows those near and for a few searches showed Teslas but I'm not sure why (I had set "my plugs"). ChargePoint / PlugShare / EA / EvGo / Shell are too hard to use on the car screen while driving - the UIs just need help (Ford and Google have "speed of charge" as an always-exposed button, which is key for the driver, and number of chargers / number of fast and slow chargers currently available just right in the list). Essentially, a co-pilot will be key on longer trips - eg, they can drive, I can sort through the 5 networks and what taquerias are good to find the optimal lunch spot.
  
  
• Astonishingly, Ford's nav and route is not bad at all. I might say it's on par with Tesla. It's good at filtering fast and slow, seems to show what's available and what's not. Looks like that's the best choice if you're actually driving and decide you need a bump on the way home.
  
  
• Trouble with PAAK (resolved). Yesterday, I decided to enable "mykey" (sounded friendly), then I realized it was some kind of Parental Control, so I removed "mykey", and right about then, my PAAK stopped working. Ok, remove my PAAK create a new one. When I did that, creating the new PAAK failed. Luckily, I had created both the door code and the emergency start code, and I had wrapped a fob in foil and stashed it. After much thrash, it seems that if you create a PAAK, and your phone screen timeout is 15 seconds, if your lock screen hits, when you come back to the app you're on a different page. I just fooled with the phone and kept touching it so it didn't go to sleep, now I have a new PAAK and it works fine. Teething, but please Ford, attention to details!

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[Reign of Ravens]

• Disappointed with the RWD performance, yes, as expected. The horsepower numbers aren't that different from my Honda CRV. The 3 is a bit lower and more fun, too, but I was buying a car with semi-SUV cargo capacity and I knew it. "As expected". It's still an EV, just a kinda big hulking one. The suspension seems fine - tight enough, not too tight. I wouldn't call it a great driving car by any stretch.It is nice being in a modern car with RWD, did get the wheels spinning a few times.

Sort of surprised to read this one. I remember a saying, "horsepower is what you own, torque is what you drive" - even compared with your CRV, the RWD Mach-E should feel peppier. Heck, my Nissan Leaf had a 0-60 time that was within spitting distance of my Prius, and I could still zip into spaces on the freeway or quickly cross intersections - things that I would have never dared to do in my Prius. In fact, one time I forgot I was in my Prius and tried to do that quick acceleration thing. You know the saying, you only really miss what you have once it's gone? I knew there was a difference before, but I didn't realize just how big a different it was until then...

Granted, if you're comparing it with a Model 3 then you're used to EV torque and your threshold for performance has already been reset. I can't chide you on this one - you wrote that you already expected this.

Nice list, thanks for the write-up!

 

[generaltso]

Any idea of someone to yell at @Ford?

That's not who you think it is.

 

[Kmp14]

WITH ONE MAJOR SAFETY EXCEPTION. There are a few spots on 101 in the bay area where Blue Cruise believes the speed limit is 45 and 55. I'm certain there was construction there 6 months ago, but there's nothing there now. It's 65MPH and traffic is flowing 70 to 75. Bluecruise "helpfully" resets your cruise speed and starts dropping pretty quick (staying within regen), giving you enough time to react, but it's unsafe. This is a serious issue. Any idea of someone to yell at @Ford? It seems hard to turn off? There's a system setting for "speed limit assist" but I don't think it takes effect for BlueCruise? Checking that out today.

You can definitely turn that off. Not sure which of the speed assist setting it is, sorry, but I turn them both of anyway. Turned off, BC does not adjust your speed based on speed limits.

 

[Womps]

I have mine turned off as well. When driving on the freeway @ 110 kms there is an exit speed zone 60 kms sign. It will read this and brake even though I’m not exiting. it only does this in the same spot every time. Doesn’t read other exit speed zone signs. Too dangerous so shut that feature off. Blue Cruise still works and speed zone signs will be read and posted on my display, vehicle just doesn’t respond and adjust speed accordingly.

 

[bbulkow]

i found a post about how to turn it off, will be applying tomorrow. Already forgot the name...

 

[bbulkow]

Follow up.

I have buyer's remorse now, and wouldn't recommend anyone buy a MachE at this point.

I had not appreciated the "charge speed" issue. If you are away from home, the critical question is how fast can you (safely within manufacturer limits) get from 10 percent charge to 80 percent charge. When road tripping you don't really want to go below 10 percent (30 miles) because that's where the next charger is.

Since this is a curve, it's hard to describe. Tesla says "add 150 miles in 15 minutes", which is probably not optimal, but it is an answer (how many miles can you add before you get bored).

It sure looks like the MachE charges about 2x slower than the Tesla under fast-charge, road-trip conditions. The "150kw" on a MachE appears to be for only a few minutes, and below 10%. Comparing to what I'd probably buy - a Model Y with extended battery, which appears to do 250KW for an extended period (up to about 25% then tapers down). I still haven't figured out if this is true: one has to try to find charging curves and "integrate under the curve".

The best measure is more like "if I'm on a road trip, how much extra charging time do I add per driving time". The miles capacity of these cars is only about 10% off, so overnight charges will be about the same (300 miles truthfully which might be 330 in real life, vs 330 claimed with lies that might be 300, I have to put those at a wash). If I can easily do 600 miles in a day - which is my historical amount for long haul american driving - that means two stops because real world you don't charge to 100% and don't drop to 0 so real-world road trip is more like 220ish between charges - 250 if you keep the heat off or its warm - and stopping for 20 minutes each vs 40 minutes each seems like a big deal.

2x is a lot. Or, it's 40 minutes per day ;-) don't worry about it.

Thus, I'm really stacking up:

Model Y has more cargo capacity (about 10 cu ft and more usable). Model Y has better charging. Model Y is probably a better physical driving experience (lower, faster). Ford doesn't lock in to Tesla-villa, you can put your own apps on the big screen. Ford has a tech driving experience (big display, control over vents, a knob that works, MPH front and center, hands-free instead of lawsuits about self driving, wireless Android Auto + media). With the addition of a CCS adapter which Tesla now fully support, Tesla currently has the on-the-road charging edge (CCS + Supercharger > CCS alone) that won't be erased anytime soon. Ford has better seats.

The problem is the $10,000 difference between the two. At the same price, I could squint and be happy, but with those plusses and minuses the Tesla is conceivably the better car for me, and I burned $10k getting a (slightly) lesser car.

But done is done. The $10k isn't coming back. I can't sell this and buy another and get my $10k back. Time to live with what I have. Time to get the home charger installed so I don't gripe about a road trip I never take (or take the ICE car or rent a tesla). Maybe when I stop charging remotely I'll be happier, because it is a nice car, just not *THAT* nice a car.

Ouch.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Time to get the home charger installed

Absolutely. If you have the ability to charge your vehicle where you park almost every night, that is always going to be your best option.

BTW Ford advertises it's top DCFC charging performance as a 10% to 80% battery charge in as little as 45 minutes at a suitably equipped charge station.

https://www.ford.com/mustang/ev-charging/mache/

 

[KevinS]

I have buyer's remorse now, and wouldn't recommend anyone buy a MachE at this point.

Frankly, if you're going to now kvetch about the differences between the Mach-E and Y, you didn't do your due diligence. Charging speeds and cargo specs are all very knowable statistics in advance. And I think the general consensus is home charging is the secret to a happy BEV experience.

Better luck next time you go car shopping.

 

[bbulkow]

Frankly, if you're going to now kvetch about the differences between the Mach-E and Y, you didn't do your due diligence. Charging speeds and cargo specs are all very knowable statistics in advance. And I think the general consensus is home charging is the secret to a happy BEV experience.

Better luck next time you go car shopping.

Cargo space I knew.

Charging times, I still am having trouble finding information about. There's obscurity between the fact that most chargers aren't superchargers. Tesla's website has only the vague claims, same with Ford's.

I'm still, honestly, not sure about the real world differences. I have to pull out user-submitted curves and try to plot my own numbers, knowing what I know now.

When I bought the car, I thought I wouldn't care so much about that. I'll still be able to talk myself into that, after I've got home charging. Hopefully I'll get there.

The extra $10k was something that happened right when I was pulling the trigger. I could have paid more attention to that.

 

[bbulkow]

Absolutely. If you have the ability to charge your vehicle where you park almost every night, that is always going to be your best option.

BTW Ford advertises it's top DCFC charging performance as a 10% to 80% battery charge in as little as 45 minutes at a suitably equipped charge station.

https://www.ford.com/mustang/ev-charging/mache/

And I saw that a lot. What is the comparable for Tesla? Ioniq? ID.4?

Y: 200 miles in 15 minutes (from the Y page). It's sure true that 60 miles in 10 minutes should have tipped me off.

Ioniq: 10% to 80% in 18 minutes. That's at least apples to apples.

The tesla numbers are hard to compare. 10% to 80% on a machE isn't 200 miles. But it probably is 230 miles. And is Tesla playing games, where you get that only if you go lower (5%)? I am still researching.

If someone said "on a roadtrip, you'll be charging 40 minutes instead of 20" even with the fastest chargers, I would have hesitated.

As a word to anyone else who finds this thread: the MachE will charge 2x slower on a road trip than comparable cars. People say "yeah you shoulda known that" instead of "yeah that's pretty bad".

 

[macchiaz-o]

As a word to anyone else who finds this thread: the MachE will charge 2x slower on a road trip than comparable cars. People say "yeah you shoulda known that" instead of "yeah that's pretty bad".

I'll respond to that by first saying that I don't have much fast charging experience. I've only used DCFC with the Mustang Mach-E maybe 6-8 times, ever. And mine is the smaller battery, so limited to 115 kW charging instead of 150 kW.

Each time the experience was fine. We used the brief time we spent at the chargers to stretch, eat lunch, walk the dog, and take bathroom breaks. We weren't at any point just sitting in the car, idly waiting out that time.

With that said, what I gather from other forum member experiences is that charge RATE doesn't matter so much as the DURATION of time spent at the charging stop. Several of the cars with higher voltage architectures certainly can charge at a faster rate than the Mach-E which is limited mainly by its ~400 V architecture... But those higher rate capable vehicles only achieve their better rate at higher end stations (e.g. the 350 kW stall at an Electrify America station), only briefly within their full charge curve, and only when the pump is operating at full capability. They are sometimes throttled due to temperature management issues (e.g. lack of shade or cooling pumps that aren't fully functioning), or perhaps due to time of day and power company demand peak charges, though I'm only guessing on that.

So yes, the Ioniq 5 can absolutely achieve a 10-80% recharge in just 18 minutes, but only in perfect conditions (car and pump at ideal temps and pump is fast and fully supplied). That's far better than the Mach-E's 45 minutes for anyone in a similar situation to you, where you might be doing lots of long distance traveling and your vehicle can't be charged overnight while you're asleep.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

^^^ This

Plus the simple fact is that for better / for worse you own a Mach E, not a Tesla, Kia, Porsche, VW, MB, Audi, etc. A bit of unasked for advice from an older retired dude who is a first time Ford customer and by no means 100% satisfied with the MME (nor an MME apologist): In the end what truly matters regarding this topic is whether or not the car you own comports to your lifestyle. Does it meet your needs? Will it do the things you need it to? Does it have features you enjoy? Can you live with its deficiencies? If these answer to these questions is for the most part yes, then it matters not what any other car can or can't do. Once you have a home charger, your daily life will be drastically different. Charging will largely be a non-issue. You'll discover the joy of being able to always leave home with a full "tank" (or more likely as full as you desire). On the occasional road trip will the car theoretically charge slower than a Tesla or a Kia or a whatever? Maybe, maybe not. While I'm not a huge DCFC user, I've been at multiple chargers where the supposedly faster charging car next to me was no faster, or even slower. E.g., I saw this with a Lucid once. If your job requires you to constantly be on the road, DCFCing multiple times daily, then yeah, you bought the wrong car. But it doesn't sound like that's the case.

I hope you can get over your buyer's remorse. I really do. It's a really fun car.

 

[radrat]

WITH ONE MAJOR SAFETY EXCEPTION. There are a few spots on 101 in the bay area where Blue Cruise believes the speed limit is 45 and 55. I'm certain there was construction there 6 months ago, but there's nothing there now. It's 65MPH and traffic is flowing 70 to 75. Bluecruise "helpfully" resets your cruise speed and starts dropping pretty quick (staying within regen), giving you enough time to react, but it's unsafe. This is a serious issue. Any idea of someone to yell at @Ford? It seems hard to turn off? There's a system setting for "speed limit assist" but I don't think it takes effect for BlueCruise? Checking that out today.

Strongly agreed. My spouse just started driving our new MME and when she tried out BlueCruise for the first time I had to warn her about spots along my regular commute on 101 where speed rapidly decreases to 45mph. It seems indeed like a major safety hazard and I too would like to know how to report the problem.

 

[superdave80]

If I can easily do 600 miles in a day - which is my historical amount for long haul american driving -

If this is a drive you make with any frequency, and you don't like any added time, you probably should have stayed away from ANY EV.

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