Jimrpa
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Jim
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2020
- Threads
- 230
- Messages
- 7,102
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- 9,456
- Location
- Wayne, PA
- Vehicles
- 2021 Infinite Blue Premium Mustang Mach E ER AWD
- Occupation
- Retied (formerly tried to herd highly technical, independent cats)
- Thread starter
- #1
I went to the event in East Windsor, NJ on Saturday, October 24th. Pretty overcast day. They had two MMEs - a black one that I didn't pay any attention to, and a Premium ER AWD infinite Blue with Space Gray interior (i.e., MINE), which I spent all my time with.
Bit of background on the "roadshow". COVID messed up all their plans - the roadshow was supposed to have started many months ago, with more teams. They have a few teams in northern and southern CA, and a couple of teams on the east coast. For the East Coast, they're working their way sort of north to south, as dealers have availability to let them come (apparently Ford doesn't "dictate" when they'll arrive to the dealer - it's all up to dealers if/when Ford is allowed to come). In the case of this team, they have a large red F-series (I think it might be an F250? I didn't get close enough to check) crew cab pickup with a really LONG enclosed trailer with lots of black and blue MME graphics that don't actually show the car. They trailer one of the cars. One of the team members drives the other car. They stop at chargers to charge it. They definitely get lots of people coming over and asking questions whenever they have the car at chargers or in parking lots like Targets, hotels, etc. As an aside, they mentioned that Hilton is doing a better job at building out their charger infrastructure than Marriott so far. This team has been authorized to go as far south as MD/VA so far, and they're hoping that, as time goes on, they'll be cleared to continue down the east coast all the way to FL. Their schedule is extremely dynamic and being built in real-time.
In addition to giving US the opportunity to see the cars we've ordered the purposes of these shows are to get people with reservations to convert to orders, and to begin to get additional orders. That's not surprising. The only swag I saw available were posters (they were rolled up, and I didn't grab one). They have an iPad based check-in system, but it wasn't working. Apparently, they'd been having problems with it and had given up using it by the time I got there (I go there at 4:50 PM (I had the last slot of the day and ended up staying until almost 7:00 PM when the dealer closed - I felt guilty about monopolizing all their time).
Ok, onto the vehicle: First impression when you see it - It looks much better in person than the pictures. The Infinite Blue is BLUE. It's a great shade of blue. I've been really concerned that it was going to be "gray with a hint of blue" which is what it's looked like on the website and it's definitely not. It looks great! Im really happy with the color. The interior color, while called "space gray", to me is almost a "white". It is really on the very light end of "gray". It will be interesting to see how well it stands up to "real life". It is a fantastic match with the Infinite Blue though. I think it looks better than black would have.
For those, like me, who were interested in an illuminated pony - I just don't see how that's going to be possible. The oval "grille" is an integral part of the entire front fascia of the vehicle going all the way to the fenders, and it has some ultrasonic sensors in it, that have to be adjusted and calibrated to work properly. This is not something you can just pop off and replace and, if you did, it would not be cheap. The guy who was there said he had heard something about the possibility of a Ford Accessory "overlay" that would be a "GT grille" with the illuminated pony". I'm not holding my breath on that one.
On to the front trunk: Yes, the infamous divider was there, and he had apparently already gotten some feedback on it because before I could even comment on it, he was ready with "that's pre-production", "it will not come with the car", "there may be an accessory that will be available", "as you can see it's only held in with two screws". As others have commented, the divider absolutely looked like someone, at the 11th hour said "oh darn, we need to put a structure in here for xxx reason. Quick, go to the 3D printer and make SOMETHING!" and that's what they came up with. It's wobbly, not very well-fitting, and definitely doesn't look in-place with the rest of the car. If it weren't in the front trunk, I can see how that would be a handy space. It looks like it could hold say, a Tumi roll aboard, a couple of gym bags, several bags of groceries (I can actually see using it for groceries, since I pull into my garage nose first and the door to my house would be right across from the front trunk), or a nice-sized koi pond when you're camping with the Mustang Mach E and want a zen-like atmosphere at the campsite.
I'm completely baffled as to the purpose of the "door handles" on the front doors. When I went to open the driver's door, I pushed the button and pulled the door open. That was completely instinctive. I'd love to hear why they're necessary.
I'm at a loss as to where this special "open compartment" for purses that they created is located? They said it was under the armrest, but all I found under the armrest was a traditional covered large bin with a 12-volt powerpoint and a key fob holder.
I'm a little bit disappointed in the sounds (door ajar, seat belts, etc.) They're the exact same saounds as in my 2018 Escape. I know they weren't going to hire the DSO to create unique sounds, but I was hoping for something a bit more modern/futuristic, not something so ... pedestrian. Couldn't they have drawn some inspiration from Angels and Airwaves or Diplo or Daft Punk or something?
My iPhone 11 Pro Max (the largest one) sat in the charger side with just a small amount of space on all sides around. I suspect the iPhone 12 Pro Max will be pretty close to the edges on all sides. My phone didn't fit on the passenger side of the tray.
He did not know if Mustang Mach E supported adding Car Keys to Apple Wallet.
I wasn't able to really assess the audio system very well. It sounded decent, but I couldn't tell if they had SiriusXM 360L active. They only seemed to have the regular SiriusXM stations, most of which are heavily compressed and sound like crap. Alt Nation happened to be playing Alive and Kicking by Simple Minds, which is usually a good song for a quick evaluation because of it's dynamic range and, as usual on SiriusXM, it sounded like crap. Hopefully, things will sound better on the streaming SiriusXM channels, or through USB and a quasi-decent audio format, like Apple AAC 256 bit. I plan on bringing a USB-C cable with me when I go see the car next time to try to check out the audio system a bit more.
The seats are very comfortable, but the side bolsters are a bit low. I'm not sure if Europeans will be happy about them. One thing I am disappointed in about the seats (and I think someone else noted this as well) is that these seats do not have as many directions of adjustment as you might expect. Looking at the seat controls, you'd expect the following adjustments: forward-backward; up-down; fore-tilt up-down; aft-tilt up-down; recline forward-aft; lumbar more-less. These are what I have on my 2018 Escape Titanium. The window sticker describes these at 10-way power seats. The Mustang Mach E seats actually lack the fore-tilt up-down and aft-told up-down adjustments. The Mustang Mach E website describes the seats in the Premium as 8-way power driver with memory and 8-way passenger (you have to dig down into the configuration and interior selection to find this). I'll actually have to adjust the car for my driving position to see if this is something I'll miss or not. I did not notice anything unusual about the high-sill others have noted. The seating position seemed normal.
There are no bottle holders in the door pockets, either front or rear, if that's an issue. The cupholders are it. Switchgear is clearly from the Ford "parts bin". No surprise, nor any big deal. I don't mind Ford switchgear. I'm not sure that the cupholders in the front console are illuminated as they are on the Escape and other Ford vehicles.
One design detail that I didn't notice in the pictures, but which is very evident in the vehicle - In most vehicles, the designers "flow" the dash design elements around to the door, so that there's a continuous "line" and "flow" from dash through across door. That absolutely doesn't happen with the Mustang Mach E and it's quite noticeable that the dash ends at the A pillars and elements of the doors, including armrests and speakers are not in any way visually connected with the dash. When you go back and look at cabin pictures, you'll see that there are some very week connections with a piece of metal trim in the cabin that's at the same level on the dash and doors, but that's about it.
I like the ability to raise the aft floor and create a mini "trunk" space. It's not very high, so obviously you can't put luggage, but you can definitely toss small objects you want out of sight under there. I wanted to get an actual photograph of the charger and plugs that came with the car, so we pulled it out and, surprise, it's not the actual Ford Mobile Charger that will be shipping with the cars. This was the first time the guy had actually opened it, so he was a bit surprised as well. It's some 3rd party charger and the 240 volt plug looks odd.
In summary, my feelings:
I'm really happy with my choice and looking forward to getting the vehicle.
Big miss on the seats. I think I've said it multiple times. The Mustang Coupe Premium Convertible has ventilated seats (and they have the same degrees of motion as the ones in my Escape). Not sure why they didn't just ask Johnson Controls (or whoever) to put the ActiveX material on those, toss them into the Mustang Mach E and call it a day. I get having to control cost, but at least give me the choice to get those seats.
No 110V outlet, but a 12V outlet? Really? The 12V outlet is just stupid. a 110V 20A outlet would be practical. I guess you can get a 12V inverter
I took a couple of pictures of the temporary charger plug and of the car.
Bit of background on the "roadshow". COVID messed up all their plans - the roadshow was supposed to have started many months ago, with more teams. They have a few teams in northern and southern CA, and a couple of teams on the east coast. For the East Coast, they're working their way sort of north to south, as dealers have availability to let them come (apparently Ford doesn't "dictate" when they'll arrive to the dealer - it's all up to dealers if/when Ford is allowed to come). In the case of this team, they have a large red F-series (I think it might be an F250? I didn't get close enough to check) crew cab pickup with a really LONG enclosed trailer with lots of black and blue MME graphics that don't actually show the car. They trailer one of the cars. One of the team members drives the other car. They stop at chargers to charge it. They definitely get lots of people coming over and asking questions whenever they have the car at chargers or in parking lots like Targets, hotels, etc. As an aside, they mentioned that Hilton is doing a better job at building out their charger infrastructure than Marriott so far. This team has been authorized to go as far south as MD/VA so far, and they're hoping that, as time goes on, they'll be cleared to continue down the east coast all the way to FL. Their schedule is extremely dynamic and being built in real-time.
In addition to giving US the opportunity to see the cars we've ordered the purposes of these shows are to get people with reservations to convert to orders, and to begin to get additional orders. That's not surprising. The only swag I saw available were posters (they were rolled up, and I didn't grab one). They have an iPad based check-in system, but it wasn't working. Apparently, they'd been having problems with it and had given up using it by the time I got there (I go there at 4:50 PM (I had the last slot of the day and ended up staying until almost 7:00 PM when the dealer closed - I felt guilty about monopolizing all their time).
Ok, onto the vehicle: First impression when you see it - It looks much better in person than the pictures. The Infinite Blue is BLUE. It's a great shade of blue. I've been really concerned that it was going to be "gray with a hint of blue" which is what it's looked like on the website and it's definitely not. It looks great! Im really happy with the color. The interior color, while called "space gray", to me is almost a "white". It is really on the very light end of "gray". It will be interesting to see how well it stands up to "real life". It is a fantastic match with the Infinite Blue though. I think it looks better than black would have.
For those, like me, who were interested in an illuminated pony - I just don't see how that's going to be possible. The oval "grille" is an integral part of the entire front fascia of the vehicle going all the way to the fenders, and it has some ultrasonic sensors in it, that have to be adjusted and calibrated to work properly. This is not something you can just pop off and replace and, if you did, it would not be cheap. The guy who was there said he had heard something about the possibility of a Ford Accessory "overlay" that would be a "GT grille" with the illuminated pony". I'm not holding my breath on that one.
On to the front trunk: Yes, the infamous divider was there, and he had apparently already gotten some feedback on it because before I could even comment on it, he was ready with "that's pre-production", "it will not come with the car", "there may be an accessory that will be available", "as you can see it's only held in with two screws". As others have commented, the divider absolutely looked like someone, at the 11th hour said "oh darn, we need to put a structure in here for xxx reason. Quick, go to the 3D printer and make SOMETHING!" and that's what they came up with. It's wobbly, not very well-fitting, and definitely doesn't look in-place with the rest of the car. If it weren't in the front trunk, I can see how that would be a handy space. It looks like it could hold say, a Tumi roll aboard, a couple of gym bags, several bags of groceries (I can actually see using it for groceries, since I pull into my garage nose first and the door to my house would be right across from the front trunk), or a nice-sized koi pond when you're camping with the Mustang Mach E and want a zen-like atmosphere at the campsite.
I'm completely baffled as to the purpose of the "door handles" on the front doors. When I went to open the driver's door, I pushed the button and pulled the door open. That was completely instinctive. I'd love to hear why they're necessary.
I'm at a loss as to where this special "open compartment" for purses that they created is located? They said it was under the armrest, but all I found under the armrest was a traditional covered large bin with a 12-volt powerpoint and a key fob holder.
I'm a little bit disappointed in the sounds (door ajar, seat belts, etc.) They're the exact same saounds as in my 2018 Escape. I know they weren't going to hire the DSO to create unique sounds, but I was hoping for something a bit more modern/futuristic, not something so ... pedestrian. Couldn't they have drawn some inspiration from Angels and Airwaves or Diplo or Daft Punk or something?
My iPhone 11 Pro Max (the largest one) sat in the charger side with just a small amount of space on all sides around. I suspect the iPhone 12 Pro Max will be pretty close to the edges on all sides. My phone didn't fit on the passenger side of the tray.
He did not know if Mustang Mach E supported adding Car Keys to Apple Wallet.
I wasn't able to really assess the audio system very well. It sounded decent, but I couldn't tell if they had SiriusXM 360L active. They only seemed to have the regular SiriusXM stations, most of which are heavily compressed and sound like crap. Alt Nation happened to be playing Alive and Kicking by Simple Minds, which is usually a good song for a quick evaluation because of it's dynamic range and, as usual on SiriusXM, it sounded like crap. Hopefully, things will sound better on the streaming SiriusXM channels, or through USB and a quasi-decent audio format, like Apple AAC 256 bit. I plan on bringing a USB-C cable with me when I go see the car next time to try to check out the audio system a bit more.
The seats are very comfortable, but the side bolsters are a bit low. I'm not sure if Europeans will be happy about them. One thing I am disappointed in about the seats (and I think someone else noted this as well) is that these seats do not have as many directions of adjustment as you might expect. Looking at the seat controls, you'd expect the following adjustments: forward-backward; up-down; fore-tilt up-down; aft-tilt up-down; recline forward-aft; lumbar more-less. These are what I have on my 2018 Escape Titanium. The window sticker describes these at 10-way power seats. The Mustang Mach E seats actually lack the fore-tilt up-down and aft-told up-down adjustments. The Mustang Mach E website describes the seats in the Premium as 8-way power driver with memory and 8-way passenger (you have to dig down into the configuration and interior selection to find this). I'll actually have to adjust the car for my driving position to see if this is something I'll miss or not. I did not notice anything unusual about the high-sill others have noted. The seating position seemed normal.
There are no bottle holders in the door pockets, either front or rear, if that's an issue. The cupholders are it. Switchgear is clearly from the Ford "parts bin". No surprise, nor any big deal. I don't mind Ford switchgear. I'm not sure that the cupholders in the front console are illuminated as they are on the Escape and other Ford vehicles.
One design detail that I didn't notice in the pictures, but which is very evident in the vehicle - In most vehicles, the designers "flow" the dash design elements around to the door, so that there's a continuous "line" and "flow" from dash through across door. That absolutely doesn't happen with the Mustang Mach E and it's quite noticeable that the dash ends at the A pillars and elements of the doors, including armrests and speakers are not in any way visually connected with the dash. When you go back and look at cabin pictures, you'll see that there are some very week connections with a piece of metal trim in the cabin that's at the same level on the dash and doors, but that's about it.
I like the ability to raise the aft floor and create a mini "trunk" space. It's not very high, so obviously you can't put luggage, but you can definitely toss small objects you want out of sight under there. I wanted to get an actual photograph of the charger and plugs that came with the car, so we pulled it out and, surprise, it's not the actual Ford Mobile Charger that will be shipping with the cars. This was the first time the guy had actually opened it, so he was a bit surprised as well. It's some 3rd party charger and the 240 volt plug looks odd.
In summary, my feelings:
I'm really happy with my choice and looking forward to getting the vehicle.
Big miss on the seats. I think I've said it multiple times. The Mustang Coupe Premium Convertible has ventilated seats (and they have the same degrees of motion as the ones in my Escape). Not sure why they didn't just ask Johnson Controls (or whoever) to put the ActiveX material on those, toss them into the Mustang Mach E and call it a day. I get having to control cost, but at least give me the choice to get those seats.
No 110V outlet, but a 12V outlet? Really? The 12V outlet is just stupid. a 110V 20A outlet would be practical. I guess you can get a 12V inverter
I took a couple of pictures of the temporary charger plug and of the car.
