Mustangcanuck
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Considering buying a BEV and have narrowed down to a MME or Model Y.
Tesla were kind enough to provide us with an overnight test drive (which says something about them as I am almost certain Ford would never do so, even if they had 300 MME's sitting on a dealership lot).
Thought I would share my experience:
Some thoughts feelings but some disclosure first:
- I am a 'young-ish middle aged' woman (been driving for over 25 years, will leave it at that)
- I do own a PHEV (Volt) and am used to one pedal driving. This PHEV is currently our only car and we have a Level 2 charger in the garage.
- We are looking to stay a one car fam
- We live in Southern Ontario (hot summers, cold and snowy winters).
- Most of my daily driving is sub 100km but with summer and weekend holidays as far as 350-400km.
As our PHEV starts to creep up km on the odometer we are due to make a decision on a new car. Hubs and I have decided we are ready to take the plunge into full BEV. This automatically narrows down our choices substantially. Polestar2, Bolt, All 3 Teslas, Mach-E, Etron, Kona, I-Pace have all been considered. A Taycan would be nice but then so would the lottery.
The Mach-E is exceptional. It's not only a super fun car to drive but it is far more relatable for most coming from an ICE setup (cluster in front of driver, superb interior finishings). The drawback with the Mach-E is the inferior DC Fast charging network in Ontario (probably most of Canada) and frankly some very questionable supply/allocation issues to our local dealers. Having spent most of my adult life driving German cars, I still believe the experience at a Big 3 auto dealership is slimy and uncomfortable. This may because I am a woman but even when my husband is with me I prefer to stay outside on the lot.
Fast-forward to my Model Y experience.
I have VERY bad motion sickness. I can't read on trains or as a passenger in a car and I usually take to driving as it occupies my mind and I have always found it helps with my motion sickness. First day was horrific. The one pedal driving in a Tesla is not like a PHEV. I narrowed this down in the end to the acceleration and I found "Chill" mode helped me a tonne. Also, I should note here that the acceleration in this mode is still plenty and anyone who tells you otherwise I would question. The MME wasn't perfect (but was better) in this regard either and if you suffer from motion sickness I would share this with the SA beforehand. There may be a setting they can put it on to help you.
I also should mention that I think some of the unsettling feeling I experienced may have come from the movement on the screen. The left side portion of the screen with the image of your car in relation to other cars on the road, road signs etc I'm sure some people love; I do not. It would be great if in future iterations you could have this disappear with your speed posted in a larger font or maybe have the map take up the whole screen. I'm actually sort of surprised that people find much purpose to this dual screen within a screen. It's distracting without a doubt. +1 to the MME in this regard.
I have owned Audi's, BMW's, Mercedes, VW, GMC, Ford and I can say, the steering wheel stinks. It's small and toy like and not in keeping with the cool factor of the vehicle. Honestly cannot understand how there isn't more outrage about how silly it feels in your hands when you drive. I wasn't expecting a BMW M sport wheel but my god for $80,000 please come out with a wheel that makes the driver feel they are getting some interior value other than a screen. +1 to the MME here too.
Suspension is firm, like driving an X5, but it's almost too bumpy and I cannot figure out if it was the stock tires or the way the car is tuned? +1 to the MME here too.
Don't understand why Tesla don't have blind spot assist or side view mirror turn indicators (guess it's too much of a draw on electric). I didn't look to see if the MME had this.
Now for the good stuff...
LOVE the sound system. Far and away one of the best I've ever experienced. Honestly, both Tesla and Ford have hit it out of the park in this regard. The fabric finish on the B&O in the MME is undoubtedly a beauty.
LOVED the driver visibility. Without a doubt better than the MME, which wasn't bad but it was worse.
LOVED the passenger & driver wireless charging pads in the Tesla.
Whilst the screen is a distraction undoubtedly it is cleaner & better looking than the MME.
LOVED the supercharger experience. Would imagine most of my charging to be at home but I really like that you have peace of mind that you can charge quickly if you are on a road trip. So called 'range anxiety' is a non-issue. +1 to Tesla here and frankly it will take a long while for anyone else to catch up.
The cargo capacity in the Model Y is really ample. I was really surprised. The rear seats fold nearly flat and that is such an important thing not to overlook as I have found that most car manufacturers do not have rear seats that fold anywhere near flat. I thought the MME had better visibility out the rearview mirror. If absolute capacity is critical the Model Y is where it is at, for women however I suspect the wider rear glass window may offer better rear visibility since we are sensible types when it comes to safety.
The driver and passenger seat in both cars are ridiculously comfortable. I herniated two discs last year and I have to be honest, the seats are dreamy. I could easily see myself driving for 3 hours with no problems and no need for a stretch break. I will take a moment here to say the Volt has the worst seats I've ever experienced. Husband agrees with me.
The Model Y corners brilliantly for a vehicle that size and I believe had more pep than the MME AWD ER. Sometimes you forget you are in a Crossover/SUV. I took it on tight country roads, narrow two lanes, up and down hills and it handled really well in all those conditions (albeit it was dry). As Tesla gave us a demo overnight I got to spend a couple hundred km in it. The MME, the sales rep led us in his car so I had to play nice and couldn't try out cornering on anything but grid-in city roads.
I have some concerns about the exterior and interior fit and finish of the Model Y. How can a car manufacturer be satisfied delivering a car to dealer where there were no less than 4 visible issues inside (2 with the fabric around the glass roof and 2 with the rubber seal around the interior passenger doors). On the exterior of our demo there were 3 visible issues (paint disclouration, panel misalignments). And again, let's pause here to remember this is a $80,000 CAD car on the road. For that money I could buy a BMW M2. Perhaps I'm being anal but that is a lot of money for most people and it's pretty discouraging to know that the only response Tesla has is "well take notes at delivery and we will try and fix it and if not you can get a new VIN or get your deposit back."
I think if you never imagined travelling more than the EPA range, go with the MME. If you like long haul road trips, even only several times a year, the Tesla is still the no brainer. I really hope that Ford gets their supply up cause this car could really be a game changer for those two-car households where one driver could have an ICE and one could have a BEV.
Tesla were kind enough to provide us with an overnight test drive (which says something about them as I am almost certain Ford would never do so, even if they had 300 MME's sitting on a dealership lot).
Thought I would share my experience:
Some thoughts feelings but some disclosure first:
- I am a 'young-ish middle aged' woman (been driving for over 25 years, will leave it at that)
- I do own a PHEV (Volt) and am used to one pedal driving. This PHEV is currently our only car and we have a Level 2 charger in the garage.
- We are looking to stay a one car fam
- We live in Southern Ontario (hot summers, cold and snowy winters).
- Most of my daily driving is sub 100km but with summer and weekend holidays as far as 350-400km.
As our PHEV starts to creep up km on the odometer we are due to make a decision on a new car. Hubs and I have decided we are ready to take the plunge into full BEV. This automatically narrows down our choices substantially. Polestar2, Bolt, All 3 Teslas, Mach-E, Etron, Kona, I-Pace have all been considered. A Taycan would be nice but then so would the lottery.
The Mach-E is exceptional. It's not only a super fun car to drive but it is far more relatable for most coming from an ICE setup (cluster in front of driver, superb interior finishings). The drawback with the Mach-E is the inferior DC Fast charging network in Ontario (probably most of Canada) and frankly some very questionable supply/allocation issues to our local dealers. Having spent most of my adult life driving German cars, I still believe the experience at a Big 3 auto dealership is slimy and uncomfortable. This may because I am a woman but even when my husband is with me I prefer to stay outside on the lot.
Fast-forward to my Model Y experience.
I have VERY bad motion sickness. I can't read on trains or as a passenger in a car and I usually take to driving as it occupies my mind and I have always found it helps with my motion sickness. First day was horrific. The one pedal driving in a Tesla is not like a PHEV. I narrowed this down in the end to the acceleration and I found "Chill" mode helped me a tonne. Also, I should note here that the acceleration in this mode is still plenty and anyone who tells you otherwise I would question. The MME wasn't perfect (but was better) in this regard either and if you suffer from motion sickness I would share this with the SA beforehand. There may be a setting they can put it on to help you.
I also should mention that I think some of the unsettling feeling I experienced may have come from the movement on the screen. The left side portion of the screen with the image of your car in relation to other cars on the road, road signs etc I'm sure some people love; I do not. It would be great if in future iterations you could have this disappear with your speed posted in a larger font or maybe have the map take up the whole screen. I'm actually sort of surprised that people find much purpose to this dual screen within a screen. It's distracting without a doubt. +1 to the MME in this regard.
I have owned Audi's, BMW's, Mercedes, VW, GMC, Ford and I can say, the steering wheel stinks. It's small and toy like and not in keeping with the cool factor of the vehicle. Honestly cannot understand how there isn't more outrage about how silly it feels in your hands when you drive. I wasn't expecting a BMW M sport wheel but my god for $80,000 please come out with a wheel that makes the driver feel they are getting some interior value other than a screen. +1 to the MME here too.
Suspension is firm, like driving an X5, but it's almost too bumpy and I cannot figure out if it was the stock tires or the way the car is tuned? +1 to the MME here too.
Don't understand why Tesla don't have blind spot assist or side view mirror turn indicators (guess it's too much of a draw on electric). I didn't look to see if the MME had this.
Now for the good stuff...
LOVE the sound system. Far and away one of the best I've ever experienced. Honestly, both Tesla and Ford have hit it out of the park in this regard. The fabric finish on the B&O in the MME is undoubtedly a beauty.
LOVED the driver visibility. Without a doubt better than the MME, which wasn't bad but it was worse.
LOVED the passenger & driver wireless charging pads in the Tesla.
Whilst the screen is a distraction undoubtedly it is cleaner & better looking than the MME.
LOVED the supercharger experience. Would imagine most of my charging to be at home but I really like that you have peace of mind that you can charge quickly if you are on a road trip. So called 'range anxiety' is a non-issue. +1 to Tesla here and frankly it will take a long while for anyone else to catch up.
The cargo capacity in the Model Y is really ample. I was really surprised. The rear seats fold nearly flat and that is such an important thing not to overlook as I have found that most car manufacturers do not have rear seats that fold anywhere near flat. I thought the MME had better visibility out the rearview mirror. If absolute capacity is critical the Model Y is where it is at, for women however I suspect the wider rear glass window may offer better rear visibility since we are sensible types when it comes to safety.
The driver and passenger seat in both cars are ridiculously comfortable. I herniated two discs last year and I have to be honest, the seats are dreamy. I could easily see myself driving for 3 hours with no problems and no need for a stretch break. I will take a moment here to say the Volt has the worst seats I've ever experienced. Husband agrees with me.
The Model Y corners brilliantly for a vehicle that size and I believe had more pep than the MME AWD ER. Sometimes you forget you are in a Crossover/SUV. I took it on tight country roads, narrow two lanes, up and down hills and it handled really well in all those conditions (albeit it was dry). As Tesla gave us a demo overnight I got to spend a couple hundred km in it. The MME, the sales rep led us in his car so I had to play nice and couldn't try out cornering on anything but grid-in city roads.
I have some concerns about the exterior and interior fit and finish of the Model Y. How can a car manufacturer be satisfied delivering a car to dealer where there were no less than 4 visible issues inside (2 with the fabric around the glass roof and 2 with the rubber seal around the interior passenger doors). On the exterior of our demo there were 3 visible issues (paint disclouration, panel misalignments). And again, let's pause here to remember this is a $80,000 CAD car on the road. For that money I could buy a BMW M2. Perhaps I'm being anal but that is a lot of money for most people and it's pretty discouraging to know that the only response Tesla has is "well take notes at delivery and we will try and fix it and if not you can get a new VIN or get your deposit back."
I think if you never imagined travelling more than the EPA range, go with the MME. If you like long haul road trips, even only several times a year, the Tesla is still the no brainer. I really hope that Ford gets their supply up cause this car could really be a game changer for those two-car households where one driver could have an ICE and one could have a BEV.
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