Things to watch for when buying used?

[RealityMonster]

Hey folks,

I'm thinking of buying a used Mach-E in the next year, but I've never bought a used EV before. The Mach-E is by far the best priced non-Tesla EV on the used market right now, and the reviews have been broadly positive, so it's at the top of my list.

Are there things that I should pay attention to IN PARTICULAR when it comes to the Mach-E? I plan to test drive them and do the normal checks that one does on used cars, etc., but every make has its quirks. I'm looking at vehicles with less than 75000km on them, preferably below 50k km. By that time, should most potential electrical issues have been discovered and addressed? Am I over-thinking this? There were so many moving parts in ICE vehicles and I'm no mechanic. This seems like it could be much less fraught.

I'm thinking this is like the old bathtub curve of tech. Most likely to break at the beginning and end of life, but smooth sailing in between.

Thanks!

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[tbrumleve]

Just the usual stuff. Carfax report for repairs / accidents. Make sure all recalls have been performed and software is up to date. Factory reset SYNC if you get one to make sure old info is cleared out.

 

[Teslaeata]

See if you can get a n SoH (state of health) %age rating from the battery - Bluetooth dongle something like OBDLink MX+ and Car Scanner app oughta do it - if it’s over 90% you should be OK. If you’re not comfortable using one I’m sure a forum member in your locale will help show you how to do this.

Mine’s 93.5% SoH at 54mths & over 120,000 miles so anything over 90% ought to inform of a decent high voltage battery promising longevity.

Then it’s all the usual stuff, service history, provenance, accident & write off history and the stuff you can see like brake discs and pads you can see through the wheels - the rear & right side underbonnet covers which unclip by pulling straight upwards where secured by clips are where the coolant tanks are so you can check them for level & colour of coolant strength. Make sure the heater gets hot on road test.

Hope this helps, good luck with your search and most importantly enjoy it when you get it

 

[RealityMonster]

See if you can get a n SoH (state of health) %age rating from the battery - Bluetooth dongle something like OBDLink MX+ and Car Scanner app oughta do it - if it’s over 90% you should be OK. If you’re not comfortable using one I’m sure a forum member in your locale will help show you how to do this.

Mine’s 93.5% SoH at 54mths & over 120,000 miles so anything over 90% ought to inform of a decent high voltage battery promising longevity.

Then it’s all the usual stuff, service history, provenance, accident & write off history and the stuff you can see like brake discs and pads you can see through the wheels - the rear & right side underbonnet covers which unclip by pulling straight upwards where secured by clips are where the coolant tanks are so you can check them for level & colour of coolant strength. Make sure the heater gets hot on road test.

Hope this helps, good luck with your search and most importantly enjoy it when you get it

Amazing; it really does sound like a much easier process, honestly. Thanks for the tip about the SoH!

 

[austinsf]

Definitely check the tires to make sure the tread is good and the tires aren't cracking. I purchased my vehicle used from Yakima, Washington where it tends to get very cold, and my '23 GT PE comes with Pirelli summer tires from factory. While the tires had a lot of life in them tread-wise — since the car only had about 10k miles on it, there were cracks in all four tires because the summer tires weren't meant to be stored in the cold environment for long periods of time.

 

[SteveMach-ee]

Used EV's are the way to go. I got my '21 job 2 Select AWD Mach-e with 26k miles last year. After 15 months and 9k miles it has been perfect. So far the best, most fun car I have owned. Only annoyance is the PAAK will work fine for months then randomly require a phone reset. The EV experience worked out so well for us that my wife got a used '23 Ariya a few months ago. No more ICEs for us.

• I second the OBD2 & CarScanner app suggestion to check the HVB State of Health (SOH). There are lot of cheap ones that work great. My Android one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011NSX27A
• Check the side battery rails for any dents from not jacking at the proper lift points. Search the forum for this.
• Obviously If car lived in snow country use a flashlight to check for excessive suspension rust.
• Be aware that a >3yo 12V (LVB) battery may be marginal. Around $130US to swap out yourself. See: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/12v-battery-faq.32744/ . My '21's was close to dead at 3 years and my wife's 2yo Ariya's died during the test drive . Luckily it died in our driveway so I could charge it. This is a common EV problem. Ford has fixed this (hopefully) with an improved LVB charging strategy on a recent OTA update.
• This can be confusing but check the software state and make sure car has had at least some OTA (Over The Air) updates. See https://github.com/elmedico27/fordpowerup and search the forum. Some early 2021's were stuck with no OTA's until they they got a particular update by a dealer.
• Make sure they give you two sets of key FOBs.
• Finally I suggest doing a test Level 3 and maybe Level 2 charge session just to make sure. We did this for the Ariya but not the Mach-e.

 

[Mark813]

Drive the GT and the Rally models to compare their magneride suspension to the Select and Premium basic stiff suspension

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