Wait for Mach-E or not?

Whatstreet

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The reason to want an EV is the driving experience. It's so much better. The V8 was sold for being smooth and torquey. Electric has improved that beyond the capability of an ICE.

As to production delay. I think there will be that problem across the board.
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RobB

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So with all that is going on these days, I have been really trying think whether it makes sense to continue with my Mach-E reservation or not.

As a little background, I have reserved one probably 5 minutes after they opened the reservation website so I'm very bullish on the car. I was hoping to get one of the first production cars at the end of this year but now I'm not sure it will happen.

Basically, because of Covid-19 I'm having second thoughts about the car ROI. Some of the things I'm considering:
1) Production delays - They say it probably not going to be delayed by more than 6 weeks, but I call it bull. There is no way that they can produce a well QC'd product when people are working from home for the near future.
2) Gas price crashing - I mean I don't drive that much anyway so I wasn't buying the EV for Gas savings, but with the ultra low gas prices these days, it makes it very hard for me to pay such a premium for an EV now.
3) Current car market - The dealers are STUCK with tons of brand new 2020 cars that will likely to get a ton of discounts, incentives and what not until the EOY just to get rid of those cars, which makes buying a $53K EV ( Even with the rebate) make much less sense that buying a new Mercedes/BMW/Porsche SUV with all the bells and whistles for a discounted price and with knowing that the car will be of the highest standards once you buy it, vs pretty much unknown on the Mach-E.

Basically I'm still on the fence on this, what do you guys think? Anyone is struggling with justifying the Mach-E nowdays as well?
[No snarkiness, just how I perceive cars]

ROI is never the reason to buy any car, ever. The Bullitt Mustang is such a rare example, and then generally unapproachable to 99.99% of us.

That said, most any vehicle since the mid-1960's can comfortably get us from Point A to Point B at highway speeds, assuming they've been well-maintained.

Then it boils down to a few things: 1) Do you enjoy the experience?, 2) Are you willing to pay for the maintenance?, 3) Are there any other motivating factors?

If you are still reading this, 'Yes' was likely answered to both 1 & 2.

To date, the cost of any EV is still a luxury... So, I fall back to #1, Do you enjoy the experience?

Until we get the chance to test drive Mach-E, how are any of us (on this forum) to know?
 
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jlauro

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Pretty sure last word I heard from Ford that would be minimal delays (might be a month), but they still plan to get all the FE reserves and most of the premium reserves delivered this year. Maybe they were being optimistic, but until I hear otherwise I am going to assume it will have little impact on the Mach E as full production wasn't scheduled to start yet anyways.
 

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Pretty sure last word I heard from Ford that would be minimal delays (might be a month), but they still plan to get all the FE reserves and most of the premium reserves delivered this year. Maybe they were being optimistic, but until I hear otherwise I am going to assume it will have little impact on the Mach E as full production wasn't scheduled to start yet anyways.
Just glad Ford is involved in the effort to build ventilators.

Right now, THAT and our patience is what matters.

Shiny new cars will happen when the time is right. Be safe everyone!
 

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@RobB

Though I generally agree with what you're saying, you ignore one very important factor: Safety.

Would you put your kids in a 60's car to travel at highway speeds? I wouldn't even put them in a 90's car, let alone older.

Of course that's not specific to EVs, just one extra factor that is an important motivation for buying a new car.
 


RobB

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@RobB

Though I generally agree with what you're saying, you ignore one very important factor: Safety.

Would you put your kids in a 60's car to travel at highway speeds? I wouldn't even put them in a 90's car, let alone older.

Of course that's not specific to EVs, just one extra factor that is an important motivation for buying a new car.
Please don't mistake me for overlooking safety. Conversely, that current engineering can overcome it all. Driving is mostly physics, and engineering cannot overcome every scenario.

There have been multiple fatalities in Tesla Model S... it wasn't their fault. It is possible to get caught up in other people driving stupidly.

Knowing the limits of the vehicle you are operating is important. Constant situational awareness is the ever critical piece.

36 years in a Sixties vintage and four kids made it through just fine. I've survived four auto accidents in 38 years of driving and haven't caused any. The one that nearly killed me: waiting for a semaphore to change and being the victim of a hit-&-run. No amount of my being alert could have changed the situation.
 
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eager2own

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The reason I used the term sensationalist is that we're not even at 3 months until the second half of June. Although you note Ford has said 1:1 delay possible, you continue to describe something that is not a 1:1 delay if you continue to add a month of delay for restart. A 1:1 delay means that operations restart where they picked up, with the inventory that was at hand on shutdown and potentially more that was enroute, and the delay is 1 day for every day of shutdown. And, again, I would argue that the MME may not be as impacted as vehicles that were in production in March.
That is why I do think it's alarmist to keep saying that, if operations restarts in June, we have a 4-6 month delay. IF production, doesn't start until the second half of June, we may have 3 months delay, but it could be two months or less if production restarts in May.
 

dbsb3233

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MME production wasn't even supposed to start until June anyway.
 

dbsb3233

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1:1 specifically for the MME, or for Ford in general? I'm guessing the latter. Which includes all their other models that were already in production. Obviously those will be behind roughly 1:1. But since the MME hadn't even started production yet, and much of the fine tuning of pre-production models is still continuing, as well as software development, it shouldn't be as delayed.
 

hybrid2bev

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Let’s not forget that a 1:1 delay is only until the factory reopens. After that, some of the lost time can be clawed back so the net loss in time will be reduced.

Based on the extreme importance of the Mach-E, I would expect the claw back efforts to be monumental.
 
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So with all that is going on these days, I have been really trying think whether it makes sense to continue with my Mach-E reservation or not.

As a little background, I have reserved one probably 5 minutes after they opened the reservation website so I'm very bullish on the car. I was hoping to get one of the first production cars at the end of this year but now I'm not sure it will happen.

Basically, because of Covid-19 I'm having second thoughts about the car ROI. Some of the things I'm considering:
1) Production delays - They say it probably not going to be delayed by more than 6 weeks, but I call it bull. There is no way that they can produce a well QC'd product when people are working from home for the near future.
2) Gas price crashing - I mean I don't drive that much anyway so I wasn't buying the EV for Gas savings, but with the ultra low gas prices these days, it makes it very hard for me to pay such a premium for an EV now.
3) Current car market - The dealers are STUCK with tons of brand new 2020 cars that will likely to get a ton of discounts, incentives and what not until the EOY just to get rid of those cars, which makes buying a $53K EV ( Even with the rebate) make much less sense that buying a new Mercedes/BMW/Porsche SUV with all the bells and whistles for a discounted price and with knowing that the car will be of the highest standards once you buy it, vs pretty much unknown on the Mach-E.

Basically I'm still on the fence on this, what do you guys think? Anyone is struggling with justifying the Mach-E nowdays as well?
Snowbolster, I totally agree with you. I reserved the MACHe five minutes after seeing it at the LA Auto Show in November. I am a Mechanical engineer- and an admitted" car guy" - and have owned 4 or 5 hybrids and plug-in hybrids. I already own a Tesla 3 (for 1.5 yrs now) which I absolutely love, and I didn't see the e-Mustang as different, better or worse, just maybe a little fresher. But several things bothered me since my order, many of which you covered, but one big one was the feeling of being caught up in a huge on-rolling promotion with daily feel-good "articles" all to justify an overly expensive untried car with questionable road-charging system.

The more time that passed the more I felt uncomfortable about this "reservation". Even before the Coronavirus situation the risk/reward felt like it was getting sreadily worse. I cancelled my reservation and received my $500 back about 6 weeks ago, and I haven't felt sorry since. If it turns out I was wrong, I can always buy one the normal way. As for the price of gasoline, I have been saying for several years now that sales of this product from crude oil will face a steady/pulsing head wind for a long time to come, maybe for ever. A final point here, the recent patent application by the original inventor of lithium ion cells for a "glass seeded" battery said to be a great improvement, makes the case for electric cars even stronger.

My wife is reluctant to commit to be an all-electric car family, and she has a point, so I feel that a good plug-in hybrid (we have a KIA Optima plug-in hybrid which gets 30 mi of battery range followed by about 550 mi of hybrid range) is an excellent 2nd car to own.
 

pbojanoski

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The one that nearly killed me: waiting for a semaphore to change and being the victim of a hit-&-run. No amount of my being alert could have changed the situation.
I've only been in one significant accident and as a kid. Big 1972 Plymouth Fury station wagon. I got a cut across my forehead, but otherwise I was fine. Big weight and big metal certainly saves lives, especially if you are in an accident with the modern lighter weight cars. Engineering certainly helps, but higher momentum is nice to have on your side in an accident.

I had to look up "semaphore". Great word, thanks!
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