RickMachE
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2021
- Threads
- 204
- Messages
- 13,362
- Reaction score
- 18,242
- Location
- SE MI
- Vehicles
- 2022 Mach-E Premium 4X, 2022 Lightning Lariat
I've owned my 2022 MME for 4 months and nothing but the best of times.
I have a 2023 Lightning in "build" status. However, the Lightning forum is not showing the same happiness the MME forum (here) is.
I'm 50-50 on buying the Lightning based on Lightning forum (here) reviews (- 50) vs my MME experience (+50).
I am open to thoughts to help me out.
My wife is the real pickup driver and I'm more of the MME driver. May seem weird. but she does the plant and furniture hauling (I only do the load/unload stuff). I just drive and have fun. However, she loves the MME so much she won't listen to the Lightning issues.
This ^^^That is what I was thinking. I have a RAM 1500 Laramie and it is a very good (even great) pickup. I think I should wait for the bugs to be fixed in the LIghtning. Sad that the MME is frig'n awesome but the Lightning is less than awesome it seems.
This ^^^I own both. My primary use case for a truck is back and forth to my farm, about 65 miles. Some pretty heavy towing at times. This means that the charging limitations imposed by 400V architecture isnāt an issue for me. I love the truck!
Bottom line is that it depends on your use case.
I think the state of affairs on the Lightning forum is pretty comparable to what it was here 2 years ago. Other than the extra issues over there involving 1)SunRun & the FCSP; and 2) The big production halt due to the truck that caught fire.
What "great Mach-E experience"? Yes, nice car. But issues that Ford should be over by now, 2 years in, they're not. Dealerships without enough techs. Problems for some on HVBJB replacements. Not replacing the rest of the HVBJB anytime soon. Flaky app. I expected the updates issues to be gone by now, but they're not. Multiple issues with the Lightning that I figured they wouldn't have given the Mach-E learning.
I had a Lighting reservation in at 11 hours in, and that gave me a November ordering opportunity - because of ZEV states and allocations. I chose not to order, still have my reservation slot to see what Ford does this summer.
We have a 2013 F-150, so we don't "need" a truck. I wanted it. But the biggest argument against it is the roughly 40% more energy required to go a mile vs. the Mach-E. That's pretty big. I get 2.9 to 3.0 on the highway in the summer, and 2.3 - 2.5 in the winter. So that becomes 2.0 - 2.1 if I'm lucky in the summer, and more time to fuel, although the truck has a better charging curve.
I pushed a bit to get it, my wife gave all the sound arguments against, including not wanting 3 vehicles (all EV isn't an option if you want to drive to places with poor infrastructure). I would have bought a 2022 demo with little to no mileage, that's ~$85k with tax, less $7,500 tax credit = $77,500. To buy a 2023, without tax credit (Lariat ER) would be about $13,000 more. I'm not spending $90k on a truck.
If you take trips (as we do), the charging infrastructure is concerning. In 2021 we were the lone chargers almost all the time. In 2022 one or two others. In 2023 we've have lines twice, and more broken chargers (2021 was so-so, 2022 saw repairs, 2023 is much worse). As car makers provide years of free charging and sell more, it's going to get worse, not better.
So we'll wait to see the 2025 Explorer EV or the T3 truck, and see how Ford figures out better reliability for updates and recalls, as well as the charging infrastructure.
If did find a handful of 2022 Lariat ERs with very low mileage (new, tax credit) if you want to get one, DM me.
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