Pick up day!
After just about 23 years, I have another Ford.
Dealership is a couple cities over, 30km away, but it's like an hour's drive inside greater Vancouver region.
First impressions. 2 cars comes to mind as comparison, my old Audi e-Tron and a Model Y.
Every single touch surface feels nice, premium. Doesn't matter if it's just plastic made to look and feel like something else. It feels nice! At least on par, if not better than inside a VW. Definitely better than a Honda or a Toyota. Night and day better than any Tesla for sure. Fit and finish is perfect, I don't see any defects or miss matched panels whatsoever.
Now quite fair to compare it to my Taycan Cross Turismo as the Taycan is more than double the price, heck even the e-Tron was an extra 25% more. But it's centre screen definitely beats the Taycan's 3 screen layout, or even e-Tron's dual screen. It's bright and clear. Tesla's have similar sized screens, but this one provides more information on one single page, so much more useful. Plus, it has a volume knob at the bottom!
The giant volume knob. So nice to see such a thing. Even when it feels cheap, plasticky, which it is plastic. Still miles better than any touch control volume knob.
Cabin feels very roomy, reminds me of the e-Tron. Think about the same size too, front and back. Trunk space feels a tad smaller than the e-Tron, not much, but still smaller, but bigger than a Model Y's.
Seat feels nice. Not as good as the Germans, but definitely better than the Model 3 seats. It has, how do I put it, American seat feel to them.
Spent a great deal of time with the delivery girl on setting up the car, setting up the phone app, pairing the phone as a key and whatever settings there are. It's a nice novelty to use the phone as a key, first time for me, even when I think Tesla's been doing it for a while.
Doors. Door handles. Unconventional on how to open it. At least to me for the first time or any other adults. But when I got home, my gf and her son is in the driveway. her 8 yr old had no problem figuring it out on his very first try. He walked up to the rear door, see the little button, pushed, door pops open and he grabbed it and swing open in one swift motion. Guess Ford's 'market research' was right all along, they claimed it's what kids do to open car doors, they don't use handles.
Exterior styling. When I got home, my gf said it is a nice looking car! She had ever seen Youtube videos and pictures of it, not the real thing. She mentioned the styling of the Mach e fits me, whatever that means.
The ride. Definitely a minus to the car. It's body control is very un-refined. Not as bad as a Tesla, but close. Over speed bumps, the suspension definitely cannot control the body, unlike say any German cars. Or Japanese for that matters. And it's not even softly sprung. The kindest words I can use would be "American Sporty'. Very different than normal sporty or European sporty feel. The Polestar 2 rides stiffer but has more body control over bumps. There is still much to learn by American car makers for proper suspension tuning. Makes it stiff doesn't make it a good suspension. It's all about controlling the oscillations AFTER the bump, which is all about shocks tuning, something Americans seems can't get a hold of. In the Taycan or even the e-Tron, or the Polestar, it's ONE bump, from the speed bump, and then nothing. One and done.
Power. Ah. Something it's definitely lacking as compared to Tesla. It's lacking, or shall I say it is adequate. Like how e-Tron's power is adequate. 350hp in this car vs 400hp in the e-Tron. Nothing to be proud of but it's enough to keep up with traffic. I only bought the Mach e Premium AWD, and of course the GT Performance model will have much more hp, but then again I am not buying this car to do stop light drag racing. The car is horribly under tire-ed anyways, 225s, so 350hp is fine.
Technology............it has SiriusXM, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, FM and FM HD also AM. very good enough. it's rare to see AM tuners anymore. The car come standard with BlueCruise, Ford's version of Autopilot or something. The delivery girl was gonna help me set it up but I stopped her, told her I don't even want to know about it, I will never use it, and can I give it back to Ford for some refund. That last part was a fail, they won't take it back. So now I am stuck with a useless function that cost me extra weight in the car. And money. Net time on the list, Lane Keep Assist. I had 3 questions, is it on? How do I turn it off? Does it stay off forever? Yes, there, and Yes.
Only 'driver aid' I kept on was automatic braking, as that will net me insurance savings if it is turned on.
I can drive. Properly. I don't need no freaking computer to help. All those functions are for people that can't drive and con their way to a driver's license. Call me old school. Don't care.
Driving. Well 'one pedal driving'. This car has such a mode. It uses regen for the first part, then it cuts off and engages the friction brake for the very last bit. Initial reviews last year says there is a dead spot on the switchover, where the car is freewheeling and not slowing down. With all the updates, my car doesn't have that. But the application of the friction brakes at the end of the slowing down period is still too 'sudden', that's the word I would use. Jarring would be another word. I could also called it panic braking, as if the car realize it's gonna crash without regen braking and thus it nailed the brake pedal for me. Don't have a g-meter handy so can't say how many Gs it is slowing down with regen. It felt STRONGER than what I experienced in a Tesla however. Brake pedal braking however is a blended one, it uses regen first, then blends in friction brakes for the last bit. It's definitely not as good at blending as Audi or Porsche. I can feel the change over, in the VAG cars the crossover is undetectable. I would;t call it great feeling pedal, or even good. Good enough would be the word I'd used. Teslas definitely has better feeling brakes, but then again the Tesla pedal is pure mechanical without blending, until the very end when the ecu tries to add back the regen bit, without much effect.
Range. I am literally still on the very first tank of electrons, but using today's data, it works out to be 17.5kW/100km. a good 4kW better than my Taycan CT, which in turn is about 10% better than my old Taycan sedan and almost 8kW better than the e-Tron. When I first started the car up at the dealer lot, it's showing 450+km range at 1005 charge, good enough, very very good enough. Especially for a city car.
What else is there........
Comparison to the e-Tron. The e-Tron cost 25% more, but it isn't 25% better. The Mach e works out to be better per dollar. I don't feel like I am giving up anything jumping from an e-Tron to the Mach e. Maybe the Audi badge vs the Ford badge. So extra metal looking plastic, or actually are metal, trims inside. I think The Ford doesn't uses real leather, while the Audi does, but it has stitching, and the leather or fake leather inside feels real enough. I am however missing the passenger charge port on the Mach e. It is actually very useful to have it on both side for charging flexibility.
Comparison to Model Y. Now WHY would anyone buy the Tesla over this for the same price is beyond me. Outside of more power, and fart sound, nothing on the Tesla is better than a Mach e. Fanboys would harp about Autopilot or FSD on the Tesla. Cool dude, useless function. And how much again I am paying for a non-functional beta again? Charging network......where I live, with so many Teslas being sold, I have better luck finding a empty CCS charger than finding a empty Tesla charger, advantage of a better charging network instantly neutralized. Don't have actually data, but from all the Youtube videos, a Mach e charges just as fast as a Tesla, a Tesla have a higher peak but the Mach e can sustain better, no advantage there. Home charging will be a moot point too, a charge overnight will finish up either car, or any EV for that matters.
Comparison to Hyundai Ioniq 5/KIA EV6/Genesis GV whatever. The Hyundai trio is night and day better than anything else on the road. a Taycan turbo S is much faster, but the price is also much higher. Teslas have longer range but for most people doing road trips, extra range is moot point as the Hyundai trios can charge much much faster. Their prices also under cut Tesla and the Ford, at least for the Ioniq 5/EV6 cousins. Fit and finish are on par with the Ford, I think the material usage is better with the Koreans. Tech are about the same as the Ford, Interior space is also the same, roughly, but the Koreans have a smaller foot print on the ground vs the Ford. Mach e has a marginally bigger trunk. The Koreans also rides and drives a tad better. Bad thing is, no one can get one of those Korean cars. I am still trying to secure a Ioniq 5 without success.
Guess that's the long/short of it for the time being.
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