Andeh
is teahte tbungafloed
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2007
- Messages
- 3,514
- Location
- Cumbria, UK
- Car(s)
- Fiestas, Mondeos, Anglia, Austin 7, Corsair, Chrys
So I know some of you are aware of this, for others it'll come as a shock.
As a preface, this isn't 100% mine. I've gone in on it with my father as an experiment for both of us to see if an EV suits our respective lifestyles. I mostly work from home now, but need a car I can claim business miles on for work trips (and Mondeo is deemed too polluting for that), he's retired and mostly drives locally interspersed with cross country trips for car parts. We both do an embarrassing amount of local miles where an EV would be well suited also. The theory being that with one EV between us, we can keep it in near constant use to make it pay for itself doing the boring stuff an EV is good at.
I test drove one in April, on a whim really, a RWD ER, and was thoroughly impressed. I'm not one for an SUV, but the seating position is good for my parents to get in and out of, and I found the styling much more favourable in person than in the pictures. Decided that if we were going to try an EV, this one may as well be it. I am a Ford fanboy afterall...
The ordering system was a huge pain in the arse. Ford have attempted to copy Tesla and have gone down the online ordering route, however the transaction is still handled by a dealership, and the car still gets delivered to one. The result is dealers have no interest in them because they don't make any money, and Ford have no interest in helping you because they had fob off any questions onto the dealer. Who isn't interested... See the circle?
I've had one on order since April, but received zero communication from Ford UK on its status. It supposedly had a 12 week lead time, but they couldn't provide me with a VIN or even tell me if it had been built yet. As the weeks went on I grew increasingly frustrated as other customers received VINs very quickly, while they kept me in the dark.
Last week I got fed up and called every major dealer in the country hoping one would have a cancelled order in stock. There was one, a First Edition in the Grabber Blue both me and my father love, down in London. A few phone calls later and last Thursday I left at 3am for the 280 mile jaunt to London to collect at 8am.
A nice drive back saw me sample the new fast chargers at Rugby on the M6, and at the MFG garage at Junction 27. Both worked flawlessly. Here's my first ever charge:
Since then we've put about 1,000 miles on it, of which I've done maybe 700, given it a wax and enjoyed it as much as possible. It's a really nice car, seems very well built, goes like stink and has a big enough battery for decent range. This one has the 88kwh useable battery, which at my current usage gives about 270 miles on a full charge. I'm quite impressed by the handling, sure it has some heft, but it also has a decent amount of grip and is surprisingly fun when being chucked around. The instant power out of a corner also makes it easy to make great pace.
The First Edition is really just a trim level to a regular Extended Range AWD, in addition to the Grabber Blue the arches are painted, there's blue stitching inside and it has unique kick plates.
Otherwise it's fully loaded, adaptive cruise, panoramic roof, fancy stereo, all the toys.
I'm really enjoying it, it's so very relaxing to drive and makes a welcome change to my sometimes taxing fleet of hobby cars.
Fully aware "iTs noT a muSTanG" but I don't care. I like the borrowed styling elements, and straight line performance is comparable to my father's old S550 GT. Could they have picked a better name? Maybe, but it wouldn't have caused the buzz this car has around it, which I feel they need if they want people to engage with EVs.
As a preface, this isn't 100% mine. I've gone in on it with my father as an experiment for both of us to see if an EV suits our respective lifestyles. I mostly work from home now, but need a car I can claim business miles on for work trips (and Mondeo is deemed too polluting for that), he's retired and mostly drives locally interspersed with cross country trips for car parts. We both do an embarrassing amount of local miles where an EV would be well suited also. The theory being that with one EV between us, we can keep it in near constant use to make it pay for itself doing the boring stuff an EV is good at.
I test drove one in April, on a whim really, a RWD ER, and was thoroughly impressed. I'm not one for an SUV, but the seating position is good for my parents to get in and out of, and I found the styling much more favourable in person than in the pictures. Decided that if we were going to try an EV, this one may as well be it. I am a Ford fanboy afterall...
The ordering system was a huge pain in the arse. Ford have attempted to copy Tesla and have gone down the online ordering route, however the transaction is still handled by a dealership, and the car still gets delivered to one. The result is dealers have no interest in them because they don't make any money, and Ford have no interest in helping you because they had fob off any questions onto the dealer. Who isn't interested... See the circle?
I've had one on order since April, but received zero communication from Ford UK on its status. It supposedly had a 12 week lead time, but they couldn't provide me with a VIN or even tell me if it had been built yet. As the weeks went on I grew increasingly frustrated as other customers received VINs very quickly, while they kept me in the dark.
Last week I got fed up and called every major dealer in the country hoping one would have a cancelled order in stock. There was one, a First Edition in the Grabber Blue both me and my father love, down in London. A few phone calls later and last Thursday I left at 3am for the 280 mile jaunt to London to collect at 8am.
A nice drive back saw me sample the new fast chargers at Rugby on the M6, and at the MFG garage at Junction 27. Both worked flawlessly. Here's my first ever charge:
Since then we've put about 1,000 miles on it, of which I've done maybe 700, given it a wax and enjoyed it as much as possible. It's a really nice car, seems very well built, goes like stink and has a big enough battery for decent range. This one has the 88kwh useable battery, which at my current usage gives about 270 miles on a full charge. I'm quite impressed by the handling, sure it has some heft, but it also has a decent amount of grip and is surprisingly fun when being chucked around. The instant power out of a corner also makes it easy to make great pace.
The First Edition is really just a trim level to a regular Extended Range AWD, in addition to the Grabber Blue the arches are painted, there's blue stitching inside and it has unique kick plates.
Otherwise it's fully loaded, adaptive cruise, panoramic roof, fancy stereo, all the toys.
I'm really enjoying it, it's so very relaxing to drive and makes a welcome change to my sometimes taxing fleet of hobby cars.
Fully aware "iTs noT a muSTanG" but I don't care. I like the borrowed styling elements, and straight line performance is comparable to my father's old S550 GT. Could they have picked a better name? Maybe, but it wouldn't have caused the buzz this car has around it, which I feel they need if they want people to engage with EVs.
Last edited: