Ownership Verified: 2021 Mustang Mach-E First Edition

Andeh

is teahte tbungafloed
Joined
Oct 23, 2007
Messages
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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.

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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:

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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.

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I'm amused that FG's first (?) electric Mustang isn't in the US. :D

Looks gawjus in that blue, at the very least. ?
 
Count me in as a fan of the color! Also kinda want to test drive one of these. Not that I like the SUV form factor very much, but almost all I read/see/hear about the Mach-E is quite positive, especially how it drives.

This one has the 88kwh useable battery, which at my current usage gives about 270 miles on a full charge.
That works out to 203 Wh/km, which for a slightly larger and heavier car than my 3 seems fairly appropriate, for "normal" driving (y) (for comparison, I've averaged 190-ish over the car's lifetime so far).
 
Wowzers. You've gone batteryhead. - Congratulation, of sorts. :D
 
I'm amused that FG's first (?) electric Mustang isn't in the US. :D

Looks gawjus in that blue, at the very least. ?
Expensive, there’s cheaper ICE options, and there’s no regulations yet, so there’s no drive to buy them yet.
 
Expensive, there’s cheaper ICE options, and there’s no regulations yet, so there’s no drive to buy them yet.
However it has been outselling petrol Mustangs for the first half of 2021 in the US.

Presumably because they prioritised the Mach-E during the chip shortage to make up for the fact it was already delayed, but still, they've shifted 11k in the US Jan-June. So 11,000 found the drive to buy them.

Production is also split 60% Europe 40% US in this first year, so there's a lot coming over this side of the pond, mostly to Norway though.
 
Really like the colour, shame that the good colours are only available as first editions. Why do this? Great to hear the first charging experiences were good too.

The big question is what do you have the sound set as? Do you have it making engine noises? EVs can honestly be too quiet at times.
 
Looking sharp! I'm excited to read about your ownership experience with it. I've started seeing them pop up here in FL on the regular and I'm always bouncing between "that's bigger than I expected" and "that's lower to the ground than I expected."
 
Really like the colour, shame that the good colours are only available as first editions. Why do this? Great to hear the first charging experiences were good too.

The big question is what do you have the sound set as? Do you have it making engine noises? EVs can honestly be too quiet at times.
Agreed with the colours. The only other real colour is what I lovingly refer to as "generic new car red'" which every manufacturer offers to appease those who dislike greyscale. As my dad's last Mustang was Grabber, this one was a no brainer:

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The orange on the upcoming GT looks decent too.

No propulsion sound for me, it's not quite spaceshippy enough for me to enjoy. I want my EVs to sound futuristic, and this one is a bit too traditional. That said, it's definitely not trying to mimic a V8 like many journalists claim, it is a unique sound of its own.
 
Not bad at all, maybe I've just got a heavy foot but I can't match that efficiency. At this rate you will have more miles on it by the end of July than I have put on the Model 3 since last April.
 
This is great! I fully approve of the color choice & love the blue stitching inside. I was not a fan of the Mach-E when it was unveiled, but the reviews and recently seeing it in the flesh convinced me to like it.

If I had to purchase an EV now (and pay for it with own money), I'd be deciding between this and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 .
 
I will never not approve of that.
 
I've never gotten a free tank of petrol before, but I've now had three fast charges for free from newly upgraded chargers whose contactless payment devices aren't connected to the internet yet. Result.

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Still averaging 3.5m/kWh over 1800 miles now.
 
Bravo! Looks fantastic! I'm extremely jealous that you can wash your car. We're under water restrictions because of the LOX shortage in Florida, so washing one's car is right out.

Unless you're two of my neighbors, who apparently think the rules don't apply to them.
 
Bravo! Looks fantastic! I'm extremely jealous that you can wash your car. We're under water restrictions because of the LOX shortage in Florida, so washing one's car is right out.

Unless you're two of my neighbors, who apparently think the rules don't apply to them.
I'm surprised I'm not under a hosepipe ban this summer actually, the reservoirs are quite low around here. Fortunately it'll be the torrential rain season next month so I can keep washing through winter...
 
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