Visited the Ford dealer and took a Mach-E for a drive. First, the seats in the base model are very comfortable, but the "pilot's" seat has only a few electric adjustments, maybe I missed something. I could not tilt the seat to my liking. The pax seat has a manual height lever that one pumps up and down. Kind of weird in a $46,000 car, but whatever.
I immediately used the "unbridled" mode (max performance) and it was, quite frankly, disappointing when compared to any Tesla. The Mach-E is quite simply, sedate. It accelerates well enough off the line, and will easily outpace traffic, but nowhere is the feeling of raw power (and fun) that many Tesla vehicles provide. Instead, it feels like it has the acceleration of a typical V6 minivan. Not surprising given it's 266HP and nearly 5000 pounds. On the highway, I reached a good cruising speed (we will leave it at that) and there was ample passing power remaining, nice. This particular vehicle wandered a bit at speed. It was not quite "rock steady" in it's lane. One foot driving was glorious, really. No need to use the brake pedal at all, for any reason other than panic stops. Which brings up the point that lift throttle coupled with any brake application results in a difficult to modulate, massive rate of deceleration. Even from 90, er, ah, 70MPH.
Interestingly, there is some form of fake engine noise that is supposed to give the impression of a deep and powerful sounding engine. What it really does is intrude into the otherwise silent cockpit. Turn that junk off! Turning off the fake engine noise results in a wonderfully quiet and rattle free experience.
I then tried other driving modes and found them equally acceptable. All worked well, and the slight differences are appreciated. The Mach-E has a small and nice display forward of the steering wheel. I liked that location for the speedo/range/PRDL info more than the Tesla's center mounted big screen. As there is no reason to look over to the center screen while speeding, ah I mean driving.
The interior is more than adequate it's roomy and very comfortable. However, one little point, the rear doors have unnecessary intrusive bits (look like speaker pods) that hit the passengers legs. That's just silly, why not maximize room? Still, it's a big car and there is plenty of room and plenty of comfort for all. The rear area is similar to most modern car based SUV's. Big enough to be really useful.
Overall, I liked it, but felt that if I were to purchase one, I'd absolutely need the additional HP of the highest spec Mach-E available. The base model is just not sporty enough for my tastes.
I immediately used the "unbridled" mode (max performance) and it was, quite frankly, disappointing when compared to any Tesla. The Mach-E is quite simply, sedate. It accelerates well enough off the line, and will easily outpace traffic, but nowhere is the feeling of raw power (and fun) that many Tesla vehicles provide. Instead, it feels like it has the acceleration of a typical V6 minivan. Not surprising given it's 266HP and nearly 5000 pounds. On the highway, I reached a good cruising speed (we will leave it at that) and there was ample passing power remaining, nice. This particular vehicle wandered a bit at speed. It was not quite "rock steady" in it's lane. One foot driving was glorious, really. No need to use the brake pedal at all, for any reason other than panic stops. Which brings up the point that lift throttle coupled with any brake application results in a difficult to modulate, massive rate of deceleration. Even from 90, er, ah, 70MPH.
Interestingly, there is some form of fake engine noise that is supposed to give the impression of a deep and powerful sounding engine. What it really does is intrude into the otherwise silent cockpit. Turn that junk off! Turning off the fake engine noise results in a wonderfully quiet and rattle free experience.
I then tried other driving modes and found them equally acceptable. All worked well, and the slight differences are appreciated. The Mach-E has a small and nice display forward of the steering wheel. I liked that location for the speedo/range/PRDL info more than the Tesla's center mounted big screen. As there is no reason to look over to the center screen while speeding, ah I mean driving.
The interior is more than adequate it's roomy and very comfortable. However, one little point, the rear doors have unnecessary intrusive bits (look like speaker pods) that hit the passengers legs. That's just silly, why not maximize room? Still, it's a big car and there is plenty of room and plenty of comfort for all. The rear area is similar to most modern car based SUV's. Big enough to be really useful.
Overall, I liked it, but felt that if I were to purchase one, I'd absolutely need the additional HP of the highest spec Mach-E available. The base model is just not sporty enough for my tastes.
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