Achievement Unlocked - Midlife crisis car purchased. 😛
Real long story short, a contract I'm on got renewed for another 4 years. I have to drive a several hundred miles a month that I get a per diem for. The used car market is batshit insanity and Carvana is giving me a crazy amount of money for a beat to hell, nearly 10 year old C-max hybrid. I had a reservation in for a Lightning to replace my minivan but never paid attention to the Mach-E's. Not sure why, I just never really even looked at them. Then I did. And then I grabbed a demo from a dealer and put 300 miles on it. And that demo ended up being about the only Premium, AWD extended battery in the Western United states and the dealer gave it to me for sticker when the basic models are going for $3k-$10k over sticker. So now I have a shiny red Mustang Mach-E sitting in my drive.
I ended up doing the Ford Options plan which is sort of a hybrid between lease and financing. You sign up for a 3 or 4 year agreement with a mileage allowance per year (7500 up to 20k or so). Ford titles it in your name so all state and federal rebates go to you. Under traditional leases they don't. There's a balloon buyout at the end. We did 4 years with a balloon buyout of $25k. Internal financing rates are 2.25% and Ford tossed in a $1000 bonus cash with it. Between the crazy trade in from my old car, the $10k rebates and money saved with my per diem (no gas yay!) I get 2 of the four years free for driving it. Then the next two years are on me. At the end of 4, I can walk away from it, buy it for the balloon or sell it/trade it in if it's worth more than the balloon payment. With as rapid as EV tech is moving, I figured in 3-4 years we could step into something newer with more range. And if not, this car is exactly what I wanted anyway. So for lack of better pun, I like the options it provides.
That said...this car is cool. Never have I had a vehicle with such a duality of personality. In town, in Whisper mode, with 1 pedal driving it's a rolling vault. It is so quiet and calming to drive. I don't know if the B&O system in there is just that much better than anything I've had, or if the car is so quiet (or some combo of both) but I'm hearing things in songs I've never heard before. It's a rolling hifi set of headphones. So enjoyable. But then you flip it to Unbridled and take it out to the switchbacks in the mountains and this thing just shreds. So much grip. So much power on demand. Just point it at a curve and press. There's no lag in transmission. No shifting. No shudder. Just pinned to the seat giggling. My kids loved it. My wife loved it. I loved it. Just an absolute blast to rip through the mountains with. I thought I would hate the full length roof glass, but after the demo I was sold. It just opens up so much light and makes it feel twice as big as it is inside.
The seats are amazing. The back seat passenger seat is actually functional, and the cargo space isn't awful. Frunk opens up a little more space for small odds and ends. I'll probably be doing an illicit upgrade to install a hitch on it. There's no roof rails or OEM hitch offering. But I want more cargo/bike space for weekend trips.
Car is by no means perfect. It's basically a beta release car and we're all public testers. Front camera has issues that dealer still has to fix. Phone as a key is dorked up. Some little fit and finish things needed more attention (cargo cover is a joke). But generally, for just car stuff it works. And where it really matters....smiles and creature comforts...all is there.
My level 2 charger is set to come in next week so just doing trickle charges with 110...ick. But it's what it is. Can always swing by an Electrify America station and drop a couple bucks of juice in it. We had the demo over the 4th weekend and used the EA chargers a couple times. A handful were out of service, but the ones that did work, worked fine. I accept where things are the process and it will only get better as more people adopt. So I went ahead and jumped in to be part of that.
Totally didn't need the car. It's not an economical decision. But I WFH outside of days I travel, and my wife bikes to work. So this is something to top off on a Friday and take out on weekends and just have fun. And that it does well. 🙂
The car is actually in my wife's name. She's a good sport and said "This is my mid-life crisis car. You can save your crisis for later for something else." 😛
Real long story short, a contract I'm on got renewed for another 4 years. I have to drive a several hundred miles a month that I get a per diem for. The used car market is batshit insanity and Carvana is giving me a crazy amount of money for a beat to hell, nearly 10 year old C-max hybrid. I had a reservation in for a Lightning to replace my minivan but never paid attention to the Mach-E's. Not sure why, I just never really even looked at them. Then I did. And then I grabbed a demo from a dealer and put 300 miles on it. And that demo ended up being about the only Premium, AWD extended battery in the Western United states and the dealer gave it to me for sticker when the basic models are going for $3k-$10k over sticker. So now I have a shiny red Mustang Mach-E sitting in my drive.
I ended up doing the Ford Options plan which is sort of a hybrid between lease and financing. You sign up for a 3 or 4 year agreement with a mileage allowance per year (7500 up to 20k or so). Ford titles it in your name so all state and federal rebates go to you. Under traditional leases they don't. There's a balloon buyout at the end. We did 4 years with a balloon buyout of $25k. Internal financing rates are 2.25% and Ford tossed in a $1000 bonus cash with it. Between the crazy trade in from my old car, the $10k rebates and money saved with my per diem (no gas yay!) I get 2 of the four years free for driving it. Then the next two years are on me. At the end of 4, I can walk away from it, buy it for the balloon or sell it/trade it in if it's worth more than the balloon payment. With as rapid as EV tech is moving, I figured in 3-4 years we could step into something newer with more range. And if not, this car is exactly what I wanted anyway. So for lack of better pun, I like the options it provides.
That said...this car is cool. Never have I had a vehicle with such a duality of personality. In town, in Whisper mode, with 1 pedal driving it's a rolling vault. It is so quiet and calming to drive. I don't know if the B&O system in there is just that much better than anything I've had, or if the car is so quiet (or some combo of both) but I'm hearing things in songs I've never heard before. It's a rolling hifi set of headphones. So enjoyable. But then you flip it to Unbridled and take it out to the switchbacks in the mountains and this thing just shreds. So much grip. So much power on demand. Just point it at a curve and press. There's no lag in transmission. No shifting. No shudder. Just pinned to the seat giggling. My kids loved it. My wife loved it. I loved it. Just an absolute blast to rip through the mountains with. I thought I would hate the full length roof glass, but after the demo I was sold. It just opens up so much light and makes it feel twice as big as it is inside.
The seats are amazing. The back seat passenger seat is actually functional, and the cargo space isn't awful. Frunk opens up a little more space for small odds and ends. I'll probably be doing an illicit upgrade to install a hitch on it. There's no roof rails or OEM hitch offering. But I want more cargo/bike space for weekend trips.
Car is by no means perfect. It's basically a beta release car and we're all public testers. Front camera has issues that dealer still has to fix. Phone as a key is dorked up. Some little fit and finish things needed more attention (cargo cover is a joke). But generally, for just car stuff it works. And where it really matters....smiles and creature comforts...all is there.
My level 2 charger is set to come in next week so just doing trickle charges with 110...ick. But it's what it is. Can always swing by an Electrify America station and drop a couple bucks of juice in it. We had the demo over the 4th weekend and used the EA chargers a couple times. A handful were out of service, but the ones that did work, worked fine. I accept where things are the process and it will only get better as more people adopt. So I went ahead and jumped in to be part of that.
Totally didn't need the car. It's not an economical decision. But I WFH outside of days I travel, and my wife bikes to work. So this is something to top off on a Friday and take out on weekends and just have fun. And that it does well. 🙂
The car is actually in my wife's name. She's a good sport and said "This is my mid-life crisis car. You can save your crisis for later for something else." 😛
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