Rons said:
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
Some time ago in a different thread Keith Tanner hypothesized on the resurgence of coach builders. No one has clearly laid out what Ultima is, could it be a stress bearing box that comes in various sizes? Motor and suspension bolts to the box, and add in the control pack and there’s a running vehicle. Coach builder acquires those bits from GM throws on a mini van body and you have your desired vehicle - how much will you pay?
I think we're closer than you think in a sort of inverted way. A century ago, you bought your Rolls, Bently, Bugatti Chassis and took it too a coachbuilder. Today Rolls, Bently, Bugatti etc. do what you are saying and take a corporate chassis (platform) and build fancy bodies for you. Pininfarina, ICON, and others will do total custom body work for you, as will RR, B, and Bug if you throw enough $$"s at them. Middle East Oil royalty kept many of those companies going through the 90's, 90's, 00's before the global hyper car market exploded about 15 years ago.
When I was a wee lad, a Cutlass was rear-wheel drive.
Then Oldsmobile decided that the Cutlass could also come in front-wheel drive.
My parents owned both varieties.
BlueInGreen - Jon said:
I'm gonna take a run at the "Why does the name matter so much to some people?" question.
It's not the name of an individual, it's a brand that has always been attached to a specific product: a two door pony car.
Car names (in the American market, anyway) evoke an emotional connection with the car. If the "Mustang" label is stuck on something new that doesn't seem to have much connection to the "Mustang idea" then, even if it's a great product, there won't be much emotional connection. That matters to some people.
That's my analysis.
Also, Mustangs have always offered affordable style and performance, with special versions to cast a halo over the base trim cars. Starting at well over $43k seems very "un-Mustang like." The name does bug me a little bit, and I think that's why.
Very valid take! My perspective is that they put the name on an 88-horsepower vehicle with a molasses-slow 3-speed torque-converter automatic and wire wheel covers, so nothing means anything and at least the Mach-E has some performance on offer. :-)
Also, Tom - no EV will let you fast-charge past about 80%, it's a battery heat/conditioning thing. Charge rate always tapers. Surprised you aren't seeing higher charge rates at 50% though.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Don't forget that Toyota had both FWD, and RWD versions of the E90 Corolla on sale at the same time. That's how you got the RWD GT-S (famouse AE86) being sold next too the FWD FX-16. Even better they both used the same engine. Even better the FWD cars were sold as Chevy Novas as well, just to help explode a few heads.
The Model 3 doesn't hit peak charging rate unless it's almost fully depleted either. It's a physics thing :)
Here's the Mach-E. Note that InsideEVs reports that a software update (not OTA) decreases the effect of the cliff at 80%. But boy, you sure don't want to be trying to hit that mythical 100% if you're in a hurry. Unplug and head down the road.
Here's an excellent example of peak vs area under the curve.
And this is from a European charging company datamining their chargers. If it's accurate, holy cow Audi.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Audi Charge rate 
I wonder where Porsche fallwith the Taycan?
From the same source. Note that this one is on two different chargers, look at the 175 KW for a direct comparison to the above.
Brake_L8 (Forum Supporter) said:
Very valid take! My perspective is that they put the name on an 88-horsepower vehicle with a molasses-slow 3-speed torque-converter automatic and wire wheel covers, so nothing means anything and at least the Mach-E has some performance on offer. :-)
I was about to be really insulted until you said "wire wheel covers" and I knew you couldn't be talking about the glory of the Disco'Stang and its sporty and aerodynamic full wheel covers.
I know about the physics and tapering charge rates. My point about 80% is demonstrated in Keith's graphs: it doesn't taper, it falls off a cliff. Good to hear Ford plans to lessen that in an update.
A friend who knows the European market pointed out that the Opel Ampera-e on this chart is a Chevy Bolt.
Also, note that this chart is from 2019 and at least one of the vehicles has had a OTA software update that allows for faster charging according to the network that posted it.
Source: https://twitter.com/fastned/status/1110157257256386560
I drove it for a couple days and my biggest takeaway is that I am madly in love with one-pedal operation mode. I'd buy one on the strength of that feature alone (if I could afford it, which I can't, so it doesn't matter anyway).
JG Pasterjak said:
I drove it for a couple days and my biggest takeaway is that I am madly in love with one-pedal operation mode. I'd buy one on the strength of that feature alone (if I could afford it, which I can't, so it doesn't matter anyway).
Our i3 allowed for 1 pedal driving and I fell in love with it too!
OK. So they do have a Shelby version...
I think that was just a sticker pack for SEMA last year. Not that "Shelby" really means much, that brand has been stuck on everything. 107 screamin' horses, folks.
I love one-pedal driving. I'm convinced it makes you a better driver because you have to look ahead and plan more.
Keith Tanner said:
I love one-pedal driving. I'm convinced it makes you a better driver because you have to look ahead and plan more.
Saaaaame. My favorite game to play with EVs is "how little can I use the actual brake pedal" and I find myself getting frustrated if I mis-judge my one-pedaling and have to use it to stop at a red light.
Wheeling a Mach-E up and down mountain roads and controlling turn-in via my right foot and thus, weight on the nose, was super-duper rewarding.
Brake_L8 (Forum Supporter) said:
Keith Tanner said:
I love one-pedal driving. I'm convinced it makes you a better driver because you have to look ahead and plan more.
Saaaaame. My favorite game to play with EVs is "how little can I use the actual brake pedal" and I find myself getting frustrated if I mis-judge my one-pedaling and have to use it to stop at a red light.
Wheeling a Mach-E up and down mountain roads and controlling turn-in via my right foot and thus, weight on the nose, was super-duper rewarding.
The Mach E seems to be really well-tuned so that the pedal motion in one-pedal mode is extremely intuitive. At least for me. My wife drove it around the block and I turned on 1P and at first she hated it. Then I just told her to relax her foot and not lift it and it suddenly clicked and she dialed right into it.
Okay, I'll try this one-pedal driving tonight.
So here's something GRM can test at the FIRM - fastest one-pedal lap. Now compare that to a C8 ;)
In reply to David S. Wallens :
How're we doing so far?
In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :
We're doing okay. Just got back from a bit of driving. I think I prefer the traditional two-pedal setup.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
If only they made an EV with the traditional 3 pedal setup.
Tom Suddard said: Except the LEAF rides way better--the Mach-E is oversprung and underdamped, which makes great handling at the limit and a miserable ride around town.
That's disappointing. You'd expect at least one benefit of it being a a huge, ungainly, SUV-shaped bar of soap would be a nice ride quality.
I'm not sure if there's something I want to know :-) about the Mach-E but we have been driving one since December 3rd here in Sweden, just over 10 000 kms now.
The name thing is "meh" to me, I don't really mind, but for me it had no effect on getting the car - actually sometimes I say we got it despite it is called a Mustang - not because it is. TBH, I would have settled for about 3/4 or 80% of the size and power (but not the range) and had a e-Kuga/e-Escape instead.
But focus (haha) on the daily driver car that it is, and we love it. Yes, phone-as-a-key (PAAK) is sketchy, yes, FordPass is not really stable. Winter-time range is not super. But still we love it.
It takes some getting used to that the indicated range differs with weather and driving style. The same goes for an ICE but the impact is less noticeable when the range differs between 600 and 770 kms, that between say 290 and 360 kms. Especially where we live. But you learn to work with it.
Yes, we need more fast chargers. But here in Europe Teslas also use the CCS and Superchargers are being opened up for others.
Gustaf
