Stony Plain carshow - May 7/23

[iamsuperdan]

Well, the weather sucked, but I hit up a carshow yesterday. Was part of an annual tradeshow and is normally really well attended. But not so much this year.

Cold, overcast, windy. Most entrants bailed and didn't show up, and those who did show up took off early. And the spectators barely came out, they were inside and the tradeshow booths where it was warm.

Some interesting stuff though.

 

 

My dealership was a sponsor, so we had a display.  Too windy for our usual canopy/tent thing.

 

Figured I'd throw my car in there too. Got me a good parking spot for the show.

[cobraman]

How's that Mach E treating you ?

[iamsuperdan]

It has been so good. Learning a lot about the realities of EV, and it's actually even easier than I thought. 

For example, one of the things I was against with EVs was roadtripping. I used to think to myself, well I'm going to need to stop for an hour to charge up, and a three hour trip is now a 4 or 5 hour trip! 

Well not so much. Did our usual drive to the mountains. Typically a 3.5 hr trip. Took about 20 minutes longer than usual. Because much like a gas engine, you don't necessarily need to "fill the tank" every time. 

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/

Has an app. Enter what you drive, where you're starting from, how much juice you have, where you're going, and how much charge you want left when you get there. It maps it out. Tells you where the chargers are, whether they're in use or not, how long you need to stop for. The Ford Pass app does a lot of that too.

So easy.

A full charge gives me around 390km of range. And of course, the harder you drive, the more "fuel" you use.

I charge twice a week. Monday morning will basically last all week. Friday charge will get me through the weekend with plenty of range to spare. Top it off Monday AM, and I'm good for the week. 

 

But what most people want to know is how it drives. 

I leave it in Unbridled mode. Holy cow. This car is a beast. It's crazy fast, and the handling is awesome. In a lot of ways, I'm reminded of when I worked for Porsche. It's just so much fun to drive. 

Yes, I still prefer a manual transmission, and yes, a V8 will always sound better. But this thing is fun.

It also has "race mode."

When the charge and temps are right, you can enter Unbridled Extend, which will turn off all of the traction assists and allow you to kick the back end out in the corners and do a little drifting. It's pretty awesome.

 

Things I don't like.

1. the full glass roof needs some sort of retractable sunshade, like my truck has. It's not horrible, but it would be nice.

2. the pricing. Ford just announced that the 2023 model has an MSRP almost $9k less than 2022. I got a heck of a deal, but still.

3. the rear hatch switch/handle is too low.

4. ventilated seats would be nice.