Mastodawn

#EV drivers of the #fediverse I'm hoping you can help me out. Our family is hoping to be buying an EV in the next few months and have narrowed our options to 4 (based on paper specs, online reviews, and budget)

- Ford #MachE
- Volkswagen ID.4
- Toyota BZ
- Chevy Equinox EV

One of the things I noticed with at least two of them (the BZ and the Equinox) is that the phone app to allow you to precondition the car prior to departure requires a subscription. Do the other 2 (the MachE and the ID.4) also require a payed subscription or is it an included permanent feature?

Also I'd like to hear from owners about whether or not they would purchase their car again or if they wish they'd gone with a different one.

Thanks

Stephen 🌈 (he/him)Mar 6

@RantingCanuck We just upgraded our MME from 2021 to 2025 so we love it. And no, preconditioning doesn’t require a subscription. However, Ford software is awful.. you get what you pay for? 😂

But we love the car despite its terrible software. 😊

David Harrison 🇨🇦Mar 6

@firepoet @RantingCanuck Hope you don’t mind me jumping in. I’m considering an MME, but I’ve been kind of reluctant to deal with the “push button” doors. Have you found them to be a problem in practice?

What sort of software problems have you had? From videos, I can see it seems kind of laggy, but anything else?

E. C. Bigribs Mar 6

@david Chiming in here. Spouse has a Mach E, and in spite of the way I've written this, I like it alright for a car (not a car enthusiast). However, the phone app has lost connection to the car at least twice in six months. If it happens when you're at home, NBD just take the fob with you, but if you're miles from home and hoping to use your phone as a key, that can be an issue.

We haven't had a problem with the push-button doors yet. Yet.

As an added observation, something about the Mach E suspension does not cope with speed bumps well. You can take a nice, gradual 20mph bump at 15mph and the car still rocks your neck back. Not an issue for most people, but where we live we cannot go anywhere without hitting at least six of them.

@firepoet @RantingCanuck

@RantingCanuck
ID.4 owner here (Pro AWD). Ask me anything. 😉

No regrets, would buy again, although it does have some quirks.

Remote app/preconditioning is a subscription—although you get three years included with the purchase. Once the subscription expires (Dec 2026) I don’t see myself renewing it.

I’ve ridden in the Mach E, BZ-LMNOP and Equinox. Of those the Mach E Was the only one that I would consider if I were to choose again.

Douglas McMillan Mar 6

@RantingCanuck Ioniq5 driver here, and I love it.

maya_b 🇨🇦Mar 6

this is the kind of behaviour from manufacturers that makes me want to make a Wifi enabled ODB2 (car interface) devicee to control all that stuff myself.

anyone else want one? probably retail for $50USD if produced in quantity

@RantingCanuck 2022 Chevy Bolt EUV owner: when my wife starts the car and I'm in the house, it connects to Android Auto and all attempts to turn off Bluetooth on my phone get reverted until the car is out of range. Not all Chevy's fault, I'm sure, but the whole entertainment console feels badly designed...

A couple of switches feel flaky,we had some replaced but I'm not sure if it's that or just weird software/state decisions.

A solid "meh" review.

David Harrison 🇨🇦Mar 6

@danlyke @RantingCanuck They’ve solved that problem for 2027 - by removing AA. 😉

@david sigh. Yeah, part of my "modern software sucks and everything is an attempt to upsell me to shit I don't need" rant.

Give me Bluetooth for music and a good phone mount and you could remove the entertainment console entirely. But instead it's a profit center intended to coerce me into buying a subscription for sometime I've already paid $40k for.

Cc @RantingCanuck

@RantingCanuck My brother has the Mach.E and loves it. Can’t speak to it personally, though.

C++ Wage Slave Mar 6

This will be of limited relevance, because we bought an #MG4, but I'm extremely pleased with it and glad we chose it. It's so much easier and more fun to drive than any ICE car I've ever driven. For our lifestyle — where we rarely drive more than about 200km between charges — range isn't an issue. For the model we bought, the practical range, if you really baby the car, is about 400km. On the few occasions when we've needed more, it's not been hard to find a charger, although the prices of commercial chargers — hiked up until you're paying as much per mile as petrol drivers do — really wrankle when I can charge for 7p/kWh at home.

If you regularly drive hundreds of kilometres a day, range will be more of an issue for you. Think about where you'll charge and how long it will take.

The MG4 isn't perfect. It could do with more physical buttons and fewer features buried in menus. The display really ought to brighten and dim with outside lighting conditions. But the Trophy model is still pretty damned good.

My brother in law recently wrote off my wife's petrol car. We're not going to replace it. She hardly drove it, because she'd already taken up permanent residence in my #EV. 😄

thefathippy Mar 7

II have an XPower, & agree. Not perfect, but good.

I can't comment on those EVs, but have no regrets. I just bought the small EV that best met my needs from a limited choice. Buying one with a silly 0-100 time was a bonus, if rarely used. I'm not going back, but I will go forward—newer EVs are even better.

I charge at home at ~7kW, but originally used tge OEM 1.4kW granny. Too slow to maximise my solar, but fine if you don't drive far.

thefathippy Mar 7

Things I'd look for

Full one pedal driving. Complete stop. I love this.

Fast, responsive, intuitive software. OTA updates.

A good "3D" camera system on a big screen.

Good nannies. Not too bingy. Also, the ability to turn off nannies & have it remember the driver's settings.

Good warranty.

RWD or AWD.

Right size/performance/range/etc for me.

A heads up display might be cool.

Relative luxury & build quality.

No subscription options 🤢

C++ Wage Slave Mar 7

@thefathippy @RantingCanuck

That's a good list of requirements. The MG4 Trophy has most of it, including one-pedal driving, 3D camera, good warranty (at least in the UK), RWD, decent build quality, and no subscription options. The software can be slightly sluggish when you're starting up the car, and it doesn't remember all the options I set, so I have to do a few seconds of poking and prodding before I drive off. The lane-keeping assist was homicidal when I first bought the car, but a software update (issued during the car's first service) has toned it down, and I now leave it enabled.

And I have to say, having 200bhp (150kWh) under your right foot, and electric torque from a standstill, is a lot of fun. 🙂 Fortunately, I'm old enough to use it responsibly.

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Mar 6

@RantingCanuck
I'm also in research mode to replace our 10-year old Mazda and trying to convince my wife that an EV is perfect for us. You may want to look at the Subaru Trailseeker which is the equivalent to the Toyota BZ (and Uncharted is the twin of the CH-R). The new EV platforms were developed jointly by the two companies and are almost identical, except for some differences in the front and rear lighting, and Subaru's AWD system. Preliminary pricing shows Subaru to be slightly cheaper but their models aren't due in dealerships until April or May.

Right now I'm leaning towards the Subaru Uncharted. The 338 HP has nothing to do with my decision process...

https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/first-drive-2026-subaru-trailseeker

Driven: Is the 2026 Trailseeker More Subaru or Toyota?

Is the Trailseeker different from the bZ Woodland? Not really—but this wagonlike EV SUV still has Subaru vibes.

MotorTrend

RantingCanuck Mar 6

It looks awesome... but it's out of our budget. We are consolidating our multiple vehicles into a single one (which works with our driving patterns over the last couple of years) plus have a small windfall to put towards a down payment but need to stay under the $50k mark (and are looking at used to get down even further).

Innocuous In Innisfil Has Moved Mar 6

@RantingCanuck
I have the same budget and the Uncharted Sport has a MSRP of $49,995. I'm hoping it qualifies for the $5K federal rebate recently announced.

Good hunting!

RantingCanuck Mar 6

We have two absolute requirements:

1) It needs to fit me, my partner, our child, our newfoundland (and she's a big girl), and my walker

2) It needs to be AWD. Calgary relies on chinook's for snow clearance in the winter and that leaves a lot of ice covered intersections. We've had FWD and RWD in the past and they just don't cut it.

The good part is we don't need extended range as every road trip we've taken for the last 20 years is doable in a standard range EV.

BrisWombat Mar 6

@RantingCanuck I see you’re in Canada, so that rules out a few worthy CN additions to your list. I know you said you have already narrowed the list down, but I will suggest you add the Kia EV5 to the list for test drives/mobile app research. Decent reviews. Selling well against the CN rivals here in AUS.

IMO Toyota are well behind in this race. The Ford and VW are at midlife so should have ironed out a lot of issues. Can’t speak for the Blazer as they do not sell them in RHD.

Adam Dawson Mar 7

@RantingCanuck I have a 2023 Mach-E Select AWD with 42K miles. I love the car and have had no issues. Pretty sure the app starts the car with no subscription.

If I needed a car right now I would likely buy an off lease Lucid Air. The range of my current car is 224 miles, the Lucid would be more like 400 miles.