would you buy/lease an FFE today?

[farshidarman]

would you suggest purchase or lease of an FFE today? has that lovely "stop safely now" been resolved 110%?

 

[michael]

This is probably a great day to buy any car, and I really like my FFE.

As best I can tell, the false alarms have been resolved. Occasionally there are still SSN messages (very rarely) and my best guess is that they actually are reporting intermittent failures.

No car is absolutely perfect, but the FFE is better than my previous favorite, a BMW 328. Volt is also very good with a somewhat different role.

Buy today, or wait til Labor Day which will also be a great time to buy.

And I would definitely lease, not buy, and with a zero driveaway lease. I believe you should be able to get one around $300 including tax.

 

[v_traveller]

would you suggest purchase or lease of an FFE today?

I'd suggest purchase if for those that can take full advantage of the $7500 federal tax incentive. With the $6K rebate on a purchase, that's $13500 off.

Otherwise the lease is a great deal with the $11000 rebate.

If I got a do-over right now, knowing what I know now, I'd go with the purchase, or at least a lease with much more mileage (18K miles/yr instead of 12K).

 

[farshidarman]

I have read the buy vs lease thread ... I was asking whether either would be a good idea vs another EV. If the lovely messages regarding pulling over safely are still appearing, then it seems FORD does not have a handle on their own battery pack and software :-(

 

[michael]

I have read the buy vs lease thread ... I was asking whether either would be a good idea vs another EV. If the lovely messages regarding pulling over safely are still appearing, then it seems FORD does not have a handle on their own battery pack and software :-(

If the messages are false alarms, then I would agree. But I have no reason to believe that today's messages are false alarms..they are caused by actual faults that need correction.



To answer your specific question, I can't think of any other BEV that I would prefer.

Leaf = deficient design, poor battery life, weird looks, too soft ride

RAV4 EV = expensive, available only in California but otherwise attractive

BMW I3 = hideously expensive

Honda FIT EV = unavailable

Spark EV = too small and has 3 KW charger

Smart EV = Fiat = you're kidding, right?

Tesla = yes, definitely get this in preference to a FFE if you can afford it


On balance, FFE and RAV4 are the only moderately priced BEV's I would seriously consider or recommend.

 

[WattsUp]

I was asking whether either would be a good idea vs another EV. If the lovely messages regarding pulling over safely are still appearing, then it seems FORD does not have a handle on their own battery pack and software :-(

I don't think anybody has reported the SSN issue for the last months since everyone has had a chance to have the recall performed and/or new FFEs have come off the line problem-free.

I think one person was still reporting SSN issues recently, but that case seems to have something to do with bad connectors. In any case, that would apparently be vastly different than the SSN issues that were addressed with software fix last year.

Judging by "noise" (or lack thereof) here in these forums, the SSN issue has been completely solved.

 

[twscrap]

RAV4 EV = expensive, available only in California but otherwise attractive

"Expensive" is relative - there are plenty of cases of low to mid $400s with nothing due at closing for unlimited mileage leases. If I were in CA, the RAV4 EV is the what I would be driving.

 

[michael]

RAV4 EV = expensive, available only in California but otherwise attractive

"Expensive" is relative - there are plenty of cases of low to mid $400s with nothing due at closing for unlimited mileage leases. If I were in CA, the RAV4 EV is the what I would be driving.

Please please tell me where to find that deal. Best I can find is at Carson Toyota who says...

The best lease is the 3 year lease.
ZERO - 0 = ZERO cash out of pocket, and after the $16,500. lease incentive, it's somewhere between $467-$479 plus tax a month for the unlimited mileage lease, and if you only need 12K annual miles, it's about $30 a month cheaper at $440-454 plus tax a month.
The 10K lease is cheaper by approx. $45 a month than the unlimited. (the payment varies a little wildly due to the tax rate, and the variation of the exact sales on the large cap reduction)


467 + tax = over $512. 479 + tax = over $524

Please tell me where to get one in low 400s and I'd be seriously interested.

FFE lease with 19.5K miles (almost unlimited), leather, and premium paint really is mid 300's, including tax, zero driveaway.. That being said I do like the RAV 4 but it IS expensive

 

[jmueller065]

To OP: Yes but you're going to get a skewed "Yes" result here:
Many of us leased and/or purchased the car knowing that SSN was an issue (myself included: I started reading this board long before I pulled the trigger; only to start posting when my order was in. Thus I was fully aware of the SSN issue at the time and still went ahead with the car).

Now that Ford has fixed the software issue causing the faulty SSN problems: Yes 110% I would get another (and most likely will when my lease is up if Ford still offers it).

 

[twscrap]

Please please tell me where to find that deal. Best I can find is at Carson Toyota who says...

The best lease is the 3 year lease.
ZERO - 0 = ZERO cash out of pocket, and after the $16,500. lease incentive, it's somewhere between $467-$479 plus tax a month for the unlimited mileage lease, and if you only need 12K annual miles, it's about $30 a month cheaper at $440-454 plus tax a month.
The 10K lease is cheaper by approx. $45 a month than the unlimited. (the payment varies a little wildly due to the tax rate, and the variation of the exact sales on the large cap reduction)


467 + tax = over $512. 479 + tax = over $524

Please tell me where to get one in low 400s and I'd be seriously interested.

FFE lease with 19.5K miles (almost unlimited), leather, and premium paint really is mid 300's, including tax, zero driveaway.. That being said I do like the RAV 4 but it IS expensive

Apparently the May 5th refresh of lease deals caused the numbers to increase. Diane at Carson was doing $397 for 10k prior to the 5th. My apologies.

 

[twscrap]

Michael - you might want to call Diane at Carson...

 

[michael]

I've put in a call...let's see what she's offering. I'm going to guess the "special" lease somehow wraps the $2500 rebate into the cap reduction and knocks $70 off the monthly payment. But let's see what she has. If it's really $401 and still leaves the $2500 on the table it's a great deal.

 

[RickInAustin]

I am in the process of purchasing a FFE. But sometimes I still question that decision.
I compared the total costs of leasing to the cost difference of purchasing/selling. Perhaps others have a more nuanced way of comparing.

Predicting the resale value at some future time is difficult. Hard to predict the future rebate offers, future price reductions, future technology advancements (expecially battery related), future competition.
All of these impact the future resale value of the car.

 

[twscrap]

I chose to lease because it's still early days. Battery tech may take off or maybe it won't. Leasing provides me with a clear fixed cost that is less than my prior gas costs. I know what I'll need to pay as a ballon on the FFE, and the environment 3 years from now will dictate whether paying it is a good option.