Long term support - keep or sell?

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TexaCali

Well-known member
Joined
May 12, 2014
Messages
122
Location
San Jose, CA
My 2014 FFE has been awesome and I still love it. But it is approaching the end of the 8 year factory warranty and I have serious questions about long term support for these cars since so few were ever sold. I can easily see an electrical system issue cropping up that Ford wants more to fix than the car is worth.

It was my sincere hope when I bought this car that it would sell in large numbers and a viable aftermarket of 3rd party mods and repairs would exist, but obviously that never happened.

So what are people doing after the 8 year mark? Are you worried about ongoing support for your FFE?
 
Whether good or bad, it is my feeling that there are members of this forum who are more qualified to service or at least provide advice regarding repairs to the FFE than the dealership personnel. Imagine this, a Ford dealer ship in Podunk AR wants to be EV certified so that they can service the Mach E and F-150 Lightning. The send a tech to Ford for training. The tech spends approximately 1 week learning about electric cars and while the tech does get some hands on time with the vehicles, only so much can be done in that week. So the tech learns a lot of stuff, but only hands on for 1/3 of it, and some diagnostic time. The tech comes back to Podunk, and the first Mach E that comes in, the tech is quite excited to get more time. But then he realizes, its not the same situation. In training, he had instructors to guide him, he had ready access to a lot of info, that was right there, but now, he is on his own, and he feels very alone. He requires some hand holding, and that means a lot of calls, and messages back and forth between the dealership and corporate. If an FFE were to arrive in the shop, the tech would be overwhelmed, because they taught him the Mach E, the F-150 Lightning, and the hybrid Fusion. The FFE is electric, but it is a totally different design, layout, and method of operation that what he learned. It is a steep learning curve for the tech, and he is under a lot of pressure to prove that he can do the repairs.
Contrast that to some members here who have not only shade tree mechaniced the FFE, hell, they retrofit charging systems, repaired batteries, and also have experience with other EVs.
 
Second all that. Now that the line is dead the tech experience pool is going to shrink rather than grow. They'll keep selling parts for the foreseeable future but I would not count on anything else from them.
 
Yep, that's my thought as well.

Still love the car....drove it 66 miles today (mainly highway and with the AC on)....guess-0-meter says I still have 20 left....on a 76 mile car that is 7.5 years old and has 57k miles......but I've decided I'm gonna get out while I still can (resale is still good).

Today I drove the Mach E.....I so wanted to love this car, but didn't. It is a SUV/Crossover and I really don't want a SUV/Crossover (I already own and Excursion....I want a small run around car). It feels big and a little clunky to me. The buttons and switches feel cheap for what was almost a $60K car (demo was a Premium LR AWD). It had 2,400 miles on it and some of the switches were already broken. Seats were nice but not supper comfortable.

Afterwards I finally gave in and drove to Tesla to try a model 3. Oh wow.....most comfortable seats I think I've ever sat in. Supper nice car and fun to drive. If it was a hatch it would be perfect (I don't want the Y....but a small hatch....like the FFE). Looks like a 3 will be in my future.

The FFE has hands down been the most economical car I've ever owned, and it did so much right. Yeah, it would have been great if Ford had done a ground up design instead of a retrofit, and it was RWD (or AWD).....but I could live with those things. Not properly supporting the car is what kills it for me though. Gonna really miss this car once it is gone.
FFE-Rear-Spoiler-1.jpg
 
I have similar concerns, as the quality on my Expedition is spotty and I'm wary of owning my 2017 FFE outside of the warranty. For the meantime, my wife and I are really enjoying our ownership experience. My original plan was to drive it until warranty expiration, then upgrade to a later model, but still used EV, like a Bolt, Ioniq, or 2018+ Leaf. The Bolt would be a challenge now, with the battery fire situation and the fact that my wife doesn't like them. She doesn't like the Leaf either, but might be more amenable to it now that she's experienced EV ownership. My dream is to get an EV6 GT, but that would be a tall order.
 
The Ioniq 5 looks very interesting, can't wait to see that one in person.

I've listed my FFE for sale and placed a model 3 SR+ on order (Jan Delivery). If the FFE sells for a decent price then I'll go through with it....if I can't get anything reasonable for the FFE then I'll cancel the order and just drive the FFE until it dies.
 
TexaCali said:
The Ioniq 5 looks very interesting, can't wait to see that one in person.

I've listed my FFE for sale and placed a model 3 SR+ on order (Jan Delivery). If the FFE sells for a decent price then I'll go through with it....if I can't get anything reasonable for the FFE then I'll cancel the order and just drive the FFE until it dies.

Just curious. What are you thinking for reasonable?
 
scottt said:
Just curious. What are you thinking for reasonable?

Great question. Some numbers:

"Shift" gave me quote for $4200 - no thanks, I'll drive it until the wheels fall off
KBB says private party sale is above $8k ("high" number)
Searching listings I found several comparable FFE's listed for over $12K! Didn't see anything listed under $8k in my area

I listed it for $10.5K just to see what happens. My gut tells me KBB is slightly low due to the current market conditions, but $12.5K seem wild.

I think the cosmetic work I've done to the car, coupled with the excellent condition, single owner, etc means I can get somewhat of a premium in this market (when EVERYTHING seems to be going for a premium).
 
You are also in San Jose, the Bay Area, where vehicles sell for a premium.
I lived there, I know.
 
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