dhelmly
Member
Short Answer - Ford Fusion Energi.
I took a different approach on the whole EV thing. I knew I wanted a Tesla almost 5 years ago but early Model S's had various small quirky issues and like many on the forums I decided to wait and watch. Needless to say, Tesla the company won me over almost more than the car. 3 years ago was ready to buy again, but after driving a friends Model S several times and seeing how slow 3G was on the map loading , I wanted wait for LTE support info to come out. Tesla could have my $$ much earlier had they just given a clear statement that current shipping cars could be graded to LTE or that current cars had proper hardware to support LTE but it turns out (from various sources) that the bigger issue was that Tesla needed their AT&T Commercial Network contract updated in order to add the feature. Legal issues might have prevented Tesla from publicly stating it. Elon did mention it in a tweet but it was never really made clear that older cars could be updated.
I travel a fair amount internationally have always liked the look of the Ford Mondeo which was designed by a former Aston Martin designer when Ford owned them. In 2013 the Mondeo was brought to the US under the Fusion name (now built here) and as an "EV ownership test" I bought the Fusion Energi version and honestly it's been one of best cars I've ever owned. It was also the first American car I ever bought. I've always owned Mercedes E class and R class. Even though the car only gets 19-20 "ish" on pure EV , it kicks into Hybrid/Prius mode once EV runs out - the result - 75.4 MPG (not MPGe) average for 17K miles over 3 years. No Oil change needed (still had 22% left before change). The car never saw a Ford service center the entire 3 years I owned. I would recommend that car to anyone who just wants a heavy feeling and comfortable 5 seater high milage car. The full EV mode is very quick, the voice control, GPS, and entertainment system is one of the best I've used- even better than Tesla's which still lacks many features we are all tracking/hope get updated.
The biggest negative for the Fusion Energi would be lack of trunk space . To help solve this, I added hidden trailer hitch (150.00) to use when I needed to transport my bikes or luggage basket for airport runs. Worked great.
When I put the car on eBay, it sold in 2 days. I should have clearly asked more for it. The current owner wanted a Tesla but could not afford it. He's emailed me a few times to say how happy he is with it.
My Model X 90D 6 seater (00049XX) is due late April/May .
I took a different approach on the whole EV thing. I knew I wanted a Tesla almost 5 years ago but early Model S's had various small quirky issues and like many on the forums I decided to wait and watch. Needless to say, Tesla the company won me over almost more than the car. 3 years ago was ready to buy again, but after driving a friends Model S several times and seeing how slow 3G was on the map loading , I wanted wait for LTE support info to come out. Tesla could have my $$ much earlier had they just given a clear statement that current shipping cars could be graded to LTE or that current cars had proper hardware to support LTE but it turns out (from various sources) that the bigger issue was that Tesla needed their AT&T Commercial Network contract updated in order to add the feature. Legal issues might have prevented Tesla from publicly stating it. Elon did mention it in a tweet but it was never really made clear that older cars could be updated.
I travel a fair amount internationally have always liked the look of the Ford Mondeo which was designed by a former Aston Martin designer when Ford owned them. In 2013 the Mondeo was brought to the US under the Fusion name (now built here) and as an "EV ownership test" I bought the Fusion Energi version and honestly it's been one of best cars I've ever owned. It was also the first American car I ever bought. I've always owned Mercedes E class and R class. Even though the car only gets 19-20 "ish" on pure EV , it kicks into Hybrid/Prius mode once EV runs out - the result - 75.4 MPG (not MPGe) average for 17K miles over 3 years. No Oil change needed (still had 22% left before change). The car never saw a Ford service center the entire 3 years I owned. I would recommend that car to anyone who just wants a heavy feeling and comfortable 5 seater high milage car. The full EV mode is very quick, the voice control, GPS, and entertainment system is one of the best I've used- even better than Tesla's which still lacks many features we are all tracking/hope get updated.
The biggest negative for the Fusion Energi would be lack of trunk space . To help solve this, I added hidden trailer hitch (150.00) to use when I needed to transport my bikes or luggage basket for airport runs. Worked great.
When I put the car on eBay, it sold in 2 days. I should have clearly asked more for it. The current owner wanted a Tesla but could not afford it. He's emailed me a few times to say how happy he is with it.
My Model X 90D 6 seater (00049XX) is due late April/May .
