This YouTuber Got Burned By His Lucid Air And Elon Musk. So He Bought A Mustang Mach-E GT

It may not be as sophisticated as the Lucid, but at least the software works.

Photo by: Engineering Explained

By: Mack Hogan

Oct 10, at 10:00am ET

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Jason Fenske from Engineering Explained has had a rough time settling on his electric daily driver. The YouTuber was plenty happy with his early Tesla Model 3 Performance for years. But when Elon Musk's government cuts affected his family, he swore off the brand. Given his affinity for excellent engineering, he landed on a Lucid Air, one of the most sophisticated EVs on sale. But that ended in disaster, too, as Fenske explained on the Plugged-In Podcast.

So now he's in a four-year-old Ford.

Fenske said in his latest video that he bought a 2022 Mustang Mach-E Performance a few months ago. But it certainly wasn't his first choice.

He originally wanted to wait for a Rivian R2, after falling for it on the first drive. His delivery window wasn't until the end of the year, though, and he needed a daily driver. Lucid originally offered a Gravity as a long-term loan to bridge the gap, yet even the free car proved to be more trouble than it was worth. He then tried to land a Genesis GV60 in the highlighter yellow color. None of it worked.

So he got the Mach-E. He chose a Cyber Orange Metallic model with the Performance Pack, which came with 480 hp and 260 miles of EPA range. Equally important, it came with physical controls for core functions like the gear selector, windshield wipers, lights, and volume, all things he had missed in his Tesla and Lucid. Best of all, his gets the magnetic suspension system, which I can confirm is excellent.

What do you think?

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Comments

It hasn't been a perfect experience, as Fenske calls out the Mach-E's laggy display and counterintuitive door handles as pain points. I can sympathize; part of why I crossed the Mach-E off my own personal list and got a Chevy Blazer EV was because I get so frustrated by both of those things. He also calls out the relatively unimpressive charging curve; 10-80% takes about 40 minutes. Given his real-world testing suggests a highway range of 212 miles on a full battery, it's not an ideal road tripper.

But he doesn't care. Fenske has lived with EVs long enough to know that the instantaneous torque, silent driving experience, and maintenance advantages of EVs far outweigh the costs. So while he still has a gas-powered Mustang in the garage, he's driving the electric Ford for most of his trips. Sounds like a good way to live.