Lightning vs. Mach-E by Owner (of Both)

Posted same info on the MME forum:

Purchased a '23 ER Lightning in Oct 23.
Been loving it for past 6 months.

Began looking for an EV for my better half around Feb.
Lots of options - decided upon a MME due to a number of reasons.
Pulled the trigger a few weeks ago.
ER, dual motor premium trim.

Traded vehicles this weekend and took the weekly drive from Oregon Coast to Seattle with MME today.

A quick report out of my impressions / better / worse between the two.
If you have information on how to adjust settings - please let me know.

MME Better:
- Auto lane changing with Blue Cruise - would really like this with the F150
- Trip screen has a "How's my driving" - I like that rating as I gain experience in the EV space
- Love the "puddle light". Wish the Lightning had this cool effect.
- Phone charger pad is actually accessible and useable
- Fits in the garage

Lightning better:
- Driver display has more and and better data
- Can set "one time charge limit" on the charging page
- Better lane centering. MME "ping pongs"
- Blue Cruise doesn't slow down on corners like on the MME
- All enclosures have buttons in the cab to open - not so on MME
- Sync screen has more functions like Alexa
- Quieter
- Sun roof opens
- Pro Power outlets
- *** DRUM ROLL ***: Its a truck

Caveat: The above based upon 6 months+ on F150, one weekend with the MME. I am likely still very ignorant of the MME functions.

My wife got her MME about a month after I got the Lightning because she loved how smooth the EV was (she had an Expedition before the MME). She still loves it and the only complaint she has is the new top row screen icons are “ugly”.

As I said on the Mach-E forum, when the truck gets BC updated, they will be the same.

I had an MME for 2 years, (Premium SR AWD) and I really liked it, it was a great introduction to EV's for me, but it wasn't perfect. I had a few full size SUV's before so the MME was certainly smaller and I missed the extra space. I had the opportunity to drive an ICE F-150 as a rental last summer and that won me over and I immediately started Lightning shopping.

The MME certainly gave me ideas on what I did/didn't want when I got my Lightning. I certainly didn't want the larger screen. It looks nice, it draws attention to everyone that gets in and see's it, its got a lot of info, but I missed physical buttons. The XLT was really the only trim I considered. While the XLT screen is smaller, due to the split screen view its just so much more useful. The other thing I absolutely wanted was cloth seats. I developed a few small cracks in the ActiveX material on the side bolsters, had I not traded it on I would have gone the warranty route. I think cloth is just so much more comfortable too - I know thats subjective, but once I sat in the XLT seats I was 100% sold.
The ride in the Lightning is better to me - on broken roads, I don't feel (or hear) everything, and on smooth roads its just so smooth.
Range wise I'm pretty even. I had the SR battery in both, the F-150 battery is still larger, but I've gotten about the same range with both.

I think there are only a few things that I miss from my MME:

• The pano roof was pretty cool (Getting a Lariat wasn't a consideration because of the above)
• I really liked that that the MME would stay in Sport Mode after turning the car off/on. I hate that it doesn't do that in the Lightning. (Hopeful for a software change for that someday @Ford Motor Company).
• Not being worried when pulling into a parking garage. I've learned to pretty much avoid them, and the first time I had to parallel park in a downtown area with the F-150 and did it I was thrilled!
• and finally, the aerodynamics; I don't think I've ever driven on a highway and not come home to bug splatters all over the front end and windshield, the MME seemed to avoid them better.

Oh.. and I also don't miss being on FB and having to read all of the "but its not a Mustang" posts.

Lightning has a physical blade key to open the driver door if your 12v battery is dead. Also has a manual trunk release so you can access that battery. I had a mach e loaner when one of my high voltage battery modules was replaced. I left a light on and drained the 12v battery. I could not open the door or frunk initially. You have to remove a plug from the front bumper and pull out 2 wires. You hook 12v to them to open the frunk and then you can charge the 12v battery and unlock your doors once it has enough charge. It happened in my garage, but imagine doing that in the dark, rain or snow.

I did like that it fit in my garage unlike my Lightning. The lane change was cool although we will get that eventually. It was a nice little vehicle, but felt cramped after driving a full size truck.

I like what was said above about MME vs Lightning, I started on a 21 MME RWD SR and moved to XLT ER for same reasons as above. I also had numerous issues with the MME center screen malfunctioning after a rash of OTA updates and it was never fixed. I needed the range of ER and traded my MME and my 2014 Ram 1500 in to downsize 2 cars to 1. Couldn't be happier and enjoy the Lightning 90% of the time, road trips are still too much of a pain, but better the SR. My Ram 1500 was crew caf and long bed, the Lightning is technically way easier to drive downtown and tight areas lol.

ciferguson37733 said:

MME Better:
- Auto lane changing with Blue Cruise - would really like this with the F150

Click to expand...

This is coming in a future BlueCruise update

ciferguson37733 said:

- Love the "puddle light". Wish the Lightning had this cool effect.

Click to expand...

You can add on a customized Puddle light logo after the fact.

Look here: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...nstead-of-light-or-similar.16495/#post-332632

Too cool - thanks Benny!

Also - I will make the assumption your a fellow OSU graduate!

ciferguson37733 said:

Too cool - thanks Benny!

Also - I will make the assumption your a fellow OSU graduate!

Click to expand...

A fair assumption.

My personal opinion and everyone I’ve asked that sat in my Mach E and Lightning agreed Lightning > Mach E overall.

ciferguson37733 said:

- Blue Cruise doesn't slow down on corners like on the MME

Click to expand...

I actually wish the Lightning did this. I love the Adaptive speed control, but when you are pushing 70 in a 65 zone and you approach a turn rated at 45, disengaging the speed control is a bit abrupt. Having BlueCruise do it for you would be nice, and more comfortable for the passenger.

pdegenkolb said:

I actually wish the Lightning did this. I love the Adaptive speed control, but when you are pushing 70 in a 65 zone and you approach a turn rated at 45, disengaging the speed control is a bit abrupt. Having BlueCruise do it for you would be nice, and more comfortable for the passenger.

Click to expand...

It does do it, when it gets updated to 1.4...

We've had a Mustang for 26 months, 38,000 miles and well over a hundred DCFC charges.
We've had the Lightning for a little over a month, 1500 miles, and a few DCFC charges.

I love the Mustang. I love the Lightning. Best two vehicles we've ever owned.
What follows are my opinions.

Annoyances with both:

• I don't like the lack of physical HVAC controls. I wanted specific things that led me to getting the Lariat instead of the XLT, but I do wish I could have had the smaller screen and more physical controls.
• Ford Pass doesn't let me use my phone as a key for both without switching between vehicles in-phone, which means it useless as an in-pocket key. It's easier to carry the fobs than to try to mess around with FP.
• I want Plug&Charge to hold all of my EV Charging subscriptions so I don't have to worry about which app I'm supposed to open to get the best deal on charging.
• They both collect more bugs than I would prefer.

The Lightning is better than the Mustang in these ways:

• Unfortunately it fits in with the vehicle size inflation trend so it's easier to see and be seen.
• It has a much more comfortable ride.
• My partner likes the opening roof.
• It can power the house without any real trouble.
• It can tow my utility trailer, my water trailer, my other trailers.
• My partner prefers the way it disappears into the crowd of millions of other F-150s.
• It does all the other work-truck things I need it to do.

The Mustang is better than the Lightning in these ways:

• It is more efficient. (Duh--it's not a truck, but still when we're aiming for efficiency, this is the one we take).
• It feels more planted when playing.
• It's far more maneuverable and can be parked anywhere.
• It reaches top-level charge more quickly for the same range (connected to efficiency, but still a different matter).
• It's a Mustang.
• It's noticed more often, which means I get to geek out about EVs with people who are curious.

Hard to disagree with any of those

We have two Mach-Es (Premium ER RWD and GTPE) as well as the Lightning.

What's interesting to me is that the GTPE and Lightning have almost identical efficiency on the highway. At first, I thought this was because the Lightning was very efficient for a truck.

But then I realized that both the Lightning and the GTPE have dual motors and make similar HP and torque. So I finally concluded the real story is that the GTPE is terribly inefficient for a sedan and thus gets the same mileage as the Lightning!

The Mach-E Premium ER is the efficiency champion of the fleet!