New owner - I finally jumped in and bought an FFE

[douglas685]

Well, I'm an FFE owner.

I test drove a 2013 Black FFE a few weeks ago and was a bit concerned about the logistics of the vehicle. I live in St. Louis, MO and I have a 60 mile round trip commute with an 8-9 hour 110v recharge at the office. I was a bit concerned when my dealer car only got about 60 miles range on my first test drive (70mph, 90f), so I explained my hesitations to the dealership (Joe Machens Ford In Columbia, MO). Well the dealership was very accommodating with me and my concerns. I mentioned if I could test drive it for a week or so to see if it met my daily needs, they were more than happy to allow me to try the car out long term. Only problem: Columbia is about 100 miles from my house, with no charge points, dealerships, or power sources anywhere in between. So, they made me a great deal; they would ship the car to my house and roll the $350 shipping charge into the price of the car. If I decided I wanted to buy the car, that would be a part of the price. If not, I would just have to pay a one-way shipping fee of $350 to return it.

I gave it a go, and two weeks ago a gorgeous metallic black focus was sitting in my driveway when I cam home from work. I gave it a go and I fell in love. The car isn't totally perfect, but it really is extremely impressive in the composure and ride of the vehicle and the build quality is fantastic. My range usually bounces between 70-80 miles (and I drive it hard; I drive it like I stole it). Well, on Saturday I signed the papers.

So here I am. I am the owner of a 2013 Black Metallic FFE. The car was a lemon buyback with 7,200 miles. The issue was the SSN issue, and the car was bought back in October 2013. Joe Machens Ford applied all of the software updates, and I have over 1,000 miles with no problems other than a dead 12v battery (replaced under warranty obviously, no issues since then). Total net price with shipping and fees included: $16,499.00!!

I feel like I like I got the steal of the century. At 7,200 miles it still has wrapping plastic on various pieces of plastic inside the car. It still has that addicting new leather smell. Near as makes no difference, its a brand new car. It even retains the 3/36 and 8/100 warranties with Ford just like a new one.

So anyway, I'm glad to join the community. I've got my 30amp EVSE on the way (An AeroVironment 30amp RS, NIB for $400).

I'll be adding some pics of the car and a sig in the near future.

PS: If anyone is in the Missouri area, Joe Machens Ford has like 10 of these lemoned FFE's, in addition to a handful of C-max's and a Fusion Energi on their lot. They move through ENORMOUS amounts of inventory, including electrics, and their staff is top notch (both sales and service; its awesome to speak with people at a Ford dealer who service Ford Electrics on a regular basis). Also, they buy TONS of buybacks from Ford, service and perfect them, and sell them at rock-bottom pricing. My salesman was Tate Robb, and if you're looking for a deal just ask for Joe the manager and tell him what you're looking for.

Looking forward to hanging out with you guys on here!

 

[Abelgoddard]

Very cool, man. That seems like a real steal. Glad to have you. Welcome!

 

[jmueller065]

Congratulations!

I've often wondered where the lemon buybacks go--turns out its St. Louis! LOL

Funny thing: We were just there last week for vacation. Was even thinking of bringing the FFE with us. (When we picked up our Motorhome earlier in the year I did a bunch of research on how to bring the FFE with us. Came really close to pulling the trigger on a trailer to cart it around but we can rent a lot of cars for the price of that trailer... )

 

[cpwl]

What an incredible deal you got there Douglas. At that price it is tempting to look into importing one of the Joe Machens lemmoned FFEs into Canada. Does anyone know if there are any significant differences between the US and Canadian versions that would preclude importing one of them – eg possible lack of daytime running lights etc.

Thanks and Cheers

Carl

 

[hybridbear]

Sounds like a great deal! Welcome!

 

[EVA]

Congratulations. That was an incredible deal.

The winter will be interesting - you should have no problems with range. Using the heater moderately when it gets below 45 degrees will make total range just below 60 miles. Your 110V charge at work will get you home with no problems at all. It also looks like St Louis is well served with charging stations if you ever needed something in a pinch.

That is not a pretty drive from Columbia to St Louis - good thing they trailered it to your house.

 

[michael]

I spoke to a salesman at that dealer. He said about $700 to ship even to California. Some of you midwest buyers might find this a better option than strugging with dealers who have no stock.

 

[bullish1]

I actually looked at getting a 2013 from them but I got a new 2014 for $29,500, so $22,000 even after the credit. I thought in the end it was worth the extra money to stay away from a lemon buy-back. I hope it works out for you.

 

[Kakkerlak]

Douglas,

Can you share with the Forum the experience or information that made you comfortable enough to buy a "lemoned" Focus Electric that had been repaired by a dealer, rather than rebuilt by Ford ?

As I understand it many FFE drivers experienced the SSN problems, had software updates performed, and have been trouble-free ever since.

But if a car went 6000 to 10000 miles and then got bought back by Ford, that suggests that the problems were more serious and probably could not be remedied by software updates.

Do you think that Machens Ford did a bunch of module replacements ? Or that they have good CANbus diagnostic gear and enough guidance from Ford that they can do reliable repairs on these cars ?

I work on CANbus-based industrial equipment for a living so I'm both confident in it when it's done right, and I've faced systems that had so many loose connectors and faulty nodes that they could never be made reliable. So I'm sorta on the fence about this one.

If Machens Ford puts some serious miles onto each FFE after doing the repairs, I'd feel better about it.

If possible, this would be a great opportunity for your salesman or the service manager at Machens Ford to come on the Forum and tell us about their repair process and business plan.

 

[EVA]

This is nothing more than a guess - I bet the car is just fine. I can imagine the original owner returned the car for service several times, got super frustrated piling on problems, they were ultimately fixed, but the owner hit the limit of repairs and wanted out. It could even be a series of SSN before Ford knew how to fix them. The owner was fed up and bailed.

Not sure you would get a service manager to come on line and describe what they've done. Not sure what benefit that would have for the dealership. It sounds like that dealer specializes in that type of car. They sell them at deep discount and are sold as is. Like buying a foreclosure house at auction - sometimes you get an incredible deal, other times you get a money pit.