Jason Fenske has owned some of the most talked-about electric cars on the planet. The host of Engineering Explained, a YouTube channel built on methodical teardowns of automotive tech, just landed in a 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance. It wasn’t Plan A, B, or even C.
The sequence of events tells you everything about the state of the EV market right now.
Fenske loved his Tesla Model 3 Performance for years. Then Elon Musk’s work with DOGE reportedly cost his wife her job, and he cut ties with the brand entirely. A personal decision, not a product one.
He moved to a Lucid Air, drawn to its engineering sophistication. That ended badly too, with enough problems that he discussed the fallout on the Plugged-In Podcast.
So he looked at a Rivian R2. Fell for it on a first drive. But delivery wasn’t coming until late this year, and he needed a car now.
Lucid offered him a Gravity SUV as a loaner to bridge the gap. Even free, the car wasn’t worth the hassle. He tried to track down a Genesis GV60 in that loud highlighter yellow. Struck out again.
The Mach-E was what was left standing.
His Cyber Orange Metallic example makes 480 horsepower with the Performance Pack and carries an EPA range of 260 miles. It came with Ford’s MagneRide adaptive suspension, which by multiple accounts delivers a genuinely sharp ride. And it came with something Fenske had been missing through his Tesla and Lucid ownership: physical buttons for the gear selector, wipers, lights, and volume.
That detail says a lot. Here is a guy who built his reputation explaining complex powertrain math to millions of people, and what he wanted most from his daily driver was a knob he could turn without looking at a screen.
The Mach-E is not without flaws, and Fenske doesn’t pretend otherwise. The infotainment display lags. The door handles remain one of Ford’s worst ideas.
Charging from 10 to 80 percent takes roughly 40 minutes, which is pedestrian next to what Hyundai and Kia achieve on their 800-volt platforms. His real-world highway testing returned about 212 miles on a full charge, making long road trips a patience exercise.
None of that bothers him enough to go back to gasoline for his daily driving. He still has a combustion Mustang in the garage, but the electric Ford handles most of the miles now.
The broader picture here is hard to ignore. A technically fluent buyer with the resources and connections to drive almost anything on the market cycled through Tesla, Lucid, Rivian’s waitlist, a loaner Gravity, and a Genesis hunt before settling on a four-year-old Ford crossover. Not because it was the best EV available, but because it was the one that actually worked, was actually available, and didn’t come with baggage attached.
Ford has taken enormous criticism for the Mach-E’s financial losses and its inconsistent EV strategy. But the crossover keeps quietly finding buyers who just want an electric car that functions like a normal vehicle.
Physical controls. Magnetic suspension. Available inventory. It is a low bar, and yet half the industry still trips over it.
Fenske says he’s waiting on that R2 delivery window. Whether Rivian hits it, and whether the product lives up to his first impression, is another story entirely.
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