What's this?
The new Ford Mustang Mach-E, which we drove recently for the very first time as one of the four main models. Basically, you've got single- or twin-motor choices, which lead to either rear-wheel drive (RWD) or all-wheel drive (AWD), and then either smaller (75.7kWh gross, 68kWh net) or larger (98.7kWh gross, 88kWh net) lithium-ion battery packs, which Ford terms Standard Range (SR) or Extended Range (ER) respectively. You can then combine these any way you see fit, so you have RWD SR, RWD ER, AWD SR and AWD ER variants in the line-up. There's also a limited-run First Edition, which is basically an AWD ER with fancy paint and extra toys, and soon there will be a monster GT halo product with 487hp/860Nm, a 3.7-second 0-62mph time and a hefty price tag.
Now, when we drove the AWD SR a month or so back, we liked it, but we didn't feel it was very...
Mustangish. It also seemed to be the most baffling model of the quartet. Although, as a dual-motor Mach-E, it had the joint-most torque available with 580Nm, it had the joint-least amount of power (269hp), the shortest driving range of all at 248 miles and a middling price tag. All of the other three versions have a defined USP: the RWD SR is the cheapest Mustang Mach-E to buy at £41,330 (more on this in a sec) and it has a superior range to the AWD SR at 273 miles to boot; the RWD ER is the undisputed range king of them all, with a quoted 379 miles between charges; and the AWD ER is the most powerful model with 351hp, and therefore the fastest. The poor old AWD SR just seems surplus to requirements, if we're honest.
However, the chance presented itself to drive both the AWD ER and the RWD SR back-to-back, not only giving us the opportunity to experience the bookends of the Mach-E family in one hit, but also to see whether that AWD SR had perhaps undersold the whole electric Mustang ideal to us in the first place. So, before we get onto the driving, we'll happily admit that the Mach-E's looks are growing on us; it can still look awkward and gawky from certain angles, and it's no visual match for its famous
Pony Car namesake, but there are other viewpoints from which the Ford EV is starting to look pretty damned fine. Its design works much better in white, red or even black than it does in the Carbonised Grey we had last time out. And we know this, because the exact AWD SR we drove back in early March was on the same event as the two Mach-Es we're reviewing here - and it didn't look half as good as an all-black model, which makes the roofline detailing blend into the rest of the Ford's form in a more pleasing manner. Inside, the Mach-E is little short of sensational, from entry-level to flagship; aside from the cheap plastic 'silverwork' for the drive selector and the volume control on that vast 15.5-inch portrait touchscreen for the SYNC 4 infotainment, everything else is completely splendid.
How does it drive?
Let's start with the AWD ER, which we drove first. It has the same torque as the AWD SR at 580Nm but it packs the best part of 100hp more thanks to its bigger battery pack. The actual gulf between the two twin-motor Mach-Es is 82hp, which results in a 0-62mph time on this ER which is half-a-second quicker than the SR's sprint, the most potent Ford EV running the benchmark in 5.8 seconds. And this added muscle immediately makes the whole Mach-E experience all the more beguiling.
It now goes like you imagine a Mustang should. The extra insistence in the acceleration really starts to tell just as you start approaching the national speed limit and have to back off for the sake of your licence, but even so this AWD ER feels much more like a high-performance EV rather than a ho-hum one. Its got much more to offer in the midrange than the AWD SR and it rips up to 60mph in what feels like no time at all.
The ER also preserves the rear-biased nature of the AWD set-up, the electric Mustang more than happy to transition to playful oversteer out of roundabouts in the dry if you so provoke it, and it just imbues more of a 'special' sensation to the driving experience than the admirable if reserved AWD SR could ever muster up. Furthermore, we're not sure what was happening with the first Mach-E we drove and its Propulsion Sound, but with the sonic augmentation engaged in the AWD ER the resulting noise was fantastic - an electrical whoop coming almost from the right-hand side of the car, like it has side-exit exhausts or something, and a note which also has faint traces of Mustang V8 exhaust rumbling to it if you let your imagination run wild and free with the acoustics.
However, at £57,030 as tested (our example had no options fitted whatsoever; everything on it was standard-fit), the AWD ER is not exactly the most affordable way into Mach-E ownership. So what about the model at the other end of the scale? Well, we mentioned price in the opening section of this piece and, of course, since we drove that AWD SR the UK Government went and unceremoniously shafted EVs at the sort of level we're looking at here. Up until April 1, any zero-emissions vehicle costing less than £50,000 was eligible for a £3,000 Plug-In Car Grant (PICG). Since then, Whitehall changed the parameters to a £2,500 maximum PICG that was only available to cars at the sub-£35,000 price point. In one fell swoop, all the Mach-Es which qualified for the PICG before were exempted from the scheme.
So while the RWD SR remains the cheapest Mustang EV, it's a £41,330 car before you've added anything at all to it. Like 'Exclusive' £1,150 Star White paint, for instance. Nevertheless, at a hefty £14,550 less than the AWD ER, it's a tempting proposition. Although it only has one motor to the AWD SR's two, the smaller battery pack means this RWD model makes the same 269hp as that car, only its torque is denuded to the tune of 150Nm to a peak 430Nm output. This pushes the 0-62mph time, at 6.9 seconds, out another 0.6 seconds compared to the AWD SR, and it's more than a whole second slower than the AWD ER driven immediately before it. And yet... it didn't feel tardy. In fact, it felt brilliant to drive.
With just the one motor on the trailing axle, the Mustang Mach-E RWD SR is one of the most tail-happy SUVs we've ever driven, electric propulsion system or otherwise. Sure, many owners will not want oversteer in their zero-emissions family chariot, but the way that Ford has calibrated the chassis of the Mach-E means that it gives the whole vehicle a sensation of being agile and lithe on its feet, without you having to deliberately provoke it. However, should you wish to do so, you'll be rewarded in spades. The RWD SR is not blistering fast in a straight line, naturally, but it's more than quick enough and the way it is so exuberant in the corners, for what is still a heavy (1,969kg) machine, makes it a delight to pilot. The steering, shorn of any tractive force going to the leading axle, is a touch purer and better weighted too, and its Propulsion Sound was as loud and as engaging as that on the AWD ER. There's no doubt about it, these two Mach-Es immediately reinforced the idea that they were genuine Mustangs, only ones cut from a different cloth; whereas the AWD SR didn't quite ever achieve the same notion in our mind.
Verdict
We're so pleased we got a go in the Ford Mustang Mach-E AWD ER and RWD SR models, because they both swiftly managed to prove our initial theory was correct - that the AWD SR, as likeable as it turned out to be, was nevertheless not the best representation of what the Blue Oval is trying to achieve with its first passenger-focused EV. We're pleased to report that the cheapest and the fastest versions of the Mach-E, though, are both excellent. Not quite flawless; we're still not 100 per cent sold on the exterior aesthetic, for example. But, on this evidence, we now cannot wait for the Mach-E GT to makes its appearance. It could and should be utterly blinding.
Exterior Design
