The IT Nerd

Electric vehicles are growing in popularity. And Ford is in the game with the Mustang Mach-E. I got the Select trim level for a weekend with eAWD and the 91 kWH extended range battery to drive for a weekend and here’s a look at it:

It definitely has the looks of a Mustang. But it comes in the form of a four door hatchback which makes it way more useful. And that red colour is really cool looking if I may say so. There’s one thing that I am not a fan of from an external perspective:

To open the door you have to press the circle. The door will pop out and then you grab the handle to open it. Now I get why Ford did this as they are trying to get every last kilometre of range via having the Mach-E be as aero as possible. Plus, I can see a scenario where in winter the door is less likely to get stuck because of ice and snow. But my wife and pretty much anyone over the age of 40 who tried to get into the Mach-E had some degree of trouble opening the door because this style of door handle is not what people are used to. Now Ford isn’t the only company that makes an EV that does something like this with their door handles. Having said that, a traditional door handle that is perhaps more aero would be welcome.

My only other exterior gripe is the rear lift gate. When you open it, you get a decent amount of space as illustrated here:

You can also fold the rear seats in a 60/40 manner to get additional space. And all of that is good. But the bad part about the rear lift gate is that it’s manual on this trim level. And while I had no issues with it, my wife at 5′ 6″ couldn’t close it as the hatch opened slightly beyond her reach. If that’s a concern for you, you should go up to the Premium trim level which comes with a power lift gate. Speaking of storage:

The Mach-E has a frunk (front trunk) that is pretty deep and useful for storage.

Let’s move inside. The Mach-E is really roomy. With the drivers seat set up for me, I was able to sit behind myself in the back seat with no issue. There was decent leg room and great headroom. The only thing that I will put out there is the model that I had for the weekend didn’t have a sunroof. Thus I have to wonder if a sunroof will affect the headroom. Other things that I noted in the back seats:

You get a pair of USB-C ports to keep your phones and tablets charged.

You also get two cupholders that fold down for use if you don’t have three humans in the back seat. Which by the way should be three kids. I’m not entirely sure three full sized adults would be comfortable back here for a long drive.

Now let’s move to the front. And I am going to get my number one gripe out of the way up front:

This 15.5″ screen is extremely sharp and easy to read. There’s a dial to control the volume that is impossible to miss as well. Apple CarPlay (which is wireless by the way) looks amazing on this screen as well. But my issue with it is that the majority of the Mach-E’s controls are routed through the screen. While I appreciate the fact that HVAC controls are on the screen most of the time, I would have liked to see them as physical buttons as they are way easier to use. That’s because you’ll develop muscle memory when it comes to where they are, which means that you can turn on your seat heater easily while doing 100 KM/h on the highway. That’s harder to do with a screen. Again, Ford isn’t the only company who’s done something like this. But perhaps not routing everything through the screen would result in a better user experience.

The gripes end here. Let’s look at the parts of the interior that I did like:

The screen that acts as the instrument cluster is very sharp and readable. And what I like about is that when you are using Apple Maps, directions are replicated here. Thus you can keep your eyes on the road at all times.

I am in love with this steering wheel as it has all the controls that one needs to do anything from change the volume to adjust the cruise control easily.

Besides a USB-A port and an USB-C port, there’s a wireless charger on the left half of this pad.

The cupholders hold both my wife’s water bottle and my Starbucks Venti insulated travel mug. I point that out because not every car that I test holds that travel mug.

There’s centre console is deep and has a 12V outlet. You can open and close it via a sliding cover.

I will also note is that everything is well put together and feels like it is built really well. And I will point out that there is a lack of shiny hard plastic which will help to keep the car clean and upscale looking.

Now the hero feature of the Mustang Mach-E is BlueCruise which is Ford’s driver assistance system. What I will do is point you towards this review that I did of it a couple of days ago. But let me say that I really liked it and would consider getting it if I were buying this car.

Now onto the actual driving experience. Once I got used to the fact that this car is capable of doing 0 – 100 KM/h in 4.3 seconds, which means that pressing the accelerator too hard will make the Mach-E leap off the line, along with the brakes being grabby because of the regenerative function, I loved it. There’s zero issue passing anything or getting up to speed. The handling is refined and bumps in the road are eaten up by the suspension for the most part. There’s very little body roll even when the Mach-E is pushed. And in terms of noise, vibration and harshness, the only thing that I heard were the tires with a bit of the motors on acceleration. Ford has really done a great job making the Mach-E feel very upscale.

In terms of range, I can only estimate that due to the fact that I recharged the Mach-E when the battery hit 50% to 60%. But I saw numbers of total range between 350 KM and 400 KM of range which I attribute to the fact that I drove this in the cold. The car is rated to do 515 KM of range which is good for a road trip if you plan out where you charge and you have access to a DC fast charger, along with having a level 2 charger at home. The Mach-E can charge at a speed of 115 kWh which means that you could get a full charge in about an hour if you can find a DC fast charger that charges at that speed.

Here’s where the charge port is and its location made it easy for me to plug into a charger whenever I needed a charger. It’s a CCS port on this Mustang Mach-E. But future Mach-E models will move to having a NACS port which is the Tesla standard and have direct access to Tesla’s SuperCharger network. Existing owners with CCS ports will either get a NACS adapter or they can purchase one.

So would I get a Mustang Mach-E? Well, this is the only electric vehicle that I have reviewed, but I am walking away from this experience with positive vibes. So I would consider a Mach-E for sure. But I wouldn’t get this trim level. Instead I would get the Premium trim level as that has all the features that I think would be of value to most drivers who are in the market for an electric vehicle. This trim level starts $52,690. But the exact copy that I am driving which comes with the eAWD and the 91 kWH extended range battery is $65,790. And that’s before the $5000 rebate that the Canadian Federal Government is offering at the moment. If you’re in the market for an electric vehicle, the Mustang Mach-E has to be on your list. Ford has come up with a very compelling vehicle in this market that is worthy of your time and attention.

This entry was posted on December 14, 2024 at 9:20 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Ford. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.