2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E Review_ Ford's Tesla Killer_ _ CarGurus

Today, we are probably going to get into an argument, because this is Ford's all-new all-electric crossover, the 2021 Mustang Mach-E. And if I've learned one thing while driving it for a week, it's that the name Mustang brings up a lot of opinions. We will get to all of that in short order. I mean, how do you talk about this car without talking about its name? But before we do, don't forget to subscribe to the CarGurus YouTube channel. Okay, so let's get the 800-pound gorilla out of the room. Ford's decision to call this a Mustang means one thing, that it is going after Tesla. Because at the expensive end of the EV world, you have cars like the Tesla Model S and the Porsche Taycan. Those are true performance cars, capable of hitting 60 miles per hour fast enough to make you sick. But they also cost close to, if not more than, six figures. Down here, where us normal folk live, there is a much wider world of options. The Hyundai Kona Electric, the Nissan Leaf, the Mini Cooper SE, just to name a few. But only two cars on this side of the segment have any right to call themselves performance cars. The Tesla Model 3 and the Tesla Model Y. It'd be one thing if Ford announced the Mach-E is just another affordable electric crossover. We've seen those. Some of them are good, some of them are even great. But none of them have really succeeded in lighting a fire in the hearts of American shoppers quite like Tesla has. Put a Mustang on the front, however, and the Mach-E is immediately bestowed with an expectation of performance. If Tesla's success has anything to do with the idea of EVs as performance cars, well then a Mustang has at least a puncher's chance at the crown. And for what it's worth, it looks the part of a Mustang. I love the exterior styling of this car. Whether you agree with me or not, we'd love to hear your comments and your thoughts in the comments section below. Being an electric car, there's no real need for a grill. In fact, you hardly need any space at all ahead of the windshield. But here, we have a long hood, giving the Mach-E an athletic stance and providing valuable space for a front trunk. The 19-inch wheels on our test car are cool, if not overly inspired. The thin headlights accentuate the sports car look. On the side, we have a fastback silhouette, courtesy of this black trim at the roofline. It hides just how practical the Mach-E's shape really is. Now we're working with four doors because it's a crossover, but even these are designed to give a slick sports car shape. Rather than handles, you have these buttons. There's a little lip to grab onto the front doors. The rears are perfectly smooth. The taillights are probably the most Mustang-ish element here, down to the sweet sequential turn signals. Now this, on the It's immediately clear that Ford is benchmarking the Mach-E against the Model 3 and the Model Y. This glass roof is an awesome showpiece, but the huge touchscreen sits as a centerpiece for the interior. Otherwise, things are pretty minimal. And then there's this beautiful gray fabric on the dash. I love this. It's what I would have expected from the Swedish Polestar 2, not from a Ford. The rest of the materials, well, those are what I would expect from a Ford. The fit is good and the overall quality is decent, but we're looking at a lot of plastic. The seats feel good, but I would spec a Mustang Mach-E with a lighter interior. The steering wheel has a nice, chunky feel to it. Ford has decided to go with a rotary transmission dial between the front seats, and I have no problem with that choice. What is interesting is that if I put my foot on the brake, I can turn this dial a full 360 degrees in either direction. It just keeps going. Now this is a pre-production model, so I do expect that when these start going on sale, we're going to see a little more refinement, particularly in areas like this. We've been living in a gas-powered world long enough that understanding the hierarchy of electric powertrains can be a little challenging, so bear with me here. Ford sells the Mustang Mach-E with rear-wheel drive and a 68-kilowatt-hour battery pack, and you can buy an all-wheel drive model with the same battery. There's an 88-kilowatt-hour battery that pairs with either rear or all-wheel drive, and then there are also some differences in motors. We have the standard range battery and all-wheel drive. That means there's 266 horsepower and 428 pound-feet of torque. With the extended-range battery, horsepower jumps to 290 with rear-wheel drive and 346 with all-wheel drive. And then regardless of what battery size you get, with rear-wheel drive you're going to get 317 pound-feet of torque. The Mustang Mach-E GT should light your hair on fire with 480 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque from its all-wheel drive extended-range setup. You can't really compare the trim lineups between the Mustang Mach-E and the gas-powered Mustangs, but we'll try. I would say that our premium all-wheel drive with standard range is kind of like the Mustang EcoBoost—that's the 4-cylinder—but we'll say it's the one with the high-performance package. Ford coded three distinct drive modes into the Mach-E—engage, whisper, and unbridled. But regardless of which mode you select, the torque in this car makes it feel fast immediately. You get all of that torque right from a stop, so the result is a vehicle that is wildly fun to drive around town. The steering is on center and direct, the suspension holds up against our potholed streets, and the placement of the batteries gives the Mach-E a low center of gravity. It handles corners well, but the brakes are loaded with an artificial feel that's common with regenerative brakes. You can't miss the big touchscreen—or at least, you'd better not miss it—because it's 15.5 inches, and pretty much all of the Mach-E's controls are housed in here. From HVAC to satellite radio, advanced safety systems—of which there are plenty—to Android Auto, Ford has done a nice job of making this layout comprehensive without demanding that you sift through pages and pages of menus to find what you're looking for. The only physical control is this comically large volume knob. It looks like it's made of shiny, knurled metal, but it feels like plastic. It's nice to touch, though, and it makes me want to turn up the volume on the Mach-E's B&O audio system. Down here there's a rubber storage tray with a wireless charger for your phone, and under the center armrest there's some space for a small bag, or you can slide this back to expose some more secure storage. I'm only about 5'10", and behind my driving position I have plenty of leg room, but surprisingly not a ton of headroom. Taller passengers might struggle with that. Luckily, although the glass roof doesn't actually add that much to the open-air feel in the front seats, in the back seats it is dramatic. Cargo space with these seats down measures 59.7 cubic feet. That's less than a Model Y. With the rear seats up, I can put up to 29.7 cubic feet of groceries in the trunk. The real cargo space party trick is in the frunk, where not only is there 4.7 cubic feet of cargo space for all your stuff, but it also has a drain plug, so that stuff could be iced to keep your drinks cold. There are even cup holders. I'm supposed to get 211 miles of range out of this powertrain setup, and to put it bluntly, that means this is not so much a Model Y competitor as it is a Nissan LEAF competitor. Extended-range variants with rear-wheel drive can get 300 miles of range. With all-wheel drive, it's 270. That is much better. Charging works like many other EVs. We have a combined charging standard plug, and I didn't have any trouble finding stations to plug into. On a DC fast charger, you should get an 80% full battery in less than an hour. On an AC charger, it will take a lot longer, and believe it or not, if you can't charge at home, electricity isn't always more cost-effective than gas. The station that I'm at right now charges a flat rate of 30 cents per minute, but it also reduces the rate of charge dramatically once you hit 80%, and it does that to protect the car against battery degradation. The downside is that if you already have 50% or so, when you plug in, you might end up paying $15 for only 50 or 60 miles of range. My personal Subaru Outback, if I want to go 50 miles, it costs a third of that. Calling it a Mustang, fitting it with the big touchscreen and the impressive glass roof, and giving it drive modes named things like unbridled with fake propulsion noises, all of that says to me that Ford is positioning the Mach-E as the default choice for future performance EV shoppers. But unless you pick one up with an extended range battery, I have a hard time viewing this as a true model Y competitor. I've really, really enjoyed my time with this car. It is engaging to drive, it's pleasantly futuristic, and I think it looks phenomenal, particularly in red. The Mach-E benefits from state and federal level tax credits, something you can't say about Teslas anymore. But even still, our premium all-wheel drive with a standard range battery is going to cost you over $50,000 up front, and at that price with this kind of driving range, it just lives in no man's land between a less expensive model like the Hyundai Kona Electric and something a little more premium like the Jaguar I-PACE. If I was spending someone else's money, I would forget about the standard range models altogether and jump right up to a Mustang Mach-E GT, because even at an MSRP starting at $60,500, that is, believe it or not, where the real value lies. Thanks for watching. This is a polarizing vehicle, so we want to hear your thoughts on it in the comments section below. Head to CarGurus.com to read a full, written review of the Mach-E, and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thanks again, we'll see you next time.