Ford Mustang Mach-E
I wanted to like this car. It has had quite good press and seemed to gain reasonable reviews from the UK and US hacks.
However, the car was underwhelming especially for the price. The ride, braking and performance were lacking. The door opening mechanism is very strange with a large flat leaver on the outside. The car is also quite noisy at any speed. The car also suffers from torque steer, if you add put your foot down you can feel the car pull right in slightly disconcerting way. It is as if the motors pull the car right.
Performance: Ford claim 5.8 seconds to 60. But check the small print and this is from rolling start so a little cheeky to claim a 0-60 time when you are starting at more than zero. While driving it never felt fast in any way. Quick, yes but not fast and defiantly not Tesla fast.
Ford offer three driving styles, Eco, regular and performance. In performance the car emits a noise like a petrol V8, very strange. Thankfully, you can turn this feature off.
Inside the cabin is fine if rather bland. It has one large screen and a second small screen above the steering wheel. This is where the main pains start to show up. The screen seems angled slightly downwards and thus not super clear. It is also painfully slow with a determinable delay in the touch screen. This is similar to the VW software and equally annoying with the delay.
Main drivers door handle. Very strange affair with a bit of bent metal sticking out of the door.
Our car has the long double sunroof that makes it reasonably light inside. The boot and funk are sufficiently large.
Range
Claimed range is WLTP 277. Real life you can expect more like around 225 miles. Of course, temperature and your driving style will impact this.
Price
We drove the Premium model with the AWD option and Sunroof with a starting price of £52,380 before options. Ford are kindly offering a meaty £7,000 discount that would bring the OTR price to £53,530.
For the same price you could take home Tesla Model Y with a longer range, higher performance, and access to the Tesla high speeds charger network.
What is strange is that even if you did want to purchase, it’s not that easy. After you configure your car there is no Order Button. You can read the How to buy online but does not say how you can buy. You are invited to look at cars in stock that are based on you configuration. If you configure a car that is not in stock, you are presented with an Add to Basket button. This takes you closer and you can then select to collect from a dealer or have the car delivered for £50. To proceed you then need to create an account and work with the dealer to place an order. Not a one stop show by any means. This highlights the struggle with the corporate side that wants consumers to place orders directly via Ford website and the dealer network who want consumers to come in and place an order where that can be upsold and directed to cars in stock that can be driven away.
Summary
You would have to be a complete Ford nut to consider buying a Mach-E Ford Mustang.
Stick with the leader and go for the Tesla model Y. Faster, longer range, higher quality build and significantly better software and UI.