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Taking a look at the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E RWD standard range model.
Transcript
00:00 This is the all new 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E.
00:05 It's a four-door, five-passenger, all-electric crossover.
00:11 And yes, it's a Mustang.
00:14 So many questions.
00:16 Why did Ford call it a Mustang?
00:18 Has Ford lost its mind?
00:20 Is it really a Mustang?
00:21 And probably most importantly, should you buy one?
00:25 Well, you know what I say, let's find out.
00:29 (dramatic music)
00:31 Let's address the 900-pound gorilla in the room,
00:34 or more accurately, the 5,000-pound electric pony car.
00:38 But is it really a Mustang?
00:41 Let me answer that when we get to the performance section.
00:44 For now, let's talk about the competitive set.
00:46 And the Mach-E most closely competes
00:49 with the Tesla Model Y, but I have news for you.
00:53 Pretty soon, every car maker on earth
00:55 is gonna be selling a small electric SUV.
00:59 Ford just got their second.
01:00 As far as design goes, obviously it's not a sports car,
01:05 but it's pretty good-looking for an SUV.
01:09 Since there's no big V8 to cool, you don't have a grill.
01:12 Instead, you have this just kind of flat piece right here.
01:15 I also like how they have a big Mustang badge,
01:17 and it has the striping on it.
01:19 I'm not sure why, but it looks pretty cool.
01:21 Overall, I think the front is a success.
01:25 It's less of a success when you get
01:27 to this front fender section here.
01:29 These tires, they just, well,
01:30 they're low rolling resistance tires,
01:33 which, you know, for EVs, it's important
01:35 to have a lot of range, but these are the kind of tires
01:37 you'd find in a Toyota Prius.
01:39 But it's much better once you get behind the mirror.
01:43 There's not a conventional door handle.
01:45 You have this little winglet thing here.
01:46 You actually open it by pushing this button.
01:49 Door pops open.
01:50 There's one on the back that my four-year-old
01:52 absolutely loved.
01:53 Speaking of the back, this is the best view.
01:56 It really does scream Mustang, especially the taillights.
01:59 Look, it's really hard to take a good-looking sports car
02:03 and turn it into an SUV.
02:05 Porsche has been struggling with this for generations.
02:08 However, given a very difficult task,
02:10 I think that Ford's design team has done a good job.
02:13 It's pretty obvious that Ford spent a lot of time
02:18 sitting in and looking at Teslas
02:20 when they were designing the interior
02:22 of the Mustang Mach-E.
02:23 And that's fine.
02:24 That's a natural competitor.
02:26 Everything is centered around this giant screen,
02:29 just like in a Tesla, and the interior is simple.
02:32 They did two things really well
02:35 that you won't find in a Tesla,
02:37 and then one thing that's kind of bad.
02:38 Let's start with what's good.
02:40 They put a screen right here, right in front of the driver,
02:43 so I can tell what gear I'm in.
02:46 Am I in reverse?
02:46 I can look here.
02:48 I can tell how much battery's left.
02:49 I can tell how fast I'm going.
02:50 And if I was in a Tesla, I'd be looking here for everything
02:53 'cause there's no screen here, so very good job there.
02:56 Also, even though it's a giant touchscreen, volume knob.
03:01 In terms of what they did bad, the seats.
03:05 Look, this is a Mustang.
03:06 You're supposed to have sporty seats.
03:08 These are not.
03:09 These are flat, these are soft.
03:10 They don't have any bolstering.
03:12 They don't hold you in place,
03:13 and they're not very comfortable,
03:15 so it should have better seats.
03:17 Lots of room in this thing.
03:18 It's a big-ish SUV.
03:20 Lots of room in the rear seat, actually,
03:23 and when you fold the seats down,
03:24 because of that high roof we saw earlier,
03:26 you do have a lot of cargo capacity.
03:29 One thing, though, and this is not a Mustang Mach-E problem,
03:32 it's a EV problem.
03:34 It's a glass roof, and that's bad
03:37 because if you live in a place like LA or Phoenix
03:40 or Texas or Florida where you get tons and tons of sunlight,
03:44 it overheats the cabin,
03:45 and you use a lot of your battery cooling things down.
03:48 It'd be so much better with a metal roof
03:50 or even just like a cloth cover,
03:52 but other than that, and really other than the seats,
03:55 they've done a good job on the interior.
03:57 Earlier I said when we get to the performance section,
04:01 I will answer whether or not this is really a Mustang.
04:04 Funny thing, this particular Mach-E
04:08 is a single motor with a small battery,
04:11 so that means that there's one motor on the rear axle
04:13 that makes 266 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque,
04:18 and it'll go 230 miles on a charge,
04:22 and I've never driven it.
04:24 I have driven a dual motor Mach-E
04:26 with a bigger battery pack,
04:27 and I can tell you that it is more fun to drive
04:30 than 85% of the Mustangs I've ever driven.
04:34 Essentially, if it doesn't have a Shelby badge on it,
04:37 incredibly, the electric SUV is more fun to drive.
04:42 So I think that we can answer conclusively,
04:45 yes, this is a real Mustang.
04:48 As far as safety goes,
04:50 it comes with a lot of standard active safety features,
04:53 such as adaptive cruise control,
04:55 lane-keeping assist, and blind spot monitoring.
04:58 Another big question, how much?
05:02 All right, you can get into a Ford Mustang Mach-E
05:05 for just under, and I mean like five bucks under, $44,000.
05:10 This particular one standing next to me, $48,500.
05:15 How does that match up to a Tesla Model Y?
05:17 Well, that starts at (beep) thousand dollars.
05:20 So it's right there until you remember that,
05:23 for now at least, you can still get a $7,500 tax credit
05:28 if you get the Ford.
05:29 That is no longer true with the Tesla.
05:31 If there's one thing I want you to know
05:34 about the Ford Mustang Mach-E, it's that
05:38 it's surprisingly good.
05:40 Pardon the pun, but I'm shocked
05:41 by how much I like this vehicle.
05:44 At first, I too was cynical.
05:46 Ford's gonna make an electric SUV
05:48 and put a Mustang badge on it?
05:50 They're phoning it in, they're cashing in,
05:51 sellouts, every horrible thing.
05:53 But then, I spent some time with it, I drove it,
05:55 and they really did a great job.
05:58 I mean, look at this thing.
05:59 It's good looking, it drives great,
06:01 it has a nice interior, and it's thousands of dollars less
06:06 because of a tax credit than its closest competitor.
06:08 And really, the only reason you might choose
06:10 the Tesla over the Mach-E is because
06:13 of the Tesla supercharger network.
06:15 However, if you're not constantly going on road trips
06:18 and you're like most EV owners,
06:20 you do most of your charging at home, at night,
06:24 this could be your next Mustang.
06:26 To check out the latest rankings,
06:29 go to motortrend.com/cars.
06:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]