Ford Mustang Mach-E: Pony Car Fail!

Ford Mustang Mach-E: Pony Car Fail!

Ford is finally bringing us a mass-market, very competitive, all-electric vehicle. But, unfortunately, it decided to make it look like a bloated four-door Mustang. Ford even decided to call it a Mustang 鈥?the Mustang Mach-E, to be exact. For the first time in 55 years, Ford is expanding the Mustang lineup. The Mustang Mach-E SUV will arrive in late 2020, joining the sports coupe, convertible, and special-edition Mustangs. 500 deposit, by visiting the Mustang Mach-E reservation site. 鈥淭he all-new, all-electric Mustang Mach-E. It鈥檚 fast. It鈥檚 fun. It鈥檚 freedom. For a new generation of Mustang owners,鈥?said Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Company. All you need to know about this new five-seater SUV is that it has all the features and tech you can find on high-end all-electric vehicles already on the market today. That is to say that the Mustang Mach-E is likely going to be a great all-around vehicle and is hitting the market at a very competitive, but not inexpensive, price point. I wish there was more to get excited about, but a large majority of the tech in the new vehicle is stuff you鈥檝e seen across the automotive world already.

A great example is that this will be the first Ford to offer the Phone As A Key technology, which turns your smartphone into the vehicle key. This is a feature currently offered on a wide range of other manufacturers鈥?vehicles, both gas and electric. The performance number targets Ford is touting are good but not all that impressive. The rear-wheel-drive, extended-range-battery version of the Mach-E should net you about 300 miles of range. And the all-wheel-drive GT Performance Edition is targeting 0-60 mph times in the mid-3-second range. You won鈥檛, however, be able to buy a Mustang Mach-E that offers that type range and performance in one vehicle. 60 mph than the base Porsche Macan series 3.鈥?Why is that relevant or impressive? We all know that an all-electric, all-wheel-drive vehicle should be much quicker off the line than a small gasoline-powered SUV. It would be more relevant to compare performance numbers against vehicles like the Tesla Model Y, or any other all-electric SUV, but those comparisons wouldn鈥檛 net impressed reactions for the Mach-E. The interior of the Mustang Mach-E looks to be extremely spacious and very Ford.

It offers clean lines and a basic monotone color scheme. Two digital screens dominate the interior, one behind the steering wheel and one in the center of the dash. Both look to be of high quality and extremely useful, but they look added on rather than integrated into the vehicle. The center dash screen is a massive 15.5-inch tabled-style system that uses Ford鈥檚 next-generation SYNC infotainment technologies. The massive screen dominates the center of the dash and uses familiar touch, swipe, and pinch controls. And the system is cloud-connected for simple vehicle updates and utilizes an AI to quickly learn driver preferences. This five-seater SUV offers a lot of interior room for passengers and cargo. It also offers a tiny frunk. You might ask yourself, 鈥淲hy would an electric car have a long hood? 鈥?While that is a consistent feature on the Mustang and is usually necessary to house a big gasoline engine, it has no good use but styling on the Mach-E.

It does, however, house a 4.8-cubic-foot storage space that is drainable. You can either store the equivalent of a carry-on luggage bag or use it as a cooler. 鈥淔runking鈥?doesn鈥檛 quite have the same ring as 鈥渢ailgating鈥? Sure, I wish Ford had been creative enough to come up with a new name for this vehicle and not put a Mustang badge on an SUV. While the Mach-E鈥檚 styling does nothing for me 鈥?and I鈥檓 impressed by the Mustang鈥檚 looks 鈥?it will probably be a quality high-volume vehicle for Ford. Most of us have realized that, for most use cases, an all-electric vehicle makes a lot of sense. And the Mustang Mach-E will offer the performance we want, in a usable package, for an attainable price. Ford probably has a winner here. I just wish it had stepped up to the plate with some distinctive, original styling and a new, creative name.

According to Fritts, the cars debuted en masse at Kansas City International Raceway on November 7, 1969, during a daylong performance demonstration that included luminaries from the Ford Drag Team and Tasca Ford. Other than the blend of Super Cobra Jets and Clevelands, and automatics and four-speeds, Mustang Twister Specials were identically equipped. Every one was a Grabber Orange Mach 1 with a ram-air Shaker scoop, power front disc brakes, a Traction-Lok dif, raised-white-letter F70-14s, and pedestrian hubcaps/trim rings. The Twister graphics were applied by a Ford subcontractor once the cars arrived in Kansas City. 鈥淚 wanted to be a stickler for the way they rolled into the dealer showrooms,鈥?Luis tells us. Compared to a basket case scenario, restoring this particular car was far easier. Yet it still required hundreds of hours and hunting difficult-to-find bits and pieces. Luis points to the N.O.S. Other than tires and battery, the reproduction content of this car is virtually nil.