MOTORSCOPE

from Ulster Tatler July 2022

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DRIVES

Mustang Alley

Ford reinvents the Mustang for the all-electric era, writes James Stinson.

There’s been an expectation that when mainstream car makers start expanding their electric car ranges, sales will surge…. and that’s proving to be the case.

There were more Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) registered in the UK in March 2022 than during the whole of 2019, with their monthly market share growing to 16%.

And while Tesla has blazed the trail… VW, Mercedes, Nissan, Vauxhall, Kia, Hyundai and now Ford are beginning to seriously scale up their electric offering.

The Mustang Mach-E is Ford’s first proper electric vehicle and the Blue Oval has managed to get it right straight from the off.

The name helps. The fact that it’s been lifted from the legendary V8 powered sportscar of the same name caused quite a stir among purists but battery electric power is the future and the Mustang brand had to evolve and had a lot to offer. Already, Ford is selling more Mustang Mach-Es than its conventionally powered stablemate.

And while no-one will argue it’s anything like as striking, there are some important styling cues that clearly mark the Mach-E out as a Mustang, including the tri-bar tail lights, the long, high bonnet and muscular rear haunches.

Ford has also managed to pull off a neat trick with a gloss back roof, which from the side gives the Mach-E a vaguely coupe-like silhouette.

The Mach-E’s party piece though is its excellent range. It comes with a choice of battery pack sizes - 75kWh or 98kWh – as well as rear and all-wheel drive options.

The “Standard” 75kWh in rear-wheel drive form has some 265hp on tap and is capable of a 0-60mph time of 6.1 secs (from a rolling start). The same model will do a claimed 273 miles on a full charge. Real world driving will deliver less but that’s still a mighty distance and more than enough for the vast majority of drivers. A full charge can be done overnight from a wallbox for which there are government subsidies. Use a faster 50kW public charger and you can take the battery from 10% to 80% in 90 minutes. It’ll also support quicker, higher powered public charging as these become more widely available.

The larger battery 98kWh “extended range” model takes the range out to a claimed 380 miles. Both versions can also be specced with all-wheel-drive which adds another electric motor to the front axle. With the bigger battery this punches out a meaty 351 bhp.

And if you want true Mustangstyle performance, you can opt for the range topping Mach-E GT. With 487hp from its twin electric motors, it will hit 60mph in just 3.7 seconds. In reality, all of the Mach E’s feel reassuringly quick. Acceleration, as is the electric way, is effortless and instantaneous.

It’s a big car and necessarily heavy thanks to the batteries so it doesn’t feel sporty however the ride is comfortable. The cabin is airy, with the rear providing acres of head and legroom.

The controls are straight from the Tesla playbook, which is no bad thing. It means nearly everything is controlled through a massive 15.5 inch portrait shaped touchscreen in the centre of the dash. It’s fairly intuitive and child’s play for the iphone generation. The boot is not the biggest nor does the Mach-E have great towing credentials so if these are important considerations then look elsewhere.

Rear-wheel drive versions cost from £47,530 and £52,080 depending on the battery pack, while all-wheel-drive adds around 7k to the price of each.

The range topping GT costs from £68,030. That’s not traditional Ford territory but then this isn’t a traditional Ford. It’s a great looking car, nicely engineered, with a fabulous interior. It’s a little special and, for the time being at least, a little rare.