Ford Mustang Mach-E
REPORT 3
£57,030 OTR/£58,180 as tested/£1,503 pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
Is an electric family SUV charming enough to be a ‘Mustang’?
DRIVER
Jack Rix
BRINGS INTO FOCUS HOW LOW AND SWOOPY THE MACH-E STYLING IS, doesn’t it when you park it next to the Wrangler or Defender? Obviously we didn’t risk the Mustang on any of the trails at last month’s big offroad test even if it does have AWD but to be fair it acquitted itself surprisingly well on the cratered path leading up to our bunk house This is an SUV with a very small ‘u’ but you can’t beat a bit of ride height
This month though I want to talk tech At first glance this is a car ladened with any and all of the technology Ford could get its hands on but the application is a lot more thoughtful than that It doesn’t pretend to be more autonomous than it is but deploys radar cruise and lane keep on the motorway smoothly It has an app which can lock and unlock the car start it up and show your charging status but nothing fancier than that
Then there’s the slightly wackier stuff The push buttons that electrically pop the doors out instead of handles to keep the profile of the car blemish free Thought I was going to hate them but they work brilliantly when you have an armful of bags and only a pinky to spare
The megascreen smacks of Tesla chasing but the layout is great the things you need all the time in winter heated seats heated wheel the heater are right there in the bottom right corner where you can find them without stretching or diving into submenus
Complaints? There’s a bit of light bleed on the lefthand edge of the screen Not enough to make what you’re looking at illegible but if it was my k I’d be complaining And the predicted range is plummeting with the cold weather settling at around miles on a full charge however carefully I drive it Setting the timer to preheat the car and battery works well and probably gives you another per cent but it does require a little forward planning and for the car to be plugged in overnight