Ford Mustang Mach-E: the American classic goes electric

The Ford Mustang is often considered the original “pony” car: the younger, more-compact sibling of the distinct American muscle car. The small but powerful car first appeared in 1964 and is the oldest Ford brand still in production. Now Ford has converted this symbol of American engineering into the Mach-E, a “near-silent, totally environment-friendly galloper shaped like a crossbreed cocktail of Aintree winner and steeplechase champion”, says Georg Kacher in Car magazine.

Fully electric, it will sprint from rest to 62 mph in around five seconds, depending on which model you buy, and has an advertised range of between 248 and 379 miles, which is as much as any Tesla currently on the market and considerably more than the Mach-E’s main rivals, the electric Jaguar, Mercedes and Audi.

The Mach-E “gets the really important answers right, in terms of dynamics and usability”, says Matt Saunders in Autocar. It has five useable seats, along with two boots, giving the car a total of 481 litres of carrying space. “It exceeds your expectations of a car with a plunging roof line” and doesn’t “dominate a parking space like a taller SUV might”. It is smooth to drive and steers “meatily, with scant feedback but consistent pace and the right kind of weight”. While not an agile car, it “does handle precisely and grips quite keenly”.

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The car also bristles with fancy technology, says Andrew Hawkins in The Verge, including driver-assist functions such as blind-spot detection, adaptive cruise control, lane-tracking technology and automatic emergency braking. It features both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and contains a camera feature so you can see a 360-degree top-down image of the car. It uses “a good amount of screen to show you these images, which really helps when reversing or navigating tight spaces”.

It “looks fantastic” too, says Steve Fowler in Auto Express, “and the technology inside is innovative but easy to use”. The Mach-E is not particularly cheap, with the cheapest versions starting at £40,270, but the Mustang will prove vital in “persuading people that driving can still be fun and practical in an electric car”.

This article was originally published in MoneyWeek