The Mustang Mach-E was Ford’s first fully electric car.
The company revived one of its most iconic names for the model and, while it is an SUV, it has a sleek, muscular appearance that makes it stand out from its rivals.
Prices start at around £50,000 for the standard range rear-wheel drive version, rising to more than £75,000 for the super-fast four-wheel drive GT, which has almost 500bhp.
I’ve previously spent a week with the Mustang Mach-E GT, and while a 3.7 second 0-62mph time is quite thrilling, most buyers don’t need their family SUV to be as quick as a supercar.
This time around, my driveway in Dundee was graced with the long-range, rear-wheel drive model. This has a more-than-adequate 290bhp and cost just under £60,000 in high spec Premium trim.
It also has the larger of the two batteries Ford offers in the Mustang Mach-E. Standard Range cars have a 75kWh battery, whereas long range models come with a whopping 98kWh battery.
372-mile range
This gave my car an official range of 372 miles. Of course you have to take these figures with a pinch of salt. My week with the Ford Mustang Mach-E coincided with the only spell of warm summer weather we’ve had so far.
In dry and warm conditions the trip computer told me I could cover 295 miles on a full charge. In the cold winter months you can expect this to drop to around 240 or 250 miles.
It’s a great-looking car, with an aggressive bonnet and a swooping silhouette. There are no door handles. Instead, you tap a touch-sensitive pad and the door automatically unlocks and opens.
A key symbol on the door locks the car. There are also a series of LED numbers running down the pillar behind the front side window. These can be programmed to tap in a code that lets you unlock and drive the car without having the key with you.
They could be handy if you’ve forgotten your key… as long as you can remember the code.
Spacious interior
Inside, the Mustang Mach-E has a clean, uncluttered look and feels high quality. A large portrait-oriented touchscreen controls all the major functions.
While generally easy to use, the lack of buttons and dials makes adjusting the heating a chore when you’re on the move.
There’s loads of room front and back, and four large adults can easily sit in comfort. I’m 6’5” and I could sit in the back without feeling at all cramped.
A front boot under the bonnet is ideal for stowing charging cables. Meanwhile, the 402-litre boot is a decent size but falls well short of the 585 litres offered by the Skoda Enyaq.
On the road, I never felt the Mustang Mach-E needed more power than the 290bhp my version provided. It completes the 0-62mph sprint in a tidy 7.0 seconds and also gets from 40-70 very quickly indeed, making it perfect for overtaking on A roads and motorways.
Ride quality is fidgety at low speeds but smooths out above 50mph. An SUV is never going to handle like a sports car but it grips well enough and there’s only a modicum of body roll.
Charging
The car will charge at speeds of up to 150kW, which is good but short of what some rivals can achieve. The Tesla Model Y, for example, can charge at 210kW.
The car’s long range meant I only had to plug in a couple of times during my stint with the car. Annoyingly, the Lochee chargers in Dundee had an issue with the Mustang Mach-E.
They would charge for 10 or 15 minutes, then cut off. I returned expecting a fully charged car and had to wait another half hour, switching chargers twice when they cut out.
I don’t know if the fault lay with the chargers or the car but it was hugely frustrating.
Ford has been kind enough to send me no fewer than four variants of the Mustang Mach-E since it was launched.
However, two of the four have had electrical gremlins. This most recent car flashed up a series of warnings every time I started it, and hill start assist and one-pedal driving frequently disabled themselves.
None of these issues affected the driving experience all that much but it is concerning that half the Mustang Mach-Es I’ve driven have had these random electrical flare-ups.
My advice would be to buy one under warranty if you can, and make sure any issues are cleared up before you’re on the hook for the bill.
Overall, the Ford Mustang Mach-E is a pretty impressive electric SUV. It covers a long distance on a charge, has loads of internal space, and it looks terrific.
Ford Mustang Mach-E review – facts:
Price: £59,380
0-62mph: 7.0 seconds
Top speed: 111mph
Range: 372 miles
CO2 emissions: 0g/km
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