Ford Mustang Mach-E test drive: Should you pony up for the GT?

The release of Ford’s first electric car in Australia comes at an interesting time. Sales of EVs in Australia have grown rapidly in the past year, but they are showing signs of stalling in the US, where the big legacy car makers are also baulking at the pace of the transition.

The Mustang, with its pony logo, is one of the more iconic names in the industry. Already though, Ford – having released the  Australian pricing and details for the all electric Mustang Mach-E in October last year,  quickly reduced prices in December by up to $7,000 off the base Select variant.

The GT variant tested for this article dropped by $2,675 to $104,990 before on-road costs, or $115,447 drive away in NSW with optional Grabber Blue metallic paint pictured above.

In overseas markets like the US, Ford made multiple price cuts to the Mach-E in an effort to boost falling sales. Late last year Ford also announced they were delaying $12 billion USD investment into EV production, which is at odds with growing EV demand.

Despite these price cuts, the Mustang Mach-E GT is still more expensive than rival performance EVs such as the Tesla Model Y Performance, which comes in at $91,400, and Kia’s EV6 GT , which you can get for $99,950, both without on-road costs. However, it is cheaper than the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N which starts from $111,000 plus on-roads. 

A comparison between the vehicles mentioned above and other performance focused EVs will be forthcoming once The Driven has sufficiently tested them all.

Ford Australia confirmed that local deliveries of the Mustang Mach-E have now commenced. More customer cars were spotted waiting in the Ford dealership I visited, so if you’ve got one on order you should get your hands on it soon. 

During the launch event for the Mustang Mach-E last year I was able to drive both the Select and Premium variants on the road, but my time in the GT was limited to short stints on the racetrack. When the opportunity arose to borrow a Mustang Mach-E, I was eager to learn what the Mach-E GT would be like to live with.

See also: Bryce’s review of the Mustang Mach-E Select variant.

Comparison between Mach-E variants

From the exterior, the Mustang Mach-E GT stands out from the other variants by the presence of larger 20-inch wheels and red Brembo brakes, GT badging on the rear and black fake grille design at the front. The front bumper also features more aggressive aerodynamics on the GT.

Opening the front door you notice more GT badging on the door sill as well as GT stitching on the centre armrest. Sitting down, the Ford Performance Sport front seats offer significant side and shoulder support compared to the standard seats in other variants. I found the seats in the GT were very comfortable and supportive on twisty roads as well as long highway drives.

Apart from the sports front seats, the interior is very similar to other variants which is a good thing because the cabin is roomy and comfortable with lots of storage space throughout. Highlights such as the panoramic glass roof and 10-speaker Bang & Olufsen premium sound system are standard across all Mach-E variants.

My two teenagers found the back seats in the Mach-E very comfortable as well, commenting on how they sat up higher with less knee bend compared to some other EVs. The rear features air vents and USB ports, an armrest with cupholders as well as rear windows which go almost all the way down.

Cargo space is identical across Mach-E variants. Even with the additional motor on the front axle, the front trunk (frunk) of the GT is the same large size as rear-wheel drive variants with 134 L of storage space. The drainage holes in the frunk are also handy if you need to throw wet or dirty items in there.

Infotainment and navigation experience

The infotainment experience in the Mustang Mach-E is intuitive with a large 15.5 inch portrait mounted central touchscreen for navigation, audio and vehicle settings. In front of the driver there is a 10.2 inch digital instrument cluster which shows key driving information such as speed and range, detected speed limit and cruise control settings.

Overall I found the infotainment system in the Mach-E enjoyable, with great sound coming from the premium audio system. The touchscreen was a tad slow to update when navigating between screens though. I came across a couple of minor quirks during my time with the car, such as the speedometer reading 1 km/h when parked on some occasions.

When I attempted to search for nearby charging stations using the built-in maps, a message telling me the feature required activation appeared. In previous drives of the Mustang Mach-E I confirmed the built-in navigation will automatically add charging stops if necessary for long journeys. The built-in maps worked well enough that you don’t necessarily need to use Android Auto or Apple CarPlay.

Wireless Android Auto also worked well and had no issues connecting each time I started driving. When using smartphone mirroring the large central touchscreen retains controls at the bottom for air-conditioning and easily accessible shortcuts to vehicle settings, trip efficiency and so on.

Next turn information appears in front of the driver on the instrument cluster when using Android Auto or Apple CarPlay too.

Driving experience

The drivetrain and suspension are where the Mach-E GT really shines and is vastly different to rear-wheel drive Mach-E variants. The GT features two equally sized electric motors which combine to provide 860 Nm of torque, double the Mach-E Select and Premium. Power output from the dual motors is 358 kW, up from 198 kW in the Select or 216 kW in the Premium variants. 

All of this power and torque results in a 0-100 km/h time of 3.7 seconds, impressive given the vehicle weighs almost 2.3 tonnes. For comparison, this is equal to the Model Y Performance and only 2-3 tenths of a second slower than the Kia EV6 GT and Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. 

Accelerating in the Mach-E GT feels different to the instantaneous take off that performance Tesla models are well known for. From a standing start there is a small but noticeable delay when you floor it, perhaps to avoid torque ripple from the permanent magnet synchronous motors. Either way, passengers will probably appreciate knowing what is coming next.

Once you are moving, the GT feels powerful and responds rapidly, especially when using Untame which is the most sporty drive mode. Whisper and Active drive modes, akin to eco and normal, still offer plenty of power when you need it.

When it comes to slowing down, the Mach-E features proper one-pedal driving that will bring the car to a complete stop and hold until you accelerate again. Similar to Bryce, I found the car would jerk to a stop occasionally but hopefully Ford can fix this with a future over-the-air update. 

It is worth mentioning that all vehicle settings including one-pedal drive and driver assistance settings are maintained between drives, so there is no need to set up the vehicle each time you get in. 

If you need to slow down quickly, the Brembo Performance brakes bite strongly and stop the Mach-E GT quickly. Because I rarely touched the brake pedal apart from some testing, I did not fully adjust to how sensitive it is. However, if you are planning to take a Mach-E GT to the track or drive it longer than a week you should be able to adapt.

Strong acceleration and braking performance are undoubtedly helped by the Pirelli P Zero ELECT tyres that come standard on the GT. According to Pirelli’s website, these tyres are specifically designed for EVs and have lower rolling resistance, enhanced grip, less noise and reinforced structures to cope with higher vehicle weights.

Mustang Mach-E GT also features MagneRide Adaptive Suspension which is capable of adjusting to road conditions 1000 times each second. It is also supposed to adjust between drive modes but I was not able to feel much difference when switching back and forth between them.

This suspension gives the GT a firm ride, bordering on being uncomfortable at times over potholes or bumpy sections near roadworks. A firm ride is the compromise for great handling though, as the Mach-E GT sits flat in corners and feels stable and controlled. On smoother roads and highways the firm ride isn’t an issue either.

I found the Mach-E was fairly quiet inside, although it is not the quietest EV I’ve driven. For example, there were a couple of rattles when driving over bumpy roads. The worst rattle was fixed by doing up the passenger seat belt to stop the buckle hitting the B pillar. 

While stopped or at low speeds there was also a noticeable humming from the air conditioning system. At highway speeds there was noticeable wind noise coming from above the windscreen somewhere. 

Driver assistance and efficiency

During my initial drive of the Mustang Mach-E last year I found the adaptive cruise control with lane keeping was above average and kept well to the centre of the lane. This was also true in the GT, the car adjusts speed quickly and smoothly to keep pace with surrounding traffic.

The adaptive cruise control is quite accurate and doesn’t deviate too much up or down hills like ICE cars and some EVs tend to, although I occasionally observed it 1-2 km/h either side of the set speed. The other Mach-E driver assistance systems are unobtrusive, with no false positives or annoying beeps, not even when enabling adaptive cruise and lane keeping. 

Efficiency is a weak point for the Mach-E GT, as I observed an average of 20 kWh/100 km during my time with the car. This average must have been pushed up by several short trips because my 100 km highway loop consumed 19 kWh/100 km. A 38 km trip across Sydney to return the car averaged only 18 kWh/100 km, see below. With these efficiency figures and 91 kWh of usable battery capacity, real world range equates to around 450 km on a full charge.

Ford could potentially improve efficiency without sacrificing performance of the Mach-E GT by including a system to decouple one of the electric motors when not needed, rather than driving both all the time. This setup is common on more efficient dual motor electric vehicles.

Conclusions

While the performance of the Ford Mustang Mach-E GT is impressive, the cheaper rear-wheel drive variants are still powerful and fun to drive. The interior features and high levels of comfort across the range means there are even less reasons to opt for the higher variants.

However, if you are the type of person who must have the highest specification, or needs a capable electric car for track days then the Mach-E GT is a lot of fun and would not disappoint. This car also attracted a lot of attention as I was approached by multiple people who asked what car it was. 

In recent weeks Ford revealed a special Bronze Appearance Package only available for the Mustang Mach-E GT which includes an optional performance upgrade for quicker acceleration. Unfortunately, when I asked Ford Australia representatives they said there are no plans to introduce the Mach-E GT Bronze Edition to Australia.

Table of key specifications for the Ford Mustang Mach-E GT: