MM Condensed-Review/Test-Drive: 2023 Ford Mach-E Mustang

IN A NUTSHELL: Awkwardly-designed, poorly-trimmed inside, and IMO not a good value for the money.

































Some of you have said that my former reviews and write-ups in the past were too long and detailed, so I am doing much shorter ones now.

On the way back home from a doctor’s appointment, I noticed that a local Ford dealership had a number of battery/electric Mach-E Mustangs in stock. As they are sometimes difficult to find, and I had not yet had a chance to check one out, I decided to stop and do so. I also wanted to compare the Mach-E, for the money, to the smaller and much-less-expensive Chevy Bolt EUV (which I was VERY impressed with when I sampled one a few months ago), and to the Tesla Model 3 (which I’ve also sampled), which sells like hotcakes, but has quality-control problems, IMO a poorly-designed dash, and is grossly overpowered for anything other than a drag strip.

First of all, the Mach-E is larger than either the Bolt EUV or the Model 3, and carries a price-tag to match…base models start at 43K, and run to 59K for GT versions with the more-potent electric motor. The dealership (not surprisingly) had a number of black, white, and gray ones in stock, but the Mach-E, depending on the version, also comes in some very interesting colors such as bright blue and bright yellow. Most of the colors seemed to be a non-metallic paint job….just the straight color. For the inspection and test-drive, I chose a lower-priced black Select version that listed for $47,795. Even though it was less-expensive (and in some cases much less expensive) than some other Mach-E versions, i still did not think it was much of a value for the money….more on that later. And a shame, too, because, with the Bronco, Bronco-Sport, and Maverick, Ford has seriously one-upped GM in those categories…but not, IMO, with battery-electric cars. And, even with those vehicles Ford has one-upped GM with, they are using cheap and poorly-finished interiors.

On the outside, as previously mentioned, the Mach-E is a good-sized vehicle for this class, and, to its credit, the paint job seems well-done…even the black paint showed very little if any orange-peel, and black can often be a difficult color to do smoothly. Styling is subjective of course, but I personally did not think it was a bad-looking vehicle..…it was mildly-handsome, although anything with four doors on it doesn’t exactly do justice to the iconic Mustang nameplate. The body sheet metal seemed of decent thickness and solidity by today’s thin standards, and the doors had a reasonably solid feel and shut. The usual lit Ford numerical-codes were on the B-pillars for lock/unlocking the doors. But the actual exterior door-handles and buttons were nothing short of ridiculous. The handles themselves are an insult…small, super-hard tabs of iron-thick metal, hard-welded on to the door itself, that stick out from the upper-rim, that you have to grip with just a couple of fingers, and a small round push-buttons above them to unlatch the doors. Whoever in Ford’s design department thought this up, IMO, should probably be shown the door.

Once past that routine of just getting in, you are treated, especially for a 48K vehicle (never mind the more expensive versions) to an interior that IMO uses cheap materials/trim/hardware, and a very large rectangular center-dash screen that more or less apes the Tesla Model 3. I have never seen a fan of that type of dash, and greatly prefer more traditional controls/buttons. The stereo sound-quality is OK, but not the best I’ve heard in a vehicle of this class. Steering-wheel tilt-telescope adjustment is manual, also unexpected in a vehicle of this price. The seats are relatively comfortable, but still a little too firm for my tastes. The center-air-vent adjustment is partly-blocked by the large graphic-screen, and is difficult to reach and grip. The electronic screen-graphics are sharp, legible, and have interesting color-graphics, but, as with the Model 3, IMO, too many functions are done through the screen. The turn-signal and wiper stalks are the usual Ford parts-bin thin black plastic. It has the usual (by now) Ford rotary-**** for the shifter....a device I am not a big fan of. There was adequate headroom for me with the power seat (yes, there is at least power for the seats) adjusted down low…and adequate legroom in the rear. A soft, dark gray, suede-like fabric trim-strip ran along the upper dash…but even that had a rather cheap and unsubstantial feel to it. Ford’s bean-counters just need to put a few more beans into some of their interiors. In the rear, the cargo area is somewhat compromised by the car-like, droop-down roofline, but I would not call it skimpy....and there is a separate, smaller trunk/storage-area up front, under the hood. There is no spare tire…only a Fix-a-Flat bottle and Ford’s Roadside-Assistance program to get you to a dealership or tire-shop.

On the road, the electric drive-train has the usual butter-smoothness/quietness/refinement of this type of vehicle, and the single-range transmission lacks any kind of gear-shift. There is, IMO, more than ample power for any kind of normal driving (Ford lists a 5-second 0-60 time), although not to the level of the rocket-ship Tesla Model 3. For those who want even more power (usually unnecessary, IMO) there is, of course, the much more expensive GT version. Ride-comfort with the rather highly-inflated all-season tires (39-40 PSI recommended) is not particularly smooth over rumps, although I would not call it harsh or overly-firm. Handling was decent, although I did not push it very hard in any really sharp corners to test the limits. And I was not at all impressed with the regenerative-braking system, which produced uneven, loose/spongy pedal travel for the first couple of inches, and then a sudden, grabby feel…the engineers still need to work on that some.

OK, by now you probably get the impression that I was not totally thrilled with this vehicle…..and you are correct. Even independent of any dealer-markups, for the money that Ford is asking for even lower-trim versions, in most instances, I don’t think it is a good buy or a wise investment of one’s hard-earned funds. You might consider a Mach-E if you need more interior room than either the Bolt EUV or the Model 3, which are a little smaller and tighter inside. And Ford doesn’t have any smaller or less-expensive all-electric passenger vehicles in the American market…only some small utilitarian handyman vehicles. They once sold an all-electric Focus compact here, but that was dropped. The Tesla Model 3 has had a history of quality-control problems and many customer-complaints, and its power-level, IMO, can be a hazard in the hands of immature, inexperienced, inattentive, or aggressive drivers.

So, if it were my money, among the three, I’d go down the street, see the Chevy dealer, and take home a new Bolt EUV. The Bolt EUV, while not as wide or roomy inside or as powerful as the Mach-E, is more maneuverable, easier to park, has excellent fit/finish inside and out, well-designed controls/graphics, nice interior trim-qualityhardware, drives nicely, rides comfortably for a vehicle that size, avoids the Mach-E’s rubber-band brake-pedal response and ridiculous door-handles, rates very high in customer satisfaction, and, best of all, costs about half of what a typical mid or high-level Mach-E does if there are no mark-ups. My recommendation?…..unless you need the Mach E’s room inside, or want a dragster like the Model 3, spend your $$$$ a the Chevy shop.

And, as Always…..Happy New-Car-Shopping.

MM

 

Another awesome review by mmarshall, enjoyed it!

From your description of interior materials quality do you think they did that to thin the cost of production and stay on a price target?

Surely they know people will notice cheapness when they see it and I can't believe they wanted to look and go cheap on the Mach-E unless they felt they had to.

 

Thanks.....glad you enjoyed it.

Perhaps....but, given the Mach-E's price-range, IMO, better materials could have been used inside. For example, GM does the Bolt EUV, which in some cases is half the price of a Mach-E, with noticeably better materials, design, and fit/finish inside.



It's not just the Mach-E. Ford has been using what IMO are sub-par trim-materials/hardware on several of their newer products, including the Maverick, Bronco-Sport, and Lower-trim versions of the Escape. The difference, though, is that those vehicles don't have base-prices in the 40s...Mavericks start at less than half of that.

 

nice to see a review from ya mmarshall. enjoyed it.

i happened to see a mach-e while visiting a store yesterday and i still don't like it in any way, especially the interior.

i'm sure that's a part of it... most players other than tesla are struggling to make a profit on ev's.

maybe ford figured... "hey it worked for tesla"

 

Thanks....glad you liked it.

If you think the interior is bad, just wait till you try those exterior door-handles. I don't know if you sampled them or not, but they are a trip.

What you see there is just a piece of black-finished hard-metal, solidly-attached to the door-trim, that doesn't move at all. You can barely even grip it with a thumb and two fingers. I suspect the NHTSA may (?) force a redesign soon, because it also looks to me like a safety-hazard to a pedestrian who gets sideswiped...it could cause added injury.

 

Took a page out of Tesla's playbook with no physical buttons. Very nice.

 

Very classy!
A touch of elegance I like to say. Haha 😂

 

Like I told bit, I would not be surprised to see a government-forced redesign on this, although, to be honest, it has been out for over two years, since 2021, and there has been no government action yet.

 

There are buttons on the door-armrests for the usual power-window and mirror functions, a couple buttons/tabs on the console for the parking-brake and some other functions, and a round circular button for each exterior door-latch, but, no, just like Tesla, there are few if any buttons on the dash.

 

Wow, thats a 180 turn for a Ford interior....But being how the times are now, lot of bean counter cost cutting......Heck I remember when Ford had the best interiors compared to the new '71 GM b-bodies.....Two of my previous Ford trucks '01 & '06 Super Duty had great interiors compared to the GM/Chevy & Ram/Dodge...My Brother's Lariat Tremor Has one of the best interiors as well as the seat cushions are longer then the Ram's short seat cushions....Will mention its a total different experience driving a ev.....Quiet & quite a pull when I drive my daugher inlaws '19 X as I take them to the airport. My son says to use it, even thou, I just drive back in their garage.

 

You're right.....GM full-size cars took a BIG quality-drop inside and out from 1970-71. I was just out of high-school...and I remember how much I complained about it, as I really liked the late-60s GM products. The GM mid-sized cars got the quality-ax next, in 1973. Ford products also got some quality-cuts after 1970, but not in quite the same in-your-face way that the GM products did...with the Ford products, it was less-noticeable, except for thinner sheet metal and some body-rust problems.

 

So I'm curious....if a buyer could qualify for the $7500 tax credit, effectively bringing the price of this car down to $40K, would you then think it's a decent value?

 

I see a bunch of Mach-E running around. My guess is Ford die hards are buying them as their issues have been well documented on the Mach-E Forum. I wonder why you compared it to the Model 3 instead of the Model Y?
But thanks for the write up, even though the (poorly named) Mustang Mach-E is not for me.

 

Good review, I have a couple of friends who own this and none of them are thrilled with it. One of my buddies is very anti-Tesla and he actually said "I should've just gotten the Model Y." I couldn't believe he said that - his ownership experience has to be really bad for him to admit that!

 

That would be very odd for the government to intervene here given all standards were met.