Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition Tested: Yes, It’s a Mustang. Really.
Lest you think we don't read your letters, we get it: You think a Ford Mustang should be a two-door, rear-drive, V-8-powered pony car. But let's face facts, shall we? The Ford Mustang Mach-E electric SUV is very much here and very much a Mustang; it even says so on the label. But that's not to say there hasn't been room for improvement; for example, Ford launched the Mustang Mach-E last year without a higher-powered GT variant at the outset. That's like rolling out a new-generation Mustang without a V-8 to start. It took them a while, but the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition is finally here, so naturally we strapped our test gear on it to find out if the wait was worth it.
Mustang Mach-E GT and Mach-E—What's the Difference? What Is the Performance Edition?
Like the decades of gas-powered Mustangs that've preceded it, the Mustang Mach-E GT follows the same tried-and-true formula: make a sportier-looking, better-handling, and more powerful pony SUV. The standard Mustang Mach-E GT sports two upsized permanent-magnet electric motors—one at each axle—good for a combined 480 hp and 600 lb-ft of torque, backed up by the Mach-E's larger 93-kWh battery pack, upsized brake rotors, a retuned suspension, and 20-inch wheels wrapped in performance-oriented all-seasons. The Mach-E GT Performance Edition takes things a bit further. Although horsepower is unchanged, torque rises to 634 lb-ft, and it also gets MagneRide dampers, sticky summer rubber, and upgraded Brembo brakes at the front wheels. Range falls by just 10 miles versus the standard Mustang Mach-E GT, from 270 miles to 260.
Does the Mustang Mach-E GT Feel Like a Mustang on the Road? How Fast Is It?
Straight-line speed is traditionally where a Mustang GT offers the most thrills, and the Mach-E GT Performance Edition is no exception. Although it isn't as violent off the line as some other high-performance electric SUVs, the Ford launches hard, and without a more conventional transmission to deal with, its twin motors are almost always in the meat of their powerband. Interestingly, the Mach-E's power starts to quickly taper off as you near triple-digit speeds—something that undoubtedly affected its performance numbers.
With our test gear strapped into the passenger seat and GPS receiver gaff-taped to the roof, the Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition's best 0-60-mph run took 3.6 seconds, just a tenth of a second behind the last 2021 Tesla Model Y Performance we tested, but seven-tenths quicker than the V-8-powered 2021 Mustang Mach 1. Weirdly, our best launches weren't made using the Mach-E's sport mode (cheekily named "Unbridled"), but in the default "Engage" drive mode. We found Engage to be quicker for both our 0-60 and quarter-mile runs, the latter of which saw the Mach-E GT run down the dragstrip in 12.6 seconds at 100.6 mph. That ties the latest Mustang Mach 1's quarter-mile time (though 12.5 mph slower), but it lags significantly behind a Model Y Performance, which runs the quarter in 12.0 seconds at 114.7 mph.
"Very strong low-end acceleration, but when it got beyond 80 mph, there was a very noticeable power drop, also indicated on the power bar on the instrument cluster," road test analyst Alan Lau said.
The Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition's braking and handling didn't disappoint, either. It hides its nearly 5,000 pounds well with quick and precise steering, and its firm yet not punishing ride mitigates body roll. Things get particularly fun in Unbridled mode with traction and stability control off; this EV SUV allows a surprising(ly fun) amount of oversteer. Its stopping power is particularly good, too. "The best of any EV I've tested," road test editor Chris Walton said of the Mach-E GT's brakes. "They are highly effective and very well tuned for trail-braking: easy to predict, control, and release."
Walton's impressions hold up when breaking down the Mustang EV's 60-0-mph and figure-eight test numbers. On the former, the Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition stops in just 105 feet—that's 9 feet longer than a Mach 1 but 8 shorter than a more comparable Model Y Performance. On the figure eight, it busted out a 24.9-second lap at 0.78 g average in Unbridled Extend mode—a sport performance mode designed to keep the battery and motors in their optimal temperature range for autocross and track days. Although the mode worked as advertised, the Mach-E generally needed to sit parked for at least 15 minutes before we could get it to engage. The Mach-E GT's lap is just a tenth of a second and 0.01 g less than a Model Y Performance, but not surprisingly it lags a fair bit behind a Mustang Mach 1, which lapped the course in 23.7 seconds at 0.82 g.
A Nerdy Note on Charging the Mustang Mach-E GT
Although the Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition doesn't disappoint on the road, we're a bit perplexed by its Level 3 DC battery charging speed. It's nominally rated for a 150-kW peak rate (to put that in perspective, Teslas max out at a 250-kW peak, while the 2022 Kia EV6—a direct competitor—will allow for a 350-kW peak). In real-world testing, the Mustang Mach-E's charge curve was aggressively conservative.
Utilizing a 350-kW Electrify America fast charger, it took us 41 minutes to charge from 15 to 80 percent capacity, which is bang on what Ford advertises the Mach-E to be capable of achieving. (Plugging it into a 350-kW charger is a bit like filling up a Prius with premium, but we chose that particular charger because we knew it worked well.) So, what's the problem? Our issue is that once you get past that 80 percent rate—like, say, if you'd like to add a little bit more of a range buffer during a road trip—the charge rate drops from the low-90-kW range to just 13 kW, or about the rate a Level 2 overnight charger delivers electricity to a vehicle. Long story long, it will lead to Mach-E owners spending more time than they need to at the charger.
There isn't another EV on the market we can recall that has such a slow post-80 percent charge rate, so we reached out to Ford for comment. A spokesperson told us the automaker designed the slow post-80 percent rate in an attempt to maximize the Mustang's battery life but that it has committed "to expand [the DC fast charge] curve 'ceiling' to greater than 80 percent state of charge through a Ford Power-Up over-the-air software update." No official word on what the new ceiling will be, but Ford's general manager of battery electric vehicles told InsideEVs the automaker is currently looking at raising the fast-charge ceiling from 80 to 90 percent. No word yet on when Mach-E owners can expect the over-the-air update.
How Much Does the Mustang Mach-E Cost?
Prices for the Mustang Mach-E GT are competitive for the segment, with prices starting at $61,000. That undercuts the Model Y Performance ($65,190 this week), even when you match equipment levels. The Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition's value proposition is a little murkier. The package adds $5,000 to the bottom line, and if you opt for the panoramic glass roof, Ford's BlueCruise advanced driver assist system, and a premium color like that found on our test car, the sticker balloons to an as-tested price of $69,800.
So, Is the Mach-E GT Really a Mustang?
The Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition doesn't look or sound like a traditional Mustang, but the performance it offers certainty lives up to the promises implied by the Mustang GT name. While it isn't perfect, the electrified pony SUV is a promising rethink of what the Mustang is, and what it can be.
Looks good! More details?2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E4x (Performance Edition) Specifications BASE PRICE $66,000 PRICE AS TESTED $69,800 VEHICLE LAYOUT Front and rear-motor, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV MOTOR TYPE Permanent-magnet electric POWER (SAE NET) 480 hp TORQUE (SAE NET) 634 lb-ft TRANSMISSION 1-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 4,980 lb (50/50%) WHEELBASE 117.5 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 186.7 x 74.1 x 63.5 in 0-60 MPH 3.6 sec QUARTER MILE 12.6 sec @ 100.6 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 105 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.96 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 24.9 sec @ 0.78 g (avg) EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 88/75/82 mpg-e EPA RANGE, COMB 260 miles ON SALE Now Show AllYou may also like
Most people wouldn't associate the turbocharged, all-wheel-drive Subaru WRX with extraordinary fuel economy, though the four-door sedan caters to young buyers who care about fun driving dynamics as well as saving their money. That may soon change—albeit not because its fuel economy is extraordinarily good. The new 2022 Subaru WRX has just been rated by the EPA and its fuel economy numbers slide past mediocre and fall below those of the outgoing model, landing weirdly close those of a full-size, four-wheel-drive Ford F-150 pickup truck powered by the midrange 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6 engine.Yep, you read that right. The WRX has been rated at 19/25/21 mpg on city/highway/combined with the CVT transmission, while Ford's much larger, heavier, and larger-engined truck delivers 19/24/21 mpg—just 1 mpg short of the Subaru on the highway. Even if you opt for the manual transmission (like you should), the Subie's EPA figures only improve to 19/26/22 mpg. There's no other way to put it—those numbers are pretty bad for a car of the WRX's size and power output.The 2022 WRX gets a new 2.4-liter turbo-four engine that makes 271 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. That's just three extra ponies and no more torque than the old WRX's 2.0-liter boxer engine. That extra displacement means fuel economy drops by 1 mpg across the board (except for the automatic's combined rating) compared to the previous model, which itself was no model for efficiency.Looking at the Subaru's direct competition, the story stays pretty bleak. A Honda Civic Type R makes more power and carries EPA estimates of 22/28/25 mpg; the also more powerful Hyundai Elantra N sedan with the manual is rated for 22/31/25 mpg; and the (you guessed it, also more powerful) Volkswagen Golf R six-speed gets 20/28/23 mpg (it also has AWD like the Subaru, while the Honda and Hyundai are front-drive). While some of those are hatchbacks, they still play in the same sporty compact segment, and all three at least deliver something close to or above 30 mpg on the highway. If you can deal with a little less power and front-drive, the 200-hp 2022 Honda Civic Si delivers 27 mpg city, 37 mpg highway, and 31 mpg combined.Subaru said the EPA tested the WRX in Sport mode, its most performance-oriented set up as default, which obviously doesn't maximize fuel efficiency. While the WRX has never been a fuel efficient car, the fact the competition is much more efficient is uneasy.We are very pleased with the way the 2022 Subaru WRX drives, which again is largely the point of a car like this. It's fun, sticky, and practical. It has all the right ingredients to stand out in the sport compact world—except wallet-friendly fuel economy. Although the WRX's pricing hasn't been announced, we don't think it will deviate much from the outgoing model, which starts at $28,420, when it arrives at dealerships this spring.We do not believe that customers view the WRX as an economy car. The WRX is designed as a performance vehicle first and foremost and does sacrifice some economy as a result. The automatic WRX did improve over the previous generation, even though it is EPA tested in Sport mode, its most performance oriented set up as a default, which doesn't maximize economy.
Pebble Beach Car Week has come and gone. This year's festivities marked my 12th in a row, and the world's biggest automobile bash/gala/jubilee felt more lively and comprehensive than ever. I went as a guest of Cadillac, which was celebrating the brand's 120th birthday. Caddy showed off its Project GTP Hypercar, a stealth-fighter-esque concept that previews the upcoming third-generation prototype race car that will eventually contest the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours. But the belle of Cadillac's current ball remains the Celestiq, the upcoming hand-built electric supersedan. How big a deal is this thing? GM CEO Mary Barra was at the Celestiq reveal party; I saw her with my own two eyes as I stuffed my maw with caviar-covered tater tots (fat and salt plus fat and salt is delicious—who knew?). Before the beef wellington and lobster were served, I got a long, hard look at the Celestiq and asked a whole mess of questions. Not to be one who bites the hand that feeds me foie gras, but I have some concerns.Can Cadillac Really Sell $300K Cars?First, though, it's important to consider whether the Cadillac brand is strong enough to support a $300,000 car. My take: Absolutely, yes. Even more so than Maybach, I feel Cadillac could compete on equal footing with Bentley and Rolls-Royce should GM ever choose to fully embrace that route. Yes, the Celestiq is being built to go toe to toe against both British brands' upcoming EV entrants. And in more ways than either Bentley or Rolls will ever publicly admit, the Escalade is a true competitor to both the Bentayga and Cullinan. I'll always remember former head of Rolls-Royce design Giles Taylor telling me the Cullinan had to be made much larger after American Rolls-Royce owners were shown a proposal and said something to the effect of, "You call that an SUV? I have an Escalade at the ranch that's three times as big!"Obviously, the Celestiq's success is not a fait accompli. Everything can still go wrong. But for whatever reason, and aside from all the "Standard of the World" sloganeering, Americans simply have a soft spot in our hearts for great Cadillacs. But the XT4? Uh, no. It's a bad little thing our Buyer's Guide has ranked fifteenth in its segment. Fifteenth! Cadillac needs to make sure this sort of product is dead and buried by the time the Celestiq (pronounced "sell-EHS-tick," not "sell-ess-TEEK") shows up in 2024. And, hey, as a sign of good faith to those you're asking to plonk down three big bills, why not kill the XT4 now? "But they sell," I can hear someone all the way in Michigan saying back to me. As Dan Ammann, GM's former CFO, said when Cadillac briefly moved to New York City, "It's easy to look out your window in Detroit and think Cadillac's a success." A rising tide lifts all ships, while anchors do the opposite. If Cadillac wants the Celestiq to succeed, it has shed the dead weight.It Needs to Be Truly Special and BespokeI raised the following several times at the Celestiq party: "I've been to Crewe. I've met the woman who takes 13 hours to hand-stitch every single Bentley steering wheel. And if a Bentley owner hasn't also been to Crewe and met her, they've seen the video. I've also met the guy at Goodwood who hand-paints every single pinstripe on every single Rolls-Royce. Do you have them? Have you hired these people?" I was not thrilled with the answers. I heard that, no, there's no one in-house right now to do those things on the production vehicle, but members of the design team are capable. Narrator's voice: No one on the design team will be doing anything like that on production Celestiqs. I kept pressing and heard a worse answer: The plan is to let items like this be handled by suppliers. Who, Johnson Controls? That's simply not an acceptable answer.I'm not being snobbish for the sake of being snobbish. People who spent $300,000 on an automobile do so because they want to. It's an unneeded, wholly unnecessary luxury. You can't outsource the little things. You have to sweat 'em, which is why Bentley has a guy named Clive (or something similarly British) and his chisel handling the wood. To be fair to Cadillac, and seeing as how I received several different, uncoordinated answers, I don't think the brand has all the answers just yet. The car is still two years away from production. Everyone I spoke with did explain how the level of customization and individual personification will be tops in the industry. Have a guitar string that means something to you? Cadillac will incorporate it into the interior. Same goes for the guitar itself or Granny's dentures—whatever you desire. As one of those Americans with a soft spot in my heart for great Cadillacs, I want nothing more than for GM to get the Celestiq right. But you must at least rise to the level of the competition before you can beat them.What About the Car?I still can't figure out the design. The size is right—read: massive—but I neither love it nor hate it. I think that means I haven't gotten a great look at it yet. Yeah, there were the mediocre press photos, and I saw the car at night in a crowded party, but I still don't feel like I've really seen the thing. The front end is imposing but eyeless, like a blind shark. The hard side is different to the point that I'm not sure what to make of it. I see an Audi concept car mixed with SUX 6000 from Robocop. The rear glass needs a tint, and I'd love to see a Celestiq in a color other than gray. The rear end is the most successful part of the design to my eyes, but still there are angles—much like the new Nissan Z—that make me suddenly go, "Hmmm." I think the actual production version needs to be a grand slam knockout. Nothing should be able to be questioned.The interior is commodious, a true four-throne luxury villa. Although, boy, it would have been cool to have seen a themed interior, one showing off the customization Cadillac kept bragging about. Caddy, I have one of Billie Joe Armstrong's guitar strings from a Green Day show in 1992 (before they sold out!) in a box somewhere if you need it. Speaking of cool, the interior felt a bit frore, like sitting in a robot's lap. Cadillac's design team kept stressing that, "Everything that looks like metal is metal." Indeed, but how about some leather and/or wood?The most troubling thing about the interior is the massive screen that spans from one A-pillar to the other. Why's that a problem? Well, unless Cadillac has the software engineers on hand to make sure the screen is constantly filled with car-appropriate stuff, you're instead going to have a big, empty screen. That ain't world-class luxury. I asked if there's a way for the screen to go away, pointing out that in both Bentleys and Rolls-Royces there are ways to hit a switch and the screen is suddenly replaced or covered by wood. Cadillac's answer was no. But what if a customer doesn't want to see the screen? The key to cars like this is being able to answer yes, almost no matter the request.PostscriptThere was much sarcastic chatter about Cadillac's plan to fly customers to GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, when it's time to begin customizing the car. 'Thank you for your $300K, here's your ticket to Detroit.' And, 'where is Cadillac going to hotel these well-heeled customers, downtown at the Book Cadillac?' Mind you, these were dudes from Detroit making these cracks. I've always admired the Tech Center from afar—it's a mid-century architectural masterpiece—though I've never visited. I have been to Crewe and Goodwood, Maranello and Sant'Agata Bolognese, and Porsche's Exclusive Manufaktur showroom in Zuffenhausen, all places where people visit in order to customize cars at this price point. Making this sort of visit a positive one is vital. I think Cadillac's on the right track here.The night after the Cadillac Celestiq party, I attended the annual Bentley Signature Party where Bentley's CEO Adrian Hallmark took the wraps off the brand's not very good-looking Batur. (It looks like it could be the 2028 Infiniti Q60.) Once inside the fabulous house on Pebble Beach's 17th fairway that Bentley rents year after year, I noticed the whole team from Crewe was dressed like dandies. Rule Britannia and all that, but my word, did the Bentley team look well tailored. Classy, high end, like the sort of people who might know a thing or two about selling you a $300,000 car. Team Cadillac? Far too many white T-shirts from multipacks worn under dress shirts. It's a Midwest thing, I get it, but come on.But let's back up, all the way to the night before the Celestiq party. That evening, I attended the Land Rover party where we were shown the Range Rover Carmel Edition. It's going to be the rarest Range Rover ever built, limited to just 17 units (one for each mile of 17-Mile Drive), has a pretty nifty interior, and stickers for $345,000. Yes, I spit my champagne out when the price was revealed. However, Joe Eberhardt, the CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, did mention that the only people being invited to purchase a Carmel Edition were standing right there. I heard the car sold out later that weekend. Perhaps that means $345,000 ain't what it used to be. Maybe Cadillac knows exactly what it's doing. Check back here in 2024.
This is The American Dream, the world's longest limo, at least according to the Guinness World Records organization. At 100 feet and 1.5 inches, we can't imagine it has too many challengers to its throne. But as impressive as this 25,000-odd pound, helipad-equipped, massive Cadillac is, what's even more impressive is that its restoration was completed at all. This limo was in terrible shape, a rotted hulk that would take a gargantuan effort to bring back to life.Abandoned in New York, it was first hauled to the Autoseum for an ill-fated restoration attempt. Then, with some difficulty (and a hood that flew off en route, never to be seen again), it was trucked down to the Dezerland Park car museum for another go—in several pieces—for another effort at revival. Here's what it looked like in 2013:Well, that effort has succeeded, as you can see. Michael Dezer—a prominent real estate developer in New York and Florida—and Michael Manning of Autoseum worked together to make it happen. Along the way, three Cadillacs were cannibalized, and untold amount of rust was removed, yards of leather and vinyl and carpet were employed, and the engine(s) were replaced. The subframe looks more like a bridge truss than anything you'd find in a vehicle, and in fact Manning admits rebuilding it was more of a civil engineering project than an automotive restoration.No fewer than six Eldorados were conjoined during the original construction of this 24-wheeled monster, conceived by Jay Ohrberg of Burbank, Calif.—the guy behind a few cars you may have heard of, like KITT from Knight Rider and the DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future. Originally, the vehicle had a swivel function, in order to attempt to navigate corners with more grace. It's not clear if that feature was retained in the restoration. Its tail housed a helipad, whose surface could be used as a putting green whenever the chopper wasn't around. In its original iteration, it also had two engines, dozens of windows, TVs, telephones, a lounge, a waterbed, a jacuzzi, and a swimming pool with a diving board. The American Dream is now functional, to the extent that it can be. With this length and an attendant cruise-ship-like turning radius, you can't simply drive this thing around. You need to carefully plan a route to make sure it has room to maneuver. Get it stuck and it'll take some creative towing to remove it. That said, whether stationary or on the go, Manning says there's room inside for 75, plus there's a pool on the back. The interior is mostly bare at the moment—in the video, Manning hints it could be built out to fit a customer—and it's so long the other end is barely visible from inside.There's no getting around it: The American Dream is excessive to the point of impracticality. But it's still the world record holder, taking the crown from itself with a 1.5-inch stretch. It's hilarious that a distance that small has any significance for a vehicle this large, but there it is. What happens to it next is anybody's guess, but we salute you, Floridians, for reviving The American Dream in all its excess.
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