Ford Mustang Mach-E: The Bullitt Fortress of Mustang Legend of the EV Era | Rare Techy

Along with “legend,” “literally,” and “unprecedented”—and I’m sure you can think of others—”iconic” is one of those words that gets used so often that it’s become detached from its true meaning. writes William Scholes.

I think language changes over time, even if some of us don’t like it. And so it is with icons. For me, the Ford Mustang is one of a handful of bona fide automotive icons, a legend (ahem…) that can sit alongside a very select group that also includes the Range Rover and the Porsche 911.

Longevity—the Mustang lineup dates back to 1965—and careful development over the decades is one of the reasons the Pony Car continues to endure.

Nor has the Mustang’s reputation been tarnished by its indelible association with Steve McQueen, a Hollywood legend and icon if ever there was one.

in the 1968s BullittMcQueen’s silent San Francisco detective Frank Bullitt drove a Ford Mustang GT painted Highland Green with a roaring 390cc V8 muscle under the hood as he battled baddies who were almost as awesome. Dodge Charger R/T.

Although I have seen it many times, BullittThe 11-minute roller coaster ride in the car chase is still a visceral thrill.

More than 50 years later, the marriage of McQueen and the Mustang has been the benchmark by which all other movie car chases are judged.

Steven Spielberg is working on a new one Bullitt in which Bradley Cooper played the role of Steve McQueen/Frank Bullitt. Not much is known about it, but rumors indicate that it will be a sequel rather than a remake.

Would 21st century detective lieutenant Frank Bullitt still drive a Ford Mustang? Absolutely possible, but it’s not as easy as it was in the sixties, because today Ford offers two quite different Mustang models.

You can still get the regular gasoline coupe and convertible Mustang—in fact, there’s an all-new model coming this summer—but now you can get an all-electric Mustang called the Mach-E.

As you can tell from the pictures on this page, it’s not a sports car, although it has to be said that it’s pretty fast, and you can get versions that accelerate significantly faster than McQueen’s horse.

Instead, the Mustang Mach-E is sort of a big five-door hatchback-meets-SUV. Interestingly, Ford has tapped into the Mustang’s nearly 60-year heritage for very different types of vehicles for its first purpose-built electric vehicle. Ford logos are almost nowhere to be seen.

The shift from internal combustion to kilowatts and volts has already produced some interesting shifts in the automotive industry—like the rise of Tesla and South Korean brands Hyundai and Kia, which surpassed Volkswagen’s electric vehicle efforts—but the demise of the Ford Fiesta and the advent of the automotive industry. The electric Mustang was probably not one of the more predictable changes.

Electric cars, as you may have noticed, tend to be expensive. Owning the Mach-E starts at just under £51,000, which is expensive even for such a talented Ford…

This gives you the optional equipment of a 75kWh battery (70kWh of which Ford classifies as usable) mated to a 265bhp electric motor with 317lb-ft of torque. This rear-wheel-drive, so-called standard-range setup, delivers 273 miles in the WLTP combined cycle test.

As with electric cars, paying more for your Mach-E will get you a bigger battery and longer range.

Hand over £59,300 to the dealer and you’ll get the Mach-E Premium with a 98kWh extended battery (91kWh usable). This version is still rear-wheel drive and has a more powerful engine, with 290 hp and the same 317 lb-ft as the standard model. Range is an impressive 372 miles.

Add another £6,000 and the all-wheel drive Premium can be yours for £65,325. It’s a twin-engine car, with power and torque increased to 346 hp and 428 lb-ft respectively. Range drops slightly from the single-engine extended-range model to a still-handy 341 miles.

At the top of the Mach-E tree is the £74,460 GT. It has a large battery and all-wheel drive with a dual-motor drivetrain that’s cranked up to 480 hp and 634 lb-ft of torque. All that performance comes at the expense of range, which drops to 304 miles.

Top speed is set at 111 mph for all versions except the GT, which is allowed to stretch its legs up to 124 mph. Ford gives two sets of acceleration times for the 0-62 mph sprint, along with standing start and rolling start figures. The regular car takes 6.9 seconds / 6.1 seconds, the rear-wheel-drive extended-range Mach-E 7.0 seconds / 6.2 seconds, the all-wheel-drive extended-range 5.8 seconds / 5.1 seconds and the GT a seat-squeezing 4.4 seconds. seconds/3.7 seconds.

Suffice to say, in everyday driving, no version of the Mustang Mach-E will ever feel what you could call “slow.” It doesn’t launch itself with the gusto of a Tesla Model 3 or Model Y, but the performance is there if you step on the accelerator more sharply. I think it’s a sensible arrangement, preferring a milder distance-saving form of acceleration to the temptation to take off like a scalded cat.

It’s also fun to drive, which isn’t always a given in an EV, no matter what its performance figures tell. The Mach-E’s steering is precise, and while the ride can feel a little firm at lower speeds, it calms down on the move. The heavy battery sits under the floor, low between the axles, so even though this family car weighs two tonnes, it never feels like it when you’re driving down twisty and undulating roads.

The interior is spacious and bright, the seats are comfortable and the quality of fittings and accessories is probably decent enough that you won’t feel deprived of the ambience of your £50-£60,000 Ford. There’s no Volvo or Audi here, and the Ford Fiesta’s instrument cluster seems a little out of place in this future-first range-topper.

The most striking element of the cabin is the large digital screen in the center of the minimalist dashboard, mounted in a portrait style a la Tesla and Volvo. Almost everything is controlled via this screen, and thankfully it’s easy to read, intuitive and responsive. I would still prefer more hard knobs and buttons, but it feels like a losing battle. In front of the driver is a much smaller but good-sized landscape-oriented display that includes the things you really need, like speed and range. And of course, both screens can be configured to carry different combinations of information.

A nice strip of what appears to be tweed covers the dashboard; To be honest, I would have liked to see more of it in the interior.

Kudos to Ford for giving the Mustang useful space under the hood to store charging cables. Frustratingly, many electric car manufacturers (one step further Volkswagen, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Skoda…) think it’s a good idea to store cables in the boot or – even worse – under the floor of the boot. Ideally, you’ll want to keep those messy cables out of your luggage… The Mach-E’s ‘drain’ layout is also the same as what you’d find in the boot of a Ford Puma, meaning it can be cleaned out if it should go. dirty.

So the Mustang Mach-E is practical, fun to drive, well put together (it’s built in Mexico) and has a really useful range. There’s no doubt it’s expensive for a Ford, which perhaps goes a long way to explaining why it’s lavishly badged as a ‘Mustang’ – a nameplate that carries more exclusivity and prestige than a Fiesta or Focus, despite their obvious attributes.

Whether or not the Mach-E is an authentic Mustang is one of those questions that is endlessly debated, just as people still argue that BMW’s reinvention of the Mini is a betrayal of the 1959 original and Land Rover shouldn’t have one. dared to use the Defender name again.

The fact that the Mustang Mach-E can evoke strong feelings puts it in a different category than other EVs, which is essentially soulless fun. The Mach-E may not be fundamentally different from, say, the VW ID4 or the Skoda Enyaq, but it evokes an emotional response. Plus, no other electric vehicle will make you imagine you’re Frank Bullitt roaming the streets looking for bad guys – even if you’re chasing down the last available charging point in Enniskillen before the Tesla Model 3 villain gets there. ..