To all the "It's Not a Mustang" haters. . .
I get it. Believe me. When Ford announced they were coming out with a crossover EV and were going to call it a Mustang, I had a small purist fit as well.
I looked at it and then thought, "Ok - not a Mustang but it IS nice!"
We had been looking at EVs for some time and were leaning Tesla and this was the first one that had me thinking otherwise.
In June, we traded in our (ironically) 2007 Mustang GT for a new Mach E. No, I still won't call it a Mustang BUT, I will say that after my initial shock, I realized what a bit of marketing genius it was for Ford to give it the iconic name and share the Mustang logo with its new offering.
Having had the car for a few months now and using it as a daily commuter to the City I've found very little to NOT like about this car.
I am intimately familiar with all of the Tesla models, having driven each model and gotten to know the interface and how they work. I really like that Ford has decided to keep a lot of the familiar touches (A dial for the "transmission" as opposed to an up/down stick on the Tesla which just feels like an extra turn signal lever, but on the right side), an actual speedometer/cruise control dashboard, as opposed to EVERYTHING being on the screen, a button to "start" the car, are just a few examples.
It is not as peppy as any of the Tesla models but I feel that it rides nicer and handles better. The low profile and styling is super nice, and I was not even aware that the seats were "vegan leather" (who thinks up this crap?). Beyond the seats being leather, the styling of the interior is sportier than the Teslas and I find the seats to be more comfortable.
I agree with those who say that putting all the controls on the screen is a bit off-putting. I'm a technologist and know that the user experience (UX) is everything. If you have to keep poking around to find the simplest of controls or you have to take your eyes off the road to simply turn up the heat, it's somewhat annoying. While I've found the Ford interface to be pretty easy to figure things out, I'd still prefer manual switches for a lot of things (specifically, climate control). Of course, the sound controls are on the steering wheel, which is something most of us are used to.
One thing that I've also learned is that dealerships pretty much know nothing about these cars. Most of their customers come in knowing more than the salesperson, or the service manager, or anyone else. Ford could do a better job of educating its staff. But I'm pretty sure this is true just about anywhere.
Lastly, talking about the screen. Our neighbor across the street also got a Mach E and about two weeks after they got it, someone broke the driver's side window. It appears as though they saw the screen, thought it was a tablet and wanted to steal it, not realizing it was attached (and not an iPad). Point being, never underestimate the ignorance of the smash-and-grabbers.
I hope that Ford would eventually incorporate things like Tesla has like Sentry Mode and the ability to play games and/or watch Netflix while sitting at charging stations.
Lastly lastly, we just took our first road trip (going from the Bay Area to SoCal). We had to stop 3 times along the way to charge but the trip planner worked exactly as expected and at no time did we get range anxiety. I'm ready to try a cross-country trip in the thing.
Hope this helps some of you see beyond the moniker and look at the car.
