Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium long term review

Wearing a badge any vehicle would struggle to live up to and given an electric heart along with a sensibilities-first SUV body style, the Ford Mustang Mach-E was always going to ruffle a few feathers.

It’s the sort of bold plays we’ve come to expect from this new and confident lead-from-the-front persona embodied by Ford amid this great energy transition, swagger the Blue Oval has embraced whole-heartedly since chief Elon Musk-antagonist Jim Farley took the helm in 2020.

Created to take the fight to the best-selling electric vehicle both globally and here in Australia, the Tesla Model Y, the Mustang Mach-E reflects much of the vibe of its competitor with its huge 15.5-inch central touchscreen, but it ratchets back the ‘science project’ part and creates a vehicle which is, ultimately, a Ford through and through.

Although it was first launched in North America in late 2020, the slicked-back SUV Mustang didn’t make its way to Australia until much later in the piece, in 2023.

But it came at a price and a pretty big one.

Costing $79,990 (before on-roads) just for the base grade, the ’Stang was well north of its targeted Tesla rival and so it was no surprise that Ford quickly lopped $7000 off the start price, before a single example had landed in a customer’s driveway.

We can’t attest to the state of Ford Australia’s boardroom prior to the announcement, but the fact this new resident in the brand’s midsize SUV slot cost more than twice the starting price of the discontinued Escape (sub $38k) didn’t wash well with anyone and more cuts would follow.

At present, the Mustang Mach-E consists of the entry-level Select ($64,990), the longer-range Premium ($79,990) and the performance flagship GT ($97,990).

And it’s the middling variant, potentially the sweet spot in the Mach-E range, that’s arrived in the Chasing Cars long-term garage.

Navigate this long-term Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium review

• Why we chose the Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium
• How we specified our long-term Mustang Mach-E Premium
• Month 1: Let’s start, by start-stopping
• Month 2: How far can it really go?
• Month 3: The Final Verdict

Month 3: The Final Verdict

After three months cosplaying as a full-time EV owner, I’ve learnt a lot, not just about my Mach-E, but also about myself and how, or indeed ‘if’, I’m EV owner material.

“Nice Mustang mate, is that the one your mum let you buy?”

“Yeah cheers mate”, I said visibly swatting off another jeer from one of my enthusiast friends who seems to have even more opinions about cars than I do.

Having previously owned a Mazda MX-5 and lived to tell the tale, I largely consider myself impervious to vehicle criticism but some battles I’m willing to fight and others I’m not.

If there is one thing the entire Chasing Cars office is clear on after three months of ownership it’s that the Mustang Mach-E is not a Mustang, and the badge itself is a distraction. But is it a distraction from a vehicle worth considering? That is the topic of today’s final report.

Today, I’m going to take you through our five hits and five misses with the Mustang Mach-E Premium.

Hit – The interior

As I touched on in my initial impressions in Month 1, the interior of the Mach-E is a place I’ve grown to love more than I ever would have expected.

The soft spongy seats aren’t perfect but they strike a reasonably good balance between an initial feeling of comfort and proper back support, which is absolutely ideal for a commuter vehicle.

Climb in on a cold winter’s day and turn on the seat heaters, sink in, put your hands on the leather-wrapped steering wheel – with its tactile buttons and heating functionality of its own – and you’ll quickly find yourself on good terms with the Mach-E.

And while the design might scream ‘Gen Z’ at a glance with its 15.5-inch touchscreen and lack of physical climate controls, the rotary knob genuinely works well once you’ve become accustomed to it.

I must say, though, whoever decided to pair a rotary volume dial to the multimedia just centimetres from the rotary gear selector needs to think this combination over again. More than once I confused the two when reverse parking.

Finally, Ford if you’re listening, please equip the Mach-E with the Mobile Office Pack found in the new Transit Custom. This feature lets the steering wheel fold to 45 degrees to allow the driver to use their laptop when at a stop, or turn it into a tray table for paperwork, eating or whatever takes their fancy.

A clear use case for such a feature is when spending downtime at the local charging station.

Miss – General Practicality

The primary role of the Mach-E in my life was to serve as a commuter vehicle but it also did its fair share of family duties on the weekend and here the Ford came up short in a few ways.

Firstly, the front storage is limited, the tiny door bins struggle to fit a water bottle and it only gets worse as you move to the back seat.

Admittedly this area scores solid marks for fitting a rearwards-facing baby seat without compromising to the front passenger, but the high floor and shockingly air vent placement which is so low it essentially just cools the ankles, makes for a sub-par experience.

The 402L boot was actually generally serviceable for most duties but the tapered roofline of the Mach-E reduced what items could be carried. Perhaps I should’ve made more use of the extra 134L in the ‘frunk’ but the tedious task of popping the bonnet by reaching under the passenger-side of the dash made using it regularly more trouble than it was worth.

Notably, the Mach-E ‘GT’, which uses a Ranger or F-150-style key, has a frunk opener button built in which hopefully trickles down the range in the next update.

Practicality though, is about more than just storage, it’s also about usability.

I avoid excessive exposure to the sun so I was unnerved by the panoramic sunroof, which lacks a retractable blind. It’s a heinous trend picked up by many EV makers such as Tesla and Polestar, along with traditional brands like Skoda strangely enough.

For what it’s worth, Ford says there is a good degree of UV protection built into the glass but the cabin heats up fast in the Mach-E and there is just no beating a solid roof or block-out sun blind when it comes to avoiding sun damage.

Ford Australia very kindly provided an accessory sunblind that clipped in nicely but its effectiveness wasn’t as night and day as I would have hoped.

Hit – Build Quality and Wear and Tear

With so many up-and-coming brands competing in the affordable EV space, and a good portion of them struggling with build quality issues, this is an area that Ford can flex its might as a legacy car maker.

Build quality is solid in the Mach-E and even with over 10,000km of motoring journalist-inflicted abuse under its tyres, everything feels impressively solid and I’ve never once heard a squeak or a rattle.

Special compliments go to the engineering behind the touchscreen, which looks as if it would snap off with a decent shove but in reality, feels like it’s strong enough for me – or perhaps a version of me with better core strength – to do a flag-pole hang off of.

Miss – The Lack of Driver Independence

I’m not normally one to beat the drum of alarm as carmakers slowly strip away layers of connection between the driver and their vehicle – say by introducing brake-by-wire for instance – but the Mach-E crosses two lines that it shouldn’t.

First, is the lack of a spare tyre. Space saver, or otherwise.

Why design an EV supposedly capable of travelling 600km on a single charge if you aren’t going to fit the proper safety equipment to get drivers home without needing to call for help? This is also assuming that you break down in an area with a phone signal, which isn’t a given in much of Australia, and in other places, entirely unlikely.

The next issue is more unusual and it has to do with the door locks.

Ford, like Tesla, Lexus and many others, has opted for electronic door locks for its halo EV product, meaning that there is no physical action taking place between your hand and the opening of the door.

Instead, pressing the electronic circles on the doors sends a signal to the car which then opens the doors. This is perfectly fine and functions well in practice, my issue lies with what happens when things go wrong.

Electronic door locks rely on the car’s accessory 12-volt battery being charged, if they aren’t they won’t open, simple as that.

The process to open the doors in the event of a flat (12-volt) battery is simple enough: pull a set of wires out the bumper and apply current from a 12-volt source which opens the frunk, which allows access for the aforementioned battery to be charged and power the doors.

Even if you were deeply familiar with this knowledge, how would you counter it? Would you bring a starter pack with you? Not much point as that’s locked in the boot. Call for help? Hopefully, your phone isn’t in the car as well.

I’m not against electronic door locks but I am against the lack of a manual fail-safe. Lexus has shown how to introduce this new technology correctly, by pairing its flash new design with a hidden key barrel unlocked by the key within the fob in case of an emergency.

It’s not hard for parents or pet owners to imagine how this situation can turn incredibly dangerous, especially in a car that heats up so quickly in the hot Australian sun. I would strongly urge Ford to reconsider adding a power-free failsafe to this arrangement.

Hit – Driving Joy

Without a doubt, my favourite part of the Mach-E experience was that of driving, an area in which it excelled in two very different ways.

I’ve already covered in Month 1 what a fantastic commuter vehicle the Mach-E is and this saw it become my go-to vehicle in the Chasing Cars garage if I knew hours of heavy traffic lay ahead.

The second is the sort of driving you might sneak off to do late at night on a nearby twisty piece of road. Unlike many RWD EVs, Mach-E still has a strong rear bias in how it behaves and in the wet, the 216kW/430Nm rear motor is especially keen to step out regardless of how aggressive you are as a driver.

The ESC steps in at the appropriate time, though ‘Untamed’ mode cheekily lets the leash run through the fingertips a bit before yanking this family SUV back into shape.

Everyone in their lifetime should own a rebellious rear-wheel-drive vehicle at least once, that underlying juvenile tendency understood by both car and driver is what can form an enthusiast and it’s brilliant that Ford is passing this on to the next generation.

Miss – Ride Quality

And… here is the ‘but’.

See, my commute largely consists of beautifully smooth highways, and I don’t really mind being thrown around a bit when tackling a b-road in anger.

What I do mind is how punishing the suspension is on some fairly typical suburban roads.

The suspension always feels harsh and the sporty dynamics seem to come at the expense, not in addition to, daily driveability. This ultra-firm setup is particularly prominent in the backseat, which probably explains why my toddler never slept much back there.

Hit – Overall Driving Range

This one might actually come as a bit of a surprise but I actually consider the driving range, which I tested and explained extensively in Month 2, to be a positive attribute overall.

To recap, our standardised Chasing Cars range test revealed the Mach-E fell short of its 600km claim on the highway, where it travelled 465km – though it did hit 603km in urban conditions.

While it may have fallen short of its claim, the 465km on the highway was achieved in challenging conditions for an EV including hills, consistent stretches of 110km/h speeds and cold temperatures.

To me, having a vehicle that can consistently achieve a 400km-plus range between charges and then having the ability to recoup that energy fairly quickly is a positive in my books, though it’s perhaps the most marginal ‘hit’ on this list once the price and competition are taken into consideration.

My commute primarily consists of similar stretches of road, so my average efficiency during our three-month tenure was 19kWh, meaning an as-tested range of 479km.

Ford is yet to have its breakthrough moment when it comes to EV efficiency but the incoming facelift due to arrive in 2025 should see around 20 to 30kms added to the tally.

Miss – Charging And Efficiency

The biggest hurdle to EV ownership aside from the price in my eyes is having the ability to charge it up at night.

Sure, public charging infrastructure exists, but it’s terribly unreliable, about as expensive as filling up a tank of fuel, and often populated by incredibly rude fellow motorists.

My goal main for our tenure was to pretty much never resort to public charging infrastructure, the only issue? I’m a renter, meaning I have no ability (or desire) to blow a few grand on a 7kW wallbox I would soon move away from. As such, I would be using a traditional three-pin charger.

Using this method, I was able to recoup around 20kWh overnight to prepare for my roughly 13kWh energy needs to complete my standard 70km commute.

Relying on home charging purely required unrelenting diligence and for me to only use the Mach-E for commuting, neither of which eventuated in the real world so I found myself forced to use a public charger at least once every fortnight.

The Mach-E Premium’s range might be acceptable, but its efficiency isn’t, and for the great many people around Australia who rent and (may) only have access to a regular powerpoint, the thirst of this EV made it unsustainable to charge only at home and will force motorists to blow potential running costs savings over an ICE vehicle at expensive public charging infrastructure.

And as a final note, Ford please relocate the charging door away from the front three-quarter panel, this is a nuisance at every public charging station I’ve come across.

Hit – Approachability for non-EV buyers

If I wanted to buy my mum an EV, this would be high on the list as the learning curve to EV ownership is very gentle.

The strange but functional push button door handles aside, the Mach-E is a very normal vehicle within; it still has a normal steering wheel, physical start button and a separate display to show your speed, remaining battery capacity and that’s about it.

Unlike the Tesla Model 3, it still has traditional indicators and a physical shifter that’s easy to reach. And while the 15.5-inch touchscreen may be confronting for older drivers, it’s big, bright, simple and fairly easy to understand.

There’s also something to be said about the sheer service network available when buying a vehicle under the Blue Oval brand, an experience that is unlikely to be replicated by many of the newer brands dominating the EV space.

Miss – Value For Money

We come now to the most detrimental miss when buying a Mach-E: the amount of car you are getting per dollar.

After two significant price cuts since its introduction, the Mach-E Premium realistically needs to drop another $11K from its $79,990 before on-roads price (or circa $88K driveaway) to cut through to this increasingly competitive market.

Over in North America, Ford plays hardball with Tesla to keep Mach-E prices competitive with the Model Y but here in Australia the equivalent mid-spec Long Range starts at $69,900.

While this model does come with a more limited 533km range claim, it also scores dual-motor all-wheel-drive as standard, an option not available in Australia at present on non-GT models.

My impression also hasn’t been helped by the fact that Polestar is currently running an absolute scorcher of a long term deal on the ‘2’, which sees buyers spec up the equivalent long-range rear-wheel-drive model plus a few extras for roughly $80,000 driveaway.

The Verdict

When Chasing Cars takes on long termers we make a steadfast effort to put some serious miles on our cars, aiming for at least 5000km every three months.

The Mach-E is the fifth long termer I’ve run at Chasing Cars and it’s the first time I’ve fallen short of this target – it’s also my first EV, and I don’t think that is a coincidence – but there are also other factors.

Generally, I’ve been using this Mach-E as my commute vehicle but its underwhelming boot space, two-tonne kerb weight, lack of AWD and the fact it sports the ground clearance of a dachshund meant I was hesitant to take it to any beach or campground where I might get stuck on my occasional weekends away – so it’s not exactly the most versatile SUV.

I also just didn’t want to spend hours of my precious time away sitting at chargers in town to top up its 460km-odd highway range when I could be enjoying my time relaxing on the coast. Though, perhaps that’s what it takes to be an ‘EV person’ in 2024.

For this reason, it became increasingly difficult to see the Mach-E as anything but a ‘second car’, best served as a commuter vehicle that was fun for the odd spin in the mountains late at night.

The Mach-E Premium does well in terms of spec but everything of substance like the stereo and big touchscreen is on the $15K cheaper Select, and that’s a hard bargain to make.

Really if you’re going to look further up the range I’d keep going to the four-wheeled-psychopath known as the GT. Personally, I’m hoping that Ford will bring the ‘Rally’ version to Australia when the facelift arrives in 2025.

But right now, at this price, the Mach-E Premium even with all its strengths isn’t a vehicle I could see coming back to my driveway, not when the competition is so strong and is often available for a cheaper price.

Month 2: How far can it really go?

It’s the $15,000 question: can the Mach-E Premium really travel 600km on a single charge?

“Which one is it” I was quick to pipe up, upon being told my next long termer would be a fully electric vehicle, or more specifically, a Mustang Mach-E.

“The Premium” deputy editor Curt Dupriez replied, adding a bit of pizzazz to the pronunciation to drive home the sales pitch. The GT would’ve appeased the hoon in me but likely disappointed the local highway patrol, so the tamer and long-legged Premium was probably the better fit…if I’m honest.

In typical American style, the Mach-E Premium does long-distance touring by way of brute force, with a massive 91kWh usable lithium-ion battery size (or 98.7kWh gross) sitting in the centre of the chassis providing enough juice for a WLTP-rated range of 600km.

That’s a marketed increase over the Select (470km), which makes use of a smaller 72kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP), a material makeup that makes the entry-level model both cheaper and heavier than the Premium with its more traditional lithium nickel cobalt manganese (NMC) battery, despite having less energy storage capacity.

The GT shares the same 91kWh battery as the Premium but due to factors such as the wider and sticker tyres, more aggressive aero and a far more demanding (and powerful) dual-motor setup, it’s about as ‘thirsty’ with electrons as its V8-derived namesake is with fossil fuel.

At Chasing Cars we put just about every EV we get through a standardised range and charging test to determine how faithful they really are to their official rating when driven in realistic conditions and the Mach-E would certainly be no exception.

The Premium adds a handful of niceties like ambient lighting and an extra 18kW of rear-driven punch over the base Select but nothing else particularly consequential, meaning the $15,000 dollar question is: will the Premium actually provide the benefit of an extra 130km of range over the base model, or indeed achieve its 600km claim?

The answer is… murky, so let’s first start with the bad.

During the most demanding leg of our efficiency test, on the highway, the Mach-E Premium achieved a range of 465km with an efficiency of 19.6kWh/100km, in a devastating shortfall of 135km against Ford’s claim.

In our experience, most EVs don’t hit their WLTP claim on the highway though many get much closer to the form guides than the Mach-E, and some rivals even beat their bestowed figures outright.

What’s more likely to frighten Ford though is that we previously tested the Select which achieved a range of 430km against its 470km claim, with an efficiency of 16.9kWh, though it must be said this test was conducted in warmer conditions than what our long-termer had to endure, which can play a significant role in EV efficiency.

Even still, the gap is stark, and even if it was half as close to its claim it would still be a poor result considering the asking price.

A 465km cap puts the Mach-E Premium in similar territory to the Kia EV6 GT-Line RWD (463km), Cupra Born (470km) and BYD Seal Performance (469km) in our test – though notably ahead of the Mercedes-Benz EQE 350 4Matic (458km) which shares the same battery size and costs instrumentally more.

The reigning king, though, is the Polestar 2 Standard Range RWD at an impressive 534km.

We never had a chance to test the Mach-E Select under our urban range test but the Premium achieved 603km with an efficiency of 15.1kWh/100km.

For those interested, we also ran the test on the Mach-E GT and saw a highway range of 389km and an urban range of 595km.

As part of this testing process, we also assessed how long the Mach-E Premium takes to charge the battery to recoup the battery banks from 50 to 350km of the as-tested range, and in this area it performed better, taking 36 minutes and 25 seconds to complete the task.

It’s hard to pull silver linings from this outcome overall but it’s worth noting that our highway and urban range test doesn’t pull any punches, we include realistic conditions such as traffic hills along with modern climate and audio comforts as you would expect day to day.

So while the Mach-E Premium may only have 465km of range on a highway road trip, it’s at least a consistent number you can rely on when planning out your charging stops.

But based on our results here, the upcharge over the Select is quickly becoming unjustifiable all things considered. However, there is more to an EV than just outright range, so stay tuned for our full wrap up which is coming very soon.

Month 1: Let’s start, by start-stopping

The Mustang Mach-E enters the Chasing Cars garage and is sized up by the team to determine what exactly this car is and what it’s trying to achieve.

Someone, somewhere, is having a right laugh about now.

As a fussy bloke who audibly groans every time I see ‘yet another car’ with its climate controls buried in the touchscreen and who loves to cover over 1000km in a day on road trips, being handed the keys to a short-range EV (in comparison to combustion cars) with a 15.5-inch iPad slapped in the centre of the dash doesn’t feel right.

I feel a bit like a grumpy old dad who’s been given a puppy he told the family not to buy, so will this relationship end with a surprising kinship, or will we remain at arm’s length? We’ll see…

I like EVs, I really do. I’m of the belief they are a fantastic fit for many commuters (price aside).

But for many other Aussies, EVs are yet to graduate beyond the ‘second car’ status due to their current limitations on the open road. And this long-termer will very much be my primary daily-driven vehicle for the next three months if I want my judgement to have any solid basis at all.

My relationship with the Mach-E starts, as most do, with a commute home from work and, oh boy, does this Ford put its best foot forward here.

There is no ‘avoiding’ traffic in Sydney. It’s an unstoppable force of tear-jerking misery. But the Ford’s ultra-soft seats, crisp Bang and Olufsen sound system and delightfully muted cabin aided by a whisper-quiet drivetrain go a long way to dissolve the chaos and stress often around me.

My commute home is a straight shot along Sydney’s main highway system though only the very end is traveled at anything close to highway speeds. It’s here that I enable adaptive cruise control and set the proximity distance to as close as it will let me, and to my surprise, it listens to me.

As much as I am a big believer in maintaining ample stopping distance, such rules are hard to apply in CBD traffic where leaving a car length is considered a sign of weakness and will be pounced upon by your neighbour to the right or left, sitting just half a car length behind.

In fact, it wasn’t until I reached home that I noticed that the adaptive cruise-driven Mach-E had completed almost the entire trip, including a series of relatively fast turns at 80km/h, without interruption. And to my amazement, it did it again the very next day.

I love driving and likely so do you dear reader, but nobody loves traffic. And the fact that this Mustang Mach-E had eased the pain of the worst part of my week had moved it up a few notches in my book. We might get on just yet.

What’s crazy is that this isn’t even the best Ford has to offer. What I was experiencing in the Mach-E was simply a great combination of intelligent lane centring and well-tuned adaptive cruise control, but over in North America buyers are offered even better tech.

‘BlueCruise’ as it’s known, is a proper ‘SAE Level 2’ autonomous driving system and allows drivers of vehicles such as this Mach-E (and the F-150) to take their hands off the wheel and let the car change lanes by itself when travelling across many of America’s highways.

Essentially, as long drivers keep their eyes on the road it will keep going in this environment, similar to Tesla’s full-self driving. Seeing a pattern yet?

Current laws don’t allow for this technology to function in Australia just yet though there is appetite and even some political will to make changes here in the coming years.

“BlueCruise remains unavailable in Australia, and we have no news to share about a future introduction of BlueCruise to Australia, but are committed to ensuring our vehicles are fitted with the latest technology,” a spokesperson from Ford Australia told Chasing Cars.

Anyway…

With less of my attention required to deal with my fellow motorists, I turned my focus to the 15.5-inch touchscreen to try and make sense of the situation.

Ever had one of those moments as a sub-30 something where you suddenly feel odd? Yeah, this is mine.

While there are a great deal of traditional buttons to control multimedia on the steering wheel, all other buttons are banished to the touchscreen. And to Ford’s credit, they’ve done a better job than most.

The bottom section of the screen features a rather clever built-in scroll wheel that works as somewhat of a halfway measure between purely focusing on touch controls and exclusively using buttons like an ’80s clock radio.

Press the fan speed on the screen for example and you then move your hand to the wheel where you adjust the speed to your liking.

It’s definitely an improvement over pure touch functionality as I’ve often found trying to repeatedly hit the same touch target when cycling through settings to be quite difficult in a moving vehicle, especially when I’m trying to keep my eyes on the road.

I’ll need to spend more time here to draw a verdict but this innovation is welcome so far.

Why we chose the Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium

Our initial launch review of the Mustang Mach-E determined that this was a good car that was asking too much. Meanwhile, our follow-up garage review of the entry-level Select (prior to the last cut) found that it was our pick of the bunch but… it was still asking too much.

After two significant haircuts, the price of the 600km-capable (according to WLTP testing) mid-range Premium would eventually land at the same price as the original pricing of the Select, the entry-grade bringing a less impressive 470km of claimed range.

For your road-trip-loving reviewer, that made the decision to opt for the Premium even easier.

The Mustang Mach-E may not have set the EV world on fire just yet, but so often at Chasing Cars we find it’s the unsuspecting and often sensible choices that make for the nicest real-world ownership proposition when testing cars on a long-term basis.

So for the next three months, Chasing Cars will be putting ‘our’ Mach-E Premium through its paces and driving it extensively to find out if it’s worth your hard-earned cash – especially now that it’s asking for a lot less of it.

How we specified our long-term Mustang Mach-E Premium

For our long-term review we went with the Premium. It launched at $91,665 list, dropped to $86,990 in late 2023, and is now currently priced at $79,990.

Notably, ours is dressed in Star White (+$700) but is otherwise standard. Interestingly, solid Shadow Black is the no-cost paint choice.

Driveaway pricing in NSW sees our example retail for just short of $88,700.

Standard features on the Mustang Mach-E Select include:

• Synthetic leather seats
• Eight-way power adjustable and heated front seats
• Heated steering wheel
• 15.5-inch central touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• 10.2-inch digital driver’s display
• 10-speaker B&O sound system
• Wireless phone charger
• 360-degree camera

Notably though, the Premium does nab a few extras over the base Select including:

• LED projector headlights
• Red contrast stitching
• Ambient lighting
• Premium-finish scuff plates and pedals

Of course, the Premium also scores the larger 91kWh (usable size) nickel cobalt manganese battery over the entry Select’s 72.6kWh lithium iron phosphate unit, granting an extra 130km of range and providing that 600km claim. 

Outputs of the single rear motor are also boosted from 198kW/430Nm in the Select to 216kW/430Nm in the Premium, trimming the 0-100km/h time claim from 6.6 to 6.2 seconds. 

In other parts of the world, Ford offers a slightly more powerful AWD option for non-GT trims but there are no plans to bring this to Australia right now.