Ford Mustang Mach-E — 1st Impressions
An especially blue Ford Mustang Mach-E made the trip over from Miami to the better coast of Florida today (er, yesterday). Three other Tesla owners and I converged to get a first look, first touch, first smell, first drive, and first charge. Without a doubt, each of us was eager to get to know this hot new thang.
Over the coming week, we’ll dive into details of the Mustang Mach-E much more, but I want to kick off with an overview of the vehicle from the most important perspective.
When you meet and get to know the person you’re going to marry, you don’t weigh all of her pros and cons in detail and make the decision to marry based on the result of some complicated calculus or spreadsheet (unless you’re super weird). You typically fall in love and justify things later. Hopefully reality ends up matching decently with your starry-eyed dreams. Similarly, the core question with the Mustang Mach-E is: will people fall in love with it?
Absolutely. Yes.
The second core question: will people who buy the Mustang Mach-E be happy with their decision once the initial buzz wears off? From 5 hours with the car (and thus being completely unfit to answer that question), I’d say that customers will end up being happy with their purchase, and unabashed about showing their love for it for years.
The electric crossover has plenty of features that make it lovable. First of all, it’s got a stunning look. In our short time with the car around other people, it seemed that about 90% of them took clear notice of it, gawked, or even took pictures. It’s perhaps worth noting that there are a lot of Teslas in this area. They used to get a similar response, but they are so common now that almost no one pays attention. The Mustang Mach-E has attracted some passersby who know what it is and are surprised and excited to see it. Others must just think it looks cool, or perhaps notice it’s a Mustang but not a “normal” Mustang (yet). Either way, the vehicle looks great and inspires a lot of smiling.
And let’s be honest — much of the love of popular cars comes down to how they look, their brand, and what that means in the minds of humans. The Mustang Mach-E hits all the right notes for many people. It is iconic, yet fresh and focused on the new tech of the 21st century. It harkens back to an automotive era that is central to how the country developed, yet is Ford’s clear leap into the future.
Naturally, the “Grabber Blue” color we got is stunning, and widely praised. The interior also has a great look and feel, including some blue stitching that everyone loved and yet somewhat sheepishly noted is a “small, practically irrelevant” matter. It is not, though. Yes, it is just some blue threading, but it is a little accent that inspires good feelings of various sorts. I would not underestimate the power of nice little features stacked on top of each other. Another one: a lit up Mustang is projected onto the driveway/road next to the Mustang Mach-E at night when you walk up to the car. That’s the kind of “wow, that’s cool!” feature that is really “pointless” from a practical standpoint but inspires love and is, indeed, the kind of thing that shouldn’t make a beancounter checklist but will make many people’s subconscious list of things they love about the crossover.
There is much more to write about the crossover. There are all kinds of details to explore and share. We did compare it in various ways to a Tesla Model Y as well. So, stay tuned for more. However, I’ll repeat: for consumers, what it comes down to is will they love this vehicle? As long as it is a lovable car, it will find buyers who for some reason or another prefer the Ford brand over others, love the Mustang’s cultural signature, get giddy because of certain “little things,” or take a test drive and get thrilled in their first experience with a good electric powertrain.
The Mustang Mach-E drives beautifully, has enough pump in its hump to throw you back in your seat, has enough storage space and passenger space to make any normal household happy, has a modern and pleasant touchscreen, and is stunning visually. Some people have big crushes on Jennifer Aniston, others on Jennifer Lopez. Some will fall in love with other electric vehicles, but some will certainly fall in love with the Mustang Mach-E.
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