2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT 4x First Test: The Urge to Splurge
If you’re looking for a Mach-E GT electric SUV to live with, should you go for broke on performance upgrades?
Pros
- Still much quicker than it looks
- Lives up to its name (mostly)
- Large, responsive touchscreen
Cons
- Adaptive dampers are part of a $5,000 package
- Semi-autonomous Ford BlueCruise no longer part of the same package
- Inconsistent and slow charging experiences
There's a lot of promise in the name Ford Mustang Mach-E GT. Any combination of words that includes "Mustang" and "GT" portends something special and sporty, right? Add "Mach-E" and it should answer all your electric performance car dreams. One thing is missing, however.
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This is the second Mach-E GT 4x we've tested. Both AWD GTs featured the same standard panoramic fixed-glass roof, upgraded sound system by Bang & Olufsen, and extended-range battery (90 kWh usable rather than 70), as well as an upgraded AWD system that promises 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds. Our scales even said they were but 6 pounds apart, but this one lacked the $5,000 Performance Edition (PE) package.
Why is this important? Besides sportier front seats and some unique trim, the PE adds a slightly upgraded front motor with 34 lb-ft more torque, summer tires, larger front brake rotors (by 0.91 inch), and, most important, Ford's MagneRide adaptive dampers. The Performance Edition also reduces the already modest 270-mile range by 10 miles. Of note: For 2024, Ford's semi-autonomous BlueCruise 1.2 has been removed from the Performance Edition and an enhanced version 1.3 is now sold separately for $2,100 with a three-year subscription.
Oh, It's Quick All Right
To see if the 480-hp, 600-lb-ft Mustang Mach-E GT 4x still lives up to its promising name without the PE goodies, we took it to our test facility. After recharging to full and then selecting the sportiest "Unbridled Extended" drive mode, our best 0-60-mph acceleration saw a time of 3.6 seconds, the same as the Performance Edition. Its quarter-mile performance provedslightlyquicker than theslightlymore powerful PE with an impressive 12.4-second, 103.8-mph best compared to 12.6 seconds at 100.6 mph. How quick are these Mustang EVs? Well, the "baddest," most powerful, current combustion Mustang, the 500-hp 2024 Dark Horse with a 10-speed automatic, runs to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds on the way to a 12.0 and 118.4 in the quarter mile. So yes, these are objectively quick performances.
Whoa, Mustang, Whoa
In the past, our test team praised the Mach-E GT Performance Edition: "The brakes are remarkable. The best of any EV I've tested. They are highly effective, very well-tuned for trail braking, easy to predict, control, and release." Things got a bit squishier when it came to slowing the 4,974-poundnon-PE Mach-E GT. We felt the pedal travel itself was noticeably longer, and the brake effectiveness was less predictable and lacked consistency. With repeated stops from 60 mph, the distances grew from 112 (best) to 119 feet. Whereas the larger brakes and summer tires on the PE shrank the distances from 109 to 105 (best) feet with little sign of fading, even stopping from 100 mph to zero. Moral: Don't skimp on brakes, especially for a heavy EV with a GT badge and the performance to back it up.
Barrel Racing
Pirelli P Zero Elect summer tires pay dividends in cornering grip, as well. With them, the GT Performance Edition accomplished a two-direction average of 0.96 g in lateral acceleration on the skidpad. This Continental CrossContact RX all-season-tired Mach-E GT managed an OK 0.86 g. Both boasted 50/50 weight distribution on our scales.
Put this GT's equivalent acceleration together with longer/less predictable stopping distances and reduced lateral grip compared to the Performance Edition for a lap ofMotorTrend's figure-eight course. The result is a predictable 1.0-second deficit over the 0.3-mile lap, 25.9 versus 24.9 seconds. Still, the testing notes included praise that a driver "can turn off the regenerative braking feature and one-pedal driving for track use." Why? Because at the track, we want brakes only when we press the brake pedal, and maintenance throttle (and a modicum of coasting) on the skidpad is compromised by the regen feature. Good for Ford for knowing this and providing a menu where it can be disabled.
Real-World Impressions
There's a well-known mountain shortcut between our high desert testing facility and lowland home. Driving the Mach-E GT 4x here was revealing. It's ability to shorten straight stretches of road was immediately impressive, but after only a few rapidly approaching corners, the combination of its tires, brakes, and substantial weight quickly made slowing a worrisome chore. Unlike our figure-eight course, there are career-limiting real-world consequences to overestimating a car's ability to shed speed out here—and it grew worse.
A similarly degrading situation occurred with the dozens of corners on the route. As one would imagine, there are true 25-mph hairpins (some posted at 15 mph) as well as bends we have easily negotiated at freeway speeds in other cars. Our confidence was artificially high because of this home-court familiarity. Then the Mach-E GT's tires began to complain, and we were drifting dangerously close to the lane limits. What the testing notes said became a dire reality: "It certainly is capable and tuned for sporty experience, but you have to be absolutely inch-precise with your inputs. Otherwise, it kind of goes to pieces. It hides its weight very well, until it doesn't, and you spear off the skidpad with an armful of steering." No lies detected.
The last and perhaps most troubling deficiency of this Mach-E GT revealed itself in both braking and cornering: Its inability to control body motions over uneven pavement. Unlike the proving-ground smooth asphalt, real-world roads draped over tectonic plates that are subject to winter closures are not smooth. Bounding under enthusiastic braking made the expected distances even longer and more worrisome. Oscillating midcorner body roll tossed out the "inch-precise" advice, and keeping the car within the bounds of control and a single lane grew even more critical. We rarely observed these "dial-it-back-bro" moments in the Mach-E GT Performance Edition we tested with its MagneRide dampers, summer tires, and clearly more capable brakes.
The Necessary Option
There are few things more frustrating to a driving enthusiast than knowing a car is fundamentally capable but being consistently reminded that it must be held to 75 percent of its potential to be enjoyed. Yes, a $5,000 performance option on a sporty GT that already starts at a bit under $62,000 seems superfluous. Yet spending roughly 8 percent more for the Performance Edition of the Mustang Mach-E GT 4x to extract 25 percent more enjoyment (and driving confidence) seems like a worthwhile investment.
What started as my father’s passion and later my whim as a young adult turned into an unexpectedly fulfilling career. I still have the glossy black and white photos of my proud dad in his rolled-up T-shirt and dungarees standing next to his early ’50s jet-black straight-eight Pontiac, his Jaguar XK120 he bought when he got out of the Navy then sold to go to college, and the Austin Healey 100 they drove to the hospital when Mom gave birth. Growing up in Southern California where car culture was everywhere, my dad was a Road & Track guy, I was a Cycle World reader, and my first car was inherited from my Hot-Rod grandmother; her 1969 AMC Javelin SST with the optional Go Package. That car and later a string of motorcycles saw me through college. In 1995, when I peered across Wilshire Boulevard from a generic office job, I saw the Petersen Publishing sign and a bell rang in my head, “Hey, wouldn’t it be fun to write about cars and motorcycles?” I marched a resume and writing sample across the street and was an editorial assistant at MotorTrend a week later. After a few promotions, company ownerships changes, and bouncing from driving school to driving school, in 2001 I landed in the driver’s seat track testing the vehicles we all write about – about 5,000 so far. Thanks to this career (including a 10-year sojourn at Edmunds), I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world, race in the Baja 1000, be the last person to drive at speed up Pike’s Peak before it was fully paved, drive a Formula 1 car in Barcelona, and test nearly every car, truck, and SUV available for the past 30 years. Since that first potential jaywalking infraction, what a drive it’s been. Thank you, MotorTrend.
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