The 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally Is the Off-Road EV Best Enjoyed Muddy and Sideways
If you think EVs are too sterile to be any fun, you haven’t slid a Mach-E Rally around a gravel course.
At MotorTrend, we often measure performance through the cold, objective lens of instrumented testing—and rightly so, because two stopwatches or GPS loggers don’t have differing opinions. But sometimes we measure performance by how much we laugh going through a corner looking forward out of the side windows. And great vehicles do well in both measures. We think, after sliding the 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally around a gravel course snaking through a former lumber mill, that this electric SUV falls into the latter category.
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On one hand, the 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally is simply a mildly lifted Mach-E GT with revised suspension, a new drive mode with looser stability and traction control logic, and the increased torque of the Performance Upgrade that’s optional on 2024 GTs. But the limited physical changes belie the dramatic change in attitude the Rally exhibits, not to mention its striking look. It might just be the Mustang Mach-E to get.
The Go-Fun Bits
Some of the most important changes to the Mach-E Rally are shared across the entire 2024 model year lineup, but it’s worth noting again that all 2024 models share a new, lighter, torquier (and cheaper) rear e-motor. It’s part of the foundation that lets 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT owners add the $995 Performance Upgrade software package that unlocks an extra 100 lb-ft of torque. The Rally gets the Performance Upgrade as standard, for a total system output of 480 hp and a somewhat shocking 700 lb-ft of torque—and there are no physical differences between the two powertrains. Even with less performance-oriented tires, Ford thinks the Rally will hit 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds, and it sure feels like it.
The RallySport drive mode is new and exclusive to the Rally, featuring looser stability control parameters to allow more yaw on the loose stuff, more linear throttle response, and (much) firmer settings for the standard MagneRide dampers. The standard drive modes—Whisper, Engage, and Unbridle—are still there. Braking is straight Mach-E GT, with the excellent and sizable Brembo-branded calipers up front.
The suspension hardware has also been slightly revised to great effect. Ford didn’t change any of the hard points or the control arms, and the MagneRide dampers are very similar to what you’d find in a GT but are physically longer, and the Rally gets unique springs. The shock travel is about the same overall, but the Rally gets a roughly 1-inch lift.
Ford tucks the front spoiler up some for clearance and adds some underbody protection. Thoughtfully, there’s also paint protection film along the sides, which hopefully will minimize rash from flung gravel.
Strangely, mud flaps are not standard, and a Ford rep told us that it recommends owners head to RallyArmor, a noted aftermarket supplier. (Our off-road test Rallys were wearing those pieces, for what it’s worth.) Also, Ford has no plans (yet!) to offer an electronic drift brake as seen on the internal-combustion 2024 Ford Mustang. Spoiler: This thing power-slides so easily, it probably isn’t necessary, but it sure would be fun.
The Rally Has No Damper on Fun
Magnetorheological dampers—that’s MagneRide, folks—offered Ford the ability to easily tune the Rally’s ride to match its specific hardware differences and purpose. As mentioned, the dampers are physically longer than the GT’s and paired with 20 percent softer springs up front and 35 percent softer springs in back. Finally, the front stabilizer bar is shared with the GT, but the rear is smaller (and thus less stiff) for better compliance when only one wheel strikes an imperfection.
Ford needed to make sure the Rally could handle the large inputs—think ruts, rocks, and the like—it’d see when used as intended. In RallySport mode, the damping rates increase dramatically, to between twice and three times the baseline damping in other drive modes. But for small inputs, like rough pavement, the dampers are tuned to be more compliant. Between the range of the MagneRide shocks’ damping characteristics and the softer springs, the ride is noticeably more comfortable on-road—but it’s not soft. Think German midsize sporty sedan, and you’ll get the picture: a good balance between roll control and overall comfort.
A similar thought process was applied to tune the Rally’s unique steering calibration. There’s a lot of information to be conveyed by a bumpy dirt track, and not all of it is helpful. The Rally’s development strategy involved reducing steering assistance, which gives the right level of heft when driving on loose surfaces. And steering damping was increased to tune out some of the “noise” and unwanted kickback from the front tires.
One downside? Driving range is a hair off the pace of even the mechanically identical GT, at just 265 EPA-estimated miles, but there’s a good reason: the tires. The Rally wears Michelin’s excellent CrossClimate2 tires, and they offer good grip for a “four-season” tire but add some rolling resistance. In return, they’ll handle light snow, rain, and—as we saw—wet and muddy gravel tracks with ease. They’re not off-road tires, and they’re not performance tires, but they’re a good blend of grip characteristics that low-rolling-resistance EV tires don’t exhibit.
Looking the Rally Part
Like the hardware changes, the appearance differences are simple yet effective. The front “grille” panel goes matte black with a pair of inset foglights, which has an outsized effect on the feel of the front end in a positive way (and maybe a nod to the bat-shit Mach-E 1400 Ford built with RTR). The big spoiler has quasi swan-neck supports and shark-fin-like side plates, packing in a lot of aggression without overwhelming the Mach-E’s overall attractive shape. Graphics—big stripes down the center, “MACH-E RALLY” rocker decals—suit the mood, but they can also be deleted at no cost.
Inside, changes are minimal but effective. Some tasteful gloss-white accents are sprinkled on the dash, steering wheel spokes, and door cards, while the comfortable front seats get gloss-white backs.
The Rally’s Oxford White–painted 19-inch wheels, produced in-house by Ford, are basically a love letter to the OZ Racing wheels worn by Ford’s works rally cars in their WRC prime. And they also work if you have no idea what we just said, because they have the effortless cool factor of anything purposeful that’s been reduced to its absolute functional minimum. They look as good on this two-ton electric SUV that’ll never turn a wheel in anger on a WRC stage as they did on Colin McRae’s Focus RS WRC, for example.
The Mach-E Rally Is Like a Full-Size Rally Sim
Speaking of McRae, we got to sample the Rally’s off-pavement prowess at DirtFish, the celebrated rally driving school in Western Washington. Its owner, Steve Rimmer, is an aviation industry executive but also a monumental rally nut with a collection of rally cars that defies belief. There was a RS200 with a face-full of Hellas just sitting in the waiting room, for god’s sake, like an artificial plant. But one of Rimmer’s circus is, incidentally, an ex-McRae Focus RS WRC. Heavily restored after a major crash in competition, it’s muddied its white OZs in the same place we’d make the brand-new Mach-E Rally’s homage wheels filthy.
DirtFish has several courses that wind through an old Weyerhaeuser lumber mill and into the trees in the Snoqualmie Valley. They’re wet after a heavy spring soak, and after a few passes with the heavy Rallys, they’re getting a bit chewed up. Not that the Rally seems to mind much. In RallySport mode, the Rally is eager to adjust its attitude, helped in part by lots of mass, which is happily situated down nice and low, as well as fantastic weight distribution.
But that all sounds a bit more clinical than it feels. It feels like effortless, near-continual rooster tails of gravel pummeling the cones as the Rally eagerly flicks one way and then the next, surprisingly agile but easily controlled. Remember, RallySport mode merely loosens, not banishes, the stability control parameters, and within that reduced safety net there’s a lot of fun to be had. The heavier steering feel in RallySport helps mitigate the instinct to adjust the Rally’s angle with steering and, instead, to rotate it more or less with pedal inputs, so we’ll call Ford’s steering calibration tweaks in this mode a success.
Fun and helpful too is that 700 lb-ft of torque, which allows you to smash your foot down on the gravel-hammer whenever you’ve ham-fisted in too much steering angle, or wallowed off the line. It. Is. Hilarious. And however many laps Ford allowed us, whether out of concern of state-of-charge or to try to prevent any gravel-induced paintwork exfoliation, it wasn’t enough. We could have had 200 laps and complained for more.
Ford then unleashed some shoes on the Rallys to demonstrate its potential, and in the hands of a specialist like Vaughn Gittin, Jr.—noted Ford pro drifter and owner of RTR—the Rally can certainly fly fast enough through the trees to entertain anyone without a competition license.
Then we nosed the Rally out of DirtFish’s gully and onto the hilly, windy, aggressively wooded roads around Snoqualmie, and found it to be as or more enjoyable than the GT at a quick but realistic real-world, real-roads pace. The softer damping than the GT in Unbridle mode helped with midcorner bumps and heaves, and cranking it up to RallySport gave it a sharper focus and crisper handling without harshness, inviting a bit more aggression. Surely the Rally won’t handle our figure-eight test as well as a GT, not wearing these tires, but the compromise it achieves between cornering prowess and comfort is excellent.
Who’s This Thing For, Though?
The Rally starts at $61,890 in black or yellow—some eye-catching and fan-favorite colors, like Grabber Blue or Eruption Green, are a bit more—which puts it at the top of the Mach-E range. It’s $3,260 more than a fully tricked-out Mach-E GT with the Bronze Appearance package and the Performance Upgrade, but it seems to us like a fair upcharge for the hard bits and the unseen calibration work Ford did to give the Rally its very different identity. The Rally has a fun-loving attitude that the GT just can’t match, if you don’t need the GT’s particularly focused skill set, and more versatility overall.
Nor is the Rally an RS model, and this is probably to the Mach-E’s advantage. Normally “uncompromising” is a compliment to an enthusiast car, but the departed Focus RS was uncompromising to the point of masochism. Nobody wants to have fillings shaken out by their $60,000-plus SUV.
Instead, the Rally rides better than the GT on the pavement without really giving up any backroad competency, and it’ll provide instant gratification on any empty, snowy lot or muddy access road—places your average Mach-E owner might find themselves, occasionally, with a notion to get a little sideways.
The Rally sits at this emerging nexus of usability and fun. It’s a full $4,210 less than the wildly fun Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, but the Mustang Mach-E Rally makes that fun accessible in a way you can appreciate almost anywhere—no racetrack required—and just as practical otherwise as a normal Mach-E. It also explores the idea of EVs in a different role, not just as quarter-mile monsters or executive expresses but instead as occupying other fun, diverse, and hopefully affordable niches. For now, the Rally stands apart from other Mach-Es, and the EV crowd in general, in the best way possible.
Like a lot of the other staffers here, Alex Kierstein took the hard way to get to car writing. Although he always loved cars, he wasn’t sure a career in automotive media could possibly pan out. So, after an undergraduate degree in English at the University of Washington, he headed to law school. To be clear, it sucked. After a lot of false starts, and with little else to lose, he got a job at Turn 10 Studios supporting the Forza 4 and Forza Horizon 1 launches. The friendships made there led to a job at a major automotive publication in Michigan, and after a few years to MotorTrend. He lives in the Seattle area with a small but scruffy fleet of great vehicles, including a V-8 4Runner and a C5 Corvette, and he also dabbles in scruffy vintage watches and film cameras.
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