Mach-E: The Existential Debate

[50 Deep]

The longer I have the Mach-E the more it perplexes me. The more I fall in love with it. The more it somewhat breaks my heart when thinking about combustion engines. The more I have to explain what it is to some stuck in a linear way of thinking. The grin I crack when rolling by a gas station.

I love nothing more than something that challenges my way of thinking and sparks conversation. Incites debate. Snaps a neck or two....

Owning an array of Mustangs to include a Foxbody, GT350R, and GT500 I have presented the Mach-E to these various groups of owners. It is really interesting to see the varied responses you get. I have been extremely pleased with the Mach-E so far, but even I have a hard time telling people it is a Mustang given the heritage I am used too. I really have to think about it for what is, and not what the name tells me its supposed to be.

Out of curiosity, when you talk about your MME do you even call it a Mustang, or just a Mach-E? Does this vehicle give you the feeling of being a Mustang owner?

 

[shutterbug]

Out of curiosity, when you talk about your MME do you even call it a Mustang, or just a Mach-E? Does this vehicle give you the feeling of being a Mustang owner?

I just call it Electric Mustang. I also don't think of it as SUV. In my mind it's a big sedan with a hatch.

What i also noticed is that many people smile when they see it. Just like when they see a classic Mustang.

 

[Nugatti]

I'm Norwegian and live in Sweden, I have a 2016 Mustang GT that I daily. I call my ordered Mach E just the Mach E, and the Mustang GT the Mustang. I think that is mostly because I currently have a "classic" Mustang as you do.
However here in Europe, I feel there isn't quite the same animosity towards the badging as in the US. I've followed the recent days large number of deliveries of cars in Norway over instagram, and people seem to LOVE that they finally get to own a Mustang.
Mustangs are extremely rare and myth based in Norway, where because of taxes, the classic cars have been unavailable or very expensive (think 130.000 USD for a base GT).

The realities of (my) economy here is such that I have to sell my 2016 Mustang GT to pay for the Mach E. Since the day of ordering I've several times gone from complete misery to looking forward to it. I'm still somewhere in between. Because I love my Mustang GT to bits. It has a Roush exhaust and sounds extremely lovely. The car is still rare enough here in Sweden that over the 5 years of ownership I've gotten a lot of attention and still do. (if one cares for that, but maybe I do). Just this morning, I was on a company Teams call, and I took it from the car, and at one point, just for the heck of it, I accelerated hard from 0 to 160 or so, with the mic on, and everybody in my company just laughed. Such things kinda make my day. I think I might fell a tear the day I have to let it go.

An additional info is that I've gotten married and have a child on the way.

One takeaway I have from your post, is that as a current Mustang owner, you also grow to really like the Mach E. I hope I'll do the same.

 

[SpacePony]

Out of curiosity, when you talk about your MME do you even call it a Mustang, or just a Mach-E? Does this vehicle give you the feeling of being a Mustang owner?

I call it my “Mach-E” (or SpacePony). It does not give me the feeling of being “Mustang owner.” I ***LOVE*** it, it drives fast and handles great. But it’s also stable with AWD, plenty of storage, and a huge back seat that fits a child seat with zero issues. I’ll accept what Ford markets it as, it think it’s wise that they did so, or else it wouldn’t have as much buzz. But it’s certainly a different kind of vehicle than the original Pony Car form factor.

 

[markboris]

I never call it a Mustang when talking about the car. I just call it a Mach-E however if someone is interested in learning more about it, I do say it is the new "electric Mustang". My first car back in 1970 was a '64 Mustang and in the last 50+ years have had 9 more. It is hard for me to call this car a Mustang but no matter what Ford calls it, I truly love the car. I enjoy driving it more than any other car I've had besides my Focus RS and GT500.

 

[timbop]

The realities of (my) economy here is such that I have to sell my 2016 Mustang GT to pay for the Mach E. Since the day of ordering I've several times gone from complete misery to looking forward to it. I'm still somewhere in between. Because I love my Mustang GT to bits. It has a Roush exhaust and sounds extremely lovely. The car is still rare enough here in Sweden that over the 5 years of ownership I've gotten a lot of attention and still do. (if one cares for that, but maybe I do). Just this morning, I was on a company Teams call, and I took it from the car, and at one point, just for the heck of it, I accelerated hard from 0 to 160 or so, with the mic on, and everybody in my company just laughed. Such things kinda make my day. I think I might fell a tear the day I have to let it go.

I am 55 years old, and from the time I was 18 I wanted a mustang convertible. Over the years I had bought 2 mustangs, but neither was a convertible because it was just too expensive. Finally for my 49th birthday I bought a convertible and had intended to keep it for a decade or more. My plan was to buy a Model 3 SR+ after it was paid off so I could keep it. Unfortunately, with the reality of how expensive car insurance is where I live combined with the expense of the Mach E I decided to get rid of the convertible that I had waited 30 years to buy. I went BEV because shortly after getting the convertible my daily commute changed from 12 miles to 100 miles, and I did not like how much I was polluting. I knew I wouldn't drive the convertible to work, so it just didn't make sense for me to hang on to something that I would only drive on nice weekends.

I was a little sad letting it go, but in the end I knew it was the right thing to do. As for my current car being a "mustang", it is as much fun to drive as any of my other mustangs (none were GT's) so I am OK calling it a Mustang. When people ask what it is: "It's the new electric Mustang".

 

[WFU03]

I just got one, but the "Mustang" part of the name is one of my least favorite parts of the car. Mustangs have traditionally attracted a very passionate and loyal sort of buyer. Based on interactions with Mustang owners, I don't really feel like I fit that subculture at all.

I don't really care about cars very much, but I love tech. I've had two PHEVs and my other car is a Chevy Bolt. I would like the naming of the car a lot more if they just called it "Mach-E" and created a unique logo/badge for it.

That being said, I understand why Ford went the route they did. I just think it makes a certain group of people less likely to buy the car. It also makes a different, likely larger, group of people more likely to try the car. And once you try a halfway competent electric vehicle, it's very difficult to want to drive an ICE vehicle for anything more than novelty.

 

[timbop]

I just got one, but the "Mustang" part of the name is one of my least favorite parts of the car. Mustangs have traditionally attracted a very passionate and loyal sort of buyer. Based on interactions with Mustang owners, I don't really feel like I fit that subculture at all.

I don't really care about cars very much, but I love tech. I've had two PHEVs and my other car is a Chevy Bolt. I would like the naming of the car a lot more if they just called it "Mach-E" and created a unique logo/badge for it.

That being said, I understand why Ford went the route they did. I just think it makes a certain group of people less likely to buy the car. It also makes a different, likely larger, group of people more likely to try the car. And once you try a halfway competent electric vehicle, it's very difficult to want to drive an ICE vehicle for anything more than novelty.

I've owned 3 non-GT Mustangs for a combined 23 years. I never felt like I was in "the club" since I didn't own a V8, and am not a "motorhead". Never once did I go to a car club, and I only joined the MCA last year to get $800 off of the MSRP of my Mach E. I bought all 3 because I liked the styling and they were all fun to drive. The same is true for my Mach E, although it took a while for the styling to grow on me.

 

[JoeDimwit]

When they make a BEV version of the Mustang coupe, the Smurfmobile is getting traded in. As much as I love this vehicle, it is NOT what I think of when someone says “Mustang”. I’m thrilled with electric power, I’m good with “inspired by the Mustang”, or “the suv with the soul of a Mustang”, but it bothers me that they claim it is a Mustang. I know, ultimately it is their company, they build the vehicle, they can call it whatever they want. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.

as much as I love my Mach-E, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve referred to it as “my Mustang” in open conversation.

 

[markboris]

When they make a BEV version of the Mustang coupe, the Smurfmobile is getting traded in. As much as I love this vehicle, it is NOT what I think of when someone says “Mustang”. I’m thrilled with electric power, I’m good with “inspired by the Mustang”, or “the suv with the soul of a Mustang”, but it bothers me that they claim it is a Mustang. I know, ultimately it is their company, they build the vehicle, they can call it whatever they want. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.

as much as I love my Mach-E, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve referred to it as “my Mustang” in open conversation.

Joe, I could not agree with you more. You summed up what I would've like to have said. The one thing that bothers me about Ford calling it a Mustang is anyone that has never had one thinks this is what a Mustang is like and it is far from it. The only thing it has slightly in common is speed. It does not look like a Mustang, drive like a Mustang and most importantly the handling of the Mach-E is absolutely nothing like a (current generation) Mustang.

 

[DocOfClocks]

I wonder - when Ford ultimately comes out with the electric version of, say, the Escape, will the differential designs between the Mach-E and Ford's other electric vehicles start to create a broader definition of Mustang as Ford's "sportier" line.

 

[Carsinmyblood]

Mine hasn't arrived yet but I did have a talk ("the TALK") with a friend about EVs and the car in general.

Of course his first words were, "You'll always be stopping and charging for hours". My counter to that is: "I'll always have a full tank when I leave home and I can make a 270 mile round trip and not stop to charge. When was the last time you left the house and drove that far without hitting a gas station?"

It's going to take a lot of talking to get people to understand (and this is EV marketing's fault) that we don't have to leave home to 'gas up' unless we're going on a long-ish trip. We leave with a topped up tank every time.

So far, the only thing they know is that it takes hours to charge in a dark parking lot somewhere scary. And it's raining... every time.

I told him it will cost about 3.2 cents per mile for fuel for the average EV. We did the math for his car (an SUV getting 22mpg) and found that he spends 12.3 cents per mile for fuel.

He got quiet after that, so I didn't need to ask how much he spends on oil changes.

 

[JoeDimwit]

I told him it will cost about 3.2 cents per mile for fuel for the average EV. We did the math for his car (an SUV getting 22mpg) and found that he spends 12.3 cents per mile for fuel.

Don’t forget that oil changes add another 1¢ per mile at $50.00 every 5000 miles.

 

[smp]

You know, the Mustang enthusiasts love to show off their monster muscle cars - and I love to see them, too.

However, no-one seems to want to remember the base model '67 ‘64 that was no muscle car, just a sporty car. And we also never hear anything mentioned about the Mustang II with the tiny 4-banger in there, appearing sometime after the '73 oil crisis.

There is no doubt that the recent decades have brought us the greatest Mustang ground-pounders ever seen, and again, I love to see them all. But I cannot abide by all the moaning and groaning about the Mustang Mach-E not being a real Mustang - not when I tended to that 4-banger '74 Mustang II that I bought used for my kids to drive back-and-forth to High School, back in the early 90s.

To me, this is simply the latest evolution in a storied line of vehicles. I also think that some of the owners of the ground-pounders are going to be surprised at the performance of the GT when they start coming available.

Sorry for the rant. I just had to get that off my chest.

smp

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