The newest member of the Mustang family is the all-electric Mach-E GT trim. This SUV is packed with even more power and style, making it the perfect choice for those who want an eco-friendly ride that can pack an even bigger punch than the standard Mach-E.
Late last year, I reviewed the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E California Route 1, which came with the 88-kWh battery pack and RWD. Last week I had the opportunity to finally get behind the wheel of a 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition. In this review I’ll go over the differences between the Mach-E we reviewed last year and the more performance-oriented GT trim.
2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E Canadian Prices
Prices have increased slightly, in the case of the base trim, and more than slightly for the higher trims. The base Mach-E Select has a starting price of $51,495, that’s an increase of $1,000, which is not too bad. However, the Mach-E Premium has a starting price of $63,145, this is an increase of $3,650 over last year. The California Route 1 now starts at $71,575, an increase of $7,080. The top-of-the-line Mach-E GT Performance Edition starts at $85,995, an increase of $82,995.
However, looking at the homepage of Ford’s Canadian website, the prices are lower. The above prices are from the “build it” page. The homepage shows a price of $51,495 on the Mach-E Select (which is the same price as above). Mach-E Premium shows as $60,245, Mach-E California Route 1 shows as $65,245, and the Mache-E GT Performance Edition shows as $83,495. Are the higher prices the Canadian equivalent of what the American dealers are calling “Market Adjustment”? I honestly don’t know why there’s a difference in prices between the different pages.
When I reviewed the Mach-E last year, none of the trims qualified for the iZEV (electric vehicle incentive) program. At the time, the incentives were based on a starting price of $45,000 or less for the base trim and the top trim having a price of $55,000 or less. However, as of April 25, 2022 these starting prices have been increased to allow for more EVs to be eligible for the incentives, which is $5,000 from the Federal government and $3,000 in British Columbia and $7,000 in Quebec (lowered from $8,000 in April 2022).
The new Canadian electric vehicle incentive program (iZEV) has increased the eligibility of the base price to $55,000 and $65,000 for the maximum price of the trim. This is basically an increase of $10,000 over the previous limits for passenger vehicles. There’s also a new tier for station wagons, light pickup trucks, and SUVs. Vehicles that fall into this category are eligible for the incentive as long as their staring price is $60,000 or less and the highest trim is $70,000 or less.
Based on these new incentives, the Mach-E Select and Mach-E Premium both qualify for incentive. I’m hoping the incentives are not the reason the Mach-E prices went up and it’s only because of rising costs or something like that. Because that would kind of defeat the purpose of increasing the base price limits.
Our review 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition had sticker price of $93,430. This price included $100 federal excise tax, $800 for the Cyber Orange Metallic paint, $1,895 for the panoramic fixed glass roof, $2,545 for Ford Co-Pilot 360 2.0, and $2,095 for destination and delivery.
Mustang Mach-E Motor & Batteries
Like the 2021 model year, the 2022 Mach-E is offered with two battery packs. The standard range (SR) and extended range (ER). The standard range is a 70-kW unit, which is 2 kW more than the previous year. If I recall correctly, Ford hasn’t physically increased the size of the battery, they’ve just increased the amount of usable battery by 2 kW. The motor paired to this battery pack produces 266 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque. The estimated range with this combination is 397 kilometers, which is an increase of 27 km over last year’s model. The same battery pack, when equipped with the eAWD system (dual-motors), has an output of 266 horsepower and 428 pound-feet of torque and an estimated range of 360 kilometers, an increase of 20 kilometers over last year’s model.
The extended range battery is a 91-kW unit, again, it’s 3 more usable kW than last year. The motor with this battery pack produces 290 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque, with an estimated range of 488 kilometers, an increase of 5 km. The dual-motors produces a combined 346 HP and 428 pound-feet of torque, with an estimated range of 446 kilometers, an increase of 11 kilometers over last year’s model.
The GT Performance Edition comes with the larger battery pack and eAWD. This combination is rated at 480 horsepower and 634 pound-feet of torque and an estimated range of 418 kilometers.
Our review car was the top-of-the-line GT Performance Edition, which only comes with the big battery pack, it has an estimated range of 418 kilometers. When I picked up the car, the battery was showing 100% charge and an estimated range of 374 kilometers. I’m guessing the previous reviewers were driving the Mach-E GT quite hard, as that’s 44 kilometers less range than the claimed range. And the claimed range is usually in ideal conditions, which is what we had for the week, I’d hate to see the range loss in the winter, which is usually quite significant in pretty much all EVs.
According to the onboard computer, we averaged 20 kWh/100 kilometers, which is more efficient than the claimed number of 25.6 kWh/100 km, but I didn’t drive the Mach-E hard. The most recent EV I drove, the Kia EV6, consumed 16.5 kWh/100 km. I know the Mach-E is more powerful, but it’s not like I was driving it at full power/torque.
If we compare the driving cost of Mustang Mach-E, based on electricity cost vs gasoline cost, then the Mach-E comes out a winner (compared to any gasoline powered car), of course we’re going to conveniently forget about the $100k we’re paying for it. Charging at home, at an average cost of $0.125 per kWh, and taking the average consumption of 20.0 kWh/100 km, it works out $2.50 per 100 kilometers. We do have to take into consideration the loss of electricity while charging, which I’ve read is around 20%. Based on these estimates and my rough math, we’re looking at $3.00/100 kilometers of driving. At today’s gas prices of around $2.20 /liter, that works out to about 1.36 L/100 km in gasoline equivalent based on price alone.
Charging the Ford Mustang Mach-E
According to Ford, on a normal household 120-volt outlet, you should gain about 5 kilometers or range per hour the Mach-E is plugged in, for the extended range battery pack with RWD. Ford did not provide these numbers for the AWD version for some reason. Step up to the 240V/32A and an hour plugged in should net you 32 kilometers of range. If you want even more range from a home-based charger, Ford will sell you a “Ford Connect Charge Station” with 240V/48A output, giving you 45 kilometers of range per hour the Mach-E is plugged in.
If you’re on the road and need to top up the batteries on your Mustang Mach-E, using a DC (150 kW) fast charging will charge the battery pack from 10 to 80% in 45 minutes. The Mach-E is not the fastest charging EV either, Kia/Hyundai have a claimed 10 – 80% time of 18 minutes, which is much more manageable for a long trip, if you can find fast chargers.
I only have access to a 120-volt outlet in my garage, which is what I use to charge the EVs I review. However, for some odd reason, I can never get it to charge Ford/Lincoln vehicles on that outlet, it works perfectly fine for every other EV/Plug-In I have reviewed.
Driving the Mustang Mach-E
Having driven quite a few EVs recently, I have gotten the hang of this whole EV thing. At startup, most EVs are the same, no engine noise to differentiate them from one another. However, some EV makers do include a short sound clip that can range from musical to some sort of futuristic sound.
Driving the Mustang Mach-E on the road is a different experience. It’s dead quiet, as you’d expect from an EV and it has loads of torque even in the most conservative mode. However, stepping on the accelerator will pin you back into the seat, and that’s in the Whisper mode, which the equivalent of Eco mode. There’s a more engaging mode, called “Engage”, which would be more like a “Normal” or “Comfort” mode. This mode increases throttle response and more power is available. The “Unbridled” mode, the equivalent of sport mode, is when you get access to all the HP and torque. The Mache-E GT is lightning fast, much faster than the non-GT trim we reviewed last year.
The Mach-E GT is the “most Mustang” of all the trims of the offered on this EV CUV. If you’re looking for maximum fun, this is the one to get. However, it is a cross-over and an electric one, so it’s pretty heavy. I really felt the weight in the corners, so tracking the Mach-E GT might not be the best idea. The GT trims also has an even firmer suspension than the other trims, I found it to be quite harsh on rough roads. I get this is a “Mustang”, but it’s not a sports car and more of a family CUV, so I think the suspension will get uncomfortable really fast for daily driving, especially if you live in an area with rougher roads.
Some electric vehicles come with various levels of regen braking, where you can fine tune how much braking you get via regeneration. The Mache-E doesn’t come with that, you either have the standard regen, which is light regeneration, or one-pedal driving. The brakes do tend to take some time to get used to, the braking system doesn’t feel like an ICE car, it’s a bit “grabby” and it took me quite a while to get used to it.
Ford’s BlueCruise, Is Anything New or Marketing Lingo?
Our review Mach-E came with the “new” Ford BlueCruise system, which Ford touts as competition to the Tesla FSD and other self-driving tech from competing manufacturers. Ford has been using the Co-Pilot 360 for a while, which is a form of “adaptive cruise control” offered by most manufacturers. It’s a good system, it uses cameras to keep a safe distance between your car and the car in front, keeps the car centered in a lane, and does stop/go if traffic comes to a stop.
Now the new system with BlueCruise does the same thing with the addition of the ability to take your hands off the steering wheel for a much longer time, as long as you keep your eyes on the road, which is determined by sensors looking at your eyes. At least that’s my understanding of it, so I’m not really sure why or how this is a competitor to the Tesla FSD, the only difference I see between this and the old system is the ability to take your hands off the steering wheel for a much longer period of time. The BlueCruise system doesn’t change lanes automatically if it approaches a slower car, it doesn’t even change lanes when prompted (by turning on the signal, like in a Mercedes-Benz). Maybe I’m mistaken and this system does other wonderful things, but personally I didn’t think it is that much of an improvement over the old system and the “BlueCruise” is something the marketing department came up with.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad system but it’s nowhere near Tesla’s FSD and doesn’t really deserve a special name.
Mustang Mach-E Styling
When I reviewed the Mach-E last year, I personally liked the looks of it. Of course, this is a subjective matter and there are people still upset over the use of the Mustang name. I think the Mach-E GT looks even better than the standard Mach-E, it’s the most Mustang looking of the bunch and could be mistaken for a Mustang Coupe from the front.
The biggest difference is the addition of the black fake grill area, which has a grill pattern, making it look like a standard ICE vehicle. I’m surprised not more EV’s have this type of treatment in the area where you’d normally find a grill. Adding a painted (or vinyl) fake grill does wonders for the look of an EV.
The front bumper also gets different styling on the GT trim, again, making it look more like a bumper from an ICE vehicle. The Mach-E GT sits lower and comes with body color wheel arches. The wheels/tires are wider on the GT trim, I think the tires on the non-GT trims look too skinny for a vehicle like this.
Most electric cars feature some sort of hidden door handles, Ford has gone with small buttons that open the door. The front doors have a small handle sticking out from the window sill that you pull on to open the door, after you’ve pressed the button on the door frame. To open the rear doors, you just need to press the button the door frame at the c-pillar and the door pops open a bit and then you just grab any part of the door and open it.
Mustang Mach-E Interior & Features
The interior doesn’t see any changes between the trim we reviewed last year and the GT, however, the GT trim does get sporty seats. These seats not only look great, they provide a comfortable seating environment and if you are brave enough to take the Mach-E GT to the track, they should provide plenty of support during hard cornering.
The Mach-E features a rather large 15.5” vertical touchscreen that controls everything you’d normally use buttons/knobs for, very Tesla-like. However, unlike Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3, Ford does differentiate the Mach-E’s interior a bit with proving a small screen behind the steering wheel where you’d normally find a gauge cluster and there’s a large physical volume knob on that giant touchscreen.
Since I had already spent a week with this infotainment system, it was pretty easy to use. You might get overwhelmed at the beginning, but after a few days everything makes sense. Of course, we can always use some hard buttons, but I guess the future is looking quite buttonless.
The interior is comfortable and has a good mixture of soft and hard materials. The interior is quiet, as you’d expect an electric vehicle’s interior to be. There is the usual wind noise found on crossovers at highway speeds, but it’s not bad at all. The overall interior quality and fit and finish on the Mach-E is good, I didn’t see any misaligned panels and massive panel gaps. That may not matter to some people, but it is a big deal to others.
The Mach-E is roomy, with plenty of leg and head room for front and rear occupants, people taller than 6’ should find it comfortable with room to spare. However, the Mach-E doesn’t offer the same head room as the Ioniq 5 and has less leg room than both the Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6, cars that are in the same segment.
Overall Impressions
The Ford Mustang Mach-E GT is a sportier version of the regular Mach-E, it’s a good car for someone looking at a sporty vehicle that’s also an EV and has the practicality of a CUV. It’s really fast when you want it to be and quite sensible when you don’t feel the need for speed. However, it’s not a cheap vehicle, you’re looking at over $100,000 CAD for a fully loaded one, after taxes.
