Nor'West News: August 17, 2023
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12<br />
Thursday <strong>August</strong> <strong>17</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
Electric Ford Mustang worthy of the badge<br />
THE MACH-E is a truly<br />
transformational EV that’s<br />
sending Ford’s iconic Mustang<br />
charging into an exciting, fully<br />
electrified future.<br />
This is the first production<br />
Ford developed from the<br />
ground-up to deliver pureelectric,<br />
zero-emission driving.<br />
There’s a choice of single-motor<br />
rear-wheel drive and dual-motor<br />
all-wheel drive performance. In<br />
GT AWD form it has a claimed<br />
0-100km/h-sprint time of just 3.7<br />
seconds.<br />
The Mach-E is instantly recognisable<br />
as a Mustang with signature<br />
elements such as its long,<br />
sculptured bonnet, rear-haunch<br />
design, aggressive headlights and<br />
trademark tri-bar tail lamps.<br />
Three models are sold here,<br />
starting with a 198kw rear wheel<br />
drive priced at $79,990, allowing<br />
it to sneak with the skinniest of<br />
Motoring with Bob Nettleton<br />
margins under the $80k threshold<br />
for the Government’s $7015<br />
clean car rebate for full electric<br />
vehicles. From there, it’s a sizeable<br />
step up to the 258kw AWD<br />
retailing for $109,990 and the<br />
subject of this review.<br />
Those wanting even more<br />
hyper-amped performance get<br />
it in spades with the 358kw GT<br />
AWD. All this performance<br />
aggression comes at a cost with<br />
a real world, all-electric driving<br />
range of 490km, compared to the<br />
550km for our test drive vehicle.<br />
The entry-level rear wheel drive<br />
has a respectable all-electric<br />
driving range of 440km.<br />
The 258kw of power produced<br />
by the test vehicle is plenty for<br />
delivering an ultra smooth and<br />
responsive drive that will win<br />
this car plenty of fans.<br />
Driving aggressively – which is<br />
tempting given the exhilarating<br />
Incorporating<br />
best motorbuys<br />
www.drivesouth.co.nz<br />
performance at your disposal – is<br />
a sure-fire way to burn off a lot<br />
of battery quickly. Making smart<br />
use of the 1 pedal system goes<br />
some way toward replenishing<br />
the battery.<br />
Practicality is one area<br />
where the Mach-E trounces its<br />
traditional two-door Mustang<br />
siblings. Ford engineers and<br />
designers have in a master stroke<br />
created a vehicle that’s not only<br />
true to the Mustang brand, but<br />
offers plenty of space for five passengers<br />
and their luggage.<br />
There’s a generous 402 litres of<br />
load area behind the rear seats.<br />
A front trunk storage unit made<br />
possible by the absence of a<br />
conventional petrol engine under<br />
the bonnet offers an additional<br />
81 litres of storage space.<br />
On board is a host of advanced<br />
driver assistance technologies to<br />
keep you safe. Heading an exhaustive<br />
list is Intelligent Adaptive<br />
Cruise Control with Stop<br />
& Go and Lane Centring. This<br />
keeps you a comfortable distance<br />
from traffic ahead and helps keep<br />
the vehicle centred in its lane.<br />
Park Assist takes the guesswork<br />
out of parking by automatically<br />
manoeuvring the vehicle into<br />
parallel parking spaces.<br />
There’s also Pre-Collision Assist<br />
with Auto Emergency Braking<br />
and a Lane-Keeping System<br />
with Blind Spot Assist.<br />
The All-wheel drive system<br />
applies torque independently<br />
to the front and rear wheels<br />
for improved acceleration and<br />
handling. Unique shock absorbers,<br />
springs and anti-roll bars<br />
settings are tuned to take charge<br />
on our plethora of twisty undulating<br />
roads, and they do the job<br />
with aplomb.<br />
There’s a nice balance between<br />
ride comfort and handling,<br />
although the ride may be a bit<br />
firm for some tastes in low speed<br />
urban driving. Nicely weighted<br />
steering with a decent measure<br />
of road feel make a good driving<br />
vehicle great.<br />
Poised and polished road<br />
holding makes the Mach-E a<br />
worthy bearer of the legendary<br />
Mustang badge.<br />
Rating out of 10:<br />
Performance 8; Handling<br />
8; Build Quality 7; Comfort<br />
7; Space 8; Styling 7; Value<br />
for money 7; Safety –<br />
5-star ANCAP crash rating;<br />
Clean car rebate $7015.<br />
Overall points out of 10:<br />
7.5<br />
Vaughan pirie<br />
owner operator<br />
027 565 5577<br />
vpbaeries@gmail.com<br />
www.vpbaeries.co.nz<br />
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